An Assessment of Thermal Comfort in Hot and Dry Season (A Case Study of 4 Theaters at Bayero University Kano)
Pages : 1117-1121Download PDF
In hot and dry seasons, thermal discomfort is a major problem to the occupants of many lecture theatres of Bayero University Kano, especially where a theatre is not fitted with a recommended air conditioning system. This research work investigated the level of thermal comfort in the lecture theatres of the University permanent site. While conducting this study, measuring instruments were used to record five different thermal comfort parameters, namely; indoor air temperature, outdoor air temperature, indoor relative humidity, outdoor relative humidity and indoor air velocity. All the Data were collected during the month of March and April of the year 2013. In addition to thermal comfort measurements, a questionnaire survey was employed during the study. Data collected by field measurement and survey were analyzed and found that, the indoor air temperature of the theaters is in the range of 31.8 to 36.2 , and the indoor relative humidity is in the range of 36.5 to 50.6 , while the air velocity is between 0.29m/s and 0.05m/s. The ASHRAE guidelines recommend 22.2 to 26.7 in the summer and also its recommend a relative humidity (RH) of 30 to 60 percent. Comparatively, these conditions found in the theaters are outside the comfort zone as specified by ASHRAE which is “UNACCEPTABLE”. The questionnaire survey shows that 66% of the total respondents rated the thermal comfort level in the theatres as “NOT ACCEPTABLE”. This condition can be changed with installation of up to capacity cooling unit in the theaters by considering the size of the theaters, climate of the theaters, energy efficiency and lastly the number of the occupants in the theaters.
Keywords: Thermal comfort, Lectures Theaters, hot and dry season, thermal comfort parameters