cooling the helmet via remote fans/ducting in jetpack

flightidle · Sep 16, 2016

Has anyone considered or tried cooling their bucket using fans in the jetpack and ducting cool air to the helmet? with such limited space in the helmet, this seems like it may help with air circulation. it also looks like the jetpack could carry the fans easily including a slightly larger power supply. Even possibly a small water bag with a straw tube to keep you hydrated. thoughts?

RedBeard · Sep 16, 2016

I'm building a water cooling system in my jetpack. Tore apart a Kodiak ice therapy kit, then I'll run the lines out the bottom into the suit. Found a battery pack from a chiller backpack that will last 4 hours, and an insulated bladder to hold the ice better/longer. I've already tested it and it works beautifully [emoji41][emoji106]. The last pic is the pad that circulates the ice water through it. I'm adding a splitter to run lines up into the helmet.

Sent from my iPad

Artakha · Sep 16, 2016

Now that's an interesting idea

crumdum · Sep 16, 2016

A couple of serious drawbacks with the above approaches.

1) With the water cooling system you are talking significantly adding weight in the jetpack. This affects both how long you can troop (trust me heavy jetpacks suck after 2 hours of trooping) and lifespan of the jetpack (significant increase in cracks from weight stress appearing).

2) The ducting method would cause issues with head movement and wouldn't do much for air circulation.

Helmet fans are can be small and take up minimal space in the helmet. I personally sell fan / fett power systems where the battery is outside the bucket...saving space and promoting airflow. In addition some fans are extremely thin, I sell some that are only 10mm thick so they can fit in just about anyones bucket.

Sent from my SM-G930V

RedBeard · Sep 16, 2016

crumdum said:
A couple of serious drawbacks with the above approaches.

1) With the water cooling system you are talking significantly adding weight in the jetpack. This affects both how long you can troop (trust me heavy jetpacks suck after 2 hours of trooping) and lifespan of the jetpack (significant increase in cracks from weight stress appearing).

2) The ducting method would cause issues with head movement and wouldn't do much for air circulation.

Helmet fans are can be small and take up minimal space in the helmet. I personally sell fan / fett power systems where the battery is outside the bucket...saving space and promoting airflow. In addition some fans are extremely thin, I sell some that are only 10mm thick so they can fit in just about anyones bucket.

Sent from my SM-G930V

Yeah, I thought about the weight thing, figured I'd find out when done. I'm sure it has more drawbacks than not, but we never know until we try, right? Thanks for the info though [emoji106]

Sent from my iPad

crumdum · Sep 16, 2016

RedBeard said:
Yeah, I thought about the weight thing, figured I'd find out when done. I'm sure it has more drawbacks than not, but we never know until we try, right? Thanks for the info though [emoji106]

Sent from my iPad

The water cooling system needs a place to dissipate the heat. There really isn't a good place to do that anywhere on the jetpack. If you put it inside the jetpack you wont be doing any cooling. Far more effective would be wearing an ice vest...but that only cools for about 45 minutes and adds a good chunk of weight to your chest area.

Sent from my SM-G930V

RedBeard · Sep 16, 2016

That's where I was going to get the battery pack. If it hasn't been so expensive, I would've looked into that.

Sent from my iPad

flightidle · Sep 18, 2016

cool...thanks for your input Redbeard and Crumdum. I'm leaning towards putting the micro fans inside the helmet, but worry about noise. I guess the fans don't have to run all the time do they? or are they only switched on if the visor fogs up?

dv8r · Sep 18, 2016

flightidle said:
cool...thanks for your input Redbeard and Crumdum. I'm leaning towards putting the micro fans inside the helmet, but worry about noise. I guess the fans don't have to run all the time do they? or are they only switched on if the visor fogs up?

I got these Scythe SY501012M 50mm Silent Mini Kaze Fans (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00261ABFK) and have two mounted in the top of my helmet, and they are very quiet, such that I can hardly hear them at all with the helmet on. I replaced both the fans and the cases they came in so they are more blower fans than the computer case fan style, and while they don't push a huge amount of air, it's enough for circulation from the open bottom of the helmet and keeps the visor clear of breath fog. I have them switched separately, so I can run one or both (or neither) depending on how hot it is. Here's a picture of how it looks:

crumdum · Sep 18, 2016

Speaking bluntly here you will have hearing issues with that bucket on regardless of fans. You have zero direction sense of where sounds are coming from and have difficulty hearing due to the bucket covering your ears. The previous being said, I generally have zero issues hearing / understanding most people that are within a reasonable distance (5 feet or so) from me. For people interacting with me from a larger distance, that is why I always travel with a handler/squire. NEVER EVER EVER EVER troop by yourself with a Fett suit on. At larger cons I typically wear a hearing system with direction sense as it can get quite hectic/crazy at times.

The 10 MM fans I use are rated at 30 DB which is barely louder then a whisper. With this being said...a whisper sounds pretty loud if you position it right next to your ears...so be logical on fan placement.

RedBeard · Sep 19, 2016

crumdum said:
At larger cons I typically wear a hearing system with direction sense as it can get quite hectic/crazy at times.

What system is this?

Sent from my iPad

crumdum · Sep 19, 2016

RedBeard said:
What system is this?

Sent from my iPad

Its one I made for about 30$. Technically you could solder it all on for 17$...but I am lazy. You can get the same system from the tk boards for about 80$.

Sent from my SM-G930V

cooling the helmet via remote fans/ducting in jetpack

flightidle

Hunter

RedBeard

Hunter

Artakha

Active Hunter

crumdum

Active Hunter

RedBeard

Hunter

crumdum

Active Hunter

RedBeard

Hunter

flightidle

Hunter

dv8r

Hunter

crumdum

Active Hunter

RedBeard

Hunter

crumdum

Active Hunter

Similar threads

Similar threads