Determination of the heat dissipation of sport bras using thermal manikin and thermography

Abstract

Activity by practicing sport is one way of keeping shape and achieve general wellbeing, being recommended that every adult should do some physical activity every day [1]. There are a multitude of sports and probably the most popular is running, due not only to its simplicity but also to the economics factor. The thermal interaction of human body and the environment during running activity is an important mechanism that may affect the athlete’s performance [2]. For this reason, the cloth an athlete uses play an important role since it should provide comfort and should protect him from all environmental impacts, and thus with a benefit in the performance and efficiency of the athlete [3]. In this work we compare five commercially available models of sports bra specifically conceived for running and analyze the heat dissipation using a thermal manikin in a controlled environment. Due to the differences in raw material, finishing and knitted structure, the team expects to obtain different behaviors and thus understand which should be the most favorable candidate for this specific sport.