Product PerformanceEffect of phase-change material on energy consumption of intelligent thermal-protective clothing

This article reports a study on the impact of phase-change materials (PCM) on intelligent thermal-protective clothing. The experiments were conducted in a climatic chamber in which the temperature was −15.0 °C. In the experiments, a device called a bionic skin model was used. The temperature at the simulated skin surface was controlled at 33.0 °C. Four clothing assemblies with the same structure and with/without PCM were studied. When the temperature of the second layer was lower than 27.0 °C, the conductive fabric was powered automatically on; when the temperature was higher than 29.0 °C, the conductive fabric was switched off. The results show that conductive fabric can significantly change the temperature distributions in clothing assemblies to increase the thermal-protective performance of the clothing, and that clothing assemblies with PCM can save around 30% of energy in the temperature control process.