Research On Thermal Comfort And Thermal Adaptation Of Residents In Tropical Island

Hainan is the only tropical island province in China, where climate is quite different from inland regions. At present, there is few research in our country on thermal comfort and thermal adaptation of residents in tropical island area. Therefore, it is necessary to study thermal comfort characteristic and demand of local residents and their thermal adaptation, which will provide guidance to building energy efficiency.Firstly, thermal comfort of residents in Tropical Island was studied. Tow month thermal comfort field investigation was conducted in different type of buildings in Hainan province, and thermal comfort in non-air-conditioned building was studied. Through analyzing the survey data, we found people did not feel humid under high humidity environment and humidity did not have a greater impact on human comfort. The neutral temperature of residents in tropical island area was 26.1 °C, and the acceptable range of thermal comfort temperature was from 23.1 °C to 29.1 °C, but the desired temperature was not consistent with thermal comfort temperature. These have reference significance for guiding air conditioning parameters selection and indoor thermal environment in tropical island region.By comparing the research results with thermal comfort evaluation index, we found the satisfaction of people was not only related to the surrounding environment parameters, but also had a lot to do with psychological factors. When people could play adaptation, their unsatisfactory rate was also lower than predicted value. Because of thermal adaptation, the heat resistance ability of tropical island residents was higher than predict, and the cold tolerance ability was lower than predict. After respectively analyzing thermal comfort of different gender, we found the neutral temperature of female(26.3 °C) was higher than male(25.8 °C), and female was more sensitive to the air temperature than male.Secondly, thermal adaptation of residents in Tropical Island was studied. By analyzing the survey results, we found that local residents first select four ways to fall heat in summer: air conditioning, electric fans, opening doors and windows for ventilation, and hand fan, and residents in Hainan province preferred using techniques ways to meet the demand of their thermal comfort. What's more, the number of local residents using hot water when bathing has negatively correlated relationship with outdoor month average temperature.