Thermal Load of Mine Rescuer in the Underwear and Protective Clothing with Phase Change Materials in Simulated Utility Conditions

Abstract

A new set of underwear and protective clothing with phase change materials (PCM) for mine rescuers has been developed in order to increase their safety of work. It includes PCM pouches absorbing excess heat from the body. In order to evaluate thermal load of mine rescuers, physiological tests were carried out for three variants of possible use of the developed set of clothing: for mine rescuers wearing only the underwear with PCM; for a set of underwear and protective clothing; and for a complete set of clothing with closed-circuit compressed oxygen breathing apparatus. Tests were performed in difficult microclimate conditions, reflecting the typical working conditions of rescuers that cause a significant thermal load. The use of outer clothing shortened safe time of exposure to such conditions by about 36%, while the addition of respiratory protective device to this set further shortened this time to a lesser extent (by another 13%).