Discusses the linear behaviour of a human response. A human response to thermal conditions behaves, to a certain extent, as a linear system having a nonlinear aspect. When a system is linear, an impulse response is a basic and fundamental parameter in the system (although it is practical to use a rectangular pulse input), and the convolution of the impulse with an arbitrarily shifting thermal condition gives a predictable response to the shifting input. However, a rectangular input for air temperature and thermal radiation cannot be obtained in a real thermal field. Each impulse must be obtained by time-differentiating the output to the step input for each of them, because each input corresponds to a rectangular input with correction. Experiments were conducted in a climate chamber. A step was given for the neutral air temperature, controlled with an air conditioner, and for thermal radiation, controlled with a radiant panel. The responses of skin temperatures and votes to the changes in air temperature and thermal radiation were recorded every minute. They were time-differentiated and each impulse response was obtained. However, the main interest was not in skin temperature itself, but in the responses recorded in the votes, which are necessary for predicting and designing thermal conditions in a room. The convolution of the impulse response to an arbitrarily shifting air temperature gave a predictable response to the shift, and, when compared with a tested person's vote, reasonable agreement was obtained, particularly when the shift was in the range of the impulse response measurement.

KEYWORDS: transient, human body, skin, temperature, thermal comfort, measuring, experiment, climate chambers, air temperature, calculating, designing, heat flow, thermal properties, rooms