Pilot study on the application of bedside personalized ventilation to sleeping people

Publication date: September 2013
Source:Building and Environment, Volume 67
Author(s): Li Lan , Zhiwei Lian , Xin Zhou , Chanjuan Sun , Hongyuan Huang , Yanbing Lin , Jiangmin Zhao
A bedside personalized ventilation (PV) was proposed to be used in the bedroom. An experiment with human subjects was performed to ascertain whether there are any negative consequences if applying this PV to sleeping people. Thirty-six subjects slept in the thermal neutral bedrooms with or without the bedside PV for a whole night in a winter season, while their physiological parameters and body movement were continuously measured. The autonomic cardiac measurements showed that the power of very low frequency (VLF) component and the low/high frequency (LF/HF) ratio of the subjects significantly decreased when the PV was turned on, although no significant change in sleep quality (measured with questionnaire and actigraphy) was found. They perceived to be cooler and their skin temperature decreased when they slept with PV, even if the supplying air temperature of PV was slightly higher than that of the background environment. The present study implies that the bedside PV could be used as a potential ventilation principle for sleeping people.