Employing PCM vests to improve the thermal comfort for staff wearing mascot costumes in summer

Abstract

Due to the high thermal resistance, limited ventilation efficiency, and substantial weight of mascot costumes, staffs wearing mascot costumes in summer are subjected to significant thermal stress, resulting in physiological strain and posing a grave threat to their health. To improve the thermal comfort of staff wearing mascot costumes, this study employed a phase change material (PCM) vest with a phase-change temperature of 26 °C as a cooling measure. The 32 participants were recruited and randomly divided into two groups to analyze the effect of the PCM vest. The results showed that, participants wearing mascot costumes along with an additional PCM vest underneath (MC-PCM) experienced a decrease in oral temperature by 0.06 °C and mean skin temperature by 0.63 °C, compared to those wearing common mascot costumes (CMC). However, there was an increase in body-mass loss relative to initial weight by 0.045 % and heart rate by 5.08 bpm. Wearing the additional PCM vest can improve humidity sensation and thermal sensation, In addition, the average thermal comfort voting score of participants wearing MC-PCM was 0.24 lower than that of participants wearing CMC. It was showed that employing a PCM vest reduced heat stress evidently in staff wearing mascot costumes in high-temperature environments and improved their thermal comfort.