Thermal Cornrort 9.

23

Mr---------------------------, M ,. (lEATHER) FAT BONE

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"~ ". MOl5T MUSCLE
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P

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BLACK
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z

.
RADIATOR

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CARBON

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•o 0.05 0.\0 0 .15 ..'"
1.1JJ'e
COLOR TEMP'EAATURE. 1(
Hg.2l Comparing Thermallnertia of Fat, Bone, J\1 oist
Fig.21 Variation in S ki" Reflection and Absorptivity for MuscJe, a nd Excised Skin [O That or leal her a nd Water
Blackbody 'ieal Sources
NO BLOOD FlQW

SPEC IAL ENVIRQNMENTS

o
Infrared Heating
Optical and thcnnal propcrties of skin mus! be considcrcd in
" sludies orlhe effecls of inrrare<! radiation in (1) producing changes
in ski" temperalUre and ski n blood f1ow, and (2) evoking sensations
of Icmperature and cemfort (Hardy 1961). A1though ¡he body can
be considcrcd 10 havc ¡he propcrtics ofwatcr, thennal scnsation al1d
hea! transfer with the e"vimnm en! rcquirc a study orlhe skin and ils
iOlcraction with visible anl! infrarcd radiation.
Figure 21 shows how skin reflectance and absorptance vary for a
blackbody hea! source al ¡he lemperature (in K) indicated. These
curves show that darkly pigmentcd skin Is heated more by direct
rad iation from a high-intcnsity heatcr at 2500 K than is lightly
pigmcntcd skin. With low-tempcraturc, low-intensity heating equip-
meO! uscd for tOlal area healing, Ihere is mínimal, if any, diffcrencc.
AIso, in practice, clolhing min imizes difTerences.
Changes in skin temperatu re caused by high-intensity infrared
radiation depend on the Ihcnna l conductivity. density, and spec ific
heat of the living skin (Lipkin and Hardy 1954). Modeling ski n
heating with the heat Iransfer theory yields a parabolie relalion bc-
tween exposure lime and sk in tcmperature rise for nonpenelrating
radialion:
(84)
where
1,, - ce
final skin lempcralllre.
1'1 - inilial skin temperatun:. oc
J ~ irradiance from source radiation tcmpcratures. Wfm1
a - sldn absorptance al radial ion lempcralurt:s, dimensionless
(1 - time, ti
k ... specific Iherma1 conduClivily Oflissue, Wf(m' K)
P ... densilY, kglm3
cp ... specific hcal. J/(kg' K)
ProdUCI kp cp is the physiologically imponant quantilY Ihal
delennines temperature elevalion ofskin or other tissue on exposu re
10 nonpellctrating rndiatíon. Fatty lissue, bccause of its relatively
low specifie heal, is healed more rapidly Ihan moist ski n or bone.
Experimentally, kpcp values can be delennined by plottíng l!/2
againsl 1.13J 20 (Figu re 22 ). The relalionship is linear, and Ihe
slopes are inversely proponional 10 Ihe kpcp oflhe specimen. Com-
paring leathcr and watcr with body lissues suggests that thennal
inenia values depend largely on lissue watcr conlent.
Li ving tissues do not eonform strietly to this simple malhemat-
ieal formula. Figure 23 compares excised skin with living skin with
nonnal blood flow, and skin wilh blood flow oceluded. For shon
,,,
p
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..
"
NORMAL
..
0.10 0.30
Fig. 23 T hermallnertias of Excised, Bloodless, and Normal
Living Skin
exposurc times, the kpcp ofnonnal skin is Ihe same as Ihal in which
blood flow has becn sloppcd; excised skin heats more rnpidly
bccau5e ofunavoidable dehydration thal oceurs postmortcm. How-
ever, with [onger exposurc lo thcrmal radiation. vasodilation
increases blood flow, cooling Ihe skin . For Ihe firsl 20 s ofirradia-
lion, ski n with nonnal1y conSlricted blood vessels has a kpcp val ue
one-founh Ihat for skin with fully dilaled vesse ls.
Skin Icmperalure is Ihc best single index oflhennal comfort. Thc
mos! rapid changes in skin lempcrnture occur during the first 60 s of
exposure to infrnred radiation. During this initial periodo thermal
sensalion and Ihe heali ng rate of Ihe skin vary wilh Ihe quality of
infrared radiation (color lempcralure in K). Bceause radiam heal
from a gas-fired heale r is absorbed al the skin surface, Ihe same unil
level of abso rbed radiation during the fi rsl 60 s of exposure can
cause an even wanncr initial sensation Ihan pcnctrnting solar radia-
tion. Skin heating curves tcnd to leve l off aftcr a 60 s exposurc
(Figure 23) , which means Iha! a relative balance i5 quickly crealcd
belween heal absorbed. heal flow 10 Ihe skin surfacc, and heal los5
lO Ihe ambienl environment. Therefore, the effects ofrndianl heating
on thennal comforl should be examined for conditions approaching
thennal equilibrium.
Stolwijk and Hardy ( 1966) deseribed an unelothed subjcct's
response for a 2 h exposu re 10 Icmperaturcs of 5 10 35 °C Nevins
el al. ( 1966) showed a re lalion belween ambient temperalUres and
Ihcnnal cornfort of c lothed, rcsting subjecls. For any given unifonn
environmcntal tempcralure, both initial physiological response and
degrec of cornfon ean be dctermined for a subject at resto
Physiological implicalions for radiant heating can be defined by
lWO environmenlal temperalures: (1 ) mean radianl lemperaturc 1,