Thermal Insulation Provided by Chairs with Various Clothing Ensembles

Abstract

Thermal insulation provided by chairs may significantly affect human thermal comfort. However, the thermal insulation data for chairs are decades old and thus need to be updated with chairs using modern designs and materials. Six typical office chairs were tested using a thermal manikin dressed in five typical clothing ensembles (from summer to winter). The added thermal insulation of the chairs varied between 0.04 and 0.14 clo when tested nude. The added values extended from 0.04 to 0.30 clo when tested with different clothing ensembles. Higher clothing levels correspond to higher added chair insulation. Therefore, a simple weighing method was developed for adjusting added chair insulation according to seasons (0.75 in summer, 1.0 in transition, and 1.25 in winter). Furthermore, a simple model was established for calculating overall clothing level for a seated person. The model was validated using data measured in this experiment and other external sources. This study provides a reference for accurately acquiring the thermal insulation value of clothing and chairs for a seated person in thermal comfort studies.

Keywords: Clothing Thermal Insulation, Chair added thermal insulation, Sitting thermal insulation, Thermal Comfort Predictive Model, Thermal Comfort