Thermal comfort in car cabin with cooling individual body parts

The principal aim of this study is to analyze the method of psychological estimation under a transient and non-uniform thermal environment. In this paper, we verified the Zhang model which predicts psychological response from a physiological amount in such an environment by comparing with the results of subjective tests under such an environment in August 2010(Yoshimura et al). The Zhang model consists of four phases: The "local sensation model", "overall sensation model", "local comfort model" and "overall comfort model". There are two independent versions: a 2004 version and a 2009versionof the "overall sensation model". The subjective test was carried out in a climate chamber which was set to summer climate conditions. Four air conditioning cases were set by airflow directions: 1) Head, 2) Head & Foot, 3) Chest and 4) Chest & Foot. The estimation of local thermal sensation by the Zhang model was found to be accurate. However, the estimation of overall sensation and local/overall comfort was still less than accurate and needs improvement.