Examining Occupant-Comfort Responses to Indoor Humidity Ratio in Conventional and Vernacular Dwellings: A Rural Indian Case Study

Suchi Priyadarshani (), Roshan R. Rao, Monto Mani and Daniel Maskell
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Suchi Priyadarshani: Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India
Roshan R. Rao: Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India
Monto Mani: Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India
Daniel Maskell: Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering, BRE Centre in Innovative Construction Materials (BRE CICM), University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 19, 1-27

Abstract: Optimum indoor humidity is often associated with comfort and overall well-being. Occupant comfort is often evaluated with a focus on “thermal comfort” using the PMV (predicted mean vote), PDD (predicted percentage of dissatisfied), and adaptive thermal comfort models. Humidity-determined comfort parameters, like skin and respiratory comfort, are well acknowledged in the scientific community, but strangely not considered for indoor comfort computations. This study proposes a new computational approach for describing and evaluating humidity-related skin comfort in buildings using skin temperature, evaporative loss, and skin wettedness as critical parameters. The Development and validation of the computational model was demonstrated through a case study in a rural Indian context. The case study involves real-time monitoring of indoor environmental parameters and humidity-determined occupant comfort votes recorded through a novel aggregated humidity comfort vote method. The simulation results were compared with the community comfort/health survey. It was observed that, even at neutral skin temperatures, an increase in skin wettedness increases the thermal sensation vote. Clothing varies according to gender, community, and personal preferences, influencing physiological parameters which determine comfort. The acceptable humidity ratio was found to be in the range of 17.4 to 22.6 g-wv/kg-da for Indian participants. Including humidity-related comfort parameters in building simulation tools would aid in selecting building materials for improved indoor comfort.

Keywords: humidity ratio; thermal comfort; skin comfort; indoor air quality; skin temperature; Gagge 2-node model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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