Impacts of thermal preference on thermal comfort and a grouping strategy for student dormitories

Differences in thermal preference among individuals lead to distinct thermal needs. Although previous studies have investigated comfortable temperatures in dormitory environments, few have considered the impact of thermal preference on thermal needs. This study collected data from 270 dormitories and 1054 questionnaires to investigate the neutral, desired, and comfort temperatures of students with three distinct thermal preferences. To further validate the findings, the thermal responses of 36 participants with varying thermal preferences were monitored in a climatic chamber. Results revealed substantial differences (>2 °C) in both neutral and desired temperatures across groups. The 90% acceptability comfort range derived from chamber experiments was slightly wider than that obtained from surveys; the intersection of the two was recommended as the optimal dormitory temperature range. For male students, the ranges were 23.67–25.68 °C (cool preference), 23.77–26.47 °C (neutral preference), and 26.15–30.12 °C (warm preference). For female students, the ranges were 24.91–26.30 °C, 25.04–27.03 °C, and 26.84–29.52 °C for the respective preferences. The study indicates that assigning students with cool and neutral preferences to the same dormitory, and those with warm preferences together in a separate dormitory, can better accommodate the differences in thermal needs caused by thermal preference.