Thermal Analysis of Heating–Cooling Mat of Textile Incubator for Infants

Abstract

Abstract On the medical device market there are several types of stationary and portable incubators that can be used in the care of infants. The prototype of a textile incubator made as part of this work consists of five material layers. The textile incubator is equipped with a functional heating and cooling mat, which is made on the basis of 3D channeled weft-knitted fabric. Its function is to generate heat and maintain it inside the textile incubator or to cool the baby's body while using therapeutic hypothermia. The mat is equipped with hoses transporting the heating or cooling medium. The mat, depending on variable input parameters, can emit heat in the range from 1.15 W to 86.88 W. In case of the cooling function, it can receive heat in the range from −4.32 to −27.96 W. This indicates a large adjustment range of the amount of heat supplied and received, which is a positive feature, and enables programming the heat balance to ensure comfort for the baby. The analysis of temperature measurements on the mat surface confirmed that maximum temperature differences do not exceed 1.6°C.