Exergy analysis of the human body to assess thermal comfort conditions: Comparison of the thermal responses of males and females

Abstract

© 2021 The Author(s).Males and females share the same physiological transportation systems and phenomenological mechanism to exchange heat and mass with the environment. Nevertheless, a literature review shows that they have significantly distinctive anatomies, metabolic rates, and hormonal cycles, all of which influence individual comfort conditions. Moreover, how to obtain thermal environments that suit everyone's thermal comfort conditions remains unclear. Therefore, computational models were proposed to compare thermal behaviors in different environments for two males (one dressed in a suit and the other in lighter clothing) and two females with the same office clothing (in the luteal and follicular phases). Exergy indicators were compared with traditional indices used to assess thermal comfort in air conditioning environments. The minimum points of destroyed exergy had similar occurrences to PMV=0 and PPD=5%. The environmental temperature in which the exergy minimums occurred varied by approximately 5% compared to traditional energy indices. It was concluded that females demand higher comfort temperatures than men. Women's comfort temperatures in the luteal phase were similar to men in lighter clothing and lower during the follicular phase. Higher environmental temperatures respecting the use lightweight clothing implies a lower energy expenditure, with a reduction of electricity by approximately 22%.