2007, Piran, Slovenia

Environmental Ergonomics XII
Igor B. Mekjavic, Stelios N. Kounalakis & Nigel A.S. Taylor (Eds.), © BIOMED, Ljubljana 2007
thermal image camera (DL-700c from Dali Co. Ltd) every 5 min. The locations of the
camera and subjects were fixed. The subjects were asked to assess their sensations.
Table 3. Details of the experiment procedures.
Procedure
182
Time
consumed
(min)
Body scanning 15
Movement Measure index
Changing clothes,
body scanning
Three-dimensional size of net
body and clothed body
Measuring
time
7 min
8 min
Vote time
Preparation for the
wear trial
5 Rest
Sitting period 10 Sitting quietly Clothing surface temperature Every 5 min At the end
Body
period
movement
10
5
Yoga
Resting (Filling
forms)
Clothing surface temperature Every 5 min At the end
Jogging period 5 Jogging (4.6km/h) Clothing surface temperature Every 5 min At the end
Resting period 15 Resting Clothing surface temperature Every 5 min At the end
Measurements: The air gaps are not evenly distributed around the body, with the
thickness at the breast, waist, hip and upper breast measured separately. The section
scanning image of the unclothed body and the clothed body were overlapped. Thus,
the intercept of the perpendicular line to a point on the unclothed image between the
two sectional images, was taken as the air gap thickness of that point. The air gap
thickness at a body section was the mean of different locations. From infrared
pictures, the average surface temperature of the front breast area, the back area, the
front waist area and the back waist area were recorded. The effects of the air gaps on
subjective sensation were evaluated, including damp, sticky and muggy sensations
from the front breast, back, front waist and back waist, and the general comfort
sensation about the experimental garment. Subjective sensation was recorded using a
seven-point intensity scale.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The air gap thicknesses for different body sections are shown in Table 4. Taking the
infrared temperature measurements from the breast as an example, the clothing
surface temperature of 9 experimental garments are shown in Figure 1. Generally,
clothing surface temperature at the front breast decreased from garment 1 to 9 in
accordance with the breast girth of the clothing increasing. The surface temperature of
experimental garment with small breast girth was higher than that with big breast
girth. Air gaps influenced heat loss from human body by convection and conduction.
As a result the clothing surface temperature changed with different air gaps thickness.
The experimental garments with large girth had thick air gap under clothing, which
weakened heat loss by conducting but strengthened heat loss by convection gradually.
Table 4. Air gap thicknesses (cm).
Clothing code
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Upper front breast 0.707 0.531 1.228 1.464 0.632 0.512 0.700 0.668 0.638
Front breast 0.346 0.360 0.483 0.542 0.576 0.767 0.742 0.793 0.580
Front waist 1.202 1.513 2.308 2.509 3.213 3.456 3.516 3.686 4.519
Back waist 1.224 3.148 3.140 3.789 3.587 3.984 4.579 4.236 5.189