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A Database of Static Thermal Insulation and Evaporative Resistance Values of Dutch Firefighter Clothing Items and Ensembles

Kuklane, Kalev LU ; Eggeling, Jakob LU ; Kemmeren, Maurice and Heus, Ronald (2022) In Biology 11(12).
Abstract

The rescue operations’ environment can impair firefighters’ performance and increase the risk of injuries, e.g., burns and hyperthermia. The bulk and carried weight of heavy protection contributes to lower physical performance, higher metabolic load and internal body heat production. For recommending optimal protection for the tasks and incident scenarios, knowledge of clothing thermal properties is needed. However, detailed data on firefighter protective clothing systems are not available. The aim of the study was to provide scientific background and a dataset that would allow for validation of thermo-physiological models for task-specific conditions of rescue work. Thermal insulation of 37 single items and their variations and 25... (More)

The rescue operations’ environment can impair firefighters’ performance and increase the risk of injuries, e.g., burns and hyperthermia. The bulk and carried weight of heavy protection contributes to lower physical performance, higher metabolic load and internal body heat production. For recommending optimal protection for the tasks and incident scenarios, knowledge of clothing thermal properties is needed. However, detailed data on firefighter protective clothing systems are not available. The aim of the study was to provide scientific background and a dataset that would allow for validation of thermo-physiological models for task-specific conditions of rescue work. Thermal insulation of 37 single items and their variations and 25 realistic protective clothing ensembles were measured on a thermal manikin. Twelve (12) ensembles that evenly covered the whole insulation range were selected for evaporative resistance testing. The equations for summing up individual item’s insulation to ensemble insulation and calculating clothing area factor were derived from the dataset. The database of a firefighter clothing system was created. In addition, the local and regional thermal properties of the clothing ensembles were provided for use in future validation of advanced thermo-physiological models for rescue worker exposure predictions and for designing decision aid tools.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
clothing area factor, clothing system, firefighter, local and regional evaporative resistance, local and regional thermal insulation, modelling, station wear, turnout gear
in
Biology
volume
11
issue
12
article number
1813
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • pmid:36552322
  • scopus:85144891581
ISSN
2079-7737
DOI
10.3390/biology11121813
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3d306818-2b37-4bb1-8a31-8601158a17df
date added to LUP
2023-01-05 11:28:54
date last changed
2024-04-18 17:39:05
@article{3d306818-2b37-4bb1-8a31-8601158a17df,
  abstract     = {{<p>The rescue operations’ environment can impair firefighters’ performance and increase the risk of injuries, e.g., burns and hyperthermia. The bulk and carried weight of heavy protection contributes to lower physical performance, higher metabolic load and internal body heat production. For recommending optimal protection for the tasks and incident scenarios, knowledge of clothing thermal properties is needed. However, detailed data on firefighter protective clothing systems are not available. The aim of the study was to provide scientific background and a dataset that would allow for validation of thermo-physiological models for task-specific conditions of rescue work. Thermal insulation of 37 single items and their variations and 25 realistic protective clothing ensembles were measured on a thermal manikin. Twelve (12) ensembles that evenly covered the whole insulation range were selected for evaporative resistance testing. The equations for summing up individual item’s insulation to ensemble insulation and calculating clothing area factor were derived from the dataset. The database of a firefighter clothing system was created. In addition, the local and regional thermal properties of the clothing ensembles were provided for use in future validation of advanced thermo-physiological models for rescue worker exposure predictions and for designing decision aid tools.</p>}},
  author       = {{Kuklane, Kalev and Eggeling, Jakob and Kemmeren, Maurice and Heus, Ronald}},
  issn         = {{2079-7737}},
  keywords     = {{clothing area factor; clothing system; firefighter; local and regional evaporative resistance; local and regional thermal insulation; modelling; station wear; turnout gear}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{12}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Biology}},
  title        = {{A Database of Static Thermal Insulation and Evaporative Resistance Values of Dutch Firefighter Clothing Items and Ensembles}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology11121813}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/biology11121813}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}