Thermoelectrically Elevated Hydrogel Evaporation for Personal Cooling under Extreme Heat Stress

TL;DR

This paper presents a hybrid cooling system combining thermoelectric devices and hydrogels to provide effective personal cooling under extreme heat and humidity conditions, outperforming traditional methods.

Contribution

It introduces a novel integration of thermoelectric devices with hydrogels for enhanced evaporative cooling in extreme environments.

Findings

Outperforms individual thermoelectric or hydrogel cooling in high heat and humidity.

Operates effectively for over six hours with manageable weight.

Active temperature control adapts to changing thermal loads.

Abstract

Extreme heat events with wet-bulb temperatures (WBT) above 35{\deg}C pose serious risks to human survival, and conventional hydrogel evaporative cooling alone may not provide sufficient relief as it must be maintained at a sufficiently high temperature to achieve effective evaporation in hot, humid conditions. This study integrates thermoelectric devices (TEDs) with hydrogels to create an effective personal cooling solution. TEDs pump heat away from the skin to maintain comfort while simultaneously increasing the temperature of hydrogel to enhance evaporation. This hybrid system outperforms TEDs or hydrogel alone in extreme conditions (temperature up to 55{\deg}C and relative humidity up to 88%, with WBT > 35{\deg}C) and can operate for over six hours with a manageable hydrogel and battery weight. The active temperature control of TEDs allows adaptation to changing thermal loads and environments. These results demonstrate the potential of hybrid evaporative and thermoelectric cooling as an efficient, adaptable, and sustainable personal cooling solution to combat extreme heat.