Thermal comfort of sellers with a kind of traditional personal heating device (Huotong) in marketplace in winter

This study aims to investigate thermal comfort of sellers who were using a kind of traditional personal heating device (Huotong) in marketplaces in winter. A field survey was carried out in the markets in three towns with cold-humid climate in the west of Hunan Province, China in winter. This survey combined environment measurement, questionnaire and interview. The obtained results indicated that environment of markets in the region with cold-humid climate in winter was far away from comfortable zone suggested by ASHRAE Standard 55. But sellers in the semi-outdoor markets still maintained their comfort by using Huotong (warm-barrel), which decreased the lower operative temperature limit of 90% acceptable to 9.2 °C. According to the comparison with previous studies, Huotong owned the advantage of extending acceptable temperature range. This probably came from the larger heated area of human body when using Huotong. Besides, the adoption of Huotong in marketplaces complied with “3E + S” principle (i.e. Easy, Economic, Effective and Safe). This paper provides references for studies and application of practical personal comfort system (PCS) in the future.