Heat Regulation Glove Using Phase Change Materials (PCM)

Anuradha Barnwal, Keshav Mehta

Abstract: Phase change materials (PCMs) provide thermal energy storage through latent heat absorption during phase transition and therefore offer potential for wearable thermal protection. This study investigates the integration of a gel-based PCM into a multilayer glove to improve protection against high-temperature exposure while limiting additional bulk. A prototype incorporating an approximately 1 cm PCM layer with a melting point near 68 ?C was evaluated using controlled convection-oven heating and compared with a glove without PCM. Three replicate trials were performed for each configuration, with the time required for the inner glove layer to reach 60 ?C used as the principal protection metric. The PCM-integrated configuration produced a thermal-buffering region and extended the observed protection time to approximately 60 to 100 s, compared with approximately 30 s for the control. Finite-element analysis qualitatively supported the experimentally observed thermal-buffering behaviour. The results demonstrate the potential of PCM integration for improving glove thermal protection, while standardized heat-exposure, durability, and dexterity testing remains necessary before operational application.

Keywords: Phase change materials, thermal protection, latent heat, firefighting gloves, thermal energy storage, gel PCM