Design and development of thermal comfort analysis for air-conditioned compartment

The term “thermal comfort” gained recognition with the advancement of HVAC systems. Thermal comfort is explained by the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers as “the mind state which incorporates satisfaction with respect to contact atmosphere”. Thermal comfort disturbs the consumption of energy for the HVAC systems; nevertheless, it is also an important element regarding the health condition of a person. The present study is conducted in the interest of enhancing the understanding of the conditions and design considerations that helps us achieve better thermal comfort in an indoor space. In this paper, the thermal comfort of the occupants in a passenger cabin of a train has been analysed. The cabin is provided with an inlet at the bottom, 3 outlets at the opposite bottom, a glass window as well as seating arrangement for four passengers. Four different cases with varying position of the inlet vent and the window have been considered and results have been analysed for the steady state thermal simulation. The design arrangement of case 4, i.e., with the center position of the inlet vent as well as the window bulge being outside of the cabin, has been found to deliver best temperature distribution and maximum thermal comfort to the human occupants with an average temperature being in the range of 293.14–296.15 K for large volume of the passenger cabin. Hence, the design arrangement of the case 4 has been suggested in this study.