A comparison of globe, wet and dry

temperature and humidity measuring

devices available for heat stress
assessment
Stephen Hardcastle & Kevin Butler
CANMET MMSL, Sudbury, Canada

12th North American/U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium

Reno, Nevada, U.S.A., June 9-11, 2008

Heat Stress Assessment

To control core temperatures .

Most heat exposure regulations in Canada stipulate

the use of the American Conference of
Governmental Industrial Hygienists Threshold Limit
Values and Biological Exposure Indices Heat
Stress and Strain documentation.
Depending on the version used, based upon a
metabolic rate these can determine work-to-rest
regimes and an action limit

Wet Bulb Globe Temperature

WBGT(out) = 0.7tnwb + 0.2tg + 0.1tdb
Underground
Mines

WBGT(in) = 0.7tnwb + 0.3tg

WBGT Screening Criteria, C (2001)

Demand

Light

Moderate

Heavy

Very
Heavy

100% Work

29.5

27.5

26.0

75% Work:25% Rest

30.5

28.5

27.5

50% Work:50% Rest

31.5

29.5

28.5

27.5

25% Work:75% Rest

32.5

31.0

30.0

29.5

Regime

Note: decision differences range from 0.5 to 2.0C

Heat Stress Assessment

Some of the issues .
Preference for electronic instruments
Assumption precision = accuracy
Adequate accounting for air speed
(using tnwb was a simplification to avoid measuring
velocity)
Wet instruments not practical
Dry instruments more suited to long-term monitoring
Air density effects with depth

WBGT Instrumentation
Wet Meters
Blackened
Globe Sensor
-Radiant Heat
- tg

Natural
Wet Bulb
Sensor
- tnwb

Ambient
Dry Bulb
Sensor
- tdb

Water
Reservoir

WBGT Instrumentation
Wet Meters measuring tnwb, tdb, tg
WiBGeT RSS-214 Heat Stress
Monitor (3M, formerly IST-AIM)
QUESTemp34/36 Thermal
Environment Monitor
(Quest Technologies)
Heat Stress SensorLynx Monitor
(IST-AIM, no longer available)
Microtherm Heat Stress WBGT
Meter (Casella CEL)

QUESTemp also measures %RH

Other Instrumentation
Dry Relative Humidity Meters
HSM, Heat Stress Monitor
(Calor Instruments)

tdb, tg, Humidity, Pressure, Velocity

Kestrel 4000 Pocket Weather

Tracker (Nielsen-Kellerman)
tdb, Humidity, Pressure, Velocity

HMI41/HMP45 Humidity
Indicator (Vaisala)
td, Humidity

SmartReader Plus multi-channel

data loggers (ACR Systems)
td, Humidity, Pressure

Calculates psychrometric wet bulb, twb or tnwb (Calor)

Temperature Comparison

Small Environmental Chamber

with temperature
and
pressure
0.2C Spread
between
controls
sensors
= 2 x 0.1C Resolution

Casella Microtherm Dry Bulb Sensor

Casella
Microtherm
Dry
Globe
Casella
Microtherm
Dry
Wet
BulbSensor
Sensor

Temperature Comparison

Unexplainable
delay on dry and
globe sensors

Dry Bulb tdb Sensor Response

All show excellent linearity

- gradients 1.0
- intercepts typically small
All units generally agree

Wet Bulb Comparison

Constant Dry Bulb Temperature 16C
Transition/unstable data removed
before regression analysis

Natural tnwb Sensor Response

Data spread
Group
shows
decreases
as variable
a
spread
function&ofnon%RHlinear
performance

tnwb 2.2C
10%RH Values

60%RH
tnwb 0.9C
Values

Natural Wet Bulb Sensors

Findings
Previous testing showed sensors agree in dry
state
Spread in values most likely a function of
different evaporative characteristics
Assuming a global air velocity probably
contributed to the lack of linearity across tests
tnwb calculations very sensitive to velocity at low
air speeds
Sensitivity accentuated at low humidity
Different non-Standard configurations
Lack of adequate/confirmed/traceable theory

Globe tg Sensor Response

Differing
instrument
Outside Comparison
response
Standard 150mm (6)
diameter globes
Delay
function of
size

12C Spread

WBGT Meters
Findings
All instruments can adequately measure dry bulb temperature
typically agreeing within 0.5C
Globe and natural wet bulb sensors when dry agree with dry bulb
sensor
Agreement of natural wet bulb sensors ranged from within 0.9 to
2.2C depending on %RH
Globe sensors disagreed by up to 12C despite all being corrected
to the 150mm standard
Uniform radiant heat calibration difficult
Wet and Globe measurements are not traceable back to a standard
Are dry instruments any better?

%RH Sensor Response

Calculated using moisture
Instruments
agree
content
from precision
Spread
within
specified
chilled
mirror
dew
point accuracy
meter

Most show
Calculated
good linearity
using tnwb
Agreement
a function of
Distinct response
accuracy
-10% RH @ 50%RH
Consistent difference
+10%RH

Calculated Chamber Psychrometric t wb (C)

Psychrometric twb response

Lack
of agreement
The
Some
group
Instruments
showed and
a showed
lack of
linearity
a function
ofand linearity
agreement
good agreement
and differing
linearity
%RH
10%RH values

20.0

18.0

16.0

twb3.5C
Vaisala
2%RH

14.0

QUESTemp
5%RH
60%RH values

12.0

10.0

8.0

Kestrel 4000

Calor HSM (Calc.)

QUESTemp34 (Small) (Calc.)

Vaisala HMI41/HMP45

ACR SmartReader Plus (Calc.)

Line of Uniformity,

6.0
6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

18.0

20.0

Instrument Psychrometric Wet Bulb Temperature, t wb (C)

22.0

Psychrometric Wet Bulb

Dry Relative Humidity Meters
Agreement of humidity meters is a function of
their calibration tolerance/quoted accuracy
Calibration tolerance directly impacts the resulting
confidence of a twb determination
Meters typically use Standard barometric
pressure 101.32 kPa
In deep mines at 140kPa, twb determinations
could be underestimated by 0.4 through 1.4C
depending on the humidity
Theory adequate to indirectly determine twb

Natural Wet Bulb

Dry Relative Humidity Meters

Indirectly determining tnwb, as used by the

Calor HSM, appears to be more difficult:
It was not possible to establish what theory
or relationship the Calor HSM employed
It had a different %RH response
Due to the lack of adequate theory and traceability to a
standard it was not possible to determine if such
instruments could provide a natural wet bulb and hence
a work to rest regime with acceptable confidence

Which Instrument ?
WBGT Meters
Globe temperature measurement is typically
redundant in Canadian mines use dry bulb
Tests show a lack of agreement in tnwb - this may
improve at higher airspeeds but it then starts to
approximate to the psychrometric wet bulb

Discontinued

Meters show limited comparability across

manufacturers

Which Instrument ?
Psychrometers, Heat Stress or
WBGT Meters

From the tests performed and instruments

evaluated it was not possible to confirm that dry
instruments could replace wet units

Apart from dry bulb temperature there was limited

comparability across the type of instruments

Which Instrument ?
Psychrometers
From the tests performed and instruments evaluated, dry
bulb/relative humidity meters were the most consistent with
verifiable performance
Well calibrated meters can be confidently used to provide the
psychrometric wet bulb

Ventilation
Staff
$930(US)

Supervisors
$329(US)
pocket meter

Vaisala

Kestrel

These units have been adopted by Vale Inco

within their heat management procedure

Which Instrument ?
Deep Mine Conclusions
WBGT instruments do not need any barometric pressure correction but
confident usage remains an issue
The Kestrel 4000 and Calor HSM include suitable resolution barometer but
their application is limited to 2000 & 1500m respectively
These, or similar instruments, require the manual calculation of the
psychrometric wet bulb temperature

Acknowledgements:
Deep Mining
Research Consortium
Vale Inco
Agnico-Eagle
Ottawa University
School
of Human Kinetics