Study on the Thermal Protective Performance Measurements of Fire Fighter's Protective Clothing for Low Level Radiant Heat Exposures

Abstract

Despite advancements in the development of synthetic fibers and materials that provide better insulation, fire burn injuries remain a significant issue. To ensure adequate protection, clothing and equipment must be selected on the basis of performance. There are different standards like ISO standards applicable to each of the various types of clothing used by fire fighters. But, in most cases, the tests are performed in the conditions of high heat flux exposure, the clothing material can be destroyed easily. Thus the effective way to investigate the protective performance for the low (radiant) heat flux conditions should be needed. Therefore improved RPP (Radiant Protective Performance) test method based on the onset of pain burn injury was suggested. Experiments were performed to verify the proposed method with current protective clothing for fire fighters and the transient heat transfer characteristics were identified, also. Moreover, several protective performance indices were acquired from experimental results to analyze their relations.

Enhancing heat protection performance of firefighters’ protective clothing: A comparative analysis of fabric and knit structure in the lining of multi-layered construction

“…9 Notably, radiant heat constitutes the largest proportion of heat transferred to firefighters. [10][11][12] At fire sites, firefighters experience radiant heat intensities ranging from 1-40 kW/m 2 . 13,14 The pain caused by radiant heat depends on the amount of heat received per unit time and duration of exposure.…”

Comparison of Thermal Protective Performance Test of Firefighter’s Protective Clothing against Convection and radiation heat sources

“…열전달 현상은 전도, 대류, 복 사 3가지가 복합적으로 작용하여 일어나지만 화재로부터 의 열에너지 전달은 주로 대류와 복사에 의해서 이루어진 다 (3) . 실제 화재 현장에서 소방관에게 전달되는 열은 복사 열이 가장 큰 비중을 차지하는 것으로 알려져 있으며 (4)(5)(6) , 일반적으로 소방관들이 화재 진압시 받게 되는 복사열 강 도는 12.6~29.3 kW/m 2 범위이다 (7) . 거대한 화염이 발생했을 때 사람은 본능적으로 신속하게 대피를 하게 되지만, 원거 리에서 오는 복사열은 신속하게 감지되지 않기 때문에 방 심하다가 화상 피해를 입을 수 있다 (8)…”