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Anti-Frostidigitation: Heatpipe Gloves

Posted by michael on from the windchill-of-minus-20 dept.

Hettinga writes "A little casemod couture this morning, courtesy of Hongbin Ma, a professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Missouri. He has developed heatpipe-driven gloves which pump therms from your toasty upper arm down to those aforementioned frosty digits. 'Each glove contains five small heat pipes, one for each finger, that are about 14 inches long and 1 mm x 2 mm in the cross section. Each pipe consists of three sections: an evaporating section, which is attached to the upper arm area; an adiabatic section, which is between the finger area and the arm area; and the condensing section, which is attached to the finger area.' Coming soon to a half-pipe near you..."

4 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. No, didn't RTFA by Hektor_Troy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But a while back Discovery had a mini series about extreme survival, and one of the shows was about artic survival. The main character, so to speak, tried on an electrical vest of sort, which heated his torso. This allowed him to stay in a -40(I think) degree windtunnel with I think 5 mph winds for more than three hours without losing any dexterity in his fingers.

    When the guy who supervised the dexterity and mental acuity test took of his gloves, it took less than three minutes for his hands to be freezing cold, while the infrared camera clearly showed that the main characters fingers were still warm.

    Seemed fairly conclusive to me, that the trick was keeping the torso heated, as that would prevent the problems, these gloves are supposed to fix.

    Besides - if you can have warm dextorous fingers without wearing gloves, I'd go for that any day of the week, as long as I'm not working with objects, that can hurt my hands.

    --
    We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
  2. it can help much more than sports! by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    my GF is a Raynaud's sufferer and if she get's her hands in anything cold it can stop the circulation in her fingers and feet. causing frostbite even in warmer temperatures like 40degF.

    this would make life for a Raynaud's afflicted person much easier on day's like today when it's 6degF outside and expected to be -1 later tonight.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  3. Cayenne Pepper by Colymbosathon+ecplec · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I've lived in Alaska since I was just a pup, and one of the first things I learned from an old-timer was the use of cayenne pepper. I sprinkled it on my toes, and put it into capsules I bought at the 'health food store'. I won't get into how it works to increase blood flow, but it does the trick. Having been exposed to wind chills in excess of -150 below zero, I still have all my fingers and toes, although one time the plastic thingy came off my glasses and the steel from the frame froze a hole into the side of my nose. Unlike black pepper, cayenne is not an irritant, although if you get some on a sensitive area (like if you forget to wash your hands before you pee), you'll be wondering WTF?

    Alaska Bugs Sweat Gold Nuggets

  4. Re:Furthermore ... by mangu · · Score: 5, Interesting
    These gloves work by shifting some of the heat from more core parts of your body to your extremities.


    Alcohol has the same effect. It dilates the blood vessels in your skin, making you feel warmer at the cost of increased heat loss. That, coupled with a general loss of sensibility and reasoning, causes many deaths in places where the temperature falls below freezing.