Dynamic sensation of comfort in buildings: the temperature changes effects

The sensation of comfort in buildings depends on externaland internal variables: the well-known PMV method relates the expected temperature with the physiological behavior of the human body. Some models have discussedthe relevance of adaptation factors, in order to explainthe higher expected good temperature of users living in warm climates. The same PMV method has been modified for these climatic situations. An adaptationterm has clearly to be considered, but other effects are important to determine the real expected temperature.In this paper temperature changes are considered to play an important role determining the expected good temperature. Effects of ventilation, rapid thermal changeswhen people move inside or outside of a building, continuous change in the temperature rate in the HVAC controlled spaces, are investigated here.Results show how to determine a dT/dt dependent term, which has to be considering in the PMV evaluation, in warm as in temperate climate. These results will be comparedwith field studies for different climates. A PID (proportionalintegrative derivative) correction in the PMV predict results seem to have to be expected, to consider at the same time adaptation and temperature rate effects.