EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THE COOLING OF A MOTORCYCLE HELMET WITH PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL

The thermal comfort of motorcycle helmet during hot weather is important as it can affect the physiological and psychological condition of the rider. This paper examines the use of phase change material to cool a motorcycle helmet and presents the experimental investigations on the influence of the simulated solar radiation, wind speed, and heat generation rate on the cooling system. The results show that with the phase change material cooled helmet is able to prolong the thermal comfort period compared to a normal helmet. The findings also indicate that the heat generation from the head is the predominant factor that will affect the phase change material melting time. Simulated solar radiation and ram-air due to vehicle motion under adiabatic condition can have very little influence on the phase change material melting time. The results suggested that the helmet usage time would be influenced by the amount of heat generated from the head. Some major design considerations based on these findings have been included. Although this investigation focuses on the cooling of a motorcyclist helmet, the findings would also be useful for the development of phase change material cooling systems in other applications.