Ergonomic design of active badminton sportswear

Abstract

Active racket sportswear with novel ergonomic designs that can improve thermal and motion comfort during exercises are much desired. They should meet the requirements of low moisture accumulation, good convective heat transfer as well as low motion pressure, etc. The objective of my PhD project is to develop a new active badminton sportswear through a combination of various design elements like spacer structure, ventilation pattern and slash design to enhance the physical and physiological comfort during heavy exercises. A ventilation structure, which combines spacers and mesh openings, was designed to improve the convective heat transfer and reduce the touch areas between the skin and fabrics. A sports T-shirt with the above mentioned ventilation parts was fabricated by using a circular knitting machine. The pattern and fabrication process were investigated and optimized. The effect of ventilation design was evaluated by the Kawabata Evaluation System, the perspiring fabric manikin-Walter and wearer trials. Results demonstrated that the ventilation design can significantly increase both air circulation next to skin and ventilation cooling effect under windy condition and/or active body movement. The T-shirt with ventilation design provides significant advantages in wearers' thermal comfort, as manifested in reduced heat accumulation, lower skin temperature and humidity, better subjective sensation as well as reduced energy consumption during exercises. Thin Non-elastic Smooth String (TNSS) method was developed to measure the tensile force of sportswear. The tensile force and pressure of sportswear were investigated during main badminton actions. According to the tensile and pressure test, slashes design was developed for ease of body motion during badminton exercise. The slashes were fabricated by laser cutting to reduce the local tension and the resultant pressure when the cuts are opened and closed during body movement. The effect of slashes was examined and showed a significant influence on reducing tensile force. A new badminton sportswear was designed and developed based on the research, which combines ventilation structures and slashes in different parts of the garment. The design specifications and production process are introduced in details. The effects of the new sportswear on reducing the motion resistance and improving the ventilation were measured and evaluated. Comfort satisfaction, thermal and moisture sensation, clingy sensation, pressure sensation as well as tensile force sensation were assessed in three phases of badminton exercise by players. Compared to commercial badminton sportswear, the new sportswear achieved higher degree of wearer satisfaction, cooler/dryer sensation and lower sports constriction.