Abstract
PurposeVentilated vests are developed to reduce thermal stress by enhancing convective and evaporative cooling from skin tissue underneath the vest. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether thermal stress is equal when a ventilated vest is worn compared to a no-vest situation with similar dry thermal resistance.MethodsNine healthy males walked on a treadmill (7 km h−1) for 45 min in a desert climate (34 °C, 20% relative humidity) with and without ventilated vest. Gastrointestinal temperature (Tgi), heart rate (HR), and skin temperature (Tsk) were continuously monitored. Local sweat rate (LSR) was assessed two times on six skin locations. Subjective ratings were assessed every 10 min.ResultsFinal Tgi (37.6 ± 0.1 °C for vest and 37.6 ± 0.1 °C for no-vest), HR (133 ± 7 bpm and 133 ± 9 bpm) and mean Tsk (34.8 ± 0.7 °C and 34.9 ± 0.6 °C) were not different between conditions (p ≥ 0.163). Scapula skin temperature (Tscapula) under the vest tended to be lower (baseline to final: ΔTscapula = 0.35 ± 0.37 °C) than without vest (ΔTscapula = 0.74 ± 0.62 °C, p = 0.096). LSR at locations outside the vest did not differ with and without vest (p ≥ 0.271). Likewise, subjective responses did not differ between conditions (χ2 ≥ 0.143).ConclusionsWe conclude that two systems with similar dry thermal resistance and, therefore, similar required evaporation, resulted in similar thermal stress during paced walking in a hot-dry environment. Local ventilation did not alter the sweating response on locations outside the vest.
Highlights
Ventilated vests are developed to reduce thermal stress by enhancing convective and evaporative cooling from skin tissue underneath the vest
In the experiment of Van Cutsem et al (2019), twelve trained cyclists or triathletes performed a time to exhaustion test which consisted of a warming-up, followed by cycling until exhaustion at 70% V O2max in a climate chamber set to 20 °C and 44% relative humidity (RH)
This study shows that two clothing systems, one of them with a highly insulating ventilated vest, but both with similar local dry effective thermal resistance (0.185 m 2 KW−1 for the ventilated vest condition and 0.188 m2 KW−1 for no-vest) provided similar thermal stress
Summary
Ventilated vests are developed to reduce thermal stress by enhancing convective and evaporative cooling from skin tissue underneath the vest. In the experiment of Van Cutsem et al (2019), twelve trained cyclists or triathletes performed a time to exhaustion test which consisted of a warming-up (cycling for 5 min at 40% VO2max), followed by cycling until exhaustion at 70% V O2max in a climate chamber set to 20 °C and 44% relative humidity (RH). Their participants performed the trial twice: one time with and one time without a 30 × 40 cm electric heat pad (~ 40 °C) covering the upper back and both scapulae. We are interested in whether two different local clothing setups, which are comparable with respect to physical thermal strain, would result in comparable physiological, in particular local sweating, and subjective thermal responses
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