Heat stress reduction of helicopter crew wearing a ventilated vest
article
Background: Helicopter pilots are often exposed to periods of high heat strain, especially when wearing survival suits. Therefore, a prototype of a ventilated vest was evaluated on its capability to reduce the heat strain of helicopter pilots during a 2-h simulated flight. Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that the ventilated vest would reduce pilot heat stress. Methods: Five male and one female helicopter pilots flew for 2 h in a simulator in three different conditions; 15°C wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) without ventilation, 32°C WBGT without ventilation, and 32°C WBGT with a ventilated vest. Results: Wearing the ventilated vest significantly reduced the increase in rectal temperature and increased thermal comfort. This made it possible for all subjects to complete the 2-h session. Conclusion: With the ventilated vest the subjects experienced less heat stress, thereby allowing all subjects to successfully complete the experiment, though two of the six pilots could not complete the 2-h flying task in the hot condition without cooling due to heat-related problems. Copyright © by Aerospace Medical Association.
Chemicals / CAS: politef, 9002-84-0, 9039-02-5
Chemicals / CAS: politef, 9002-84-0, 9039-02-5
Topics
Body temperatureFlight performancePersonal coolingThermal comfortTolerance timepolitefadultaerationairplane pilotarticlebody temperaturecontrolled studycoolingfemaleflightheat stressheat tolerancehelicopterhumanhuman experimentmalenormal humanprotective clothingrectum temperaturesimulationtask performanceventilated vestAdultAerospace MedicineBody TemperatureFemaleHeat Stress DisordersHumansMaleMonitoring, PhysiologicProtective ClothingTemperatureVentilation
TNO Identifier
239253
ISSN
00956562
Source
Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine, 77(5), pp. 545-550.
Pages
545-550
Files
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