PREDICTION OF MEAN SKIN TEMPERATURE FOR PEOPLE IN HOT ENVIRONMENT CONSIDERING EVAPORATING EFFICIENCY OF SWEATING

An empirical equation for the evaporative efficiency of sweating was derived as a function of wetted skin surface area. By applying this equation and the linear relationship between the mean skin temperature and sweating rate reported in our previous paper, into the heat balance equation on human subject, a simple equation for predicting the mean skin temperature was introduced as a function of four environmental factors and one human factor (metabolic rate). This predicted mean skin temperature could be used as an index for evaluating human response to hot environment. In this paper, we presented the results of mean skin temperature calculated for two typical cases on psychometric charts. These results demonstrate that we need to take into account the evaporating efficiency of sweating for evaluating hot environment for people who are in moving conditions and/or critical hot environments.