Heat Transfer Characteristics of Rowing Headgear with Radiant Heat Flow

INTRODUCTION Radiant heat gain to the head has recently been shown to affect sensation in human subjects (Buyan et al., 2006). However, only one published study has been conducted on the influence of radiant heat gain for sports headgear (Ishigaki et al., 2001). One could assume that reducing heat stress by shielding solar radiation using sports headgear would increase thermal comfort, and possibly decrease heat strain, as often shown in studies in which heat stress on the head is reduced by artificial cooling (Nunneley et al., 1971; Williams and Shitzer, 1974). A baseball-style cap is often used among athletes competing under sunny conditions. However, in spite of the numerous studies on understanding and optimizing forced convective heat loss in, e.g., bicycle helmets, no study has examined a baseball-style cap on heat transfer.