Abstract
Subjective experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of humidity on human comfort and productivity under transient conditions from hot and humid environment to thermally neutral condition. Two climate chambers, "Chamber 1" and "Chamber 2", adjoined eath other were used for this study. Subjects were exposed to 30℃/70%RH air in Chamber 1 for 15 minutes with 2.0 met of metabolic rate. Then they moved into Chamber 2, where 4 humidity conditions, 30%RH, 40%RH, 50%RH and 70%RH were examined. Air temperature were adjusted to keep SET constant at 25.2℃ for all conditions. Subjects were exposed in Chamber 2 for 180 minutes performing 2 kinds of simulated office work. Skin wettedness and skin moisture declined more at low relative humidity just after moving into Chamber 2. Subjects reported greater pleasantness at 30%RH and 40%RH than at 50%RH and 70%RH, while no significant difference in thermal sensation, comfort sensation and humidity sensation among 4 relative humidity levels was obtained. Though significant differences in the task performance among conditions were not found for 3 hours test, subjective complaints related to fatigue at 50%RH and 70%RH were higher than at 30%RH and 40%RH.
