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The torso cooling of vests incorporated with phase change materials: a sweat evaporation perspective

Zhao, Mengmeng ; Gao, Chuansi LU ; Wang, Faming LU ; Kuklane, Kalev LU ; Holmér, Ingvar LU and Li, Jun (2013) In Textile Research Journal 83(4). p.418-425
Abstract
Cooling vests incorporated with phase change materials (PCMs) add extra insulation and restrict sweat evaporation. It is still unclear how much cooling benefit they can provide. The aim of this study was to investigate the torso cooling of the PCM vests in two hot environments: hot humid (HH, 34C, 75% relative humidity (RH)) and hot dry (HD, 34C, 37% RH). A pre-wetted torso fabric skin was used to simulate torso sweating on a thermal manikin. Three cooling vests incorporated with three melting temperatures (Tm) of PCMs were tested (Tm=21C, Tm=24C and Tm=28C). They were worn under a military ensemble (total thermal insulation 1.60 clo; evaporative resistance 0.0516 kPam2/W), respectively. In a HH environment all the three cooling vests... (More)
Cooling vests incorporated with phase change materials (PCMs) add extra insulation and restrict sweat evaporation. It is still unclear how much cooling benefit they can provide. The aim of this study was to investigate the torso cooling of the PCM vests in two hot environments: hot humid (HH, 34C, 75% relative humidity (RH)) and hot dry (HD, 34C, 37% RH). A pre-wetted torso fabric skin was used to simulate torso sweating on a thermal manikin. Three cooling vests incorporated with three melting temperatures (Tm) of PCMs were tested (Tm=21C, Tm=24C and Tm=28C). They were worn under a military ensemble (total thermal insulation 1.60 clo; evaporative resistance 0.0516 kPam2/W), respectively. In a HH environment all the three cooling vests provided effective torso cooling; in a HD environment the cooling benefit was negative. In both environmental conditions, the evaporative cooling was greatly restricted by the cooling vests. The study indicated that when wearing the protective clothing with the relatively low evaporative resistance and when sweat production was high, the cooling vests were effective in a HH environment, but not in a HD environment. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
evaporation, phase change material, cooling, protective clothing
in
Textile Research Journal
volume
83
issue
4
pages
418 - 425
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • wos:000317932500009
  • scopus:84874155722
ISSN
0040-5175
DOI
10.1177/0040517512460294
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The manuscript is online.
id
418033dd-3a6f-46f6-b076-84d1b8b3b974 (old id 2764477)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:38:01
date last changed
2022-03-22 01:02:13
@article{418033dd-3a6f-46f6-b076-84d1b8b3b974,
  abstract     = {{Cooling vests incorporated with phase change materials (PCMs) add extra insulation and restrict sweat evaporation. It is still unclear how much cooling benefit they can provide. The aim of this study was to investigate the torso cooling of the PCM vests in two hot environments: hot humid (HH, 34C, 75% relative humidity (RH)) and hot dry (HD, 34C, 37% RH). A pre-wetted torso fabric skin was used to simulate torso sweating on a thermal manikin. Three cooling vests incorporated with three melting temperatures (Tm) of PCMs were tested (Tm=21C, Tm=24C and Tm=28C). They were worn under a military ensemble (total thermal insulation 1.60 clo; evaporative resistance 0.0516 kPam2/W), respectively. In a HH environment all the three cooling vests provided effective torso cooling; in a HD environment the cooling benefit was negative. In both environmental conditions, the evaporative cooling was greatly restricted by the cooling vests. The study indicated that when wearing the protective clothing with the relatively low evaporative resistance and when sweat production was high, the cooling vests were effective in a HH environment, but not in a HD environment.}},
  author       = {{Zhao, Mengmeng and Gao, Chuansi and Wang, Faming and Kuklane, Kalev and Holmér, Ingvar and Li, Jun}},
  issn         = {{0040-5175}},
  keywords     = {{evaporation; phase change material; cooling; protective clothing}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{418--425}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Textile Research Journal}},
  title        = {{The torso cooling of vests incorporated with phase change materials: a sweat evaporation perspective}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0040517512460294}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0040517512460294}},
  volume       = {{83}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}