Backpack Mounted Air Conditioning System?

The Asylum · Feb 25, 2007

Anyone ever designed and/or built a backpack mounted A/C system for keeping their helmet cool? I'm heading to DragonCon this year and I want to make my suit as comfortable as possible in the summer heat.

I think I have a design. I'm not ready to share it yet, but it's wicked simple. Simple enough that I assume someone's already done it and may have done it better.

BrianTheSith · Feb 25, 2007

i haven't ever toyed with the idea, but water cooling would be kinda cool.

Aaron · Feb 25, 2007

I was planning on using a rechargable battery bank to power a heating system as it's like -18 F outside right now, but I'm kind of afraid of melting my armor.

GCNgamer128 · Feb 25, 2007

Most people use CPU fans in their helmets. Jimmy BufFETT's helmet was pretty creative the way the fans were set up.

Darth Valcar · Feb 26, 2007

I faced this problem with my slighty too small Stormtrooper helmet, for my Sith outfit. I made two inlet pipes that fed air into the helmet from the back, see the pics below......

Darth Valcar · Feb 26, 2007

The Helmet has 2 fans in the unit at the rear, that blow into the Helmet. This is my Blackhole Trooper Helmet that is part of my sith outfit, from my Darth Valcar's back story..... below is the outfit.......

Darth Valcar · Feb 26, 2007

The fans are powered from 2 9v batterys inside the helmet. The leads are fed though into the back of the housing that sits flush with the back of the helmet. The feed air from a slot that was cut out, and suck it into the housing and blow it down the pipes into the sides of the Helmet. I have found that this not only cools me down, if too hot, but also keeps my visor clear from misting up....

The Asylum · Feb 26, 2007

Nice design. But it just blows air, right? I'm actually looking to build a cooling unit into the pack while keeping it lightweight, quiet and not need a bank of batteries to run.

I've literally got it down to an 80mm computer fan and power, a PVC pipe, vacuum cleaner hose and a water bottle.

younginfett · Mar 2, 2007

could try a PC coolant kit they are small and might run off an alternate powersource is you played with it... i was gonna sitck a camel pack into my JP and feed the hose through the vest and velcro it inside my helm... mmmmm water.

GrottyFurball · Mar 3, 2007

The Asylum said:
Nice design. But it just blows air, right? I'm actually looking to build a cooling unit into the pack while keeping it lightweight, quiet and not need a bank of batteries to run.

I've literally got it down to an 80mm computer fan and power, a PVC pipe, vacuum cleaner hose and a water bottle.

so is your plan to freeze water in the bottle with a vaccum cleaner hose running off it with the fan at the end. basically just blowing the cool air from the ice up?

Vaders_Pet · Mar 3, 2007

younginfett said:
could try a PC coolant kit they are small and might run off an alternate powersource is you played with it... i was gonna sitck a camel pack into my JP and feed the hose through the vest and velcro it inside my helm... mmmmm water.

Yeah, i did that with my commander bly about 6 months ago. In Sydney we have what you have probably heard of as the "city to surf" which is 14.5kms long, and i knew i would not make it in full clone gear without hydration. So i got a 1L camel pack, some elastic strips and combined them. If anyone here has clone gear, you'd know that the backplate has that hollow recess in it. so what i did was put the bladder in there. Once it had filled up that recess, i put three strips of elastic horizontally over it, and it held it in there while i was trooping/running. Best part was i had kept it in the freezer at near freezing temperatures, so it kept my back nice and cool for the first half of the run (even though all i could manage was a moderate jog...)

hope this helps guys

The Asylum · Mar 3, 2007

zombierepellent said:
so is your plan to freeze water in the bottle with a vaccum cleaner hose running off it with the fan at the end. basically just blowing the cool air from the ice up?

Not any more complicated than that. Of course, all the variables are in how cold and how long lasting that frozen water bottle is.

GrottyFurball · Mar 4, 2007

Vaders_Pet said:
Yeah, i did that with my commander bly about 6 months ago. In Sydney we have what you have probably heard of as the "city to surf" which is 14.5kms long, and i knew i would not make it in full clone gear without hydration. So i got a 1L camel pack, some elastic strips and combined them. If anyone here has clone gear, you'd know that the backplate has that hollow recess in it. so what i did was put the bladder in there. Once it had filled up that recess, i put three strips of elastic horizontally over it, and it held it in there while i was trooping/running. Best part was i had kept it in the freezer at near freezing temperatures, so it kept my back nice and cool for the first half of the run (even though all i could manage was a moderate jog...)

hope this helps guys

Yeah I can't do the camel back thing, I love them and all but one year on a bike trip I had one, it was a 3 day trip thru the white mountains in New Hampshire, Since the tube is right there and handy all the time, I couldn't help but drink it, which resulted in having to take a leak every 20 minutes

since then I haven't touched them.

Backpack Mounted Air Conditioning System?

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