Comfort Temperature for Different Gender: Case Study in UTHM Lecture Room

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine the comfort temperature for different gender based on UTHM case study. The comfort temperature is determined based on Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) index by using regression analysis. In this study, there are two methods that are used to determine the PMV index, namely the physical measurement method and the human response method. The physical measurement method is used by measuring the environment inside the lecture room around UTHM, while the human response method is used by conducting a survey when a lecture is in progress. There are six parameters involved in this study, namely air temperature, mean radiant temperature, air velocity, relative humidity, metabolic rate and clothing insulation. The measuring instruments used in this study are the VelociCalc® Plus device and KIMO® AMI 310 device, and the data collection time is from around 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The data collection consists of 10 samples with different environmental conditions. Based on the results obtained from PMV linear regression analysis, the comfort temperature range for male is from 24.5 °C to 27.1 °C, while the comfort temperature range for a female is from 25.4 °C to 27.5 °C through physical measurement. Besides, the comfort temperature range for male is from 25.1 °C to 26.5 °C, while the comfort temperature range for a female is from 25.3 °C to 26.9 °C through human response. This statement shows that the comfort temperature for a female is higher than the comfort temperature for a male because females prefer higher room temperatures than males.