| At present,the aging problem in China is becoming increasingly serious.As a special and large group,the creation of a livable indoor thermal environment for the elderly directly affects their quality of life and health,and requires greater attention.The key to providing a healthy and comfortable indoor thermal environment for the elderly is to use standards related to their thermal comfort to guide the creation of indoor thermal environments for the elderly.However,there is currently a lack of relevant standards targeting the indoor thermal comfort needs of the elderly as a special group.Thermal neutral temperature refers to the temperature at which the human body feels neither hot nor cold,and is commonly used as an indicator to determine the design temperature of indoor thermal environments.At present,research on thermal comfort and thermal neutral temperature is mostly conducted in office buildings,subway carriages,school classrooms,or dormitories,and most of the research targets young people.In a few studies on the thermal neutral temperature of the elderly,the calculation of the thermal neutral temperature of the elderly is basically based on thermal comfort research.However,research on the thermal neutral temperature and its influencing factors of the elderly is still insufficient,and there is a lack of research on the differences in thermal neutral temperature between urban and rural areas of the elderly.In response to the above shortcomings,this study selected urban areas of Xi’an and rural areas of Zhoukou in cold regions to study the thermal neutral temperatures of elderly people in both urban and rural areas during the winter and summer seasons,as follows:(1)The indoor thermal and humid environment of elderly people was measured using onsite measurement methods,and the indoor thermal and humid environment was evaluated in accordance with relevant standards.The results indicate that the indoor temperature of the elderly subjects in urban and rural areas is relatively high in summer,while the indoor temperature of the elderly subjects in rural areas is relatively low in winter,resulting in poor indoor temperature conditions for the elderly.In summer,the indoor relative humidity of the elderly subjects in both regions met the Class II thermal comfort standard,while in winter,the indoor relative humidity of the elderly subjects in rural areas met the Class I thermal comfort standard.The indoor humidity status of the elderly subjects was good.The overall acceptance rate of indoor thermal environment among elderly people is relatively high,indicating that they have low psychological expectations for the actual thermal environment and have a certain degree of adaptability.(2)Based on measured data and questionnaire results,the measured and expected thermal neutral temperatures of the elderly in summer and winter were analyzed and determined.The measured thermal neutral temperatures of the elderly in urban and rural areas during summer were 26.4 ℃ and 25.8 ℃,respectively.The predicted thermal neutral temperatures obtained from the PMV model were 25.4 ℃ and 25.1 ℃,respectively.The measured thermal neutral temperatures of the elderly in both regions were higher than the expected thermal neutral temperatures.The measured thermal neutral temperature of elderly people in rural areas in winter is 12.4 ℃,and the expected thermal neutral temperature obtained from the PMV model is 14.1 ℃.The measured thermal neutral temperature of elderly people in rural areas in winter is lower than the expected thermal neutral temperature.In addition,the analysis determined the actual and expected 90% acceptable temperature range for the elderly,and compared the upper and lower limit temperatures.The results showed that in summer,the actual 90% acceptable temperature upper limit for the elderly was higher than the predicted value,while the actual temperature lower limit was lower than the predicted value.In winter,the actual 90% acceptable temperature upper and lower limits are lower than the predicted values.There is a certain deviation between the actual thermal sensation voting TSV and the predicted thermal sensation voting PMV,indicating that the PMV model cannot predict the actual thermal sensation of the elderly well.(3)The thermal expected temperature of the elderly was calculated and compared with the measured thermal neutral temperature.The results showed that the thermal expected temperature of the elderly in summer and winter was higher than the measured thermal neutral temperature;Comparing the thermal neutral temperature of elderly people of different genders and ages,it can found that the measured thermal neutral temperature of female elderly people was higher than that of male elderly people,and the measured thermal neutral temperature of elderly people increaseed with age;The difference in measured thermal neutral temperature between elderly people in air-conditioned and non-air-conditioning rooms under the same conditions was compared.The results showed that the measured thermal neutral temperature and sensitivity to indoor temperature changes of elderly people in air-conditioned rooms were greater than those in non-air-conditioned rooms.(4)We investigated whether the APMV model in cold regions is suitable for the elderly population based on the adaptive coefficients given by the specifications.The results indicate that the APMV models in urban and rural areas during summer cannot accurately predict the actual thermal response of elderly people.Therefore,the actual adaptive coefficients of elderly people in rural and urban areas were calculated,and the APMV model was modified based on this.The APMV model in rural areas during winter can effectively predict the actual thermal response of the elderly without modification.The research results of this article can provide reference for the optimization and regulation of indoor thermal environment for elderly people in cold regions,and provide data support for the revision of relevant specifications for elderly care facilities and service buildings. |
PDF Full Text Request