Saidi, A.; Gauvin, C.; Ladhari, S.; Nguyen-Tri, P. Advanced Functional Materials for Intelligent Thermoregulation in Personal Protective Equipment. Polymers 2021, 13, 3711, doi:10.3390/polym13213711.
Saidi, A.; Gauvin, C.; Ladhari, S.; Nguyen-Tri, P. Advanced Functional Materials for Intelligent Thermoregulation in Personal Protective Equipment. Polymers 2021, 13, 3711, doi:10.3390/polym13213711.
Saidi, A.; Gauvin, C.; Ladhari, S.; Nguyen-Tri, P. Advanced Functional Materials for Intelligent Thermoregulation in Personal Protective Equipment. Polymers 2021, 13, 3711, doi:10.3390/polym13213711.
Saidi, A.; Gauvin, C.; Ladhari, S.; Nguyen-Tri, P. Advanced Functional Materials for Intelligent Thermoregulation in Personal Protective Equipment. Polymers 2021, 13, 3711, doi:10.3390/polym13213711.
Abstract
The exposure to extreme temperatures in workplaces involves physical hazards for workers. A poorly acclimated worker may have lower performance and vigilance and may therefore be more exposed to accidents and injuries. Due to the incompatibility of the existing standards implemented in some workplaces and the lack of thermoregulation in many protective equipment, thermal stress remains one of the most frequent physical hazards in many work sectors. However, many of these problems can be overcome with the use of smart textile technologies that enable intelligent thermoregulation in personal protective equipment. Smart textiles can detect, react and adapt to many external stimuli. Interconnected sensors and actuators that interact and react to existing risks can provide the wearer with increased safety, protection and comfort. Thus, the skills of smart protective equipment can contribute to the reduction of errors and the number and severity of accidents in the workplace, and thus promote improved performance, efficiency and productivity.This review provides an overview and opinions of authors on the current state of knowledge on these types of technologies by reviewing and discussing the state of the art of commercially available systems and the advances made in previous research works.
Keywords
thermoregulation; personal protective equipment; smart textiles; performance; productivity
Subject
Chemistry and Materials Science, Polymers and Plastics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
