THERMAL
MANIKIN
THERMO-TEX
PROTECTION AGAINST THERMAL RISKS IN PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
Industrial workers, police, military personnel and firefighters among others, may find themselves working in hazardous environments such as fires, chemical hazards or explosive atmospheres.
If work clothing provides protection to the wearer it is known as personal protective equipment (PPE) or protective clothing. The protection offered includes against heat and flame hazards.
It can also be equally effective in a ‘flash over’ situation, a phenomenon seen in confined fires where there is a sudden increase in fire speed and all combustible surfaces ignite spontaneously as a result of the radiant heat, causing the entire enclosure to be engulfed by flames.
THERMO-TEX THERMAL MANIKIN
The suitability of protective clothing for situations as diverse as a ‘flash over’ is assessed using the Thermo-Tex manikin to simulate the thermal performance of clothing and other protective clothing products such as hats, gloves or helmets.
The manikin is made of flame-resistant, thermally stable materials, such as ceramics and glass-fibre reinforced resins, which do not influence the combustion process.
LEADERS CERTIFYING
INDIVIDUAL PROTECTION
EQUIPMENT (PPE)
TESTING PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AGAINST HEAT AND FLAME HAZARDS
FLASH FIRE MANIKIN’ THERMO-TEX TEST
The Thermo-Tex manikin is a full-scale test subject to evaluate clothing or clothing systems under controlled laboratory conditions.
It consists of a human-shaped mannequin containing a hundred and twenty-four sensors arranged all over the body. Four on the ankles and four on the hands can be activated to obtain additional information. The sensors acquire data to assess the percentage of burn injuries, from pain to first, second and third-degree burns.
The test is governed by national, European and international standards.
The thermal protection provided by PPE is determined by measuring heat transfer through the garment on the manikin. The manikin is surrounded by twelve propane burners to create a uniform, stable heat flux of 84 kW/m2 for between three and four seconds for industrial workers and eight seconds for firefighters.
BURN PREDICTION BY AREA
During the test, the dummy is enveloped in flame and each of the sensors records the temperature attained to calculate the percentage and degree of burns in each area of the body being analysed.
The results are displayed graphically showing the areas covered by each sensor in different colours according to the degree of burn. The aim is to achieve the lowest percentage of second degree (orange) and third degree (red) burns. Therefore, the lower the value, the better the test results.
The assembly includes a data acquisition system that transmits the temperature measurements by the thermal sensors to the software. The software calculates the predicted percentage of burns produced as a result of exposure to flame and the value of the energy transmitted through the garment.
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OTHER AREAS OF AITEX
AITEX provides different types of services for companies that develop products for the markets in the different textile application areas. Our services fall within the following areas.
