THE INFLUENCE OF HEATING THE SOLES OF THE FEET ON THERMAL COMFORT AND OPTIMUM HEATING CONDITION

It is very popular in East Asia and Japan to heat some parts of the body using a small heating source in slightly cool or cool conditions. The objective of this paper is to clarify the thermal effect of heating the soles of the feet on human thermal comfort and to consider the optimum heating conditions in such cases. Thirteen (13) men participated in these experiments and were exposed to various sole heating conditions. The following results were obtained: Overall thermal sensation and thermal comfort were not influenced by heating the soles alone. Therefore it was thought that the optimum conditions of a hot panel should be decided by the local thermal sensation on the soles. There was a close correlation between the thermal sensation of the soles and the energy input through the soles' surface and this was used to decide the optimum condition of the hot panel.