Evaluation of two cooling systems under a firefighter coverall

Meta-analysis of the effects of microclimate cooling systems on human performance under thermal stressful environments: Potential applications to occupational workers

“…When the major pathway for heat dissipation is sweat evaporation in a hot environment with a certain level of humidity and air and body motion, the external force with increasing air flow across the body is beneficial for accelerating sweat evaporation and convective heat loss, resulting in the reduction of heat strain and the enhancement of human performance (Oğulata, 2007;Brotherhood, 2008). By circulating cooled liquid on the skin surface, LCGs are well accepted as an effective cooling technique contributing to lower heat strain and better human performance (Teunissen et al, 2014;Kim et al, 2011aKim et al, , 2011b. Unlike active and passive cooling systems, HBCGs have been the focus of less research attention in past, resulting in only two publications included in this study.…”

Towards Optimizing a Personal Cooling Garment for Hot and Humid Deep Mining Conditions

“…If the metabolic activity decreases, the miner may experience unwanted body heat loss and thermal discomfort [12]. In a humid environment, if the water circulates in the space between the skin and the personal protective equipment, steam may appear and cause skin burns [25]. When the ambient air temperature is higher than the liquid coolant as is the case in deep mines, the coolant can gain heat from the environment resulting in a heat transfer that will reduce its cooling efficiency.…”

“…However, with LCGs, there is a risk of skin burn caused by the stream formation that may appear if the water was circulated in the space between the skin and the personal protective equipment [25].…”

“…However, its effectiveness appears to be the lowest among the types of cooling garments [25] [29] [32] [33] [36] and a PCG requires direct contact with the skin for higher efficiency. These garments have an operating time of approximately 2 hours for a 4 kg garment [34].…”

Physiological strain and decision making affected by different cooling tactics following live‐fire training

“…Considering the importance of modifying the firefighters' physiological responses during the operations, several cooling strategies have been suggested, including hydration status, air and liquid cooling, waterspray cooling systems, and cooling of various selective areas of the body, including feet, head and the face, all of which have been only partially successful (Constable, Bishop, Nunneley, & Chen, 1994;Selkirk, McLellan, & Wong, 2004, 2006. The effects of various cooling tactics on the physiological responses in firefighters during simulated tasks are documented (Barr et al, 2011;Teunissen et al, 2014). However, knowledge of the impact of cooling strategies on firefighters' cognitive function capacity are very limited and there are few studies on decisionmaking capacity during typical firefighting activities (Barr et al, 2010;Hemmatjo, Motamedzade, Aliabadi, Kalatpour, & Farhadian, 2017d;Zhang et al, 2014).…”