Design and evaluation of a novel interactive firefighter clothing with multiple functionalities

Taking into consideration the requirements of anti-fire performance, safety protection and wearing comfort of firefighter clothing during anti-fire missions, the design of a novel interactive firefighter clothing with multiple functionalities is presented in the current paper. The conventional firefighter clothing has been redesigned from the perspectives of anti-fire functions and ergonomics. A safety protection clothing system has been developed involving hazardous gas detection, facilitated visual detection, positioning and vocal communication modules and a data interactive module. Objective evaluation tests have been carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed firefighter clothing in both functionality and comfort as compared with the conventional clothing. The results have been double validated by the subjective tests based on an analytic hierarchy process integrated fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The current research on firefighter clothing with multiple functionalities provides not only reference for the innovative design of firefighter clothing in the new era, but also, and more importantly a theoretical base for further study on more smart and comprehensive wearable systems for firefighting scenarios. Besides, the research framework and methodology of the current study could be instructive for the human-centered design of various products of diverse functionalities.