Influence of a breathing process on the perception of the thermal environment using personalised ventilation

• The impact of the breathing process on thermal comfort was assessed.
• The breathing process reduces the equivalent temperature measured on thermal manikin.
• The greatest reduction of teq was equal to 2.6 °C for the entire manikin.

This paper presents the findings of a study examining the influence of the breathing process on the perception of the thermal environment during the use of personalised ventilation (PV). The measurements were made on a sitting thermal manikin with various options of air terminal device, ambient temperature and PV air supply. The thermal environment was assessed by means of the equivalent temperatures measured for each segment of the thermal manikin. The values of teq were calculated for the variants of the breathing function being switched on or off. Based on the measurement results, the values of equivalent temperature were determined to be lower for a breathing variant than for a non-breathing variant, irrespective of whether the PV system was used to heat or to cool. Therefore, the results confirmed that breathing air jets have the potential to influence the users' thermal sensation. This information is particularly important for the design of the ventilation and air conditioning systems that affect the parameters of the environment in the vicinity of human body.