Effect of phase-change material on energy consumption of intelligent thermal-protective clothing

This article reports a study on the impact of phase-change materials (PCM) on intelligent thermal-protective clothing. The experiments were conducted in a climatic chamber in which the temperature was -15.0 degrees C. In the experiments, a device called a bionic skin model was used. The temperature at the simulated skin surface was controlled at 33.0 degrees C. Four clothing assemblies with the same structure and with/without PCM were studied. When the temperature of the second layer was lower than 27.0 degrees C, the conductive fabric was powered automatically on; when the temperature was higher than 29.0 degrees C, the conductive fabric was switched off. The results show that conductive fabric can significantly change the temperature distributions in clothing assemblies to increase the thermal-protective performance of the clothing, and that clothing assemblies with PCM can save around 30% of energy in the temperature control process. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.