Radiative and convective heat transfer coefficients of the human body in natural convection

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients of the human body, while focusing on the convective heat transfer area of the human body. Thermal sensors directly measuring the total heat flux and radiative heat flux were employed. The mannequin was placed in seven postures as follows: standing (exposed to the atmosphere, floor contact); chair sitting (exposed to the atmosphere, contact with seat, chair back, and floor); cross-legged sitting (floor contact); legs-out sitting (floor contact); and supine (floor contact). The radiative heat transfer coefficient was determined for each posture, and empirical formulas were proposed for the convective heat transfer coefficient of the entire human body under natural convection, driven by the difference between the air temperature and mean skin temperature corrected using the convective heat transfer area.