Personal cooling strategies to improve thermal comfort in warm indoor environments: Comparison of a conventional desk fan and air ventilation clothing

The study examined and compared the performance of two personalized cooling strategies (conventional desk fan [DF] and air ventilation clothing [VC]) in three warm indoor environments. Two cooling methods were selected so that the effect of different local body parts cooling can be analysed on overall thermal comfort of female participants. Three warm indoor conditions (28.0, 30.0 and 32.0 °C; 50% RH) were selected with an aim to determine maximum possible air temperature which can be maintained indoors without compromising with thermal comfort of inhabitants. Results showed that performance of both the two cooling methods are similar in terms of perceptual responses and mean skin temperatures at all three air temperatures. Mean torso temperatures in VC were significantly lower than those in DF at three studied indoor temperatures. It was concluded that the effect of torso cooling on overall sensations was equivalent to combined forehead-hand cooling for the studied indoor conditions. VC is recommended for indoor and normal office work environments with air temperatures up to 32.0 °C because it can save significant cooling energy as compared to conventional desk fans.