Measurement of thermal environment and mental- return of elderly people in welfare facilities

摘要

With the aged society coming in Japan, an increasing number of elderly people begin to use dwelling facilities and day services for the elderly. The suitable thermal environment is regarded as one of the requirements for users to live comfortably and healthfully. The purpose of this study is to clarify the influence of the thermal environment on the physiological and mental return of elderly people in welfare facilities. The facilities where elderly people live actually are research objects of the thermo - humidity measurements and hearing surveys in winter. In this study the following results were obtained: The measured air temperature in the facilities in the winter fell in the 23±2 ℃ range, which was satisfied winter criterion value of indoor temperature. The range of PMV during measurements time was from -0.74 to 1.52. Despite a deviation from PMV comfort range from - 0.5 to 0.5, the elderly people announced that it was just fit for them very well. As for actual living environment, it is confirmed that the thermal sensation of elderly people is different from young people.