Innovative cooling method in a school environment

摘要

Many schools today have a need for artificial cooling over the year but most of the classrooms do not have any cooling capacity installed. This fact results in high room temperatures as well as poor thermal comfort. However, new research shows that an increased air velocity during short periods can create an improved temperature tolerance in human beings. The high velocity pulses are short, a few minutes, so that the air movements should not be perceived as draft. This means that, within certain limits, it is possible to let the room temperature rise with maintained comfort. The use of this method also gives that the excess heat does not have to be removed continuously. The air temperature of the classroom can be restored during brakes, by opening windows or forced ventilation. This method saves energy at the same time as installation of conventional cooling equipment is avoided. The expected result from the project is to be able to prove that the method works in a real school environment. At present, this new cooling method has been implemented in two schools in Sweden and the evaluation of the method has just started. This paper report the first results from this project where ffifteen high school pupils participated as subjects at each of the two velocity conditions, constant low velocity and velocity variation. The results shows that people exposed to velocity variation perceived the temperature as cooler, the air fresher and less stagnant compared with those exposed to constant low velocity.