PERSON DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT THERMO HYGROMETRIC COMFORT SENSORS: STUDY, DESIGN, BUILDING, CALIBRATION AND TESTS

This thesis presents results about the design and the implementation of sensors to measure variables governing thermal comfort or thermal sensation. Two different kinds of devices have been developed: one is the dependent and the other one is the independent sensor. The sensor of dependent comfort is a low temperature pyrometer, consisting of an optical system, a mechanical support and a radiation sensor. The instrument is attached to the rear view mirror for detecting the comfort level by the forehead temperature of a passenger living in the compartment. The sensor of independent comfort is a single instrument able to measure, during the same test, three of the four quantities which have major influence on the comfort sensation: air temperature, mean radiant temperature and air velocity. The device, built at the Microsensors Laboratory of CNR (“Tor Vergata” Research Area), has small size (50mm x 50mm) and is divided in two halves: a blackened one and a bright one. The sensible element is a thin layer of a high conductivity metal (gold or platinum), coating a glass support. This research is carried on in collaboration with FIAT Research Center (CRF).