Effect of posture on the heat transfer areas of the human body

The purpose of this paper is to measure the heat transfer areas of the human body and to examine the effect of posture on these values, which is necessary data for calculating heat exchange between the human body and its environment. The total surface area of a subject's body was measured directly. Then, the convective heat transfer area, radiative heat transfer area and conductive heat transfer area were measured for the same subject in 9 postures: standing, chair sitting, seiza sitting, cross-legged sitting, sideways sitting, both-knees-erect sitting, legs-out sitting, lateral position and supine. The ratios of the radiative heat transfer area, convective heat transfer area ratio and conductive heat transfer area to body surface area were as follows: Standing, 0.942, 0.773, 0.013; chair sitting, 0.910, 0.732, 0.008; seiza sitting, 0.853, 0.621, 0.013; cross-legged sitting, 0.843, 0.606, 0.029; sideways sitting, 0.877, 0.634, 0.030; both-knees-erect sitting, 0.865, 0.609, 0.023; legs-out sitting, 0.878, 0.686, 0.038; lateral position, 0.879, 0.712, 0.039; and supine, 0.811, 0.708, 0.100. Posture was shown to have a noticeable effect on the heat transfer areas of the human body.