Toray Launches Technorama GIII Weather Simulation Chamber

Toray’s Fibers & Textiles Research Laboratories, in Seta, Japan is the home of the company’s new Technorama GIII facility, the textile industry’s most advanced laboratory for reproducing climates from around the world.

Previous Technorama iterations were focused on functional evaluations of thermo-physiological factors, like heat, cold and humidity. Technorama GIII’s vastly expanded compliment of evaluation equipment makes it possible to measure sensations like fabric feel, using “sensitivity engineering” to track human comfort through a range of motion and conditions.

The Technorama GIII is comprised of three chambers, allowing Toray research testers to quickly move between radically different environments, measuring the reaction of materials and products by reproducing everything from a mountain summit to a stuffy, crowded subway car. This provides Toray with unique insight into the performance of everyday casual clothes, as well as high-performance sports textiles.

The testing chambers offer:

• Variable wind speeds up to 67mph
• Rainfall simulation up to 200 mm/hr
• Temperatures from -22 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit
• Humidity levels of 20 to 80%RH
• Solar Radiation levels to 1.16 kW/m²
• Motion simulation equipment (treadmills, bikes, ergometers, etc.)
• Infrared imaging systems
• Motion capture devices
• Physiological analysis equipment (myoelectric meters, sweat meters, clothing pressure gauges, etc.)
• Thermal mannequins

With the Technorama GIII laboratory, Toray is poised to develop the next generation of ground-breaking fibers and textiles.