Convective heat transfer coefficient relating to evaluation of thermal environment of infant

Abstract

Infants have a low capacity to thermally adapt to their environment and so sufficient consideration must be given to their thermal environment. In investigating an infant's thermal environment, the purpose of this study is to clarify the heat transfer coefficient in natural convection for the posture of an infant in a stroller. The heat transfer coefficients were measured by means of using a thermal manikin. The experimental thermal environment conditions were set for eight cases, at: 16 °C, 18 °C, 20 °C, 22 °C, 24 °C, 26 °C, 28 °C, and 30 °C, and the air and wall surface temperatures were equalized, creating a homogeneous thermal environment. The air velocity (less than 0.2 m/s) and relative humidity (50%RH) were the same for each case. The surface temperature of each part of the thermal manikin was controlled to 34 °C. The difference between the mean surface temperature and air temperature (ΔT [K]) is the driving force for the heat transfer coefficient in natural convection for the posture of an infant in a stroller (hc [W/(m2·K)]). We propose the use of the empirical formula hc = 2.16 ΔT 0.23. The formula of the convective heat transfer coefficient in natural convection of this study can be applied to infants up to about 3 years old.

Keywords

• Heat transfer coefficient
• Infant
• Natural convection
• Stroller
• Thermal environment