Abstract:

In order to make thermal manikin Walter perspiration have the same rate as human body's, a non-uniform skin with self-similarity structure was perpared by silicone coating. According to the water vapor permeability of different components and thickness of silicone coatings the optimal coating technology was determined. Fractal dimension of three self-similarity structure coatings were calculated. The optimal coating structure was determined by analysis of the fractal dimension, thermal insulation and evaporative resistance. The non-uniform skin was made by this optimal coating structure. The evaporative resistance and thermal insulation were measured in the nude mode and clothing mode by using two kinds of skin. The results show that optimal thermal-wet comfort properties are obtained when the coating method has a fractal dimension close to the Golden Mean. The statistics indicate that the thermal insulation and the evaporative resistance measured by the non-uniform skin is higher than that measured by the uniform skin.

Key words: thermal manikin, fractal dimension, thermal insulation, evaporative resistance, non-uniform skin