Thermal Insulation Analysis of Man’s Vest in Terms of Fit and Armhole Depth

Abstract

Thermal insulation of man"s vest was investigated according to fit and pattern design. Cotton was used as an experimental material, and four different kinds of vest were designed with different ease of pattern and armhole depth. Thermal insulation and clothing surface temperature were measured by a thermal manikin and infrared thermography respectively. Air volume of the vest was estimated from a virtual clothing simulation and 3D analysis program. The correlation of local thermal insulation and air volume was investigated for each part of the upper torso: shoulder, chest, back and stomach. In addition, the effect of armhole depth on the thermal insulation was also analysed. As a result, it was found that the total thermal insulation of the three vests are similar except for one case. Among each part, the thermal insulation of shoulder and stomach area makes a big impact on total thermal insulation. For local insulation, air volume and armhole shape are important for the shoulder area, while air volume of the stomach is solely important for the stomach area. For chest and back area, the amount of air volume has little influence on the thermal insulation comparing to shoulder and stomach area. Furthermore, the contribution of armhole depth and area on the thermal insulation is different for each part. The results showed that pattern design brings a corresponding change in air volume of a specific part of the body, and the contribution of the air volume on local thermal insulation can be altered in various ways even though total thermal insulation of the clothing is similar.