Thermal Comfort Evaluation in a Densely Occupied Multi-Purpose Railway Compartment under Seasonal Conditions

Kurzfassung

This work addresses an experimental investigation of thermal comfort in a generic multi-purpose train compartment currently configured with 13 standing aid chairs, representing a high-occupancy passenger area. The test environment features actively tempered sidewalls, allowing to simulate realistic boundary conditions for both summer and winter ambient temperatures. Moreover, multiple ventilation rates of the ceiling-based mixing-ventilation were tested to assess the impact of the supply air volume flow on local thermal comfort indices and the heat removal efficiency. Heated thermal manikins were used to realistically simulate passenger-induced thermal loads and their aerodynamic obstructions. Various measurement methods were applied to capture comfort-relevant data. These include local sensors to record the boundary conditions as well as the air and surface temperatures within the compartment. While infrared thermography provides a qualitative assessment of the thermal perception, a more holistic analysis of the thermal passenger comfort can be achieved by the acquisition of body-segment specific equivalent temperatures (in accordance with ISO 14505-2). Additionally, the objective results will be supplemented by selected data from an accompanying subject test campaign. The findings contribute to the development of ventilation strategies and climate control concepts for high-density rail applications, with a focus on passenger well-being. Thus, the work addresses, among others, the conference topics of “thermal comfort parameters and human perception”, “demand-controlled ventilation approaches” as well as “applications: high-occupancy spaces”.