Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
667952 International Journal of Thermal Sciences 2016 14 Pages PDF
Abstract

•A fabric-PCM model for heat transfer in clothing containing PCM packets is developed.•The model was validated experimentally with PCM packets of different melting points.•The fabric-PCM vest model was integrated with a segmental bio-heat model.•A lower PCM melting temperature results in faster cooling effect of the human.•Increasing the PCM mass in the vest increases the cooling duration effect.

A cooling vest containing phase change materials (PCM) can help in maintaining the skin temperature of the covered parts at a comfortable level. A transient mathematical model of heat and mass transfer through clothing layers containing PCM packets was developed. Two experiments were performed on a clothed heated cylinder in controlled environment to validate the model using two PCMs at different melting temperatures. Good agreement was found between model-predicted and measured temperatures of the microclimate air between the cylinder and the PCM.The validated fabric-PCM model was then integrated with a segmental bio-heat model to provide realistic skin boundary conditions. The predicted core and mean skin temperatures agreed well with published experimental data of a human wearing a PCM-vest in hot environment.The validated integrated bio-heat and fabric-PCM models were used to study the effect of the melting temperature of the PCM and its mass on the vest performance. It was found that a lower melting temperature must be used when a fast cooling effect is desirable. Moreover, it was found that at fixed melting temperature increasing the PCM mass increased the cooling duration.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemical Engineering Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
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