Effects of window view and local airflow on human thermal comfort in a sudden change environment

Abstract

Transitioning from outdoors to indoors involves a sudden environmental change. However, current thermal comfort standards and design guidelines focus on steady-state environments, which do not fully address the urgent need for comfort during dynamic recovery periods. This study uses a climate chamber experiment to investigate the effects of window view and local airflow on thermal recovery under sudden environmental changes. Twenty participants, after exercising in a 34 °C environment for 10 min, sat for 60 min in a 28 °C room (with a microenvironment featuring window view/local airflow). Physiological parameters and subjective responses were measured during this period. The results indicate that under sudden environmental changes, window view significantly positively affects thermal recovery through psychological effects, while local airflow mainly accelerates convective heat exchange. The influence on thermal sensation recovery and recovery speed is as follows: window view and local airflow coupling > local airflow > window view. In terms of physiological parameters, both of them only had a significant effect on skin temperature but not on heart rate and blood pressure. The results of the study not only reveal the key role of indoor microenvironment on the effect and speed of thermal sensation recovery under the sudden change environments, which enriches the theory of dynamic thermal comfort, but also provides a scientific basis for the control strategy of indoor environments under sudden change environments.