Effectiveness of a Light-Weight Ice-Vest for Body Cooling While Wearing Fire Fighter’s Protective Clothing in the Heat

The aim of the study was to examine the effects of wearing an ice-vest (ca 1 kg) on physiological and subjective responses in fire fighters. The experiments were carried out on a treadmill in a hot-dry environment. The physical cooling effect of the ice-vest was measured with a thermal manikin. The ice-vest effectively reduced skin temperatures under the vest. On average, heart rate was 10 beats/min lower, the amount of sweating was reduced by 13%, and subjective sensations of effort and warmth were lower during work with the ice-vest compared to work without it. Thermal manikin tests indicated that the useful energy available from the vest for body cooling was rather high (58%). In conclusion, the ice-vest reduces physiological and subjective strain responses during heavy work in the heat, and may promote efficient work time by 10%.     

Performance of Firefighters’ Protective Clothing After Heat Exposure

Heat and mechanical protection properties of 6 fabric combinations commonly used in firefighters’ protective clothing were assessed before and after different heat treatment. It was shown that after heat exposure, the values obtained were generally lower than in the original state. The mechanical properties of the materials were more affected by heat than by heat protective properties. In 2 cases, degradation started before a visible change in the material could be observed, which might be potentially dangerous for the end user who will not realize the alteration of the material.     

Determination of Heat Loss from the Feet and Insulation of the Footwear

This study compared the methods of determining footwear insulation on human participants and a thermal foot model. Another purpose was to find the minimal number of measurement points on the human foot that is needed for insulation calculation. A bare foot was tested at 3 ambient temperatures on 6 participants. Three types of footwear were tested on 2 participants. The mean insulation for a bare foot obtained on the participant and model were similar. The insulation of warm footwear measured by the 2 methods was also similar. For thin footwear the insulation values from the participants were higher than those from the thermal model. The differences could be related to undefined physiological factors. Two points on the foot can be enough to measure the insulation of footwear on human participants (r = .98). However, due to the big individual differences of humans, and good repeatability and simplicity of thermal foot method, the latter should be preferred for testing.     

A Comparison of Two Methods of Determining Thermal Properties of Footwear

The present European Standard for footwear testing (Standard No. EN 344:1992; European Committee for Standardization [CEN], 1992) classifies footwear thermally by a temperature drop inside the footwear during 30 min at defined conditions. Today, other methods for footwear thermal testing are also available. The aim of this study was to compare EN 344:1992 with a thermal foot method. Six boots were tested according to both methods. Additional tests with modified standard tests were also carried out. The methods ranked the footwear in a similar way. However, the test according to standard EN 344:1992 is a pass-or-fail test, whereas data that is gained from the thermal foot method gives more information and allows further use in research and product development. A change of the present standard method is suggested.     

Effect of Sweating on Insulation of Footwear

The study aimed to find out the influence of sweating on footwear insulation with a thermal foot model. Simultaneously, the influence of applied weight (35 kg), sock, and steel toe cap were studied. Water to 3 sweat glands was supplied with a pump at the rate of 10 g/hr in total. Four models of boots with steel toe caps were tested. The same models were manufactured also without steel toe. Sweating reduced footwear insulation 19–25% (30–37% in toes). During static conditions, only a minimal amount of sweat evaporated from boots. Weight affected sole insulation: Reduction depended on compressibility of sole material. The influence of steel toe varied with insulation. The method of thermal foot model appears to be a practical tool for footwear evaluation.     

Analytical Study of the Heat Loss Attenuation by Clothing on Thermal Manikins Under Radiative Heat Loads

For wearers of protective clothing in radiation environments there are no quantitative guidelines available for the effect of a radiative heat load on heat exchange. Under the European Union funded project ThermProtect an analytical effort was defined to address the issue of radiative heat load while wearing protective clothing. As within the ThermProtect project much information has become available from thermal manikin experiments in thermal radiation environments, these sets of experimental data are used to verify the analytical approach. The analytical approach provided a good prediction of the heat loss in the manikin experiments, 95% of the variance was explained by the model. The model has not yet been validated at high radiative heat loads and neglects some physical properties of the radiation emissivity. Still, the analytical approach provides a pragmatic approach and may be useful for practical implementation in protective clothing standards for moderate thermal radiation environments.     

Testing Sleeping Bags According to EN 13537:2002: Details That Make the Difference

The European Standard on sleeping bag requirements (EN 13537:2002) describes a procedure to determine environmental temperature limits for safe usage of sleeping bags regarding their thermal insulation. However, there are several possible sources of error related to this procedure. The main aim of this work was to determine the influence of the various measuring parameters on the acuity of the respective parameters in order to judge the requirements. The results indicated that air velocity, mattress insulation and time between unpacking the bag and measurement had a significant impact on the result, with a difference of up to 5–15% in thermal insulation between minimum and maximum allowable parameter levels. On the other hand, manikin weight, thickness of the artificial ground and presence of a face mask were found to have a negligible influence. The article also discusses more general aspects of the standard including the calculation methods used.     

基于完全因素分解法的能源效率影响因素研究

“十二五”是我国全面建成小康社会的关键阶段,又由于环境和资源禀赋方面的制约,提高能源效率成为我国经济和社会发展的内在需求.从能源强度的角度出发,分析了我国产业结构和能源效率现状,采用完全因素分解法,从产业结构的角度人手对全国能源效率的影响因素进行了研究.结果表明,技术因素是我国能源效率提高的主要推动力,第二产业对能源效率的影响远远大于第一和第三产业.     

Treatment of Dichloromethane Using Gliding Arc Plasma

Decomposition of dichloromethane (CH₂Cl₂) using a gliding plasma was examined and reported in this paper. The effects of initial concentrations of CH₂Cl₂, total gas flow rates, and input frequency have been studied to evaluate the performance of gliding arc on CH₂Cl₂ decomposition. Using atmospheric pressure air as the carrier gas, experimental results indicate that the maximum conversion of CH₂Cl₂ was 95.1% at a total gas flow rate of 180 L/hr containing 1% by volume of CH₂Cl₂. The reaction occurred at an exothermic condition and gaseous products are dominated by CO, CHCl₃, and Cl₂. CO₂ and CCl₄ are also detected in the product stream in small amounts. The conversion of CH₂Cl₂ increases with the increasing applied voltage and decreasing total gas flow rate.     

浙江省火电行业主要污染物减排环境效益研究

利用美国环保局开发的新一代空气质量模式系统Models-3,对2010 年浙江省大气污染物进行数值模拟研究,并对SO₂、NO₂ 和PM₁₀ 等大气污染物浓度的模拟结果与监测结果进行了对比分析。结果表明,Models-3 系统能较好地反映浙江省的大气污染情况,模拟值与观测值的变化趋势具有较好的一致性,说明该模式能较好地进行大气污染物的分布特征和变化规律的研究。为定量分析电力行业多污染物协同控制与区域复合型大气污染之间的定量关系,评估不同控制情景下的环境质量效益,应用CMAQ 空气质量模型分别对2010 年基准排放情景和火电行业主要污染物(SO₂、NO_x 和烟尘)的三套减排控制情景,评价环境空气污染物SO₂、NO_x、PM_2.5 和PM₁₀ 状况进行模拟,评价污染物减排的环境效益。三套方案下PM_2.5 浓度下降比例分别为0.53%、0.55% 和0.57%,其中重点区域浓度下降比例分别为4.36%、4.38%和5.9%;PM₁₀ 浓度下降比例分别为0.40%、0.42% 和0.65%,重点区域下降比例分别为3.42%、5.82% 和8.16%;NO_x 浓度下降比例分别为12.4% 和13.3%,重点区域下降比例分别为13.8% 和16.9%;SO₂ 下降比例平均为11.24%,其中重点区域下降比例为14.4%。SO₂、NO_x 和烟(粉)尘协同减排对于浙江地区特别是重点区域的环境空气质量改善有着显著意义。