Publication detail

Using a thermal manikin to determine evaporative resistance and thermal insulation – A comparison of methods

TOMA, R. KUKLANE, K. FOJTLÍN, M. FIŠER, J. JÍCHA, M.

Original Title

Using a thermal manikin to determine evaporative resistance and thermal insulation – A comparison of methods

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

Heat transfer from the human body, especially through the evaporation of sweat from the skin, is often restricted when protective clothing is used, which may result in overheating. For this reason, it is important to consider the parameters of protective clothing as input data in physiological models, such as predicted heat strain. The two most important parameters are thermal insulation and evaporative resistance with clothing area factor strongly influencing both. These parameters were determined for two clothing ensembles using a (dry) non-sweating thermal manikin. First, the clothing area factor was determined using the photographic method. Second, thermal insulation was measured in both static and dynamic conditions, and multiple equations for predicting dynamic thermal insulation from static ones were evaluated. Third, methodology for measuring evaporative resistance based on pre-wetted skin was adopted and multiple corrections were assessed. Finally, sensitivity analyses were completed using PHS to determine the impact of different equations on the duration limited exposure. For the thermal insulation measurements, we found that predictive equation (32) from ISO 9920 was the most accurate, but choosing the correct equation for protective clothing proved challenging. Although a manikin’s surface temperature is widely used for calculating evaporative resistance, the skin temperature should be used instead, since it is correct from a physical point of view and there is a difference of up to 15% in the results. Because these measures are used in thermal risk analyses conditions, a high degree of accuracy and a knowledge of the inputs must be guaranteed.

Keywords

Evaporative resistance, thermal manikin, resultant thermal insulation, protective clothing

Authors

TOMA, R.; KUKLANE, K.; FOJTLÍN, M.; FIŠER, J.; JÍCHA, M.

Released

14. 1. 2020

Publisher

SAGE Publications Ltd

Location

USA

ISBN

1530-8057

Periodical

Journal of Industrial Textiles

Year of study

2020

Number

1

State

United States of America

Pages from

1

Pages to

23

Pages count

23

URL

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1528083719900672

BibTex

@article{BUT161349,
  author="Róbert {Toma} and Kalev {Kuklane} and Miloš {Fojtlín} and Jan {Fišer} and Miroslav {Jícha}",
  title="Using a thermal manikin to determine evaporative resistance and thermal insulation – A comparison of methods",
  journal="Journal of Industrial Textiles",
  year="2020",
  volume="2020",
  number="1",
  pages="1--23",
  doi="10.1177/1528083719900672",
  issn="1530-8057",
  url="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1528083719900672"
}