Thermal Comfort Study in Naturally Ventilated School Classroom in Parit Raja, Batu Pahat

Abstract

Thermal acceptability among students in classroom is vital for the students’ performance and well-being. The purpose of this study is to assess thermal comfort among school students based on ASHRAE Standard 55-2017. The study of thermal comfort was conducted at Sekolah Kebangsaan Jelutong, Parit Raja involving 56 primary students aged 10 years old in upper-level and ground-level classrooms. Subjective and physical measurement were conducted on both classes. Air velocity, relative humidity, air temperature, mean radiant temperature, and prevailing mean outdoor temperature were measured during physical measurement. Metabolic rate and clothing insulation value were estimated from observation done. Students were given a questionnaire to fill in for identifying their thermal sensation and thermal acceptability during subjective measurement. The physical measurement for upper-level classroom showed less than 80% of acceptability whereas from subjective measurement, the result shows 87% of acceptability. For ground-level classroom, the physical measurement showed 80% of acceptability of thermally condition in the classroom. However, from the subjective measurement, the results show slightly higher of thermally acceptability at 84%. Female students have higher thermal sensation vote’s value because of their clothing insulation value is higher than male students. In conclusion, by comparing both of the classroom, upper-level classroom have higher thermal acceptability than ground-level classroom with the difference of 3% in value.