Comparison of heat transfer from baby and adult manikins
Author
Editor
- Victor Candas
Summary, in English
Data from 3 whole body manikins, 2 babies and an adult, were used in the study. All the manikins used the same computer program and similar measuring and control units. No special measurements were made for baby and adult manikin comparison, but available data from earlier measurements was used. The conditions involved air layer insulation measurements (AL), laying on back on an insulating surface (OB), and laying on back on insulating surface and covered with a sheet (OBS, baby manikins only).
AL insulation/heat transfer coefficients (HTC) for all manikins were very similar. OB condition adult manikin differed from others. That was related to flexible joints allowing arms and legs to be in contact with insulating surface while baby manikins still had their arms and legs in air. Baby manikins performed similarly in OBS test.
No significant differences in heat transfer from manikins depending on body size were observed. On the other hand, body posture related to rigid/flexible joints, e.g. laying on back condition, and even small differences in air velocity could have an effect. Care should be taken when interpreting results related to measurement values from separate zones or relatively small zone groups because of large errors. In this study only simple, undressed conditions were tested. Therefore, a question would be at which size and insulation level the differences occur and/or become critical. A study with specially manufactured well-fitting clothes on manikins of different sizes could answer the question.
AL insulation/heat transfer coefficients (HTC) for all manikins were very similar. OB condition adult manikin differed from others. That was related to flexible joints allowing arms and legs to be in contact with insulating surface while baby manikins still had their arms and legs in air. Baby manikins performed similarly in OBS test.
No significant differences in heat transfer from manikins depending on body size were observed. On the other hand, body posture related to rigid/flexible joints, e.g. laying on back condition, and even small differences in air velocity could have an effect. Care should be taken when interpreting results related to measurement values from separate zones or relatively small zone groups because of large errors. In this study only simple, undressed conditions were tested. Therefore, a question would be at which size and insulation level the differences occur and/or become critical. A study with specially manufactured well-fitting clothes on manikins of different sizes could answer the question.
Department/s
Publishing year
2003
Language
English
Publication/Series
5th International Meeting on Thermal Manikin and Modelling (5I3M)
Document type
Conference paper
Publisher
CEPA, Strasbourg, France
Topic
- Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics
Keywords
- body size
- thermal insulation
- baby manikin
Conference name
5th International Meeting on Thermal Manikin and Modelling (5I3M)
Conference date
2003-09-29 - 2003-09-30
Conference place
Strasbourg, France
Status
Published
Research group
- Thermal Environment Laboratory