An Investigation and Analysis of Indoor Environment in Air-Conditioned Chinese Ship Vessel Cabins

This paper focuses on the field measurement and evaluation of the indoor thermal environment in air-conditioned vessel cabins. Questionnaires were collected in this study to appraise thermal sensation vote (TSV) of crews and passengers in specific ship cabins environment during a hot season. Predicted mean vote (PMV) was calculated based on the field environmental data. The neutral temperature was 22.6°C for passengers, 22.9°C for the working crews and 20.9°C for resting crews based on calculation using TSV regression. From PMV regression, the neutral temperature was 24.0°C for passengers, 25.1°C for working crew and 24.7°C for resting crew. Predicted neutral temperature from PMV is higher than the neutral temperature from TSV. Human factors of crew, metabolism rate and clothing insulation were reasonably modified in order to minimise the differences between TSV and PMV and predict PMV accurately. Investigation of the thermal preference and productivity of the crews were also carried out during the field experiment. The results showed that female subjects or elderly subjects (above 40) preferred working in warmer environment and that neutral temperature can not ensure high productivity. Therefore, variance exists between thermal sensation and thermal preference. From the field data analysis, productivity of the crew in slightly cool or slightly warm environment was higher than that in the environment with neutral temperature. Productivity is 101.7% when TSV is 0 and reaches the peak of 105.1% in slightly cool environment. A TSV-Productivity polynomial regression equation was established based on field investigation data.