Measures to ensure individual heating for workers at agricultural enterprises

Abstract

Agricultural enterprises differ from other enterprises in that the basic conditions of comfort are not provided to the service personnel, but they are determined by the purpose of this enterprise. Livestock farms provide a favorable microclimate for animals, and poultry farms provide a favorable microclimate for birds. It is necessary to develop additional measures to create favorable conditions for workers but at the same time it is necessary to take into account their material well-being. The goal is to develop the measures to ensure individual heating of agricultural workers. To carry out the experiments, a heating element was made on a polyethylene terephthalate base with uneven specific power that varied uniformly from 120 W m² to 70 W m² with a thermal resistance coefficient equal to 4·10^-3 1/°C. The heater was made by “grid-screen printing” technology using carbon paste. To ensure tightness, the heating element was protected on both sides with a lamination film and a decorative coating, on one side by genuine leather and on the other side - by aluminum foil to improve the uniformity of heating. Testing of heated insoles was carried out in an unheated room with a concrete floor where the temperature ranged from 0 to 15°C. Graphs of changes in the average temperature of the foot during the working day when a person performs light and heavy types of work are obtained for the specified temperature range, every 5°C. The conducted research have shown that the developed heated insoles create a more favorable warm feeling for people compared to their closest analogues, at the same time, they are less energy-consuming and do not require additional control devices.