The effects of firefighting boots and personal protective equipment load on foot thermal comfort

2021 ◽  
pp. 004051752110265
Author(s):  
Miao Tian ◽  
Xianghui Zhang ◽  
Xumei Tang
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Skin Temperature ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Human Foot ◽  
Physiological Variables ◽  
Psychological Scales

Maintaining foot comfort is important as it influences the overall comfort of the human body. Shoe microclimate and foot skin temperature have been suggested to contribute to the thermal sensation of the foot. Considering the thermal environment and personal protective equipment (PPE) used for structural and proximity firefighting, climatic chamber tests with 13 male participants were conducted during standing and walking. Four test conditions – unloaded with training shoes, loaded with training shoes, unloaded with firefighting boots, and loaded with firefighting boots – were designed to investigate the effects of firefighting boots and PPE load on the thermal comfort of the human foot. Physiological variables of in-shoe and foot skin temperature at the whole and local regions of the foot were measured and subjective responses were gathered using psychological scales. The results showed that wearing firefighting boots may elevate the thermal sensation of wearers. The PPE load increased the in-shoe and foot skin temperature as well as subjective ratings. Subjective sensations of the foot were strongly correlated with in-shoe and skin temperature in the plantar regions. Correlation analysis of thermal sensation at the whole and local foot regions indicated that the sensation at the forefoot was closest to the whole foot, followed by the midfoot and heel. The findings address the relationship of physiological and subjective variables as well as the thermal sensation of whole and local foot regions, which can be considered for footwear design and thermal comfort prediction of the foot and whole body.

scholarly journals Assessment of Thermal Environment in a Kitchen with a New Ventilation System

2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 02034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumei Liu ◽  
Xiaojie Zhou ◽  
Xuan Liu ◽  
Xiaorui Lin ◽  
Ke Qing ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Temperature ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Ventilation System ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Comfort Level ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Body Parts

Chinese kitchen environment is usually hot and humid in summer and cold in winter, while housewife spends considerable time there. This investigation developed a new ventilation system for Chinese kitchens to improve thermal comfort level. To assess the thermal performance of the ventilation system, 32 cooks were asked to prepare the same dishes in the kitchen with or without the system in summer in Changsha, China. The assessment was carried out by subjective questionnaire survey on thermal sensation vote (TSV) and objective on-site measurements of the indoor air temperature and cook’s skin temperature. The indoor air temperature was measured at different locations in the kitchen. The skin temperature was measured at 18 body parts of the cooks. The results show that the thermal environment in the kitchen was non-uniform and local thermal sensation had a great influence on the whole body sensation. Without the new ventilation system, the cooks complained that the hottest parts were thorax, head and face areas. Reasonably good correlation existed between the cooks’ skin temperatures and their thermal sensation votes. The increase of cooks’ skin temperature with the ventilation system was lower than that without the ventilation system. TSV was improved with the new ventilation system.

Mask Acne (Maskne): A New Variant of Acne Mechanica

2021 ◽  
Vol 104 (11) ◽  
pp. 1866-1869
Keyword(s):  
Skin Temperature ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Distinct Pattern ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Equipment Usage ◽  
Local Increase ◽  
New Variant ◽  
Temperature And Humidity ◽  
Acne Mechanica

Mask acne (maskne) is the new variant of acne mechanica, associated with personal protective equipment usage in healthcare workers. Widespread daily use of facial masks for many hours during the COVID-19 pandemic has been linked to the development of new acne or exacerbation of the previous acne over the masked area, with a distinct pattern, referred to as the “O” zone area around the mouth. Maskne can be caused by friction, irritation, local increase in skin temperature, and humidity, the same mechanism as observed in acne mechanica. Keywords: Maskne; Pathophysiology; Diagnosis; Treatment; Prevention

scholarly journals An Interactive Task Conditioning System Featuring Personal Comfort Models and Non-Intrusive Sensing Techniques: A Field Study in Shanghai

Technologies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Siliang Lu ◽  
Erica Cochran Hameen
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Dynamic Task ◽  
Current Task ◽  
Open Plan

Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems play a key role in shaping office environments. However, open-plan office buildings nowadays are also faced with problems like unnecessary energy waste and an unsatisfactory shared indoor thermal environment. Therefore, it is significant to develop a new paradigm of an HVAC system framework so that everyone could work under their preferred thermal environment and the system can achieve higher energy efficiency such as task ambient conditioning system (TAC). However, current task conditioning systems are not responsive to personal thermal comfort dynamically. Hence, this research aims to develop a dynamic task conditioning system featuring personal thermal comfort models with machine learning and the wireless non-intrusive sensing system. In order to evaluate the proposed task conditioning system performance, a field study was conducted in a shared office space in Shanghai from July to August. As a result, personal thermal comfort models with indoor air temperature, relative humidity and cheek (side face) skin temperature have better performances than baseline models with indoor air temperature only. Moreover, compared to personal thermal satisfaction predictions, 90% of subjects have better performances in thermal sensation predictions. Therefore, personal thermal comfort models could be further implemented into the task conditioning control of TAC systems.

scholarly journals Thermal Comfort-Based Personalized Models with Non-Intrusive Sensing Technique in Office Buildings

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siliang Lu ◽  
Weilong Wang ◽  
Shihan Wang ◽  
Erica Cochran Hameen
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Skin Temperature ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Hvac Systems ◽  
Recall Score ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Linear Kernel ◽  
Related Factors

Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems play a key role in shaping the built environment. However, centralized HVAC systems cannot guarantee the provision of a comfortable thermal environment for everyone. Therefore, a personalized HVAC system that aims to adapt thermal preferences has drawn much more attention. Meanwhile, occupant-related factors like skin temperature have not had standardized measurement methods. Therefore, this paper proposes to use infrared thermography to develop individual thermal models to predict thermal sensations using three different feature sets with the random forest (RF) and support vector machine (SVM). The results have shown the correlation coefficients between clothing surface temperature and thermal sensation are 11% and 3% higher than those between skin temperature and thermal sensation of two subjects, respectively. With cross-validation, SVM with a linear kernel and penalty number of 1, as well as RF with 50 trees and the maximum tree depth of 3 were selected as the model configurations. As a result, the model trained with the feature set, consisting of indoor air temperature, relative humidity, skin temperature and clothing surface temperature, and with linear kernel SVM has achieved 100% recall score on test data of female subjects and 95% recall score on that of male subjects.

scholarly journals Determination of Thermal Comfort in Indoor Sport Facilities Located in Moderate Environments: An Overview

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Fantozzi ◽  
Giulia Lamberti
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Major Question ◽  
Sport Practice ◽  
Sport Facilities

In previous years, providing comfort in indoor environments has become a major question for researchers. Thus, indoor environmental quality (IEQ)—concerning the aspects of air quality, thermal comfort, visual and acoustical quality—assumed a crucial role. Considering sport facilities, the evaluation of the thermal environment is one of the main issues that should be faced, as it may interfere with athletes’ performance and health. Thus, the necessity of a review comprehending the existing knowledge regarding the evaluation of the thermal environment and its application to sport facilities becomes increasingly relevant. This paper has the purpose to consolidate the aspects related to thermal comfort and their application to sport practice, through a deep study concerning the engineering, physiological, and psychological approaches to thermal comfort, a review of the main standards on the topic and an analysis of the methodologies and the models used by researchers to determine the thermal sensation of sport facilities’ occupants. Therefore, this review provides the basis for future research on the determination of thermal comfort in indoor sport facilities located in moderate environments.

scholarly journals Thermal Comfort Characteristics of Knitted Fabrics for Abaya

2012 ◽  
Vol 627 ◽  
pp. 164-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salwa Tashkandi ◽  
Li Jing Wang ◽  
Sinnappoo Kanesalingam ◽  
Amit Jadhav
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Transmission Characteristics ◽  
Knitted Fabrics ◽  
Hot Environment ◽  
Middle East Countries ◽  
Fabric Weight ◽  
Outer Garment ◽  
Fabric Material

Fabric material plays an important role in the thermal comfort of Abaya because it is the outer garment of Muslim women. Abaya is black in colour and covers the whole body except the hands, feet and face. It is mandatory to wear Abaya in the Saudi Arabia and certain parts of Middle East countries irrespective of the outside environmental temperature which could be up to 45°C. Therefore, the thermal transmission characteristics of the abaya are extremely important as human body responds to the external thermal environment through clothing. In a hot environment, it is extremely uncomfortable to wear several layers of clothing under the Abaya. Hence it is essential to enhance the thermal comfort of fabrics used for Abaya. This study investigated five selected knitted fabrics that could be used as Abaya fabrics for thermal resistance, air permeability, thermal comfort and vapour resistance. The results indicated that the fabrics with different knit structures, fibre composition and fabric weight have greater influence on thermal comfort performance.

scholarly journals Outdoor Thermal Comfort at a University Campus: Studies from Personal and Long-Term Thermal History Perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 9284
Author(s):  
Jiao Xue ◽  
Xiao Hu ◽  
Shu Nuke Sani ◽  
Yuanyuan Wu ◽  
Xinyu Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal History ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Cold Climate ◽  
Outdoor Thermal Comfort ◽  
Climate Index ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Winter Climate

Thermally comfortable outdoor spaces have contributed to high-quality urban living. In order to provide a further understanding of the influences of gender and long-term thermal history on outdoor thermal comfort, this study conducted field surveys at a university campus in Shanghai, China by carrying out microclimatic monitoring and subjective questionnaires from May to October, 2019. The analysis of collected data found that, during our survey, 57% of the occupants felt comfortable overall and 40–60% of them perceived the microclimate variables (air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed) as “neutral”. The universal thermal climate index (UTCI) provided a better correlation with occupant thermal sensation than the physiologically equivalent temperature (PET). Females were more sensitive to the outdoor thermal environment than males. Older age led to lower thermal sensation, but the thermal sensitivities for age groups of <20, 20–50, and >50 were similar. Occupants who had resided in Shanghai for a longer period showed higher overall comfort rating and lower thermal sensation. Interviewees who came from hot summer and cold winter climate regions were less effected by the change of UTCI than those from severe cold or cold climate regions.

Thermal Comfort of the Elderly in Public Health Service Buildings of Thailand

2018 ◽  
Vol 878 ◽  
pp. 173-178
Author(s):  
Chorpech Panraluk ◽  
Atch Sreshthaputra
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Metabolic Syndrome ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Public Health Service ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
The Metabolic Syndrome

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Thermal comfort of the Thai elderly in air-conditioned space. The quantitative evaluation was conducted using 163 senior participants while recording their expressed satisfaction within the thermal environment in four public health service buildings in Phitsanulok Province, Thailand. It revealed that for the Thai elderly, the Predicted Mean Vote could not be used to identify the Thermal Sensation Vote. In addition, the results of this study indicated that personal factors, such as gender, age, and underlying disease correlating affect their Thermal Sensation Vote. Perhaps most significantly, a coincidental finding was that the thermal sensation of the Thai elderly was strongly dependent upon the condition of the occupant’s metabolic syndrome, which belonged to the Non-Communicable Disease group. This study assumed that in the elderly, the metabolic syndrome might have an effect on their metabolic rate (as one of the six factors of thermal comfort). In terms of the environmental factors, the on-site environmental data was collected via field works. It found that the air-conditioned spaces had mean radiant temperatures of 23.20-31.40 °C, this condition would make seniors feel comfortable if the thermal environment in the study areas were controlled: air temperature 23.00-27.80 °C, relative humidity 54.00-73.00% and air velocity 0.08-0.72 m/s. However, some elderly wanted to change this thermal environment to either cooler (10.68%) or warmer (4.85%). Therefore, it should be further study to find the proper thermal environment for covering the most of the seniors in Thailand.

The Thermal Comfort of Sedentary Workers

1987 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
S C Foo ◽  
WO Phoon
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Sensation ◽  
Tropical Climate ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
The Body ◽  
Office Workers ◽  
Preferred Temperature

Two hundred and eighty-five Office workers were surveyed and the micro-climatic conditions in which they worked were measured to evaluate their preferred temperature. About 78% of workers considered the natural tropical climate uncomfortable. However, 76% to 87% of workers in airconditioned Offices approved of their thermal environment if its temperature ranged from 21°C to 27°C. Many workers who felt that the temperature produced a neutral thermal sensation in the body as a whole, tended to complain that their heads were too warm and at the same time their limbs too cool. About 60% of workers in airconditioned Offices were exposed to an air temperature of less than 24°C. Present data suggest that an air temperature of 27°C would be comfortable for more than 80% of workers.

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