Investigation of the thermal comfort of the sportswear by standing thermal manikin and thermal imaging techniques

Abstract

Garments should not overload the body during activity and should be chosen in accordance with the ambient conditions. Especially in active sports, sportswear should make a person feel comfortable and increase performance by easily removing excess heat and moisture from the body without interrupting physical activity. In this study, five T-shirts with the same size and weight characteristics, but in different yarn types were produced and analysed. The thermal and water vapour resistance properties of these garments were measured using a thermal manikin system. In addition, thermal camera images were taken at 10-minute intervals during the 50-minute wear trial programme, and skin temperatures were measured from the upper front body and the upper back body with two sensors. The results showed that POS and PM-coded garments made of polyester with low clothing insulation (clo) values were statistically different from CS and CPS coded cotton-containing garments in terms of front and back surface thermal camera images. It was observed that cotton-containing garments were more uncomfortable than polyester and Tencel owing to their higher thermal resistance, garment surface temperature, and skin temperature values. The Tencel garment was measured similarly to the CS and CPS coded garments at the beginning of the activity and measured similarly to the POS and PM coded garments at the end of the activity on both surfaces.