Experimental study of the heat transfer between the passenger and the seat of vehicles by means of instrumented maniquim. / Estudo experimental da troca de calor entre o passageiro e o banco de veículos utilizando manequim instrumentado.

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2010

RESUMO

Vehicles seats acclimatization systems have been lately developed and delivered as microclimate solutions in response to the personal comfort increasing demand. The influence of such systems use on the improvement of passengers satisfaction with the ambient thermal comfort is well recognized, either heating or cooling the seat. In the present work the heat transfer characteristics at a passenger-to-seat interface were studied as well as its relation with other ergonomics aspects, in two different seat configurations, heated and not heated. A thermal manikin of the seated passenger was developed and calibrated thermal and ergonomically to simulate its sensible heat transfer. The heat transfer tests showed that: the local heat flow directly depends on the contact pressure at the passenger seat interface; changes on the heat flow caused by passenger metabolism (MET) modifications are inversely proportional to the seat global thermal resistance, i.e., the higher the MET the lower the thermal resistance; and modifications on the seat pressure distribution due to weight increase or decrease are directly proportional to the seat global thermal resistance, i.e., the lower the weight of the passenger the lower the seat global thermal resistance. Based on the results it may be concluded that the testing methodology and the developed thermal manikin adequately explore the opportunities for optimizing the seat and its systems toward the thermal comfort of the passenger.

ASSUNTO(S)

troca de calor heat transfer maniquim banco veículos manequim seat vehicles conforto térmico thermal comfort

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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