Human Thermal Comfort

The ThermoAnalytics Human Comfort Module is an advanced plug-in for analyzing human thermal comfort within complex environments: indoor, outdoor, and in transportation systems. Our Human Comfort plug-in for RadTherm and MuSES software allows users to place virtual test dummies into these environments, and compute comfort indexes. Full radiant, convective and conductive heat transfer is accounted for, including localized thermoregulatory response such as perspiration, respiration, and blood flow changes.

The virtual dummy is composed of individual body parts that allow the user to define separate layers of clothing and other local effects. The methods employed were developed by Dr. Dusan Fiala, widely considered a world leader in human thermal comfort studies. The environmental models support full weather inputs, solar models, transparent glass with greenhouse effects, and all other significant thermal variables.

Common Applications

The Human Comfort Module is useful for determining the comfort of humans in the design of clothing, aircraft, vehicles and buildings: and it can also be applied to address the safety concerns of humans working in thermally significant environments, such as firefighters, pilots, foundry workers, and soldiers.

Thermal Sensation

The Human Comfort Module provides the analyst with an output of Thermal Sensation (TS) and Dynamic Thermal Sensation (DTS). It can be used to determine comfort or be applied to user-specific metrics. TS considers only the temperature state at any moment in time; the thermal history of the human is not considered. It uses the ASHRAE scale: -3 represents a human feeling very cold, +3 represents very warm, and 0 represents thermally comfortable.

Dynamic Thermal Sensation

DTS is an extension of the TS value and provides a more accurate prediction of human thermal comfort under rapidly changing transient conditions. Unlike TS (Thermal Sensation), it does consider the time-varying experience of a human exposed to transient thermal conditions.

Custom Analysis

Our research engineers can deliver a fully positioned and clothed virtual dummy placed into your environment. User routines to tailor the comfort metrics or implement feedback control systems can also be delivered with full engineering reports and analyses. Contact us for an engineering review of your requirements.

Total Thermal Solutions

ThermoAnalytics Human Comfort Module provides a full transient analysis of human comfort within complex asymmetrical environments. Because our software predicts a full multimode heat transfer solution, the mechanisms behind human comfort are also studied and new designs can be quickly performed for cost-benefit optimization analysis.

The Human Comfort Module accurately assigns thermal and mass resistances to each layer of clothing and connects it to the skin beneath. While clothing resistances to both heat transfer and diffusion of moisture can be defined by the user, a full library—including over 100 standard articles of clothing—is provided.