An enhanced thermal comfort model based on the exergy analysis approach

摘要

In this paper an exergy - based correlation between thermal comfort and the thermal environment was investigated. The two-node human thermal model was expanded by applying the 2nd law of thermodynamics in order to calculate the exergy destruction. This value was compared to the standard Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) value and a formal analogy between thermal comfort and exergy destruction was established. This indicated that the exergy - based analysis exhibits some advantages: 1. the heat and mass transfer are analysed on a common base and expressed as exergy destruction 2. environmental (indoor) parameters are considered to be the reference state which also determines the exergy destruction 3. exergy destruction as a single-valued thermodynamic pseudo-property encompasses all relevant parameters influencing thermal comfort 4. exergy destruction formally correlates with the expected level of thermal comfort.