Comparison of thermal comfort of vehicle passengers according to gender and age

To provide a comfortable indoor environment for vehicle passengers, thermal comfort studies were carried out, and HVAC systems were developed based on those studies. However, most of these studies conducted experiments in a climate chamber with a single-participant group. Therefore, as the first step toward developing advanced HVAC systems reflected characteristics of various passengers, this study investigated the differences in the thermal comfort of vehicle passengers based on their gender and age. The experiments were conducted during different seasons, inside actual vehicles parked outdoors, with three groups of participants - men in their 20s and 30s, and 40s and 50s, and women in their 20s and 30s. The result confirmed that thermal comfort in winter was different for men and women. Compared to men, women's whole-body sensations were more sensitive to change in mean skin temperature. Also, women felt more comfortable than men in winter. In terms of age, men in their 40s and 50s felt warmer in summer and cooler in winter than men in their 20s and 30s. Besides, they felt less comfortable than younger men in both seasons.