Real-scale experiments of resistive heating laminate composite panels for radiant heating in railway vehicles

Railways, as one of the representative mass transit systems, are vulnerable to highly contagious respiratory diseases due to their operation in densely populated environments. Notably, the current convective heating system creates an environment susceptible to virus transmission within railway vehicles. To improve this situation, there have been attempts to introduce radiant heating systems to reduce the risk of virus transmission and create a comfortable indoor environment. Previous studies focused on developing radiant heating composite material for railway vehicles by incorporating a carbon fiber heating element within a glass fiber composite to enable heat generation through joule heating. However, this development was limited to the specimen level. In contrast, this study aims to demonstrate their applicability and performance for actual railway vehicle parts at the component level. Specifically, resin flow and manufacturability were analyzed to assess applicability to railway vehicles. Additionally, heating performance and heat flow characteristics were evaluated to determine heating effects. Based on these results, it is anticipated that the application of multifunctional composite materials in the railway industry will improve the vulnerability to winter viruses and indoor environments and expand the utilization of multifunctional composite materials in various fields.