A new sweating thermal articulated manikin, built to look like a 175 cm tall man and with fully jointed limbs, has been named ‘Sherlock’ by customers and employees of the Hohenstein Institute.

The latest piece of test equipment in the Clothing Physiology department came from the manufacturer Measurement Technology NW with the name ‘Newton’.

It is now the latest member of a large ‘test family’, which helps the experts at the international textile test and service centre to investigate and optimise the wearing comfort of textile products of all kinds.

Sweating manikin

The most well-known member of the ‘family’ is the thermal articulated manikin ‘Charlie’, who was created at the Hohenstein Institute at the end of the 1960s. Today, it is already the 4th generation of ‘Charlies’ used to measure the dry heat transfer (thermal insulation) of suits, sportswear, workwear and protective clothing, as well as bedding and sleeping bags.

However, these manikins are not able to ‘sweat’. This means that until now, in order to give a detailed report on heat and moisture management, two different measuring systems had to be combined: firstly the articulated manikins and secondly the Hohenstein skin model.

Now, with the sweating thermal articulated manikin ‘Sherlock’, it is possible to measure both the thermal insulation and the breathability of clothing of all kinds using one measuring system, the Institute reports.

Unlike others

The thermal articulated manikins all work in closely controlled conditions in a climate chamber. Here, different ambient temperatures and humidity levels can be simulated, along with other external influences such as wind, radiated heat and rain.

This means that the Hohenstein experts can imitate all kinds of realistic wearing situations, from Arctic expeditions to desert treks. Unlike ‘Charlie’ and ‘Charlene’, the child manikin, which came into use in 2008, ‘Sherlock’ will have to work until he ‘sweats’, so that the moisture management of clothing can be assessed in real wearing conditions.

The manikin can also sit down,  meaning that in future it will be possible to use the manikin to test seating of all kinds, including office chairs, car seats and aircraft seats.

Tracking down comfort

‘Sherlock’, who is currently still in a trial phase, is expected to enable the Hohenstein Institute to expand its expertise in research and services in the field of clothing physiology.

With ‘Sherlock’, ‘Charlie’ and ‘Charlene’, the Hohenstein experts will now have a total of three articulated manikins at their disposal when they need to investigate the thermophysiological comfort of clothing systems in real conditions.

www.hohenstein.de