An exploration of enhancing thermal protective clothing performance by incorporating aerogel and phase change materials

Firefighters are exposed to high risk scenarios in which the prevention of extreme heat injuries is largely dependent on the effectiveness of their protective clothing. The following meta-study examines contemporary literature to determine the usefulness of phase change materials (PCM’s) in improving the effectiveness of the current firefighter protective clothing (FFPC) model in order to better protect firefighters. The time- temperature for multiple PCM’s in environments with low, medium and high heat fluxes (taken as 2.5-5 kW/m2 for 700 seconds, 10-15 kW/m2 for 300 seconds and 20-40 kW/m2for 30 seconds respectively) were compared in terms of the rate of temperature increase and final temperature. The study found that PCM I produced the best temperature reduction in a low flux, PCM K did so in a medium flux, and PCM B did so in a high flux. The study also found that overall the PCMs were most effective in a low flux, therefore further study should be directed towards creating PCMs that are more effective in high-flux environments. Keywords: Phase Change Material; Fire Fighter Protective Clothing; Heat Flux

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Thermal Requirement Analysis of Phase Change Protective Clothing in Low Temperature Environment

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.796.649 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 796 ◽

pp. 649-652 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Xiao Xiao Li ◽

Yu Chai Sun ◽

Jing Yu Xu ◽

Rou Xi Chen

Keyword(s):

Low Temperature ◽

Phase Change ◽

Protective Clothing ◽

Phase Change Materials ◽

Thermal Protection ◽

Working Environment ◽

Computational Method ◽

Protective Material ◽

Environment Temperature ◽

Temperature Environment

In low temperature environment, the lack of a proper thermal protection can cause human body frostbite, or even cause death. In this paper, the computational method of theoretical relationship between the phase change materials content in protective clothing, protective time and the working environment temperature was proposed when took into account the comfort requirement of human bodies, clothing thermal properties and heat loss through clothing system. This theoretical model could be used to predict the relationship between the protective material content and the protection time of phase change protective clothing. Experimental results show good accordance with the theoretical prediction.

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Thermal Load of Mine Rescuer in the Underwear and Protective Clothing with Phase Change Materials in Simulated Utility Conditions

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma13194320 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (19) ◽

pp. 4320 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Grażyna Bartkowiak ◽

Anna Marszałek ◽

Anna Dąbrowska

Keyword(s):

Phase Change ◽

Thermal Load ◽

Protective Clothing ◽

Phase Change Materials ◽

The Body ◽

Oxygen Breathing ◽

Breathing Apparatus ◽

Complete Set ◽

Physiological Tests ◽

Microclimate Conditions

A new set of underwear and protective clothing with phase change materials (PCM) for mine rescuers has been developed in order to increase their safety of work. It includes PCM pouches absorbing excess heat from the body. In order to evaluate thermal load of mine rescuers, physiological tests were carried out for three variants of possible use of the developed set of clothing: for mine rescuers wearing only the underwear with PCM; for a set of underwear and protective clothing; and for a complete set of clothing with closed-circuit compressed oxygen breathing apparatus. Tests were performed in difficult microclimate conditions, reflecting the typical working conditions of rescuers that cause a significant thermal load. The use of outer clothing shortened safe time of exposure to such conditions by about 36%, while the addition of respiratory protective device to this set further shortened this time to a lesser extent (by another 13%).

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Intelligent bidirectional thermal regulation of phase change material incorporated in thermal protective clothing

Applied Thermal Engineering ◽

10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2020.115340 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 174 ◽

pp. 115340 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Yun Su ◽

Wen Zhu ◽

Miao Tian ◽

Yunyi Wang ◽

Xianghui Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Phase Change ◽

Phase Change Material ◽

Protective Clothing ◽

Thermal Regulation ◽

Thermal Protective Clothing ◽

Change Material

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

Textile Research Journal ◽

10.1177/0040517512460294 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 83 (4) ◽

pp. 418-425 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Mengmeng Zhao ◽

Chuansi Gao ◽

Faming Wang ◽

Kalev Kuklane ◽

Ingvar Holmér ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Relative Humidity ◽

Phase Change ◽

Protective Clothing ◽

Phase Change Materials ◽

Thermal Manikin ◽

Evaporative Resistance ◽

Melting Temperatures ◽

Sweat Production ◽

Hot Environments ◽

Sweat Evaporation

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, 34°C, 75% relative humidity (RH)) and hot dry (HD, 34°C, 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 = 21°C, Tm = 24°C and Tm = 28°C). They were worn under a military ensemble (total thermal insulation 1.60 clo; evaporative resistance 0.0516 kPaċm2/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.

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