Studying occupant’s heat exposure and thermal comfort in the kitchen through full-scale experiments and CFD simulations

This study investigated kitchen heat exposure and thermal comfort through full-scale experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Experiments were conducted in a kitchen-style climate chamber with three stove conditions, three exhaust flowrates of range hood, three external conditions and three makeup air sources. CFD simulations were conducted accordingly to explore more nuances aspects of kitchen thermal environment. The experimental results showed that as the existence of a high-temperature stove, the air temperatures around the cooking staff, the net thermal radiations and local skin temperatures at exposed body parts increased significantly during the cooking period. External conditions and the makeup air source can significantly affect thermal distributions across the kitchen space and the heat exposures around the cooking staff. By adding partitions, using induction cooktops, and turning on the kitchen air conditioner can help to reduce cooking staff’s heat exposure from the gas-burning stove. The CFD simulations were consistent with the measured experimental results. The heat exposure in the cooking zone is shown to be dominated by horizontal thermal asymmetry. The occupants’ thermal comfort in the kitchen can be improved if the makeup air source came from the cooler side with a higher flowrate of range hood.