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C--H--A--P-T--E--R--6
1954 Guide
EFFECTIVE TEMPERATURE INDEX AND COMFORT ZONES
There is no precise physiologic observation by which comfort can be evaluated. Mean skin temperature offers some promise. The zone of thermal neutrality differs with clothing, season,'activity, and all the other factors controlling heat production (Table 4). The comfort zone is very
similar to the zone of thermal neutrality. Sensations of warmth or cold depend not only on the temperature of
the surrounding air as registered by a diy-bulb thermometer, but also upon the temperature indicated by a wet-bulb thermometer, upon air movement, and upon radiation effects. Dry air at a relatively high tem perature may feel cooler than air of lower temperature with a high moisture content. Air motion makes any moderate condition feel cooler. Radia tion to cold or from warm surfaces is another important factor under certain conditions affecting the comfort reaction of the individual.
Pio 7 Evaporative Heat and Moisture Loss from the Human Body in Rela-
tion to Dry-Bulb Temperature for Still Air Conditions* 14
* See footnote a, Fig. 5.-
Combinations of temperature, humidity, and air movement which in duce the same feeling of warmth are called thermo-equivalent condi tions. A series of studies at the A.S.H.V.E. Research Laboratory estab lished the equivalent conditions for practical use. This scale of thermoequivalent conditions not only indicates the sensation of warmth, but also to a considerable degree determines the physiological effects on the body induced by heat or cold. For this reason, it is called the effective temperature scale or index, and it denotes sensory heat level.
Effective temperature is an empirically determined index of the degree of warmth perceived on exposure to different combinations of temperature, humidity, and air movement. It was determined by trained subjects who compared the relative warmth of various air conditions in two adjoining conditioned rooms by passing back and forth from one room to the other..
The numerical value of the index for any given air conditions is fixed by the temperature of slowly moving (15 to 25 fpm air movement) saturated 3
Physiological Principles
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air which induces a like sensation of warmth or cold. Thus, any air con dition has an effective temperature of 60 deg when it induces a sensa tion of warmth like that experienced in slowly moving air at 60 F saturated with moisture. The effective temperature index cannot be measured directly, but is determined from dry- and wet-bulb temperatures and air motion observations by reference to an Effective Temperature Chart (see Figs. 8, 9, and 10) or tables.
Fig. 8 gives the effective temperature for any combination of dry- and wet-bulb temperatures for stilt air (15 to 25 fpm) conditions. Charts similar to Fig. 8 for air velocities of 100 and 300 fpm have been presented in earlier editions of The Guide, e.g. 1939. Fig. 9 is another form of effective temperature chart embodying all three variables: dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures, and air velocity.
Table 4. Comparison of Comfort Ranges With Zone of Thermal Neutrality
INVESTIGATORS
Effective Temperatube
Optimum Line
Range ,,
Temp Range
Remarks
Comfort Zone
Houghten and Yaglou. 66
Yaglou and Drinker... Yaglou.......... Keeton et al.
71 72.5 75
63-71
66-75 66-82 74-76
Winter non-basal; at rest, nor mally clothed. Men and women.
Summer non-basal; at rest and normally clothed. Men.
Entire year; non-basal; at rest and stripped to waist. Men.
Entire year;basal,nude.Steady state (9 hr exposure). Men and women.
Zone of Thermal Neutrality
DuBois and Hardy....
Winslow, Herrington and Gagge................
75 71.8
73.2-76.9 64.8-76.0
Basal; nude; men'. Basal; clothed; men.
84.0-87.8 Non-basal; at rest; nude; men. 74 -84 Non-basal ;at rest jclothed ;men.
As stated previously, effective temperature is an index of the degree of
warmth experienced by the body. An effective temperature line is, there fore, a line defining the various combinations of conditions which will induce like sensations of warmth. It does not necessarily follow that like
sensations of comfort will also be experienced along the entire length of an effective temperature line. Some degree of discomfort is likely to be experienced at very high or very low relative humidities, regardless of the effective temperature. It has also been found that the optimum effective temperature varies with the season, and is lower in winter than in summer.
. Tests14 made at the A.S.H.V.E. Research Laboratory in very hot con ditions, with subjects doing light work, were in very close agreement with the effective temperature chart. Other work20 under similar environ
mental conditions, but with subjects walking 3 mph and carrying 20 lb packs, indicated that the effective temperature lines should be more