Thermal Comfort for Industrial and Warehouse Heaters

What is Thermal Comfort?

 

The definition as defined in the British standard BS EN ISO7730  is “That condition of mind that which expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment.”

So what does this mean?

Thermal comfort is based on each person individually, and occurs when a person is too cold or too hot. This can alter his or her psychological state of mind that could possibly effect his or her concentration and mood. Since you can only really define thermal comfort on a scale of number of employees that complain about temperatures, it’s very difficult to ascertain a comfortable working environment. Although this is the case, regulations state that thermal comfort is achieved when at least 80% of your workforce is comfortable at the working temperature.

Thermal comfort is not only measured by air temperature, but also by radiant temperature, air velocity and convection.

Radiant temperature is a form of heat transfer, made up of three components: reflectance, absorbance and emissivity. Reflectance is when an item receives heat, but does not absorb it, then reflects the heat back into the room. Absorbance is when an item absorbs and retains heat. Emissivity is when retained heat is released back into the room at a steady pace. So for example, if you have a large building with a lot of windows that receive a lot of sunlight, the objects in the room will be heated by the sun and release heat throughout the day. Although this may not be enough to heat a building, it is something that can be taken into consideration when analysing thermal comfort. This is the way in which an infrared radiant heater works.

Convection – This is another form of heat transfer that occurs when an item or person picks up warmth from an airstream that travels. For example, through a building, much like how a warm air heating system heats a premises.

Air Velocity- This describes the speed of air moving across the worker that may help cool the worker if it is cooler than the environment.  People can be sensitive to air velocity, as the speed of air moves across the worker it can cool the worker down, if it is cooler than the original environment. A worker’s speed can also alter air velocity, as it increases air movement. For example, if air temperature is cooler than a person’s skin temperature, heat loss by convection is increased. Moving air in warm or humid conditions can increase heat loss through convection without any change in air temperature.

 

How can you regulate thermal comfort in your premises?

There are many ways in which you can regulate the temperature of your building so that your staff is comfortable with the temperature. Easy solutions include allowing workers to remove layers of clothing or opening of windows during the warmer months. During the winter months, you could consider installing energy efficient heating equipment, such as warm air heaters or radiant heating equipment. For example, when considering warehouse heating, the above must be taken into account in order to provide an adequate industrial heating solution that is efficient and assists in creating thermal comfort. With the installation of any warm air or radiant heater, you can install energy efficient controls. This helps to regulate temperature within the building because they can be timed to operate only when required and only at the required temperature set.

To determine the most efficient heating solution for your building, contact an approved contractor who will visit your site, evaluate the conditions and present equipment that suits you best. Heaters Wholesale can provide you with that information with expertise that covers over two decades, you can be sure that we can provide you with an industrial heating solution to suit you.