| The thesis reports, first of all, two numerical studies on the micro-climate around, and the thermal neutrality of, a sleeping person placed in a space with a displacement ventilation system. A sleeping computational thermal manikin (SCTM) was developed and used to investigate the micro-climate around a naked SCTM. Then, the results of the numerical study on the thermal neutrality for a sleeping person are presented, including the thermal neutrality for a naked sleeping person and the effects of the total insulation value of a bedding system on the thermal neutrality of a sleeping person. The results of the two numerical studies were validated by the experimental data from earlier related studies.;Secondly, a study on developing a four-node thermoregulation model for predicting the thermal physiological responses of a sleeping person is presented. The four-node thermoregulation model for a sleeping person was developed by modifying Gagge's two-node model. The four-node thermoregulation model was validated by comparing the predicted thermal physiological responses, including skin and core temperatures, using the model developed with the experimental data previously obtained by others. The comparison results demonstrated that the four-node thermoregulation model developed could be used to predict the thermoregulatory responses of a sleeping person with an acceptable accuracy.;Thirdly, a study on evaluating the operational and energy saving performance of a novel bed-based task/ambient conditioning (TAC) system is presented. Both experimental and numerical approaches were employed in the study, and are separately reported. In the experimental part, the development of a novel bed-based TAC system placed in an experimental bedroom and the related experimental performance evaluations are presented. The experimental results demonstrated that the use of the novel bed-based TAC system can help achieve energy saving, compared to the use of a full air conditioning (FAC) system. On the other hand, in the numerical part, a numerical model for the bed-based TAC system placed in the experimental bedroom was established, and validated using the experimental data obtained. The validated numerical model was further used to analyze the performances of the bed-based TAC system developed at the operating conditions other than the experimental conditions. |
