Analysis on thermal comfort of air-conditioned buildings in Malaysia: Case study of universiti tenaga nasional

Abstract

Field study was carried out on the thermal conditions and thermal comfort of occupants in air conditioned buildings in Malaysia. The study was carried out in 10 staff offices and 6 student study areas of Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) during October and November 2013, collecting a full set of objective physical measurements and subjective assessments through questionnaires. The measured environmental parameters were air temperature, relative humidity and air velocity. The subjective responses concern the judgment of the occupants about the thermal environment at the moment of measurements. The obtained results showed that most places are in acceptable and comfort zone according to Fanger’s predicted mean vote (PMV) model. The neutral air temperature obtained through linear regression analysis of thermal sensation vote (TSV) is 23.9°C for UNITEN. The result of this study demonstrates that the acceptability of thermal comfort among UNITEN occupant is about 78%. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.