Automatic estimation of clothing insulation rate and metabolic rate for dynamic thermal comfort assessment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinsong Liu ◽  
Isak Worre Foged ◽  
Thomas B. Moeslund
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Clothing Insulation ◽  
Automatic Estimation

scholarly journals Clothing Insulation Rate and Metabolic Rate Estimation for Individual Thermal Comfort Assessment in Real Life

Sensors ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 619
Author(s):  
Jinsong Liu ◽  
Isak Worre Foged ◽  
Thomas B. Moeslund
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Tracking Accuracy ◽  
Classification Rate ◽  
Clothing Insulation ◽  
Activity Intensity ◽  
Bounding Box ◽  
Tracking By Detection

Satisfactory indoor thermal environments can improve working efficiencies of office staff. To build such satisfactory indoor microclimates, individual thermal comfort assessment is important, for which personal clothing insulation rate (Icl) and metabolic rate (M) need to be estimated dynamically. Therefore, this paper proposes a vision-based method. Specifically, a human tracking-by-detection framework is implemented to acquire each person’s clothing status (short-sleeved, long-sleeved), key posture (sitting, standing), and bounding box information simultaneously. The clothing status together with a key body points detector locate the person’s skin region and clothes region, allowing the measurement of skin temperature (Ts) and clothes temperature (Tc), and realizing the calculation of Icl from Ts and Tc. The key posture and the bounding box change across time can category the person’s activity intensity into a corresponding level, from which the M value is estimated. Moreover, we have collected a multi-person thermal dataset to evaluate the method. The tracking-by-detection framework achieves a mAP50 (Mean Average Precision) rate of 89.1% and a MOTA (Multiple Object Tracking Accuracy) rate of 99.5%. The Icl estimation module gets an accuracy of 96.2% in locating skin and clothes. The M estimation module obtains a classification rate of 95.6% in categorizing activity level. All of these prove the usefulness of the proposed method in a multi-person scenario of real-life applications.

scholarly journals Investigating Thermal Comfort for the Classroom Environment using IoT

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurshahrily Idura Ramli ◽  
Mohd Izani Mohamed Rawi ◽  
Ahmad Zahid Hijazi ◽  
Abdullah Hayyan Kunji Mohammed
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Influencing Factor ◽  
Physiological Factors ◽  
Clothing Insulation ◽  
Air Movement ◽  
Radiant Temperature

<p>In this modern century where fine comfort is a necessity especially in buildings and occupied space, the study to satisfy one aspect of human comfort is a must. This study encompasses of exploring the physiological and environmental factors in achieving thermal comfort which specifically considering the clothing insulation and metabolic rate of students as well as the deployment of dry-bulb temperature, mean radiant temperature, humidity, and air movement in order to obtain the level of comfort students are experiencing in class. The level of comfort are detected by using ASHRAE 55 to determine the average thermal sensation response through the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) value. An android application were developed to read input of recognizing clothing level (thickness of clothing) and capturing metabolic rate to cater the inputs for physiological factors, while radiant temperature, humidity and air movement are captured through static sensors set up in the classroom space. This paper analyses both the physiological and environmental factors in affecting students in class and further determine their comfort levels that is a major influencing factor of focus in learning. Through cross referencing collected data from IoT enabled nodes, it is found that both physiological and environmental factors, and the combination of them greatly influence in getting the most comfortable state with PMV value of 0.</p>

scholarly journals The Effects of a Passive Exoskeleton on Human Thermal Responses in Temperate and Cold Environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 3889
Author(s):  
Yang Liu ◽  
Xiaoling Li ◽  
Jiarui Lai ◽  
Aibin Zhu ◽  
Xiaodong Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Thermal Response ◽  
Clothing Insulation ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
Cold Environments ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Passive Exoskeleton ◽  
Package Handlers

The exoskeleton as functional wearable equipment has been increasingly used in working environments. However, the effects of wearing an exoskeleton on human thermal responses are still unknown. In this study, 10 male package handlers were exposed to 10 °C (COLD) and 25 °C (TEMP) ambient temperatures while performing a 10 kg lifting task (LIFTING) and sedentary (REST) both with (EXO) and without the exoskeleton (WEXO). Thermal responses, including the metabolic rate and mean skin temperature (MST), were continuously measured. Thermal comfort, thermal sensation and sweat feeling were also recorded. For LIFTING, metabolic heat production is significant decrease with the exoskeleton support. The MST and thermal sensation significantly increase when wearing the exoskeleton, but thermal discomfort and sweating are only aggravated in TEMP. For REST, MST and thermal sensation are also increased by the exoskeleton, and there is no significant difference in the metabolic rate between EXO and WEXO. The thermal comfort is significantly improved by wearing the exoskeleton only in COLD. The results suggest that the passive exoskeleton increases the local clothing insulation, and the way of wearing reduces the “pumping effect”, which makes a difference in the thermal response between COLD and TEMP. Designers need to develop appropriate usage strategies according to the operative temperature.

Required temperature distribution based on clothing insulation and metabolic rate survey in Japan

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 775-782
Author(s):  
Masanari Ukai ◽  
Tatsuo Nobe
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Clothing Insulation ◽  
Office Environment ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Temperature Side

In this study, the authors evaluated clothing insulation and changes in the metabolic rate of individuals in an office environment to determine thermal comfort. Clothing was evaluated using a questionnaire completed by 1306 workers in nine offices. The metabolic rates of 86 workers in three offices were measured using a physical activity meter. The distribution of the temperature at which a person in the room perceived a neutral thermal sensation was then calculated from the determined metabolic rates and clothing insulation values. The results demonstrate a noticeable difference between the average and most frequent values during the summer. Moreover, the required temperature distribution is not normal; rather, it is broad and skewed to the low-temperature side. Therefore, even if a thermally uniform environment is provided at the average required temperature by preventing temporal and spatial variations in the thermal environment, complaints of an unacceptably hot thermal environment are more likely to occur than complaints of an excessively cold thermal environment.

scholarly journals Genetic Algorithm Applied to Multi-Criteria Selection of Thermal Insulation on Industrial Shed Roof

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stamoulis ◽  
Santos ◽  
Lenz ◽  
Tusset
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Expanded Polystyrene ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Clothing Insulation ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Selection Of

The rational use of energy has motivated research on improving the energy efficiency of buildings, which are responsible for a large share of world consumption. A strategy to achieve this goal is the application of optimized thermal insulation on a building envelope to avoid thermal exchanges with the external environment, reducing the use of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. In order to contribute to the best choice of insulation applied to an industrial shed roof, this study aims to provide an optimization tool to assist this process. Beyond the thermal comfort and cost of the insulation, some hygrothermic properties also have been analysed to obtain the best insulation option. To implement this optimization technique, several thermo-energetic simulations of an industrial shed were performed using the Domus software, applying 4 types of insulation material (polyurethane, expanded polystyrene, rockwool and glass wool) on the roof. Ten thicknesses ranging from 0.5 cm to 5 cm were considered, with the purpose of obtaining different thermal comfort indexes (PPD, predicted percentage dissatisfied). Posteriorly, the best insulation ranking has been obtained from the weights assigned to the parameters in the objective function, using the technique of the genetic algorithm (GA) applied to multi-criteria selection. The optimization results showed that polyurethane (PU) insulation, applied with a thickness of 1 cm was the best option for the roof, considering the building functional parameters, occupant metabolic activity, clothing insulation and climate conditions. On the other hand, when the Brazilian standard was utilized, rock wool (2 cm) was considered the best choice.

A study on the thermal comfort and clothing insulation characteristics of preschool children in Korea

2015 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 724-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Insick Nam ◽  
Jinho Yang ◽  
Dohee Lee ◽  
Eunjung Park ◽  
Jong-Ryeul Sohn
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Clothing Insulation

Transient Human Thermal Comfort Response in Convective and Radiative Environments

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Al-Othmani ◽  
Nesreen Ghaddar ◽  
Kamel Ghali
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Convective Heating ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Clothing Insulation ◽  
Indoor Space ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort ◽  
Walking Activity ◽  
Local Thermal Comfort

In this work, human transient thermal responses and comfort are studied in non-uniform radiant heating and convective heating environments. The focus was on a change from walking activity of human in outdoor cold environment at high clothing insulation to warm indoor environment at sedentary activity level associated with lower clothing insulation. A transient multi-segmented bioheat model sensitive to radiant asymmetry is used to compare how fast the human body approaches steady state thermal conditions in both radiative and convective warm environments. A space thermal model is integrated with the bioheat model to predict the transient changes in skin and core temperature of a person subject to change in metabolic rate and clothing insulation when entering conditioned indoor space. It was found that overall thermal comfort and neutrality were reached in 6.2 minutes in the radiative environment compared to 9.24 minutes in convective environment. The local thermal comfort of various body segments differed in their response to the convective system where it took more than 19 minutes for extremities to reach local comfort unlike the radiative system where thermal comfort was attained within 7 minutes.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Effect of Using External Venetian Blinds on the Thermal Comfort of Users of Highly Glazed Office Rooms in a Transition Season of Temperate Climate—Case Study

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Fedorczak-Cisak ◽  
Katarzyna Nowak ◽  
Marcin Furtak
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Cooling Systems ◽  
Clothing Insulation ◽  
Transition Season ◽  
Venetian Blinds ◽  
Research Task ◽  
Office Rooms

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is among the most urgent social development tasks due to the scale of energy consumption in this industry. At the same time, it is essential to meet high requirements for indoor environmental quality and thermal comfort. The issue of overheating is most often analysed in summer but it also occurs in transition seasons, when the cooling systems do not operate. The paper attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of external mobile shading elements on the microclimate of rooms with large glazed areas in the transition season. Passive solutions, such as shading elements, which limit the increase of indoor temperature, do not always allow the acquisition and maintenance of comfortable solutions for the duration of the season, as demonstrated by the authors. Temporary cooling of the rooms may be necessary to maintain comfortable conditions for the users, or other solutions should be devised to improve comfort (e.g., reduction of clothing insulation characteristics). The novelty of the study consists in the analysis of comfort in a “nearly zero energy consumption” building (NZEB) during a period not analyzed by other scientists. This is a transition period during which heating/cooling systems do not operate. The research task set by the authors involved the assessment of the possibility to reduce office space overheating in the transition season (spring) by using external shading equipment in rooms with large glazed areas. An additional research task aimed at checking the extent to which user behaviour, such as reduction in clothing insulation characteristics, can improve comfort in overheated rooms. The results of the tests reveal that the difference in the ambient air temperature between a room with external venetian blinds and an identical room with no venetian blinds in the transition season, i.e., from 27 March to 6 April 2017, ranged from 12.3 to 2.1 °C. The use of a shading system (external venetian blinds positioned at an angle of 45°) reduced the number of discomfort hours by 92% (during working hours) compared to the room without external venetian blinds. A reduction in the thermal insulation of the clothes worn by people working in the room with no venetian blinds helped to reduce the number of discomfort hours by 31%.

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