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A Thermal Physiological Comparison of Two HazMat Protective Ensembles With and Without Active Convective CoolingWearing impermeable garments for hazardous materials clean up can often present a health and safety problem for the wearer. Even short duration clean up activities can produce heat stress injuries in hazardous materials workers. It was hypothesized that an internal cooling system might increase worker productivity and decrease likelihood of heat stress injuries in typical HazMat operations. Two HazMat protective ensembles were compared during treadmill exercise. The different ensembles were created using two different suits: a Trelleborg VPS suit representative of current HazMat suits and a prototype suit developed by NASA engineers. The two life support systems used were a current technology Interspiro Spirolite breathing apparatus and a liquid air breathing system that also provided convective cooling. Twelve local members of a HazMat team served as test subjects. They were fully instrumented to allow a complete physiological comparison of their thermal responses to the different ensembles. Results showed that cooling from the liquid air system significantly decreased thermal stress. The results of the subjective evaluations of new design features in the prototype suit were also highly favorable. Incorporation of these new design features could lead to significant operational advantages in the future.
Document ID
20040055012
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Williamson, Rebecca
(Lockheed Martin Engineering and Science Services Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Carbo, Jorge
(Sterling Software, Inc. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Luna, Bernadette
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Webbon, Bruce W.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1998
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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