Hot! Hotter! Heat stress! Heat stroke? The summer has barely presented itself with a first heat wave, and already the effects on health are emerging. And it’s no wonder, after all the hot days are accompanied by high humidity, and the two together present an enormous strain on circulation. If the body cannot dissipate the heat, heat stress occurs – to the point of heat stroke. But there is an effective means to counter this …
Though high temperatures with low humidity are still perfectly tolerable, in combination with high humidity, the so-called “humid heat” is unpleasant, even without physical exertion. The higher the relative humidity, the more poorly and slowly the moisture emitted from the skin vaporises as sweat. Why is that? Very simple, because the surrounding air is already so saturated with moisture that it can only absorb a small amount of additional moisture.
It is only with the help of this vaporisation that the human organism can regulate its core body temperature to a healthy degree. Of course this is true above all in the event of severe heat or physical exertion. If this natural cooling mechanism is slowed, the body can no longer promptly dissipate the arising heat, which leads to heat stress – with potential severe health consequences such as overheating or heat stroke.
BC25 Thermohygrometer – gives a warning at “apparent” high temperatures
The BC25 is both an effective and easy-to-handle instrument for reliably determining a measurement of the physical stress arising due to high temperatures combined with high humidity. By means of the BC25’s alarm function for the ‘heat index’ and ‘apparent temperature’, heat exhaustion is avoided from the outset and the stress limits at high temperatures are determined. The BC25 measuring device is also excellently suited as an ‘early warning device’ for old or ill people so that they don’t overexert themselves on hot days.
With its sensitive sensor technology, the BC25 determines normal climate parameters such as air temperature, relative humidity, dew point and wet bulb temperature, as well as the “heat index” (HI) and the “apparent temperature” (WBGT index). Here, the heat index and the so-calledwet bulb globe temperature give information, respectively, about the apparent temperature – based on the measured air temperature as well as the relative air humidity in particular, and further parameters such as the thermal radiation. The innovative measuring device is equipped with a large and easy-to-read LCD display and additionally provides a variety of practical functions with its automatic shut-off, minimum and maximum value, AVG and HOLD.
