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The paper aims to investigate thermal comfort properties, such as heat and moisture transmission through male business clothing systems, by using a sweating thermal manikin Coppelius that simulates heat and moisture production in a similar way to the human body and measures the influence of clothing on heat exchange in different environmental and sweating conditions.

Ten different combination of male business clothing systems were measured using the sweating manikin, under three environmental conditions (10°C/50 per cent RH, 25°C/50 per cent RH and −5°C), and at 0 and 50 gm⁻² h⁻¹ sweating levels, in order to evaluate the influence of environmental and sweating conditions on thermal comfort properties of clothing systems.

The results show how business clothing systems influence on the dry and evaporative heat loss between the manikin surface and environment in different environmental and sweating conditions.

When using sweating thermal manikin Coppelius, water vapour transmission (WVT) through and water condensation on the clothing can be determined simultaneously with the thermal insulation (I_t) of clothing system. Measured thermal comfort properties of clothing systems evaluated with a sweating thermal manikin can provide valuable information for the clothing industry by manufacturing/designing new clothing systems.

In this investigation, the heat and moisture transmission properties of male business clothing systems were measured in different environmental and sweating conditions. In the past few years, clothing materials containing microencapsulated phase‐change materials (PCMs) have appeared in outdoor garments, particularly sportswear; therefore, we decided to investigate the thermal comfort properties of different standard male business apparel, as well as male business clothing that contain PCMs used as liner and outerwear material.

Maintaining air circulation between the wearer and garment layer is crucial for activating heat and moisture transfer from the body. If an air gap is trapped, air circulation may become ineffective and the ventilation of the garment is, thus, hindered. To maintain and extend the air gap, this study aims to propose a design method that involves placing spacer blocks underneath the garment to prevent the fabric from clinging directly to the skin.

To study the application of this design method, a series of T-shirts were produced and tested using a thermal manikin in standing and walking postures. All the T-shirts were made of fabric ostensibly manufactured to have high air permeability. Porous mesh fabric was used to construct the vented panels on the T-shirts. The test was conducted in a chamber with controlled temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity. Total thermal insulation (R_t) and moisture vapour resistance (R_et) were measured.

The test results showed that extension of the air gap between wearer and fabric provided higher ventilation to the wearer if the vented panels were also present on the T-shirts. Different placements of the vented panels on the T-shirts also affected the heat and moisture transfer from the thermal manikin.

Due to limited resources, the evaluation of total thermal insulation and moisture vapour resistance was based on the testing result from a thermal manikin instead of any subjective wearer trial.

This research can contribute to the clothing designer who is developing function wear for a better ventilation.

This research can contribute to the clothing designer who is developing function wear for a better ventilation.

This study aimed to further develop a new design concept in T-shirt design by improving the construction of the spacer blocks. Fabric with higher air and water vapour permeability was used to determine to what extent this design method is applicable to higher performance on heat and moisture transfer.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the evaporative resistance and thermal insulation of clothing measured by thermal manikin “Walter” using uniform and non-uniform skin.

The non-uniform skin with different perspiration rates was made by laminating a silicone layer on the inner side of a uniform skin. The thermal manikin was then covered with prepared non-uniform skin as well as uniform one. Four types of clothing ensembles were tested.

The relative intensity of perspiration rate was realized in different part of “Walter” skin, which was close to the perspiration rate of human being. There was a strong correlation between uniform skin and non-uniform skin. The thermal insulation and evaporative resistance of clothing measured on the non-uniform skin were higher than the ones determined on the uniform skin. However, their moisture permeability index showed the reversed tendency.

The implication of the research is to investigate the differences between uniform skin and non-uniform skin for manikin “Walter.” This is possibly useful in correcting and predicting more accurate thermal insulation and evaporative resistance of clothing measured by “Walter” with a uniform skin in future.

It was more accurate using non-uniform skin in evaluating thermal and wet comfort comparing to uniform skin.

The purpose of this paper is to develop multilayer clothing assemblies consisting of fibrous battings and reflective nano-fibrous thin layers for cold protective clothing for improved thermal insulation.

Thermal insulation values of totally 20 assemblies made of varying layers of a thick polyester batting and four different types of thin interlayers were measured using a guarded hot-plate to investigate the effect of the properties of thin interlayers and construction of multilayer assemblies on thermal insulation. Cold protective jackets filled with polyester battings sandwiched with or without interlayers were also made and tested on the sweating fabric manikin-Walter.

Results show that the Rosseland mean extinction coefficients of the thin interlayer and the associated radiative thermal conductivity of the interlayers have significant influence on thermal insulation of the assembly when more than one reflective nano-fibrous interlayers are sandwiched in the assembly. The cold protective jacket filled with multilayer polyester battings and reflective nano-fibrous interlayers have better thermal insulation and moisture permeability index (i_m) than those filled with the same multilayer polyester battings, but with non-reflective nonwoven interlayers or without interlayers.

This paper clearly demonstrates the advantages of reflective nano-fibrous thin material for interlayers in the cold projective jacket.

In previous studies, enlarging the air gap between fabric and the skin through the placement of spacer blocks has been proven to improve air ventilation, particularly when the pumping effect is activated during movement. These studies evaluated only the total thermal insulation (R_t) and moisture vapour resistance (R_et) by using a fabric thermal manikin. The purpose of this paper is to report the experience, perceived comfort level, and ventilation effect of two designed T-shirts in a wearer trial.

An athletic T-shirt (Vented Design) was designed by attaching spacer blocks to the underside of the fabric to enlarge the air gap. Eight subjects participated in the wearer trial, which comprised 30 min treadmill running, followed by 10 min of rest. At different points during the 40 min test period, subjects rated their body coolness, skin dryness, and overall comfort of the designed T-shirt. The testing was repeated with participants wearing the same T-shirt but without spacer blocks, which served as a control garment. The mean skin temperature of each subject was also measured to support survey findings.

The data were evaluated using independent t-tests. The T-shirt with spacer blocks provided higher ventilation than the control T-shirt after 10 min of running. Research limitations – because of limited resources, only eight subjects were recruited to this study. In addition, more T-shirt designs should be tested in the future to elucidate how T-shirt design affects ventilation performance.

This study investigated a T-shirt design wherein the air gap between the skin surface and fabric was increased. The results of the wearer trial showed that this design could be adopted as a design brief for further design development of related clothing. This study has implications for clothing designers developing functional clothing with improved ventilation.

The mass transfer of textiles during movement is complicated as the energy consumption (EC) from skin, surface temperature of fabrics together with environment will work synergistically to determine the sensation and comfort of wearer. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the mass transfer in the human-textile-environment dynamic system.

With a simulated hotplate mounted on a rotational testing platform, this paper focuses on the dynamic mass transfer of a fabric so as to simulate the real-time mass transfer of clothing in movements.

It has been found that the EC and surface temperature (T) change against testing time, indicating the convex and concave shapes of the EC–t and T–t curves. The initial moisture regain of the fabric, rotational speed of the platform and the fiber materials of the fabric have shown a great effect on the dynamic mass transfer process.

Understanding the dynamic mass transfer of textiles will benefit the design of clothing with better comfort and will contribute to the well-being of wearers.

This work reveals the dynamic mass transfer of textiles in rotational movements. It contributes a new approach to studying the mass transfer of clothing in real service.

Clothing is subject to a dynamic thermal transport process in its routine service in which the apparel and human body together with environment interact with each other. Understanding of the thermal transfer in this case should take the variations of human body and environment together with clothing attributes into consideration. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Based on the purpose-built dynamic thermal and moisture tester, this study focuses on the thermal transfer of fabrics in different rotational motions. The energy consumption and power of the simulated human skin, the temperature and the thermal retention rate were monitored in the process of rotation of the testing platform with gradually increased rotating speed.

It has been found that the thermal transfer of a rotating fabric is greatly affected by the rotating speed, the angle of the fabric toward the moving direction and the attributes of the fabric such as its thickness, layers, structure and its fiber composition.

This study will benefit the understanding of the dynamic thermal interaction of human with the environment, and the designing of clothing with excellent thermal comfort.

This work reveals the dynamic thermal transfer of fabrics in rotational motions. It provides a platform to study the dynamic thermal behavior of clothing in daily use.

Firefighter Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is the only barrier between the firefighter and hazardous environment. Gloves are a crucial component of the multi-component PPE. Over time the gloves have reduced the intensity of hand injuries, yet further improvement in terms of material selection and glove design is required to strike the balance between protection and comfort. Focusing on the material aspect, the purpose of this study is to present literature analysis on material selection and testing for firefighter gloves.

The study conducted a literature analysis on material selection and characterization of firefighter PPE. The review summarizes and evaluates past work addressing the characterization of firefighter gloves in accordance with NFPA 1971 requirements and points out found research gaps to aid with foundation of future research.

The study summarizes several research works to inform readers about the material selection and characterization of firefighter gloves. Based on the analyzed literature, the study resulted in material specification sheets for firefighter gloves. The developed material specification sheets provide information in terms of crucial material properties to be incorporated for accurate functioning of firefighter gloves, testing methods to validate those material properties and materials from analyzed literature exhibiting desired properties.

With large research addressing firefighter PPE, only limited studies focus specifically on gloves. Thus, this study provides a literature analysis covering material selection and testing for gloves. A consolidated firefighter gloves material specification document, which does not appear to be available in the literature, will provide a foundation for the development and characterization of firefighter gloves to better serve the functions along with ensuring user comfort.

To understand the thermal insulation of four common structures of sleeping bags and factors influencing the thermal insulation as well as the thermal comfort of people who use four kinds of sleeping bag structures.

Four samples corresponding to four common sleeping bag structures were made and their thermal properties were investigated through a combination of objective instrument measurement and subjective human subject tests.

The porosity of the samples and the length of the interlining had a main impact on the thermal resistances of the four sleeping bag structures. The thermal sensation ratings and the thermal resistances had good consistency. There was a strong correlation between human physiological parameters and thermal sensation evaluation. The male and female have significant differences in thermal sensation of different structures of sleeping bags.

Instrument measurement and human subject tests were combined to study the thermal properties of sleeping bag structures, which had little attention in the past in research fields.

To have a better understanding of the heat transfer mechanisms in a sleeping bag and to investigate the factors influencing thermal resistance of a down sleeping bag.

The mechanism of heat transfer in a sleeping bag was discussed in this paper. The thermal resistances of 24 samples were investigated. Besides, the relation between fill weight and thermal resistance, and that between the air permeability of fabric and thermal resistance, as well as that between down filling rate and thermal resistance were analyzed.

The results showed that thermal resistances of samples varied from 0.35 to 0.8 m² K/W. The fill weight was the most important factor of thermal resistance of sleeping bag and the relation between fill weight and thermal resistance matched well with cubic function. A multiple regression formula was proposed, which with thermal resistance as a dependent variable and with air permeability of fabric, down filling rate, fill weight as independent variables.

Thermal properties of a sleeping bag were analyzed through simplified basic unit under simplified environment conditions, which was necessary for building the first stage of systematic study of thermal performance of a sleeping bag.