Measurements conducted in Vande Bharat to assess thermal comfort and IAQ

On March 27, 2025, our team, in collaboration with Mitzvah and Indian Railways personnel, conducted a field survey to evaluate the performance of air curtains installed in the Vande Bharat Express on the Delhi-Khajuraho route.

The primary goal was to observe the effectiveness of the air curtains in maintaining the barrier between the conditioned indoor environment and the ambient air outside, especially in pantry and lavatory areas.

Temperature was measured using 20 thermocouples (accuracy: $\pm$ 1 deg. C), installed at multiple locations along the length and the width of the carriage. Some sensors were also placed vertically to check the presence of stack effect. Indoor air quality (IAQ) was monitored using a low-cost sensor fabricated in-house by Department of Design, IIT Delhi. The figure below shows the comparison of spatio-temporal temperature distribution on the return leg of the journey.

It was observed that air curtains were effective in suppressing heat transfer across the doorway.