Multi-sector thermophysiological head simulator for headgear research
[EN] Predicting thermal comfort perceived during wearing protective clothing is important especially for the head as it is one of the most sensitive body parts to heat. Since helmets typically induce an additional thermal insulation that impairs the heat dissipation from the head, a special attentio...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2016 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) |
| Repositorio: | RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/61487 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/61487 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Thermal manikin Thermophysiological modelling Headgear Helmets Thermal simulations MAQUINAS Y MOTORES TERMICOS |
| Sumario: | [EN] Predicting thermal comfort perceived during wearing protective clothing is important especially for the head as it is one of the most sensitive body parts to heat. Since helmets typically induce an additional thermal insulation that impairs the heat dissipation from the head, a special attention should be drawn to a heat strain leading to a decrease of the cognitive performance and to adverse health effects. Thermal manikins allow systematic analysis of the heat and mass transfer properties of protective clothing. However, this methodology does not provide sufficient information about the local and the whole body human physiological response in different cases of use. The prediction of the physiological state of the body is provided by a thermophysiological model. However, they are not capable of accounting for complex heat and mass exchange processes at the skin surface when the clothing is worn. Thermal devices could measure the overall effect of these processes when wearing the given actual gear and being exposed to the surrounding environment. Several attempts to couple thermal manikins with physiological models have been undertaken, however, the partial coupling of a body part manikin with a physiological model has not been addressed so far. Hence, the aim of this work was to develop a novel thermophysiological human head simulator for headgear evaluation based on the coupling of a thermal head manikin with a thermophysiological model. This method would be able to realistically reproduce the effect of clothing on the heat and mass transfer from the head's skin to the environment. A thermal head manikin with a dedicated segmentation for headgear testing was evaluated for the thermophysiological human head simulator. This head manikin showed consistent when compared to previously published data of a less segmented head manikin and the more detailed investigation of the local heat transfer at head brought additional information regarding the contribution of the local design characteristics of the headgear to the overall heat exchange. The thermal head manikin was evaluated in the most demanding scenarios according to the human physiology. It was possible to consistently define four head parts, namely, forehead, cranial, face and neck parts. When heterogeneous surface temperature distribution was applied on the head manikin, the gradients between head parts could compromise the precision of skin temperature prediction at forehead and face. The passive heating and cooling responsiveness of the head manikin did not present any limitation for simulating sudden temperature step changes. However, when the manikin heating and cooling processes were modulated by the PI control with default settings, the time needed to reach the temperature set point was larger than the time required by the human physiology. The thermophysiological model was validated for prediction of global and local skin temperatures by comparing simulations against human experimental data in a wide range of conditions. The physiological model showed a good precision in general when predicting core and mean skin temperature. A reduced precision was observed for some local skin temperatures. Finally, the thermal head manikin and the physiological model were coupled to build up the thermophysiological head simulator. The comparison of the prediction of the coupled system with human experimental data in several scenarios showed a good agreement for rectal and mean skin temperatures. However, some greater discrepancy was observed for forehead temperature in exposures in which participants were exercising in warm environments. The representation of the human sweat evaporation could be affected by a reduced evaporation efficiency and manikin sweat dynamics. The industry will benefit from this thermophysiological human head simulator, which will lead to the development of helmet designs with enhanced thermal comfort, and therefore, with higher acceptance by users |
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