Effect of Different Fabric Skin Combinations on Predicted Sweating Skin Temperature of a Thermal Manikin

摘要

In this study, a knit cotton fabric skin and a Gore-tex skin were used to simulate two sweating methods. The Gore-tex skin was put on top of the pre-wetted knit cotton skin on a dry heated thermal manikin 'Tore' to simulate senseless sweating, similar to thermal manikins 'Coppelius' and 'Walter'. Another simulation involved the pre-wetted fabric skin covered on top of the Gore-tex skin in order to simulate sensible sweating. This type of sweating simulation can be widely found on many thermal manikins worldwide, e.g. 'Newton'. Two empirical equations to predict the wet skin surface temperature were developed based on the mean manikin surface temperature, mean fabric skin surface temperature and the total heat loss. The prediction equations for the senseless sweating and sensible sweating on the thermal manikin 'Tore' were T_(sk)＝34.05-0.0193HL and T_(sk)＝34.63-0.0178HL, respectively. It was found that the Gore-tex skin limits moisture evaporation and the predicted fabric skin temperature was greater than that in the G＋C skin combination. Further study should validate those two empirical equations, however.