AC-2352 -- A Manufacturer's View of Radiant Heater Control PDF

For many decades, radiant heating has been used in our industry, but only within the last ten or twenty years have scientific studies generally defined the conditions for thermal comfort. Many of ASHRAE's practicing engineers however, are not as knowledgeable about comfort parameters as they could be, and therefore, they may not always apply radiant sources to the best advantage. As an introduction, I will summarize the relative importance of thermal comfort parameters.

ASHRAE STANDARD 55-66, "Conditions for Thermal Comfort", defines thermal comfort as "that condition of mind which expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment as a subjective measure, it cannot be determined except by experimental psychological techniques. ASHRAE, however, has sponsored research in this area for over fifty years to assist in this quantification.

Although considerable work has been done to predict comfort when radiant sources are used, the complexity makes this task a risky one. Therefore, I will discuss the results of field testing in several environmerits and draw some conclusions based upon them and theoretical estimates.