According to Walter Teal, an engineer in Natick’s micro-climate lab, throughout the U.S. Army in 2005 there were six heat-related deaths, 1,400 cases of heat exhaustion, and 2,500 cases of heat stroke. It’s bad enough if a Soldier collapses on the ground, but the consequences can be even worse for Soldiers behind the controls of the Army’s helicopters.
Natick engineers listened to the feedback from pilots operating in the hot environments of Iraq and Afghanistan and, with the assistance of private contractors, designed and produced “liquid-cooled underwear.” Basically, the garment is a vest the pilots wear that hooks into a cooling system integrated into the helicopter. The system is comprised of a lunchbox-sized black box that houses the liquid cooling components, a series of tubes routed to each pilot’s seat, a quick-disconnect fitting that allows the pilot to egress without worrying about reaching down to detach the vest, and the vest itself.
As with any airplane that has systems added to it as it continues its service life, finding the real estate to house the black box (one for each crew member) and tubing was an issue. The Blackhawk has six feet of tubing between the cooling unit and the respective seat; the Chinook has twenty-two feet of tubing. But whatever the design challenges have been along the way, the helicopter pilots have seemed happy with the results. One went so far as to proclaim the liquid cooled underwear system as “the best thing to happen to helicopters since the rotor.”
And Natick isn’t forgetting the guys on the ground either. They’re in the process of testing two different types of individual cooling units. One is a single 1.5 liter cylinder that weighs four pounds, the other is a pair of brick-sized devices, one housing the compressor, the other housing the fan and condenser — not unlike the HVAC system in many homes. The units are designed to be worn at the hip. Both units are hoping to meet Military Standard 810 (duh …), which of course states that these sorts of devices have to provide 120 BTUs/hour of cooling. Both units provide about four hours of cooling.
The Navy’s approach to the overheated personnel issue is a bit more basic. Blessed with the luxury of freezers on ships, they simply use Steele vests, which are nothing more than vests with pouches that hold ice packs.
– Ward
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
The Air Warrior vests and Microclimate Units are really great, never heard any complaints about them but I have heard of somebody not wearing their undershirt and actually getting hypothermia while flying in a desert.
Having worked on the flight deck of carriers in the Persian Gulf, the key to not falling out was hydration.
God bless the Camel Back.
After reading the article, I think the technology is great for air crew, but for vehicle mounted infantry it may be better to add a mechanical unit that makes very coold drinking water.
This is sort of what the commentator suggest the Navy does with the ice packs (I never saw this).
The solder would be able to drink very cold water, helping to cool him, then carry very cold water for limited runs out of the vehicles.
Granted this is a short term fix, since the water in his stomach will warm up, and under the sun the water in his camel back will also heat up over time.
But I am thinking this solution could be 12volt plugged into a Humvee/Striker/MWAP with off the shelf technology.
Has anyone seen this in the field already? Am I just posting what has already been figured out?
Has anyone seen this in the field already? Am I just posting what has already been figured out?
Yep, its called an ice chest. I kid you not. We had one per humvee full of ice, water, and gatorade before each mission. If you’re looking for a plug in fridge, it’ll have to wait until the humvee’s replacement. We don’t have the juice to power one right now.
Regarding Infantry:
I suppose they want to detach themselves from the “we are infantry operating from the Humvee” mentality, for whatever it’s worth. That or I suppose keeping cool at all times might be worth it in the event that stopping for a breather and a warm drink is not going to do much.
I’m surprised nobody’s thrown in their chips about the infantryman having too many gadgets.
Regarding the actual fielded item, for helicopter crews:
I suppose it’s good they have something, since they can’t go with the ice chest while flying (can they?)
Why is the black box per crew? You’d think that one central unit with multiple feed lines per crewmember would be more efficient/effective?
we don’t need more hi dollar crap anything under the guise of “for the troops” is just ripping the Gov.off, Cimatize & Hidrate 701860
mulehead, the vests being used in humvees came from a request per the soldiers that have been to iraq and afghanistan. I am aware that the Army is currently using these units to cool the crews of the Strykers so I don’t see how it’d be that difficult to put some in other vehicles. Yes the hummvees may be a little short on space but it’s replacement should have these integrated in. I know I normally wouldn’t think of a personal climate vest as being necessary but when these guys are stuck baking in the vehicles in the deserts were temps are well over 100 while still having to strap on their 30+ pounds of body armor, I have no problem spending a few tax dollars to keep them cool. It’s better spent on the troops than the welfare sucking leeches that contribute nothing to our country.
cold water would make them sick. You NEVER give an over heated person COLD water. You always give them cool or warm water, never cold. Check your first aid literature if you disagree.
They should give these to tankers I spent 14 years riding in tanks and let me tell you gets very hot in that steel box. They could hook those up to the NBC overprotection system and stay cool.
COOL!!!
The Australian designed Bushmaster Infantry Mobility Vehicle has air conditioning and may be having cooled drinking water installed in improved versions. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmaster_IMV. The comment about cold water making you sick doesn’t apply in this situation: the idea is to keep the soldiers cool so they don’t get heat stroke etc.
you guys who say that you shouldn’t put cold water on a hot person, well, i’m thinking that the micro climate was made to keep them from getting hot in the first place so…yeah
I work ALSE. Yes I have an MCG (Micro-ClimateCooling-Garment) sitting three feet from me right now.
They are great for the pilots. Great for non-medevac crew that do not have to go in an out of the bird. For those that do, problems tend to arise with broken seals to the connection points and seals and when you leak the fluid, it tends to only work in spurts after that. Leak enough, and it’s just another vest under all your other gear. They need more work at the L-QD end. (Liquid-Quick-Disconnect)…
It gets cold. Yes, one person did have to be treated for cold weather injuries wearing it. It goes right agianst the skin. You can wear a cotton T under it if you wish.
You do have to keep on the aircrews to service the vests. They hold liquid within them not only in the MCU cooling unit on the bird. So if someone doesn’t use one for a couple weeks and forgets to change the liquid, well mold can grow in the most interesting of environments…
I heartily endorse this sucker for the heat.
Would it be possible to have a sample of these te3xtiles or a garment I teach a textiles course at Los Angeles Trade Technical College and am always looking for examples to show my students
Thabks
Project Horizon has done in depth research on this a put up a full write up on their Tactical Warfighter page:
http://www.tacticalwarfightergear.com/tacticalgear/catalog/Army_Technology.php
I am the Business Development Mgr responsible for the cooling unit and I appreciate all the feedback you guys have.
Atkin – the Army is addressing the LQDC seal issue by procuring a new LQDC from a different vendor.
Charlie Seto – the reason there is one box per crew member is redundancy. If one big unit fails EVERYONE loses cooling. Also, its much harder to find aplace to stick 1 big box as opposed to having options with multiples.
Robert – the tankers are using these now. The USMC fielded the first group in April 2008. Army is now in process of fielding on Abrams & Bradley. The system has been on Stryker since ’06.
Jeff Ehret
jeff.ehret@cobham.com