NO-94-06-4 -- Thermal Insulation Provided by Chairs PDF

The insulation provided by seven different chairs was measured using an articulated, thermal manikin in an environmental chamber. The manikin was tested nude and while wearing several different indoor clothing ensembles. Data were collected with the manikin sitting in the different chairs and standing. Results indicated that clothing insulation decreased when the manikin was sitting (in a net chair) as opposed to standing. However, when the manikin sat in real chairs, the insulation value increased 0.1 to 0.3 clo. The amount of the increase was related to the amount of chair surface area in contact with the body. In addition, the Iclu clo values for chair insulation can be added to Iclu values for garments to determine the intrinsic insulation around a person for use in thermal comfort models.

KEYWORDS: thermal insulation, seats, human body, measuring, manikins, climate chambers, testing, clothing.