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Chapter 3--Principles of thermal comfort

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  • Butera, Federico M.

Abstract

The human body, considered as a thermodynamic system, produces mechanical work and low temperature heat, using food (fuel) and oxygen as input. This system requires, in healthy conditions, to maintain a constant internal temperature around 37±0.5°C, otherwise the functionality of important organs like liver, spleen, etc, may be severely damaged.fn2 In order to achieve this goal, the rate of heat generation of the body must be equal to the rate of heat loss from it. The job of our thermoregulatory system is to maintain the heat balance, that is a fundamental condition for survival and necessary (but not sufficient) for comfort. Skin temperature, otherwise, is not constant, and it varies according to the part of the body and the air temperature; the absolute maximum and the minimum values, however, are 45 and 4°C (pain thresholds).

Suggested Citation

  • Butera, Federico M., 1998. "Chapter 3--Principles of thermal comfort," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 2(1-2), pages 39-66, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:2:y:1998:i:1-2:p:39-66
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    Cited by:

    1. Nematchoua, Modeste Kameni & Tchinda, René & Ricciardi, Paola & Djongyang, Noël, 2014. "A field study on thermal comfort in naturally-ventilated buildings located in the equatorial climatic region of Cameroon," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 381-393.
    2. Enescu, Diana, 2017. "A review of thermal comfort models and indicators for indoor environments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1353-1379.
    3. Khodakarami, Jamal & Nasrollahi, Nazanin, 2012. "Thermal comfort in hospitals – A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 4071-4077.
    4. Duan, Mengfan & Sun, Hongli & Wu, Shuangdui & Wu, Yifan & Lin, Borong, 2023. "A simplified model for the evaluation and comparison of the dynamic performance of different heating terminal types," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PD).
    5. Overen Ochuko Kelvin & Meyer Leroy Edson & Makaka Golden, 2017. "Thermal, Economic and Environmental Analysis of a Low-Cost House in Alice, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-20, March.
    6. Matthew Bonello & Daniel Micallef & Simon Paul Borg, 2021. "Humidity Distribution in High-Occupancy Indoor Micro-Climates," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-16, January.
    7. Yuang Guo & Dewancker Bart, 2020. "Optimization of Design Parameters for Office Buildings with Climatic Adaptability Based on Energy Demand and Thermal Comfort," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-23, April.

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