Some Investigations into the Relationship between Car Seat Cover Materials and Thermal Comfort Using Human Subjects

As part of a Brite Euram Project funded by the European Union, sixteen human subjects sitting in a climatic chamber evaluated 23 car seats. Each seat had a different cover laminate and the purpose was to investigate which properties of the laminate influenced seat thermal comfort. A &dquo;minimum insulation&dquo; chair (metal frame with wide nettmg) was also included. A carefully ergonomucally designed experimental procedure mimmised individual bias and circumstantial factors; a repeat measure design allowed seats to be compared within an individual subject, thus providing sensitive comparison between seat over subjects. The most important factors determining seat thermal comfort were the cover laminate acting as a barrier to perspiration and laminate foam thickness. HydroNote The research recorded m this report represented the first year of a three year Brite Euram project Follow-up work was concerned with relating these findmgs to measurable physical properties of the face fabric and laminates and hence to be able to actually specify laminate properties to optimise seat thermal comfort *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed