Laboratory Convective / Steam Heat Test Apparatus

"In spite of its high importance to military and civilian emergency response personnel, no suitable steam heat protective garment exists to protect naval personnel from injury during a steam casualty situation. The development of a cost effective "steamprotection suit" requires the evaluation of many different material and design combinations. However, no test device currently exists to cost effectively measure the thermal protection provided by a proposed protective clothing material in asteam/convective heat environment without using whole garment testing. Whole garment testing is expensive, costing as much as $9000/week, and requires the development of a complete garment before evaluation can be performed. In the proposed work,TRI/Austin will lead a team of experts in the field of textile thermal protection to develop a laboratory bench-scale device which measures the thermal protectiveness of materials exposed to a steam/convective heat environment. This apparatus will be afully contained system with minimal utilities and a single user interface for control and data analysis. It will incorporate the latest sensor technology from the Department of Textile Protection and Comfort at North Carolina State University and will bedesigned for acceptance as an ASTM/ISO standard test with the assistance of consultant Jeff O. Stull. The lack of any effective steam convective heat test apparatus makes this development particularly desirable