| Abstract | Canadian Coast Guard can operate in environments that have extremely low temperatures, requiring the use of specialized clothing to help protect personnel from the cold. The Canadian Coast Guard has requested the assistance of the National Research Council Canada’s Ocean, Coastal, and River Engineering research center in measuring the thermal insulation of different clothing ensembles their personnel may use.
Various clothing ensembles were tested using a thermal manikin, NEMO, to measure the amount of thermal insulation they provide. All tests were performed in the thermal measurements lab which maintained a constant air temperature of 4°C. NEMO was dressed in each ensemble, programmed to maintain a skin temperature of 35°C, and allowed to reach a thermal steady state. Once NEMO reached a thermal steady state, at least 60 minutes of data was collected, with the last 30 minutes being averaged to calculate the thermal insulation of the ensemble. Each test was repeated twice, for a total of three tests. The average of the three tests was used as the thermal insulation value of each ensemble. |
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