Preferred temperatures with and without air movement during moderate exercise

• Published in: Energy and buildings 2020-01, Vol.207, p.109565, Article 109565
• Main Authors: Zhai, Yongchao, Zhao, Shengkai, Gao, Yunfei, Song, Wenxin, Yang, Liu, Zhang, Hui, Arens, Edward
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air movement; Air temperature; Energy saving; Environmental engineering; Exercise; Heart rate; Metabolic rate; Metabolism; Physical training; Physiological responses; Skin; Skin temperature; Sports complexes; Sustainable design; Temperature; Thermal environments; Thermal preference; Treadmills; Walking
• ISSN: 0378-7788; 1872-6178
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109565

•Chamber study on preferred temperature with and without air movement during moderate exercise.•Preferred temperature decreases as activity level increases.•People prefer air movement over cold ambient temperatures during exercise.•PMV model is not suitable to predict thermal comfort for people during exercise.•Sports facilities shall consider providing personal controlled air movement with warmer setpoint temperature to save energy while maintaining thermal comfort. During exercise, comfort requirements are different because of the elevated metabolic heat production. It is essential to know the preferable thermal environment to give environmental design suggestions to sports facilities. Experimental studies on preferred temperature were conducted on 20 healthy human subjects walking on a treadmill at 4, 5, and 6 km/h, with and without self-controlled air movement. Physiological responses (metabolic rate, skin temperature, skin wettedness, and heart rate) were monitored, while their subjective responses were collected by questionnaires. Metabolic rates were 3.0, 3.5, and 4.5 met for 4, 5, and 6 km/h walking. Preferred temperatures were significantly lower without fan (23.3, 22.8, and 22.1 °C without fan vs. 24.9, 24.1, and 23.6 °C with fan), and all subjects were satisfied with their preferred thermal environment. PMV model was found to overestimate the cooling requirements for exercising people. Our results indicate that human in exercise does not necessarily want neutral temperature but want somewhat warm sensations, with lower temperature, higher skin wettedness, and higher core temperature. Overall, the results suggest that design temperature shall be 22–24 °C without air movement, and 24–26 °C with personally controlled air movement.