Yi-lin Kwok

Effect of Moisture Management on Functional Performance of Cold Protective Clothing

This paper reports a study on the effect of moisture management in the design of cold protective clothing. In this research, two kinds of clothing systems were tested, a traditional clothing system (clothing A), and a specially designed moisture management clothing system (clothing B). Both clothing systems have the same four-layer structure (underwear, vest, coat, and outer jacket), but with use of different functional fabrics. The experiments were conducted in a climate chamber where the temperature was controlled at —15 °C. Eleven young male subjects took part in wear trial experiments, in which they were dressed in clothing A or B and walked on a treadmill. The humidities and temperatures at the skin surface and at different layers of the clothing system were measured together with measurements of thermal and moisture sensations. The experimental results showed that the moisture management property of fabrics significantly affected the moisture diffusion and temperature distributions in the cold protective clothing systems, and influenced the thermal and moisture sensations.

Mathematical Modeling Heat and Moisture Transfer in Multi-Layer Phase Change Materials Textile Assemblies

In this paper, the development of a dynamic mathematical model of heat and moisture transfer in multi-layer porous textiles, in which some layers incorporate phase change material (PCM), is described. To numerically simulate the thermal regulating performance of the multi-layers porous textiles, the finite volume difference scheme was used in this study. The model is validated by comparing the simulation results with the experimental results. It indicates that the developed model of multi-layer PCM model is able to predict the temperature changes during heat and moisture transfer in the multi-layer PCM textile assemblies. Keywordsphase change material (PCM), heat and moisture transfer, mathematical model, numerical simulation, porous textile, thermal regulating performance.