TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluating the effectiveness of cooling vest in a hot and humid environment
AU - Yi, Wen
AU - Zhao, Yijie
AU - Chan, Albert P.C.
N1 - Funding Information:
The work described in this article was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (RGC Project No. PolyU 510513). This article forms part of the research project entitled ‘Developing a personal cooling system (PCS) for combating heat stress in the construction industry’, from which other deliverables will be produced with different objectives/scopes but sharing a common background of study and research methodology. The authors also wish to thanks Prof Faming Wang in Soochow University for his assistance in lab experiment.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.
PY - 2017/5/1
Y1 - 2017/5/1
N2 - Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly designed hybrid cooling vest for construction workers in alleviating heat stress. Method: Two types of cooling vests, namely, a commonly worn Vest A and a newly designed Vest B, were tested in a climatic chamber environment (34.0°C temperature, 60% relative humidity, and 0.4 m s-1 air velocity) using a sweating thermal manikin. Four test scenarios were included: fan off with no phase change materials (PCMs) (Fan-off), fan on with no PCMs (Fan-on), fan off with completely solidified PCMs (PCM + Fan-off), and fan on with completely solidified PCMs (PCM + Fan-on). Result: Test results showed that Vests A and B provided a continuous cooling effect during the 3-h test. The average cooling power for the torso region of Vest B was 67 W, which was higher than that of Vest A (56 W). The addition of PCMs offered a cooling effect of approximately 60 min. Ventilation fans considerably improved the evaporative heat loss compared with the Fan-off condition. Conclusion: The newly designed hybrid cooling vest (Vest B) may be an effective means to reduce heat strain and enhance work performance in a hot and humid environment.
AB - Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly designed hybrid cooling vest for construction workers in alleviating heat stress. Method: Two types of cooling vests, namely, a commonly worn Vest A and a newly designed Vest B, were tested in a climatic chamber environment (34.0°C temperature, 60% relative humidity, and 0.4 m s-1 air velocity) using a sweating thermal manikin. Four test scenarios were included: fan off with no phase change materials (PCMs) (Fan-off), fan on with no PCMs (Fan-on), fan off with completely solidified PCMs (PCM + Fan-off), and fan on with completely solidified PCMs (PCM + Fan-on). Result: Test results showed that Vests A and B provided a continuous cooling effect during the 3-h test. The average cooling power for the torso region of Vest B was 67 W, which was higher than that of Vest A (56 W). The addition of PCMs offered a cooling effect of approximately 60 min. Ventilation fans considerably improved the evaporative heat loss compared with the Fan-off condition. Conclusion: The newly designed hybrid cooling vest (Vest B) may be an effective means to reduce heat strain and enhance work performance in a hot and humid environment.
KW - Construction workers
KW - Hybrid cooling vest
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85016142075&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/annweh/wxx007
DO - 10.1093/annweh/wxx007
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 28355411
AN - SCOPUS:85016142075
SN - 2398-7308
VL - 61
SP - 481
EP - 494
JO - Annals of Work Exposures and Health
JF - Annals of Work Exposures and Health
IS - 4
ER -