I-Corps: A Lightweight, Low-Cost, Liquid-Metal Cooling Vest for Prolonged Cooling

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a personal cooling system for high-heat work environments such as shipyards, foundries, boiler workshops, and mining and construction sites where workers are exposed to heat exhaustion. Additional potential markets exist in medical, sports, emergency response, military, and animal care fields. The product will compete in the global personal cooling garment market. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a conduction-based, cooling cycle technology using highly thermally conductive fluidic metal, gallium alloy. Gallium alloy is liquid at room temperature and is commonly known as liquid metal (LM). Due to its fluidic nature, LM can be pumped into a microfluidic channel using a low-power pump. Also, LM is 28 times more conductive (16.5W/m·K) than water, which helps absorb heat in a second by conduction, unlike the convection-based cooling cycle. Conventional refrigeration cooling cycles require a high power-consuming compressor to reduce heat transfer time. Low power conduction-based heat transfer along with microfluidic LM flows allow the LM to be used as the primary coolant in the novel personal cooling system. The outcome is a lightweight, low-power, low-cost, LM wearable personal cooling system that can provide day-long high cooling.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.