The Experimental Study on Heat, Moisture and Air Transfer Properties of Fibrous Packing Materials

• Published in: Journal of Home Economics of Japan Vol. 46; no. 10; pp. 969 - 976
• Main Authors: NAKANISHI, Masae, NIWA, Masako
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: The Japan Society of Home Economics 1995
• Subjects: air resistance; fiber diameter; heat and moisture transfer; thermal conductivity; wadding
• ISSN: 0913-5227; 1882-0352
• DOI: 10.11428/jhej1987.46.969

The heat, moisture and air transfer through fibrous waddings of futon, thermal protective clothing, etc., influence our thermal comfort. The objective of this study is to obtain basic experimental data which will be useful in the theoretical analysis of this transfer phenomena. The following is a list of the main results obtained from the measurement of the transfer properties of various kinds of waddings. 1) Air resistance per unit thickness of wadding R/L is inversely proportional to the square of the fiber diameter. 2) Apparent thermal conductivity ke decreases as fiber packing density P increases within the measurement range of P. The larger the single fiber denier of polyester waddings, the larger the ke value. The ke values of polyester waddings tend to be larger in comparison with wool waddings of equivalent diameters. 3) Hollow fibers tend to have higher R values and lower ke values in comparison with solid fibers of the same denier. The effect of the difference of fiber arrangement in the wadding can also be seen in both the R and ke values, from the results of knops and card webs of wool fiber. 4) The heat transfer that accompanies water evaporation, which is measured by placing a sheet of wet filter paper on a heated plate simulating sweaty skin, is influenced by many fiber properties such as the shape of the cross section, hygroscopicity, thermal conductivity etc., the packing density and the fiber arrangement in the waddings.