ATLANTA, GA — Proposed revisions of “Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy” (ASHRAE Standard 55-1992R) were approved for public review of its proposed revisions at the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Winter Meeting held here last month.

The standard includes environ-mental factors such as temperature, thermal radiation, humidity, and air speed; personal factors are activity and clothing.

According to Daniel Int-Hout, chair of the committee revising the standard, one major proposed change is the addition of the predicted mean vote (PMV) calculation method, which is used to assess thermal comfort.

“This equation will enable engineers to make better design decisions regarding thermal comfort. The equation has been validated by my research.”

Publication date: 02/26/2001