A Cooling Vest for Construction Workers

Construction workers are vulnerable to heat stress, and a number of heat-related injuries and deaths have been reported. This study thus introduces a phase change material (PCM) based cooling garment designed for construction workers. The PCM cooling garment will be effective in reducing the workers body temperature and can extend their maximum tolerable time on sites.

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Testing of the functional garments with microencapsulated phase-change material in simulated high temperature conditions

Hemijska industrija ◽

10.2298/hemind150716064j ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 70 (5) ◽

pp. 573-579 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Dalibor Jovanovic ◽

Predrag Stojisavljevic ◽

Sveta Cvetanovic ◽

Dusan Rajic ◽

Radovan Karkalic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Heat Stress ◽

High Temperature ◽

Phase Change ◽

Phase Change Material ◽

Change Process ◽

Stress Tests ◽

Temperature Conditions ◽

Microencapsulated Phase Change Material ◽

Change Material

An organic Phase Change Material (PCM) possesses the ability to absorb and release large quantity of latent heat during a phase change process over a certain temperature range. This paper presents results related to thermo-physiological efficiency of special underwear with organic PCM integrated in textile through microencapsulation process. The efficiency of PCM underwear was tested through physiological examinations in simulated high-temperature conditions, where test-subjects were voluntarily exposed to heat stress tests wearing NBC protective suit with PCM underwear (option "THERM") and without it (option "NoTHERM"). It can be concluded that wearing a PCM textile clothes under NBC protective suit, during physical activity in high-tempearture conditions, reduces sweating and alleviates heat stress manifested by increased core and skin temperature and heart rate values.

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Study on the characteristics of cooling garment that cooperating with phase change material and micro fan

2019 9th International Conference on Fire Science and Fire Protection Engineering (ICFSFPE) ◽

10.1109/icfsfpe48751.2019.9055805 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Shasha Zhou ◽

Changchun Liu ◽

Qian He ◽

Jun Deng

Keyword(s):

Phase Change ◽

Phase Change Material ◽

Cooling Garment ◽

Change Material

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Efficacy of a novel phase change material for microclimate body cooling

Thermal Science ◽

10.2298/tsci130216129j ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 657-665 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Dalibor Jovanovic ◽

Radovan Karkalic ◽

Ljubisa Tomic ◽

Zlate Velickovic ◽

Sonja Radakovic

Keyword(s):

Heat Stress ◽

Phase Change ◽

Phase Change Material ◽

Thermal Imaging ◽

Cooling System ◽

Control Group ◽

Climatic Chamber ◽

Physiological Strain ◽

Exertional Heat Stress ◽

Change Material

The present study was conducted in order to evaluate the efficiency of personal body microclimate cooling systems based on a phase change materials (PCM) and its effects on physiological strain in soldiers during exertional heat stress in hot environment. The results are obtained in the experiment conducted in the climatic chamber in the Institute of Hygiene, Military Medical Academy in Belgrade. Ten male soldiers were voluntarily subjected to exertional heat stress tests (EHST) consisted of walking on treadmill (5.5 km/h) in hot conditions (40?C) in climatic chamber. The subjects performed first test while wearing a field camouflage uniform without any cooling system ("CONTROL" group) and in second test they used additional microclimate cooling system with paraffin wax consist of n-hexadecane (C16H34), in a form of cooling packs ("COOL" group). As indicators of thermal strain, mean skin (Tsk) and tympanic (Tty) temperature were determined. Simultaneously, thermal effects of PCM were measured by thermal imaging camera. The exercise in hot conditions induced a physiological response to heat stress, manifested through increased body core and skin temperatures. The results confirmed that the cooling vest worn over the field uniform was able to attenuate the physiological strain during exercise, compared to the identical exposure in the ''control'' group. The results of thermal imaging also indicate that heat generated inside the body is the main factor that will affect the phase change material melting time.

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