어린이집 실내환경 개선을 위한 어린이의 온열쾌적감에 관한 연구

Study on the thermal comfort of children for improvement of indoor environment at childcare center in Seoul, Korea

The socioeconomic change has increased the demand for specialized educational institutions, particularly for preschool-aged children. Optimal conditions for various components of indoor environments suitable for the operation of child care center must be assessed properly. However, previous studies have generally focused on adults, and no study has clearly elucidated optimal thermal environments for children. The aims of this study is investigating the preference of children in the aspect of thermal comfort. The survey was conducted for 333 children (168 boys and 165 girls) at 29 kindergartens selected randomly in summer. The measurement and survey were performed at height of 1.1 m in the afternoon. The mean indoor air and operative temperature were 27.4 ℃ and 30.0 ℃, respectively. The distribution of thermal sensations was skewed to the right, that is, warm side. The thermal sensation vote (TSV) was from 0.26 to 0.88 for predicted mean vote (PMV) comfort range (-0.5 ~ +0.5). There is difference in the clothing insulation and metabolism between boys and girls. The results indicate the necessity on thermal variables of adequate thermal comfort for children.