A Numerical Analysis of the Cooling Performance of a Hybrid Personal Cooling System (HPCS): Effects of Ambient Temperature and Relative Humidity

Pengjun Xu, Zhanxiao Kang, Faming Wang and Udayraj
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Pengjun Xu: School of Design Art, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China
Zhanxiao Kang: Thermal Environment and Ergonomics Research Group (TEERG), Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom 999007, Hong Kong
Faming Wang: School of Architecture and Art, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Udayraj: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai, Chhattisgarh 492015, India

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-19

Abstract: Hybrid personal cooling systems (HPCS) incorporated with ventilation fans and phase change materials (PCMs) have shown its superior capability for mitigating workers’ heat strain while performing heavy labor work in hot environments. In a previous study, the effects of thermal resistance of insulation pads, and latent heat and melting temperature of PCMs on the HPCS’s thermal performance have been investigated. In addition to the aforementioned factors, environmental conditions, i.e., ambient temperature and relative humidity, also significantly affect the thermal performance of the HPCS. In this paper, a numerical parametric study was performed to investigate the effects of the environmental temperature and relative humidity (RH) on the thermal management of the HPCS. Five levels of air temperature under RH = 50% (i.e., 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 °C) and four levels of environmental RH at two ambient temperatures of 36 and 40 °C were selected (i.e., RH = 30, 50, 70 and 90%) for the numerical analysis. Results show that high environmental temperatures could accelerate the PCM melting process and thereby weaken the cooling performance of HPCS. In the moderately hot environment (36 °C), HPCS presented good cooling performance with the maximum core temperature at around 37.5 °C during excise when the ambient RH ≤ 70%, whereas good cooling performance could be only seen under RH ≤ 50% in the extremely hot environment (40 °C). Thus, it may be concluded that the maximum environmental RH under which the HPCS exhibiting good cooling performance decreases with an increase in the environmental temperature.

Keywords: personal cooling system; heat and mass transfer; ambient temperature; relative humidity; phase change materials; thermal management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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