Clothing Thermal Insulation for Typical Seasonal Clothing of Infant with Infant Thermal Manikin

Infants are less thermally adapted to their environment and can be considered as needing protective measures against thermal environments. It is not ethical to conduct subject experiments on infants. Thermal insulation in clothing is an essential control coefficient for the evaluation of the thermal environment of an infant. A thermal manikin can be used as an alternative method for carrying out experiments and to control the thermal manikin based on heat balance. The purpose of this study was to clarify the thermal insulation of infants’ clothing. An infant thermal manikin was used to clarify the thermal insulation (Icl) of typical summer, mid-season, and winter clothing combinations for infants. The thermal insulation of typical seasonal clothing combinations was 0.30 clo for summer clothing, 0.57 clo for mid-season clothing and 1.02 clo for winter clothing. It was clarified that it is essential to consider clothing conditions by taking into account differences in posture and to define the clothing thermal insulation (Icl) when designing and evaluating thermal environments. When designing and evaluating an infant’s thermal environment, it is essential to investigate using data from infants.

Influence of Stroller upon Thermal Insulation of Infant

In outdoor spaces, infants in strollers are significantly affected by thermal radiation from the ground surface due to their proximity to it. Infants are at increased risk of heat stroke while riding in a stroller. Infants are less thermally adapted to their environment and can consequently be considered to need protective measures against thermal environments. In order to treat strollers as clothing, in the present study, experiments were conducted to clarify the thermal environment of an infant riding in a stroller. Using an infant thermal manikin, the clothing area factor fcl and the clothing thermal insulation Icl of the stroller were determined. The stroller clothing area factor fcl was 3.21 and the stroller clothing thermal insulation Icl was 0.47 clo. Therefore, it can be inferred that strollers have a pronounced effect on the body heat balance between an infant and their environment.