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The purpose of this paper is to study the combined effects of moisture and radiation on thermal protective performance of protective clothing exposed to low level radiation.

Using a sweating manikin, the effect of radiation and moisture on heat and moisture transfer was initially analyzed under the dry manikin with sweating rate of 100 g/(m2h) exposed to 2.5 kW/m2, and then studied at 200 and 300 g/(m2h) exposed to 2 and 3 kW/m2, respectively. Finally, the combined effects of thermal radiation and moisture were predicted by fitting the relationships among heat loss and wet skin surface temperature, with the sweating rate and radiation intensity.

The results show that the heat loss and the wet skin surface temperature are affected by the combined effects of moisture and radiation, with two distinctly different trends. Heat loss from the manikin is increasing with the sweating rate, and decreasing with thermal radiation intensity. However, the wet skin surface temperature has an opposite situation.

Two filling equations are given to present the relationships among heat loss and wet skin surface temperature, with the sweating rate and radiation intensity. With these two equations, the heat loss and the wet skin surface temperature when exposed to radiation can be predicted by only measuring the mean radiant and ambient temperatures and controlling the sweating rate.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to provide footwear designers, manikin builders and thermo‐physiological modellers with sweat distribution information for the human foot.

Independent research from two laboratories, using different techniques, is brought together to describe sweat production of the foot. In total, 32 individuals were studied. One laboratory used running at two intensities in males and females, and measured sweat with absorbents placed inside the shoe. The other used ventilated sweat capsules on a passive, nude foot, with sweating evaluated during passive heating and incremental exercise to fatigue.

Results from both laboratories are in agreement. Males secreted more than twice the volume of sweat produced by the females (p<0.01) at the same relative work rate. Both genders demonstrated a non‐uniform sweat distribution, though this was less variable in females. Highest local sweat rates were observed from the medial ankles (p<0.01). The dorsal foot sweated substantially more than the plantar (sole) areas (p<0.01). Sweating on the plantar side of the foot was uniform. Wearing shoes limited the increase in sweat production with increasing load, while the sweat rate of uncovered feet kept increasing with work and thermal load.

The observed variation in sweat rate across the foot shows that footwear design should follow the body mapping principle. Fabrics and materials with different properties can be used to improve comfort if applied to different foot surfaces. The data also demonstrate that foot models, whether physical (manikins) or mathematical, need to incorporate the observed variation across the foot to provide realistic simulation/testing of footwear.

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.

Empire style fashion, Greek-Roman style robe with bare shoulder and chest and short sleeved with long gloves which created a slim silhouette, was worn even in winter season in Europe, where average temperature is 0-5°C. Most women suffered with catching cold and thousands caught flu and tuberculosis of the lungs, called muslin disease. The purpose of this paper is to find out clothing insulation of the robe by measuring the thermal resistance and to guess how cold they felt in this robe in winter time.

The authors performed the investigation on original robe shape with based on historical evidence and data, such as drawings, sketches, pattern books and sewing books, and reproduced a representative robe costume and tested its thermal insulation. The fabrics of robe were thin wool, silk and cotton following the literature evidence and preserved costume. Thermal insulation of the robes was measured using thermal manikin with the test method ISO 15831. The authors analyzed the thermal insulation of reconstructed robes with an inner cotton breech as for daily use and tested them wrapped with cashmere shawl on manikin shoulder as for severe cold weather.

The dress robes had the range of 0.61-0.67 clo regardless of the type of fabric materials, and 0.80-0.81 clo with the cashmere shawl. These values were not enough for women to keep body temperature or comfort in winter time.

This study combined fashion historic theory for costume reproduction with clothing science and technology for thermal insulation. Combination of costume history, construction technology and measurement engineering is the ingenious idea, and the combination of historical and scientific research evidences interdisciplinary originality.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the thermal protective performance of firefighter’s clothing by a sweating manikin in low-level radiation.

A new method and a novel objective index based on measurements of the sweating thermal manikin are proposed to measure the thermal protection performance of firefighter’s clothing under low-level radiation exposure of 3.0 kW/m². Finally, the effect of thermal insulation on thermal protective performance of firefighter’s clothing was analyzed.

The results reveal that the new index which used the changing rate of core temperature of the clothed manikin is a vital indicator of the thermal protection performance. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that there is a linear correlation between thermal protection performance of firefighter’s clothing and the thermal insulation.

A new method and a novel objective index are proposed to quantify the thermal protective performance of firefighter’s clothing in low-level radiation.

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.

This paper traces the evolution of objective measurement of textile hand and comfort from Pierce through modern methodology and approaches. Special emphasis is given to discuss the contribution of the Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) towards advancing the state of objective measurement. Laboratory case studies are used to show how data generated by the KES and other instruments can be integrated into a comprehensive approach that attempts to explain human comfort response to garment wear in terms of fabric mechanical, surface and heat and moisture transfer properties.

Women in Western Europe wore empire style robes which were made with a light and thin fabric revealing their body. To stress the silhouette of their body, they applied oil to it or sprayed water on the robe so that it would cling to the body, and most women suffered from muslin disease, meaning flu and tuberculosis of the lungs in winter season. The purpose of this paper is to examine the thermal insulation of the robe with spencer jacket in dry and wet environment through thermal manikin experiments.

Three kinds of spencer jacket were made based on historical evidence and data, and experimental work for thermal insulation was conducted using a thermal manikin. The study measured the total thermal resistance of dress-jacket set: weight of the clothing before and after wetting, thermal insulation of the spencer jackets and set of clothing in dry and wet conditions, electric power consumption of the set of clothing in the wet condition and temperature inside the clothing and surface temperature of the wet set of clothing.

The thermal insulation of the robe with spencer jacket in the wet condition was in the range of 0.135-0.144 clo, which was about 80 percent lower than the range of values of 0.73-0.79 clo measured in the dry condition. This means that women felt uncomfortable in wetting condition or raining environment even when wearing the robe with a spencer jacket. Thermal insulation of clothing was dependent to the air gap under garment, clothing layers, ventilation through fabric and body part.

In this study, the thermal insulation of an empire style robe with spencer jacket in wet condition was measured using a dry thermal manikin, not with the sweating manikin. The authors measure the electric power consumption according to drying time of the clothing set at the body parts. In order to study the effect of different materials and clothing wetting, comparison experiments were conducted in dry and wet conditions using the rinse cycle of washing machine.

This study aims to investigate the heat transfer mechanism of the uniforms used by people working in hot, humid and windy environments. Furthermore, the effectiveness of an opening structure added to the armpit of the uniforms in improving thermal comfort was comparatively examined.

A set of uniforms was tested with the opening at the armpit alternatively zipped or unzipped. Thermal manikin and human tests were performed in a climatic chamber simulating the specific environmental conditions, including wind speeds at four levels (0.15, 0.5, 2, 4 m/s) and relative humidities at two levels (50 and 85%). Static and dynamic thermal insulations of clothing (I_T) were examined by the thermal manikin tests. The human bodies' thermal responses, including heart rates (HR), eardrum temperatures (T_e), skin temperatures (T_sk) and subjective perceptions, were given by the human tests.

Special mechanisms of heat transfer in the specific uniforms used in tropical monsoon climates were revealed. Reductions on I_T were caused by the movement of the human body and the environmental wind, and the empirical equations would underestimate this reduction. The opening at the armpit was able to prompt more heat transfer under dynamic condition, with reducing the I_T by 11.8%, lowering the mean T_sk by 0.92°C, and significantly improving the subjective perceptions (p < 0.05). The heat exhaustion was alleviated with lowering the T_e by 0.32°C.

This study managed to improve the thermal performance of uniforms for workers under unforgiving conditions. The evaluation and design methods introduced by this study provided practical guidance for similar products with strict dress codes and cost control requirements based on the findings from thorough product tests and analysis.