1 Scope

This document specifies and gives guidelines for a standard test method for the assessment, using human participants, of thermal comfort in vehicles. It is not restricted to any particular vehicle but provides the general principles that allow assessment and evaluation. The method can be used to determine a measure of the performance of a vehicle for conditions of interest, in terms of whether it provides thermal comfort to people or not. This can be used in vehicle development and evaluation.

This document is applicable to all types of vehicles, including cars, buses, trucks, off-road vehicles, trains, aircraft, ships, submarines, and to the cabins of cranes and similar spaces. It applies where people are enclosed in a vehicle and when they are exposed to outside conditions. For those exposed to outside conditions, such as riders of bicycles or motorcycles, drivers of open sports cars and operators of fork lift trucks without cabins, vehicle speed and weather conditions can dominate responses. The principles of assessment, however, still apply.

This document applies to both passengers and operators of vehicles where its application does not interfere with the safe operation of the vehicle.

It describes the principles of the assessment and evaluation of thermal comfort, including the use of test methods and trials. It also describes subjective methods that can be used in assessment.