Precise Measurement of Clothes Insulation During Controlled Operation of the Human

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that it is possible to measure the resistance of clothing as an ohmic relation between time-averaged equilibrium values of the flux of power (metabolism) and the potential difference between average skin temperature and ambient temperature. Specifically, this has been demonstrated on the human in what has been referred to as the comfort mode of operation of the human system. In this mode of operation, the metabolic level of activity is changed by signaling command to attempt to maintain a specific control level of the average skin temperature. With control attempted to approximately 0.1 deg C, sufficient precision has been achieved to resolve 1 or 2 per cent difference in clothes resistance. The dynamic input-output data obtained during clothes measurements are presented.