Assessing the thermal comfort in non-air conditioned classrooms in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

Thermal comfort is a parameter to assess environmental indoor quality which affects especially performance of students. A cross-sectional study was conducted in classrooms at a university campus in Ho Chi Minh City to assess the thermal condition during the class time. Microclimate parameters were measured at the same time when students answered the survey on their thermal sensation and acceptability of the indoor climate. Objective data analysis from adaptive PMV model for non-air-conditioned buildings revealed that none of classes had the thermal condition were in the comfort zone of TCVN 7438:2004, coinciding with the subjective result from the surveys. The research showed that 72 percent of the 472 students did not accept the thermal environment and 91.3 percent of students preferred cooler. The suggested neutral temperature was 29.4 oC, the derived from the linear regression between adaptive Predicted Mean Vote (aPMV) and operative temperature (To).