How Can We Adapt Thermal Comfort for Disabled Patients? A Case Study of French Healthcare Buildings in Summer

• Main Authors: Youcef Bouzidi, Zoubayre El Akili, Antoine Gademer, Nacef Tazi, Adil Chahboun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: thermal comfort; healthcare facility; disabled people; adaptive thermal comfort; indoor environment; air-conditioned building
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/15/4530

This paper investigates adaptive thermal comfort during summer in medical residences that are located in the French city of Troyes and managed by the Association of Parents of Disabled Children (APEI). Thermal comfort in these buildings is evaluated using subjective measurements and objective physical parameters. The thermal sensations of respondents were determined by questionnaires, while thermal comfort was estimated using the predicted mean vote (PMV) model. Indoor environmental parameters (relative humidity, mean radiant temperature, air temperature, and air velocity) were measured using a thermal environment sensor during the summer period in July and August 2018. A good correlation was found between operative temperature, mean radiant temperature, and PMV. The neutral temperature was determined by linear regression analysis of the operative temperature and Fanger’s PMV model. The obtained neutral temperature is 23.7 °C. Based on the datasets and questionnaires, the adaptive coefficient α representing patients’ capacity to adapt to heat was found to be 1.261. A strong correlation was also observed between the sequential thermal index <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi mathvariant="normal">n</mi><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">t</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and the adaptive temperature. Finally, a new empirical model of adaptive temperature was developed using the data collected from a longitudinal survey in four residential buildings of APEI in summer, and the obtained adaptive temperature is 25.0 °C with upper and lower limits of 24.7 °C and 25.4 °C.