Intermittent microclimate cooling during exercise-heat stress in US army chemical protective clothing

Abstract

The effectiveness of intermittent, microclimate cooling for men who worked in US Army chemical protective clothing (modified mission-oriented protective posture level 3; MOPP 3) was examined. The hypothesis was that intermittent cooling on a 2 min on–off schedule using a liquid cooling garment (LCG) covering 72% of the body surface area would reduce heat strain comparably to constant cooling. Four male subjects completed three experiments at 30°C, 30% relative humidity wearing the LCG under the MOPP 3 during 80 min of treadmill walking at 224 ± 5 W · m⁻². Water temperature to the LCG was held constant at 21°C. The experiments were; 1) constant cooling (CC); 2) intermittent cooling at 2-min intervals (IC); 3) no cooling (NC). Core temperature increased (1.6 ± 0.2°C) in NC, which was greater than IC (0.5 ± 0.2°C) and CC (0.5 ± 0.3°C) ( p < 0.05). Mean skin temperature was higher during NC (36.1 ± 0.4°C) than IC (33.7 ± 0.6°C) and CC (32.6 ± 0.6°C) and mean skin temperature was higher during IC than CC ( p < 0.05). Mean heart rate during NC (139 ± 9 b · min⁻¹) was greater than IC (110 ± 10 b · min⁻¹) and CC (107 ± 9 b · min⁻¹) ( p < 0.05). Cooling by conduction (K) during NC (94 ± 4 W · m⁻²) was lower than IC (142 ± 7 W · m⁻²) and CC (146 ± 4 W · m⁻²) ( p < 0.05). These findings suggest that IC provided a favourable skin to LCG gradient for heat dissipation by conduction and reduced heat strain comparable to CC during exercise-heat stress in chemical protective clothing.

Keywords:

• Personal cooling
• Heat strain
• Chemical protective clothing
• Human

Acknowledgments

Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the US Army.