Design and manufacturing of two thermal observation manikins for automobile applications

Two state-of-the-art thermal observation manikins were designed and built for use in automobile applications. These manikins not only apply the latest data acquisition and control technology but also incorporate new manufacturing and sensor technology for improved performance. The manikins are equipped with 26 segments that can be easily removed for maintenance and replacement. Furthermore, their unique design offers an important and a major improvement over previous manikin designs by incorporating heat flux transducers (HFTs) to measure heat gain when exposed to external heating conditions. The HFTs provide these manikins the ability to measure heat flux to or from the environment, regardless of segment skin temperature. The end goal for these manikins is to incorporate a subjective model of thermal comfort along with a human thermal physiological model to produce a thermal sensation vote based on a combination of HFTs, temperature sensors, and heater power measurements. This paper discusses the need for two identical research quality thermal manikins and presents the details of the design and construction of two identical thermal manikins and the associated data acquisition and control software.