Daikin Industries, Ltd.

Masahiro Kobayashi

Noboru Kobayashi

Kazuhisa Shigemori

Shigehiro Uemura

Kunikazu Torikoshi

A thermal environment sensor has a single temperature detector for detecting temperature and producing an output representative of the detected temperature, the temperature detector having, when heated by a predetermined constant power, a convective heat transfer coefficient giving it a wind velocity dependent temperature drop characteristic in close conformity with the wind velocity dependence of the effective temperature drop felt by a human body. A heater is provided for heating the temperature detector, and an electric power supply is connected to the heater for supplying the heater with a constant electric power corresponding to the predetermined constant power, and a temperature estimating circuit is connected to the temperature detector for correcting the output of the temperature detector by a predetermined constant temperature difference for thereby obtaining the effective temperature felt by a human body. Furthermore, a wind velocity estimating circuit is also connect to the temperature detector so that when the temperature detector is alternatingly supplied with a first and a second level of electric power, the absolute value of the wind velocity may be estimated from the heat transfer coefficient of the temperature detector obtained using the temperature of the temperature detector at the first and second levels of power and the respective first and second levels of power.

Thermal environment sensor with means to estimate the wind velocity

A thermal environment sensor has a single temperature detector for detecting temperature and producing an output representative of the detected temperature, the temperature detector having, when heated by a predetermined constant power, a convective heat transfer coefficient giving it a wind velocity dependent temperature drop characteristic in close conformity with the wind velocity dependence of the effective temperature drop felt by a human body. A heater is provided for heating the temperature detector, and an electric power supply is connected to the heater for supplying the heater with a constant electric power corresponding to the predetermined constant power, and a temperature estimating circuit is connected to the temperature detector for correcting the output of the temperature detector by a predetermined constant temperature difference for thereby obtaining the effective temperature felt by a human body.

In a thermal-environment sensor which detects thermal conditions in an indoor environment based on the surface temperature of a heating element supplied with a thermal quantity, the spectral emissivity of the outer surface of said heating element closely conforming to the spectral emissivity of the surface of the human skin or clothes thereon so as to bring the radiant heat transfer coefficient of the sensor remarkably near that of the human body.

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Sakai, Japan

Masahiro Kobayashi