Using a Sweating Manikin, Controlled by a Human Physiological Model, to Evaluate Liquid Cooling Garments

Abstract

An Advanced Automotive Manikin (ADAM) developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is used to evaluate NASA's liquid cooling garments (LCGs) used in advanced space suits for extravehicular applications, and launch and entry suits. The manikin is controlled by a finite-element physiological model of the human thermoregulatory system. ADAM's thermal response to a baseline LCG was measured. The thermal sensation and comfort followed the expected trends as the LCG inlet fluid temperature was changed. The overall thermal comfort showed less variation than expected when testing points off the NASA comfort curve. These new thermal comfort tools permit detailed, repeatable measurements and evaluation of LCGs. Results can extend to other personal protective clothing, including HAZMAT suits, nuclear / biological / chemical protective suits, and fire protection suits.

Phase II Testing of Liquid Cooling Garments Using a Sweating Manikin, Controlled by a Human Physiological Model

“…During the Phase I testing of NASA LCGs, a series of quick tests were conducted using ADAM to assess a Shuttle LCG [3]. Using the NASA comfort curve ( Figure 1) to determine the inlet flow temperature as a function of metabolic rate, three points on the curve were run [4].…”

Investigation on thermal comfort of the uniform for workers in tropical monsoon climates

“…This method is inapplicable on uniforms with restrictive dress codes in place. The most complicated and expensive one is introducing the functional materials or equipment to regulate heat transfer and keep the thermal balance of the human body, such as the PCMs (Zhao et al, 2012;Lu and Wei, et al, 2015), ventilation fans (Zhao et al, 2013) and liquid cooling systems (Farrington et al, 2005;Flouris and Cheung, 2006). Although these advanced solutions were frequently reported to have high efficiencies, the higher cost and maintenance make them unable to be widely implemented.…”

Comparison of Thermal Manikin Modeling and Human Subjects’ Response During Use of Cooling Devices Under Personal Protective Ensembles in the Heat

“…Sweating thermal manikins have been previously shown to accurately evaluate dry and evaporative heat loss while wearing clothing at various temperature and humidity conditions. [14][15][16] Additionally, previous investigations have shown that sweating thermal manikin modeling provides meaningful information regarding human thermal physiology during rest, 17 exercise, 17 while wearing PPE, 6,18 and while using a PCD 17,[19][20][21][22][23][24] during heat stress. Thermal manikin testing has been used extensively to measure heat removal rate of personal cooling systems; 25 however, the use of thermal manikin modeling to evaluate the physiological impact of PCDs has been given less attention, especially with comparisons to human subject data.…”