Thermal comfort characteristics of a catalytic combustion heater under wind-chilled exposure

• Main Authors: Qin, Mingyuan, Chew, Bee Teng, Yau, Yat Huang, Li, Chao, Liu, Yiqiao, Han, Xiaofei, Chao, Ong Zhi, Pan, Song
• Format: Article
• Published: Elsevier 2024
• Subjects: T Technology (General); TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/44904/; https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182504461&doi=10.1016%2fj.jclepro.2024.140701&partnerID=40&md5=07b58da9a766924070f046651b67b2da

Heating in wind-chilled environments is a serious task. The catalytic combustion heater (CCH) provides more efficient and cleaner in combustion compared to conventional heaters with high pollutant emission and low energy utilization. In this paper, the heating ability of CCH on human body in a wind-chilled environment (apparent temperatures between −14.8 °C and 12.4 °C) was investigated by collecting skin temperature and subjective thermal evaluation data from 23 subjects. The impact of cold air on localized heating of body parts by CCH was clarified using decision trees and dimensionless correlation coefficients. A human-computer interaction regulation strategy was proposed to simultaneously satisfy the requirements of effective heating, low energy consumption, and low pollution. Finally, CCH and a commercial heater were compared in terms of heating effectiveness and energy consumption in a real outdoor environment. The results showed that CCH effectively solved the problem of excessive cold extremities, and