Application of a Thermal Mannequin to the Assessment of the Heat Insulating Power of Protective Garments for Premature Babies

Abstract

In this study, the new tool for measuring thermal insulating power of garments for premature babies under coupled heat and moisture transport was developed. The thermal mannequin corresponds to the body weight and size of a premature baby born in the thirty fourth week of pregnancy. The mannequin surface temperature can be set at various levels, while the heat loss is measured in W/m2. The mannequin is divided into eleven independent heating zones and seven independent zones of moisture evolution. The study also presents the test results of heat insulating power obtained for the newly developed garment set with commercially available garment set for babies, conducted under different climatic conditions. The results exhibit the advantage of the new material construction of the garment over the commercially available one.

Assessment of the Impact of Clothing Structures for Premature Babies on Biophysical Properties

“…As a part of Umbach's second-degree analysis, the assessment of thermal insulation and water vapor resistance was carried out using an innovative measuring stand, i.e., a premature baby manikin made of 11 heating zones [36]. This model corresponds to the size and proportions of the body of a prematurely born child with a birth weight of approximately 1500 g. Its dimensions were based on the actual dimensions of the premature babies in the hospital of the Children's Memorial Health Institute in the Neonatology Department in 2012.…”

“…This model corresponds to the size and proportions of the body of a prematurely born child with a birth weight of approximately 1500 g. Its dimensions were based on the actual dimensions of the premature babies in the hospital of the Children's Memorial Health Institute in the Neonatology Department in 2012. A full description of the premature baby thermal mannequin with a function of moisture secretion was presented in earlier article [36]. The thermal manikin allows for the determination of the biophysical properties of the tested clothing by calculating its thermal insulation and water vapor resistance in conditions presented in Figure 5.…”

“…According to PN-EN ISO 15831:2006 [37], thermal insulation is the temperature difference between the user's skin surface and the surrounding atmosphere divided by the dry heat flux per unit area measured in the direction of temperature gradient. The dry heat flux includes the flux transported by conduction, convection, and heat radiation and is determined by measuring the power of the current supplied to the individual heating zones of the manikin in order to maintain a constant temperature gradient between the manikin's surface and the surrounding air, and it is related to the area of the entire manikin [7,35,36]. The total thermal insulation of the clothing is expressed in m 2 • • C•W −1 .…”

Textronic Solutions Used for Premature Babies: A Review

“…Infants born before the due date do not have a well-developed respiratory, central nervous, or cardiovascular system. The basic parameters that need to be controlled are heart rate (HR), breath, pulse, saturation, and humidity [1, 10,11].…”

Influence of Ti-Si-N Nanocomposite Coating on Heat Radiation Resistance of Fireproof Fabrics

“…Other procedures relate to the use of thermal manikins such as THERMOMAN by DuPont or PYROMAN developed by the Center of Research on Protection and Comfort at North Carolina or other [35][36][37][38].…”