Cooling of helmet with phase change material

This paper presents the design of a helmet cooling system using phase change material (PCM) to absorb and to store the heat produced by the wearer head so as to achieve comfort cooling for the wearer. The PCM is packed into a pouch and placed between the helmet and the wearer head. The heat from the wearer head is transferred to the PCM by conduction through a heat collector which is spread over the wearer head. No electrical power supply is needed for the cooling system. The temperature on the wearer head is maintained just above the PCM temperature, thus the wearer would not suffer from an uncomfortable and dangerous hot environment on the head which will affect the wearer alertness. The cooling unit is able to provide comfort cooling up to 2 h when the PCM is completely melted. The stored heat from the PCM pouch would then have to be discharged by immersing in water for about 15 min to solidify the PCM before re-use. The PCM helmet cooling system is simple and has potential to be implemented as a practical solution to provide comfort cooling to the motorcycle riders. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.