1st Edition

Standard Methods for Thermal Comfort Assessment of Clothing

    244 Pages 20 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    244 Pages 20 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Providing detailed analysis of the thermal comfort assessment of clothing as the basis for developing standards, this book discusses the thermal protective role of clothing as a way of modelling heat transfer from the body, general thermal regulation of humans, and the importance of globally accepted test methods and standards to improve quality.

    New materials and discoveries in the study of thermal comfort necessitate the need for standard improvements and update. The development of international standards and the unification of testing methods is of crucial significance to ensure cost reduction and health protection. The book promotes instruments, methods, implementation of unified specifications, and the definition of standards so that a clear quality management system can be established, for both production systems and testing methods. It discusses standards in ergonomics of the thermal environment, clothing thermal characteristics, and subjective assessment of thermal comfort, which allows for systematic control of the measuring methods and the services and final products that are distributed on the global market.

    This book is aimed at industry professionals, researchers, and advanced students working in textile and clothing engineering, comfort testing, and ergonomics.

    1. Introduction

    2. Behind the scenes: Thermal regulation in humans

    2.1. Thermodynamical analysis

    2.2. Physical analysis

    2.2.1. Heat balance

    2.2.2. Heat production

    2.2.3. Heat loss

    2.3. Thermophysiological analysis

    2.3.1. The human thermal homeostasis and thermostatic neural mechanism

    2.3.2. Anatomy of the thermoregulation

    2.3.2.1. The central thermostatic control and hypothalamus

    2.3.2.2. The peripheral reception and skin

    3. Modelling the heat losses from human body

    3.1. The comfort in humans

    3.2. The thermal comfort: Environmental, personal and clothing properties

    3.2.1. Clothing as second skin: preserving the thermal comfort

    3.2.2. From fibres to clothing: thermal properties and applications

    3.2.2.1. The heat transmission through textiles and clothing

    3.2.2.2. The moisture transmission through textiles and clothing

    4. The importance of globally accepted test methods and standards

    4.1. Testing the thermal properties of textiles and clothing

    4.1.1. Textile thermal comfort testing

    4.1.2. Clothing thermal comfort testing

    4.1.3. Subjective judgements and wear trials: What do we have to say?

    4.2. Improving comfort in textiles and clothing and the future trends

    5. Why using the thermal comfort standards?

    5.1. The basic principles of standard approval

    5.2. The types of standards

    5.3. The benefits provided by standards

    6. Who creates standards?

    6.1. The national organisations for standardization

    6.1.1. BSI organisation

    6.1.2. DIN organisation

    6.1.3. ASTM organisation

    6.1.4. ASHRAE organisation

    6.2. The international organisation for standardization (ISO)

    7. The standardisation on thermal comfort

    7.1. The history of standardization

    7.2. The beginnings and first standards on thermal comfort

    7.3. The further development and necessary improvements

    8. The distribution of standards on thermal comfort

    8.1. The basic distributions of the standards in the field of the Ergonomics of the Thermal environment

    8.2. Coding of standards for cataloguing their type

    9. The overview of the most significant standards on thermal comfort

    9.1. The most significant ISO and European standards on thermal comfort

    9.1.1. The standard evaluating physical quantities

    9.1.1.1. Temperature measurements- Requirements on measuring equipment

    9.1.1.2. Humidity measurements - Requirements on measuring equipment

    9.1.1.3. Pressure measurements- Requirements on measuring equipment

    9.1.1.4. Air velocity measurements - Requirements on measuring equipment

    9.1.2. The standards assessing the thermal comfort and physiological responses of humans

    9.1.3. The standards assessing the heat stress

    9.1.4. The standards assessing the cold stress

    9.2. The most significant ASTM standards on thermal comfort

    9.3. ASHRAE Handbook of fundamentals

    Biography

    Ivana Špelić, Ph.D. was born in Croatia in 1982. She received her Master’s degree as the Engineer of Textile Technology in 2009 at University of Zagreb, Faculty of Textile Technology. The same year she became the research associate at the Department of Clothing Technology and finished postgraduate scientific doctoral study Textile Science and Technology in 2016. Her research activities are in the field of textile technology and engineering, clothing technology, energetics, technical thermodynamics, energy management in industry and new and renewable energy sources.


    Alka Mihelić-Bogdanić, PhD was born in Zagreb and works as full professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Textile Technology. She received her bachelor's degree in the year 1972, her master's degree in the year 1975 and her doctor's degree in the year 1977 from Zagreb University, Faculty of Technology. Her research activities are in the field of chemical engineering, textile technology and energetics. The areas of special research interest are energetics, technical thermodynamics, energy management in industry and new and renewable energy sources. From 1984 to 2000, she has collaborated with the Institute for Thermodynamic at the Technical University Graz and with the Institute for Physics at the Karl Franz University Graz, in the field of alternative energy sources as well as Stirling engine. She has published over 121 scientific papers with international reviews and 13 professional papers.

    Anica Hursa is Head of the Department of Clothing Technology at University of Zagreb, Faculty of Textile Technology.

    "This book shows the importance of modeling heat losses from the human body as an important factor in optimizing the comfort of clothing, as well as the need for assessment of thermal comfort and standardization of the related testing methods…Except for chapters 2 and 3, where some quantitative analysis is presented, the treatment here is straightforward and descriptive. The book is just right for interested general readers with some knowledge of physics."

    --S. D. El Wakil, emeritus, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, CHOICE