Evaluation of Thermal Comfort by Sweating Thermal Mannequin

TOYOBO has two sweating thermal mannequins, TOM (R) III and SAM (R). The perspiring mechanism is different between TOM (R) III and SAM (R), but both mannequins can control skin temperature and the amount of perspiration, and can measure the temperature and humidity between skin and clothing. SAM can also measure heat flow supplied to the body to keep skin temperature constant, and can measure the change of skin temperature under a constant heat flow into the mannequin. We show some examples evaluating bedding and a vehicle seat using the thermal mannequins. From the results, the bedding humidity using a complex three-dimensional structure cushion (BREATHAIR (R)) was low. The absolute humidity between sweating thermal mannequin SAM (R) and a vehicle seat was different according to the kind of the seat under non-uniform and transient thermal environments. In this way, it was possible to evaluate the thermal comfort of various products using a sweating thermal mannequin.