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Abstract: Thermoregulation and sleep interacted each other and thermoregulatory responses were present during sleep to maintain small oscillations of core temperature of a sleeping person. In order to improve sleep quality, it was necessary to investigate the thermoregulatory responses of a sleeping person. This paper reports on a study of developing a four-node thermoregulation model for predicting thermal physiological responses of a sleeping person, based on the existing Gagge’s two-node model. Firstly, the Gagge’s two-node model is introduced in detail. This is followed by reporting the necessary modifications to Gagge’s two-node model for developing the four-node thermoregulation model for a sleeping person. Thirdly, the four-node thermoregulation model is presented in detail. Lastly, the validation of the four-node thermoregulation model by comparing the predicted thermal physiological responses, including skin and core temperatures, using the model developed with the experimental data previously obtained by others is presented. The comparison results showed that the four-node thermoregulation model developed could be used to predict the thermal physiological responses of a sleeping person, with an acceptable accuracy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

It was revealed in a previous related study that for an air conditioning (A/C) system used in a sleeping environment, the height of its supply air outlet would significantly affect its ventilation performance in terms of effectiveness. To further examine the underlying reasons of the differences in ventilation performance, the air flow field, distributions of mean age of air, air change efficiency and distributions of CO 2 concentrations inside an experimental bedroom were numerically studied using CFD method under five different settings, where its supply air outlet was positioned at 5 different heights. The study results suggested that positing a supply air outlet at a lower level was effective in both saving energy and removing the exhaled CO 2 in a breathing zone, and when a supply outlet was positioned at a higher level, less CO 2 was removed from the region near the mouth of a sleeper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bed-based TAC system applied to sleeping environments has been developed and its performances experimentally and numerically studied, and the study results are reported in this paper. Firstly, a detailed description of an experimental rig for the bed-based TAC system at two settings is presented with a return air inlet on the wall (Setting 1) and with a return air plenum and inlet placed under the bed (Setting 2). Secondly, the experimental results on the operating performances of the bed-based TAC system at the two settings in terms of thermal environmental control and energy saving are analyzed and reported. Thirdly, to supplement the experimental study for a more detailed analysis on air temperature and flow fields, a follow-up numerical study was carried out and is reported. Both the experimental and numerical study results suggested that the bed-based TAC system at Setting 2 performed better in controlling thermal environment in an occupied zone but with a relatively poorer energy saving performance, as compared to that at Setting 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]