Thermal comfort study in hot-humid area of China (4): Results on occupants from buildings with split air-conditioners

By the combined method of climate chamber experiment with field survey, conducts the climate chamber experiments in summer and winter on occupants from buildings with split air-conditioners in hot-humid area of China. Performs a series of comparison studies for the key adaptive factors including current environment, thermal history, climate and season. The main adaptive characteristics of people in hot-humid area of China are obtained as follows: seasonal and climatic adaptations will be reflected in physiological responses, where the former one shows that heart rate slows down, sweating increases and skin temperature decreases in summer than in winter, and the latter one shows that sweating reduces and skin temperature decreases for people from hot-humid climate than those from moderate climate. Current environment and thermal history have influences on psychological responses.Thermal sensation is more sensitive to thermal environment change and acceptable range of sensation is much wider in conditions with high perceived control and for people with cooler thermal histories.