Open AccessDetermination of car seat contact area for personalised thermal sensation modelling
Author(s) -
Miloš Fojtlín,
Agnes Psikuta,
Róbert Toma,
Jan Fišer,
Miroslav Jícha
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0208599
Subject(s) - anthropometry , contact area , body surface area , thermal sensation , silhouette , body surface , body weight , body contact , body mass index , simulation , thermal comfort , environmental science , computer science , materials science , medicine , mathematics , geometry , geography , artificial intelligence , meteorology , surgery , composite material , optoelectronics , pathology
A lot of daily activities are conducted in a sedentary posture. This includes a thermal interaction between the human and the seat that has implications on thermal perception and comfort. These interactions are investigated by simulating heat and mass transfer, thus, reducing a need for costly and time demanding subject studies. However, it is not clear, from the available literature, what portion of the body surface area is actually affected by the seat with respect to human anthropometry. The aim of this study was to develop a predicting function of the seat contact area based on anthropometric parameters. The results showed strong linear correlation between the contact area obtained by printing a body silhouette on paper placed at the seat and body weight, height, body surface area, and body mass index. The body surface area and the body weight were identified as the best predictors for the contact area.