JOHOR BAHRU, 3 April 2016 – A team of researchers from the Center for Sustainability Campus Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM-SC) has successfully developed a prototype that is capable of predicting the effects of thermal environment on the human body.
The group comprised three academic staff of UTM, namely, Dr. Shazwin Mat Taib, Dr. Lee Yee Yong and headed by Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Fadhil Md. Din.
Speaking at a press conference, Dr. Fadhil said the prototype named ‘Human Surrogate Sensor’ or SHS was developed specifically to evaluate the effects of heat and investigate human discomfort level by connecting it to the local climate situation.
“This is important so that we can access the level of heat that can cause heat stroke and can also help prevent other sickness caused by excessive heat from an early stage.
“The usage of this prototype can also avoid the use of real human beings in experiments which requires the body to be directly exposed to sunlight. This type of experiment is not recommended as it causes discomfort,” he said.
SHS can act as a simple indicator to evaluate thermal comfort because it reflects the state of the thermal environment directly.
“With SHS, the government can give timely warnings to the public on the level of thermal comfort.
The device was proposed by UTM-SC with the framework that has been initiated since 2010 with extensive cooperation from Nagoya Institute of Technology (NIT) under the supervision of Prof. Iwao Kenzo.
