Numerical simulation of cooling effect of human-PCM-clothing model in hot environments

Abstract

Workers exposed to hot environment experiences physiological changes, implicating human health and occupational safety. Phase change material (PCM) cooling vest is effective for personal cooling and thermal comfort. In this paper, the human-PCM-clothing model was constructed by combining the bioheat model and the PCM-clothing model to predict the cooling effect of PCM on thermal response in hot environments. The multi-segmented human bioheat model considered the effects of high temperature on metabolic rate, blood flow rate, and dehydration on the sweating rate. The PCM-clothing model analyzed heat and mass transfer between the PCM and its thermal environment. The model was tested with published data and the relative errors between the simulated and measured results were below 2.2% for mean skin and 0.33% for core temperature. The numerical parametric study was investigated to study the effects of the melting temperature and latent heat of the PCM packages on heat transfer. PCM with high latent heat and appropriate melting temperatures benefits body cooling performance. The equation for the optimum solution corresponding to the latent heat of PCM at different melting temperatures was derived. This study can guide the choice of PCM packages and the human thermal response analysis in a hot environment.