Research

Design and development of a multi-purpose test instrument for analyzing performance of thermal protective clothing and determining second-degree burn time for skin at different orientations

Project no.: DST/TDT/DDP-25/2021(G)/RP04091: A novel instrument designed to match the real-world situations to measure the heat transfer through thermal protective clothing and detect the burn time while varying the angle of flash fire exposure, the gap between the flash fire and the thermal protective clothing, and by varying the air gap. The whole setup is fixed and can be rotated from 0 degrees to 180 degrees and allows heat flux testing at different angles (Fig. 8). Movement between the heat source and the testing specimen is varied by a screw joint fixed at the top. Air gap is varied by locking the sensor assembly with the screw arrangement. A variable heat source comprising of radiant heat source and the convective heat source is assembled to simulate the variable heat flux on the test specimen. A copper calorimeter heat flux sensor located in the sensor assembly resembling skin is used to sense temperature with the help of a thermocouple attached to it. A thermocouple from the copper calorimeter is connected to the data acquisition system. Further data from the data acquisition system is analyzed with the numerical modal to get the second-degree burn time and the depth of skin burn. Highlights • Indigenous • Capable to testing at different orientation • Arrangement to insert desired air gap • PLC based data acquisition and controls

Faculty Associated

Prof. Apurba Das