Reflective Inserts to Reduce Heat Strain in Body Armor: Tests With and Without Irradiance

Abstract

Delivered by U.S . Army Soldier IP : 153.103.190.11 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 irradiance. Aviat Space Environ Med 2007; 78:809 13. Background: This study evaluated adding reflective thermal inserts (RTI) to reduce the physiological strain during exercise-heat stress with a radiant load. RTI were used with a U.S. Army desert battle dress uniform, body armor, and helmet. Methods: Four male volunteers attempted four trials (10 min rest followed by 100 min walking at 1.56 m s 1). All trials were at 40.0 C dry bulb (Tdb), 12.4 C dew point (Tdp), 20% RH, and 1.0 m s 1 wind speed. On 2 d, there was supplementary irradiance ( I) with globe temperature (Tbg) 56.5 C and on 2 d there was no supplementary irradiance ( I) with Tbg Tdb. Trial conditions were: 1) RTI and armor with supplementary irradiance (RA I); 2) plain armor with supplementary irradiance (PA I); 3) RTI and armor with no supplementary irradiance (RA I); and 4) plain armor with no supplementary irradiance (PA I). Results: Endurance times were not significantly different among trials. With one exception, armor and helmet interior and exterior surface temperatures were not significantly different between either RA I and PA I or RA I and PA I. Temperature on the inside of the helmet in RA I (47.1 1.4 C) was significantly lower than in PA I (49.5 2.6 C). There were no differences for any physiological measure (core temperature, heart rate, mean weighted skin temperature, forehead skin temperature, sweating rate, evaporative cooling, rate of heat storage) between either RA I and PA I or RA I and PA I. Conclusions: Results showed no evidence that wearing RTI with body armor and helmet reduces physiological strain during exercise-heat stress with either high or low irradiance.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA475381

Entities

People

  • Bruce S. Cadarette
  • Michael N. Sawka
  • Scott B. Robinson
  • William R. Santee

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Analysis Of Variance
  • Body Armor
  • Clothing
  • Energy
  • Energy Transfer
  • Environment
  • Fabrics
  • Heart Rate
  • Heat Energy
  • Heat Loss
  • Heat Transfer
  • Heat Transmission
  • Materials
  • Military Operations
  • Research Facilities
  • Surface Temperature
  • Two Dimensional

Readers

  • Exercise and Sports Science.
  • Snow Cover Descriptors for Reptiles and Their Illustrations.

Technology Areas

  • Space