Cooling vests

[mx_tifoso]

Seeing the F1 drivers use the cooling vests has spurred some interest in buying one, but they're quite pricey and don't stay at cool temps for too long.



http://www.arcticheatusa.com/cooling_ve ... gvest.html

The vest is easy to use and can be activated anywhere by simply submerging the cooling vest into water for 15 minutes so that the crystals in the pocket swell into gel form.

Once activated the vest can be placed in the refrigerator or freezer. The vest can also be placed inside the resealable bag/satchel it was purchased in and put on ice or in an ice slurry. The length of cooling time is subject to outside temperature and body heat considerations.

As a guide if soaked in an ice water / slurry for 5-10 minutes the vest will stay cold for 30-60 minutes. If frozen for two hours or longer it will stay cold for 1-2 hours.

$200 for 1-2 hours of use per "freeze"?

[forty-two]

Hey MX, you should check out the ones which Jenson and Reubens used while they were driving for Brawn. Those ones were not operated by pre-freezing, instead they were electric, I think using the peltier effect, whereby the heat drawn out of the inside of the jacket was expelled through a small box mounted on the wearer's back.

I looked for them at the time because I can think of a thousand uses for such a garment, although lugging around a battery pack would be a pain, but still there are applications where you could "plug in" to a PSU and have a few metres of trailing lead.

I would love to be able to tell you more about them but I couldn't find anything. I know they exist though!

As for the ones you describe, I expect you (or a friend who is good at sewing) could probably make your own from a butchered bodywarmer and a few of those "heat/cool pouch" things which are sold in many shopping centres these days (saturated saline solution inside a PVC bag).

[mx_tifoso]

Thank you for the information Richard.

Unfortunately it seems that most of these units which only have capacity for a few hours or that need to be connected to something don't fit the bill. I would need something that lasts double that or can possibly be charged in a vehicle by the cigarette lighter - perhaps a local electrician might be able to take care of that?

These are great for keeping the core cool and don't seem to be too bulky, I'll keep digging..

[PowerPel]

Hi Guys,

I do read here incorrect information about the cooling vests.
The vests shown here are the Hybrid Cooling Vests and are made by company TechNiche.
They use a combination of 2 different unique (non-toxic) cooling technologies HyperKewl and PCM CoolPax and these vests are in use by several Teams.

Here you can find more details;
http://www.techniche-europe.com/en/cata ... index.html

[Caito]

I've seem some pilots in Argentina that used a radiator type. It had small passages of water. It will last as long as the cold water(which, if you stop and change it could be all day long). But you need to carry a battery and water.


http://www.fullboost.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=5058

http://www.coolshirt.net/racing-liquid-cooler.html

[PowerPel]

@Caito > TechNiche did also supply these circulatory cooling vests as pre-cooling some years ago before they developed the new technologies of the Hybrid Cooling Vests. Almost all individual top sporters and teams skipped from the unpractical (with separate cooler pump unit) circulatory vest to the unique Hybrid Cooling vests, this in many different sport fields.
Nowadays the circulatory cooling vests are still in use for other applications like for helicopter pilots and surgery.

http://www.techniche-europe.com/en/cata ... index.html

http://www.techniche-europe.com/en/cata ... index.html

http://www.techniche-europe.com/en/cata ... index.html