Development and Evaluation of Self-Perspiration with Evaporative Cooling Garment Added Capillary Function

Abstract

As a body temperature lowering mechanism, we have a perspiration function. Recently, we have developed and demonstrated “self-perspiration with evaporative cooling garment” that lowers body temperature by spontaneous “perspiration” and evaporation. The system is cooling the body with both the “water cooling” in which the cooling water flows through the tube on the clothing surface and the “evaporation” in which water is leached from the pores in the tube and evaporated to cool.

In the present study, we developed the leaching by capillary action （capillary type） rather than the leaching by pore water pressure （pore type）， and compared the body cooling function. Six healthy subjects were volunteered to exercise 30W, 60W, 90W, and 120W for 3 minutes each using a cycle ergometer, and changes in skin temperature and humidity in clothing were measured and analyzed simultaneously. The skin temperature decreased with time in both the pore type and capillary type, but the decrease was significantly larger in the capillary type. There was no significant difference in the humidity change in the garment. The capillary type obtained a higher cooling effect without further increasing the humidity in the garment.