There are reputed to be only ten examples of the thermal manikin (a computerized doll) in the world at present. Here, the author discusses their potential in microclimate research, and describes experiments with a thermal manikin at the Hungarian Institute for Building Science (ET/) to identify the quality of indoor comfort conditions. One study revealed that the correct heating system would yield better results than extra thermal insulation.
Measurements of the air temperature and air velocity were carried out in four buildings without air-conditioning using a newly developed anemometer whose sensitivity allows the examination of the dynamic behaviour of air movements. Recent results describing the physical reasons of draft problems were employed in order to re-examine the correlation between air movements and draft problems in a building. From the resulting evaluation criteria follows that besides, the environmental temperature and the mean air velocity, the magnitude of the turbulent fluctuations is important .
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