László Kajtár

Objective and subjective thermal comfort evaluation in Hungary

Thermal comfort sensation can be predicted in the most exact way based on Fanger’s predicted mean vote (PMV) model. This evaluation method takes all the six influencing factors into consideration: air temperature and humidity, air velocity, mean radiant temperature of surrounding surfaces, clothing insulation, and occupants’ activities. Fanger’s PMV method was developed for temperate climate and European people, with the participation of university students as subjects. Many researchers had investigated its validity in different geographic locations (i. e. climatic conditions, people) and under non-laboratory circumstances. The results were summarised by van Hoof which had been published in the scientific references. The articles gave us the idea to elaborate the former measurement results. During the last decades thermal comfort was evaluated by our research team using subjective scientific questionnaires and applying the objective Fanger’s model in several office buildings in Hungary. The relation between the PMV and actual mean vote values were analysed based on these results. Investigations were carried out under steady-state conditions in winter time. We performed objective thermal comfort evaluations based on instrumental measurements using the PMV theory. Parallel to this we assessed the subjective thermal sensation using scientific questionnaires. The mathematical relationship between the actual mean vote and PMV was defined according to the evaluated thermal environment: AMV = PMV + 0.275, (arg. –1.7 ≤ PMV ≤ +0.5).