Experimental evaluation of the effect of foot wearing on occupants’ local and overall thermal sensation under personalized ventilation system

In this study, the effect of foot wearing on local and overall thermal sensation has been experimentally investigated under a personalized ventilation system in an office. Accordingly, the overall and local sensation of occupants for two arrangements of diffusers (desktop and under the desk) and two different clothing (A: conventional office clothing with thermal resistance of 0.58clo and B: similar clothing without shoes and socks) and three different inlet temperatures (16, 24 and 32°C) have been evaluated. The results showed that the feet wearing has a significant effect on the thermal sensation. In addition, the lack of coverage of the foot area increases the deviations between the sensations of various parts of the body. So, that the difference between the sensation of various segments under the conditions of using clothing A and the desktop arrangement for the diffusers is about 0.5; while this amount in the conditions of under the desk diffusers and using clothing B reaches about twice and the value of 1. Also, the results showed that if the inlet temperature is 16°C or occupants are not used the foot wearing, thermal dissatisfaction cannot be prevented.