High-temperature and thermal radiation affecting human thermal comfort and physiological responses: An experimental study

Hot environments with high temperatures and thermal radiation are to be found in heat treating, glass melting workshops, etc., which impacts worker thermal comfort and physiological responses. The motivation of this study was to explore the changes of thermal comfort in a high-temperature and thermal radiation environment. Four experimental cases were designed to simulate high temperatures and thermal radiation. Physiological parameters such as skin temperature, ear cancel temperature, heart rate, and weight loss were investigated. Evaporative heat losses and skin wettedness were calculated by Gagge's two node model or weight loss. The results showed that local and mean skin temperatures increased by approximately 4 °C during the exposure. Thermal sensation vote was positively correlated with WBGT. The dynamic relationship between human heat gain, evaporative heat loss and potential thermal risk was framed as Stage A, Stage B, and possibly Stage C. This study could provide the basic information and theoretical evidence for the thermal comfort and thermal risk in high-temperatures and thermal radiation environment.