Thermal comfort in air-conditioned university classrooms in Ho Chi Minh city

This article analyzes students' opinions about thermal comfort in air-conditioned classrooms. This field study monitored and recorded the following variables: Air temperature (°C), Mean radiant temperature (°C), Humidity (%), and Air velocity (m/s). In addition, a survey was answered by 169 students to collect the students' thermal sensation and preferences according to the ASHRAE sensory scale. The results show the neutral temperature found from the votes was 28.2°C with 98% of students feeling it at neutral. The results also show that the neutral temperature was also higher than the one obtained from the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model. The findings from this study can contribute to the design of air-conditioning systems to achieve thermal comfort with efficient energy usage.