wearable cooling

I'm currently working on my final design project at uni -designing a wearable cooling device for very humid conditions (e.g crowded rock concert), which would be worn on the wrist. I'm proposing to use an umbilical system, which means (from what I ..umm.. researched) that i need a reservoir, pump, cooling
device, heat sink, power source... From what I understand, the
temperature of the device needs to be kept above the dew point to
minimise condensation. My challenge is to somehow fit all that
inside a wrist band/cuff and to use a motor (Wellington Motors - they are special) somewhere in the device. The other option that i have is using a
series of inbuilt Sunon mini-fans (8mm square). Being a design student, I have a very limited knowledge of the issues involved. And since my
understanding of practical issues regarding physics is severely
underdeveloped, I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some
advice.

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This is something ya wear to cool down when it's humid?

 

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Well, the scope of the project is a wearable cooling device for the people in a 'mosh pit'. Mosh pit conditions are not only extremely hot, but incredibly humid, due to a huge number of people crammed in a small space, so i can't use an evaporative system.... ....hmmm....

 

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I wouldn't know about all this (I'm sorry), but I hope that works out for ya. Then ya can get that invention to market, and I can say "I talked to the inventor of that thing when it was on the drawing board!".

Oh, and let me be the first to say "Welcome to SciForums!".

 

jam a cold needle into the vein/artery, better ask a doctor before you try it tho, it might have adverse effects

 

Heh... trust me, that was my first idea.... illustrated even ...My lecturer wasn't particularly keen. Besides the general health concerns regarding injections of any kind, moshing is way too much of a contact 'sport' to encourage unsolicited wounds. ...Unless you're a masochist... ....Damn...

 

Cheers for the welcome. I feel less like a chimp under water now.

 

Welcome aboard!

Why don't they just crank up the air conditioning at the hall that they are "moshing ' about in? I'd think your idea wouldn't work to well for many reasons. You'd need a battery pack to run this thing, it would come off with all that bumping and grinding going on and the thing wouldn't be able to cool your entire body down , only a small portion of it. Sorry to deflate your idea unless you can think of another way to do it. The only way I see would be to wear a "space suit" so your entire body is kept cool.

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What if it's an outdoor concert? It gets just as hot outside, especially during the day. It is possible to cool the entire body at pulse points and lymphnode areas. Avacore Technologies (www.avacore.com) came up with a device that extracts excess body heat from the palm of one hand. I was thinking of using that technology inside a shoe, since the sole of the foot as also a radiator surface. However, it only functions in a vacuum and requires skin contact with a steel plate. The battery is not an issue, as the motor can also function as the generator (www.wdtl.com).

 

Cover yourself in Peltier junctions - if you kept moving all the time, maybe you wouldn't need fans on the hot sides (outside), and everytime you moshed against anybody you would hear screams and smell flesh sizzling. That would add to the mood eh?!

 

...Yeah... I wish I could design something asinine, impractical but funny... ..Just as a concept... Alas, my degree depends on this project... ...d'oh

 

Divers use an under the suit system to keep warm in frigid waters. Simply tubing woven in and warmed by pumping warm water around it. For cooling you just use cold water. They are developing something like that for soldiers, police and security guards employed in hot areas who have to wear cumbersome body armour. It's bad enough they have to contend with dodging bullets. Carrying an extra thick layer of heavy bullet proof clothing on top of an already tortuously restrictive uniform anywhere near the equator is begging for heat stroke.

 

That's an umbilical system, which is pretty much what I'm looking at. (http://www.coolvest.com/how_personal_cooling_tech.htm) Only I need to make it a lot smaller, and that has major implications with regards to the componentry. That's pretty much the part I'm confused about.

 

i think that with the proper precautions you would be able to use a very fine and not too long needle into a vein, then you could use your own body to run it

 

Have you tried it?

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Heh heh masochists.... What would be the best way to generate the power for my cooling wrist band? External power sources would be too cumbersome.

 

Perhaps you could have electrodes implanted in your stomach and just eat flys?

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3477908

 

Have you also considered the effects of cooling just one place may cause problems.

For a power suply you may wish to consider a system which carges on movement of the wrist band... so when you move an electric charge is generated, you could use a ofcenter weight and mini generator to generate small voltages and store the kinetic energy from the motion in a rechargable bater, for use when the system needs power, that way its should never run out of power...

But the size is what i'd imagine is the greatest concern. i fear that you are looking at a problem which is better solved by regular drinks due to sweating, I doubt your device will acheive sufficient cooling to be succesfull in cooling a fighting mad mosher down.

i wish you all the luck i can, but i part on one final warning, if its messes with the human body there are stacks of saftey issues that need to be considered... have fun.

Norm.

 

Ooh, excellent - this is the kind of constructive advice I've been looking for! I'm in the process of trying to figure out the range of movements that the device would be exposed to. ....Oscillating? Centrifugal? ...Bahhh.... I find the logistics of it all rather perplexing.

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The problem with drinks, is that most people don't want to be carrying anything with them. I took a bottle with me once and had to get rid of it aftre a short period, as it was too much of an inconvenience. A friend of mine hydrated so much at one concert that he ended up with a painfully full bladder. Only he couldn't get out of the moshpit, so had to grit his teeth and hold it in. ..Serves him right for going to Creed, I suppose...

 

dont nicotene patches have a small needle like thing in them, coz wat im meaning is have it on a bandage-like thing that you stick on and it jabs ya