TY - JOUR
T1 - Studying thermal characteristics of seating materials by recording temperature from 3 positions at the seat-subject interface.
AU - Cascioli, V
AU - McCarthy, Peter
AU - Heusch, Andrew
AU - Liu, Zhuofu
PY - 2011/8/1
Y1 - 2011/8/1
N2 - Aim of the study - To determine whether 3 fixed positions of seat-subject interface temperature measurement offer more information than a single point of measurement. Materials and methods Temperature data was simultaneously acquired (sampling frequency 1Hz/sensor) from each of three sensor positions (right and left mid-thigh and coccyx), from the subject-seat interface. The data was acquired whilst subjects (6 males, 5 females: 21-40 yrs: BMI 19.3-26.4) sat for 20min on each of three types of seat material (foam, gel mould and solid wood). Data collection was performed at the same time of day for each subject: ambient temperature between 21.1 and 21.2°C, ambient relative humidity 50.9%. Results Analysis of data from the sensors, post mathematical smoothing, for each subject (n=11; ANOVA, followed by post-hoc t-tests) revealed each of the measurement positions to have a significantly different recorded temperature (pandlt;0.01). However, profile of temperature change at the same measurement position using the same seating material during the 20min sitting period, was highly correlated (randgt;0.99) between subjects, a consistent finding across all 11 subjects regardless of seat material selected. Conclusion Use of 3 positions of measurement (3 sensors) appears necessary when performing detailed studies of temperature change at the seat-subject interface. The high level of comparability of results between subjects supports potential of this method to resolve quantitative components of qualitative measurements, e.g., thermal comfort
AB - Aim of the study - To determine whether 3 fixed positions of seat-subject interface temperature measurement offer more information than a single point of measurement. Materials and methods Temperature data was simultaneously acquired (sampling frequency 1Hz/sensor) from each of three sensor positions (right and left mid-thigh and coccyx), from the subject-seat interface. The data was acquired whilst subjects (6 males, 5 females: 21-40 yrs: BMI 19.3-26.4) sat for 20min on each of three types of seat material (foam, gel mould and solid wood). Data collection was performed at the same time of day for each subject: ambient temperature between 21.1 and 21.2°C, ambient relative humidity 50.9%. Results Analysis of data from the sensors, post mathematical smoothing, for each subject (n=11; ANOVA, followed by post-hoc t-tests) revealed each of the measurement positions to have a significantly different recorded temperature (pandlt;0.01). However, profile of temperature change at the same measurement position using the same seating material during the 20min sitting period, was highly correlated (randgt;0.99) between subjects, a consistent finding across all 11 subjects regardless of seat material selected. Conclusion Use of 3 positions of measurement (3 sensors) appears necessary when performing detailed studies of temperature change at the seat-subject interface. The high level of comparability of results between subjects supports potential of this method to resolve quantitative components of qualitative measurements, e.g., thermal comfort
KW - temperature
KW - data smoothing
KW - seat material comparison
U2 - 10.1016/j.jtv.2011.04.002
DO - 10.1016/j.jtv.2011.04.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 21646019
VL - 20
SP - 73
EP - 80
JO - Journal of tissue Viability
JF - Journal of tissue Viability
SN - 0965-206X
IS - 3
ER -