Water cooled ... clothing ... o_O;

[Runemane]

Ok hear me out, cause this is a weird idea and I want to know if it will work.

I've always wanted to make a water loop cooled shirt to keep you cool when you're out doing stuff / dancing / working out, and I just had a brainwave that I could use PC watercooling gear to accomplish this.

Below is a really *rough* sketch of what I want to make.

There would be no CPU water block cause I only want the water circulating though the plastic tubes which would be sewn on the inside of the shirt.

I should be able to create a mount/platform and attach / mount the Rads and fans either to the front or back of the shirt and have the reservoir pumps mounted on the shoulder or upper arm.

Parts I had in mind were

2 x EK Classic 160 SPC PWM D-RGB Pump Reserviors

2 x EK Coolstream PE 120mm Radiator (expensive) /  Bykski 120mm Radiator (cheaper)
2 x EK Furious Meltemi PWM 120mm Radiator Fan (expensive) / EK Furious Vardar EVO 120BB 120mm Cooling Fan (cheaper)
3m Corsair Hydro X Series XT SL (10/13mm) PVC Tubing

Main thing I need to know is will the pumps be powerful enough to pump water around the tubes? I've separated it into 2 parts for this reason so 1 pump doesn't have to do all the work.

As for power I would power this crazy contraption with a high capacity usb power brick in the pocket and get a simple 5v usb to 12v DC converter.

Each pump/res combo is rated at 6 W/h and the fans are rated at ~9.5 W/h so that's about 32 W/h, the current battery pack I've got for example is 12000mAh / 44.4Wh so that could power a system for about 1hr, and you can get higher capacity ones as well.

So yeah crazy idea or what? will it work? It would look really cool at night with the RGB lights and all.

[Moonzy]

Do yourself a favor and tape some pipes to your current clothes and wear them to see how it goes, before proceeding further

[GenericFanboy]

Idk dude kinda sounds like a swimming pool+clothing

[WereCatf]

5 minutes ago, Runemane said:

I've always wanted to make a water loop cooled shirt to keep you cool when you're out doing stuff / dancing / working out, and I just had a brainwave that I could use PC watercooling gear to accomplish this

Watercooled clothing is a perfectly valid idea, but your design could definitely use some work. For example, it would be better to drive a couple of tubes in parallel from the pump, so that even if there was a temporary kink somewhere, all the tubing wouldn't be blocked. You'd also need some current-limiter for the pumps in case there is a full-on blockage, because otherwise those pumps will burn themselves out, trying to pump water that won't be moving.

[Evolution.]

@CircleTech tagged you because this is your expertise...

 

I'd reccomend making the design less sus to avoid getting shot though

[Runemane]

Yeah this is just pretty much fresh outta my brain and onto paper so early stages of planing, brain storming, and problem finding.

Good idea with the parallel tubes and checking the movement of pipes before hand, that's the kinda info I need thanks!

I did intend to make it as a raving / dancing shirt to wear at nightclubs and festivals / cosplay so it would be pretty bright and hopefully wont get mistaken for some other device lol ......

[Moonzy]

I don't know about you but having pump and extra weight on my clothing sounds like it's going to be very clunky

[GenericFanboy]

25 minutes ago, Runemane said:

Ok hear me out, cause this is a weird idea and I want to know if it will work.

I've always wanted to make a water loop cooled shirt to keep you cool when you're out doing stuff / dancing / working out, and I just had a brainwave that I could use PC watercooling gear to accomplish this.

Below is a really *rough* sketch of what I want to make.

There would be no CPU water block cause I only want the water circulating though the plastic tubes which would be sewn on the inside of the shirt.

I should be able to create a mount/platform and attach / mount the Rads and fans either to the front or back of the shirt and have the reservoir pumps mounted on the shoulder or upper arm.

Parts I had in mind were

2 x EK Classic 160 SPC PWM D-RGB Pump Reserviors

2 x EK Coolstream PE 120mm Radiator (expensive) /  Bykski 120mm Radiator (cheaper)
2 x EK Furious Meltemi PWM 120mm Radiator Fan (expensive) / EK Furious Vardar EVO 120BB 120mm Cooling Fan (cheaper)
3m Corsair Hydro X Series XT SL (10/13mm) PVC Tubing

Main thing I need to know is will the pumps be powerful enough to pump water around the tubes? I've separated it into 2 parts for this reason so 1 pump doesn't have to do all the work.

As for power I would power this crazy contraption with a high capacity usb power brick in the pocket and get a simple 5v usb to 12v DC converter.

Each pump/res combo is rated at 6 W/h and the fans are rated at ~9.5 W/h so that's about 32 W/h, the current battery pack I've got for example is 12000mAh / 44.4Wh so that could power a system for about 1hr, and you can get higher capacity ones as well.

So yeah crazy idea or what? will it work? It would look really cool at night with the RGB lights and all.

Yknow the more that i think about it, and me being someone that gets warm quite easily. I like the idea lol. But why not make a backpack with the pump components and what not (with proper ventilation ofcourse)

 

I think it would reduce how clunky it is and easier to transport?

[Runemane]

3 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

I don't know about you but having pump and extra weight on my clothing sounds like it's going to be very clunky

Well I was thinking of using a light sports jacket with mesh vents or something similar already designed into it so it's comfy, and went with the res/pump combo so cut down on parts, I don't know how heavy they are but putting on the top of the shoulders or upperarm like someone would have a attached via a sports strap should be ok.

The fan and radiator would be a slight challenge, it would be easy enough to make a mount and put it on the upper back so it would just feel like a small backpack.

[Runemane]

2 minutes ago, GenericFanboy said:

But why not make a backpack with the pump components and what not (with proper ventilation ofcourse)

 

I actually had that in mind, cause I could fit the power source in there as well.

[GenericFanboy]

1 minute ago, Runemane said:

I actually had that in mind, cause I could fit the power source in there as well.

Just make sure its a backpack you can secure to your body really tightly

[For Science!]

Having warmer than ambient tubes running across your body with a big whirring fan and radiator is not going to be comfortable for sure. You could just omit everything except for the fans, and it will be much more effective.

 

I have a better idea, how about actually watercooling the body? There could be little pores on the surface of your skin, that gradually seep out water as you get too hot, and then we can even incoorporate some phase-change cooling by allowing that water to evaporate, dropping the surface temperature of the skin more dramatically than any other watercooling system.....oh yeah, thats sweat.

[Runemane]

22 minutes ago, For Science! said:

I have a better idea, how about actually watercooling the body? There could be little pores on the surface of your skin, that gradually seep out water as you get too hot, and then we can even incoorporate some phase-change cooling by allowing that water to evaporate, dropping the surface temperature of the skin more dramatically than any other watercooling system.....oh yeah, thats sweat.

It's not as a crazy concept as you make think, water cooled suits already exist for various sports like nascar and other extreme activities, I'm just trying to make one a bit cheaper, still with some functionality and a bit of bling, like I said I was aiming for something you could wear to a rave / festival / nightclub / cosplay to look good and stay comfortable.

[For Science!]

12 minutes ago, Runemane said:

It's not as a crazy concept as you make think, water cooled suits already exist for various sports like nascar and other extreme activities, I'm just trying to make one a bit cheaper, still with some functionality and a bit of bling, like I said I was aiming for something you could wear to a rave / festival / nightclub / cosplay to look good and stay comfortable.

nah, it doesn't make sense, at least in the design as it is currently:

 

How are you transferring the body heat to the water?

How is it any better than having direct airflow to the body, why are you adding another thermal layer?

 

- Since you are blowing air onto the radiator, the water temperature cannot be lower than room temperature

- You lose any possibility of windchill/evaporative cooling because you need a tight thermal interface to the water chambers

- It is a lot of weight to carry.

 

Conventional watercooling is not magic, it is still air cooling, you just have water as the middleman.

[Runemane]

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How are you transferring the body heat to the water?

The PVC tubing would be stitched to the inside of the shirt / jacket and have direct / close contact to skin, in a pattern that's favourable to comfort and pipeflow / anti kink design.
 

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How is it any better than having direct airflow to the body, why are you adding another thermal layer?

It wouldn't be another layer it would be the only thing you wear on your top half of your body (you could still wear a sports jacket with nothing underneath (sports bra for women))

 

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Since you are blowing air onto the radiator, the water temperature cannot be lower than room temperature.

Room temperature should still be less then body heat, so you should feel a difference, if average body temp is about 36 degrees and average room temp is say 24 degrees then you should feel a difference., even more so if you are active like dancing or walking/running your body temp will be increased so you should feel even more of an effect.

For example if you are dancing in a night club where the room temp is say 28-29 degrees you could go outside / air conditioned room that is say 20-22 degrees, stay there for a bit while the system circulates and cools down then go back and dance.

 

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 You lose any possibility of windchill/evaporative cooling because you need a tight thermal interface to the water chambers.

This is something that I'd have to research more as I only have a basic understanding of thermal dynamics

 

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It is a lot of weight to carry.

It can be yes, but as others have suggested I could fit everything into a backpack design instead to alleviate weight. 



Thank you this is all brilliant feed back, I want to hear the good and the bad to see if it's ultimately feasible.

Like I said before still just an idea, designs can be changed / modified.

[WereCatf]

34 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Since you are blowing air onto the radiator, the water temperature cannot be lower than room temperature

This is where a peltier-element would make sense, since they can actually handle human body - level temperatures. Or another option would be to do like Adam Savage did and have a backpack or similar with ice-water in it and pump that around -- just have a temperature-sensor somewhere on your body and use that to adjust the waterflow according to your tastes, or a manual control.

[Runemane]

41 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

This is where a peltier-element would make sense, since they can actually handle human body - level temperatures. Or another option would be to do like Adam Savage did and have a backpack or similar with ice-water in it and pump that around -- just have a temperature-sensor somewhere on your body and use that to adjust the waterflow according to your tastes, or a manual control.

I saw that episode with Adam, that's what gave me 1/2 an idea, but I think he uses an actual mini refrigeration unit with gases, which seems a bit dangerous lol

Hopefully a simple water cooled system will still reduce the temperature by a few degrees making it slightly cooler.

I looked up the peltier element - saw one with a plate and heatsink ready to go for sale like this.



How would I utilize the cold plate in the design? would I still use water pipes and run the tubes over or between 2 of them?

[WereCatf]

29 minutes ago, Runemane said:

How would I utilize the cold plate in the design? would I still use water pipes and run the tubes over or between 2 of them?

There are kits on e.g. eBay with a waterblock attached, could just buy one of those.

[Runemane]

Just looked at the wattage draw power of the peltier cooler those things are about 140w that might be too much for a battery system to support.

 

More power = more batteries, which = more weight.

mhh few things to think about and research anyway, thanks all.

[SolarNova]

4 hours ago, Runemane said:

Ok hear me out, cause this is a weird idea and I want to know if it will work.
~~SNIP~~
 

These exist , sort of.

 

 

 

Icepack version (2 minute mark)

 

 

[Runemane]

Well yeah that icepack one is pretty much what I'm looking to achieve.

Need instructions on how to build the pump unit and see if you can buy those shirts anywhere lol. 

[Mick Naughty]

Isn’t a bad idea, it’s already been done. Used something similar for years over a decade ago. 
Id use 1/4 nylon lines.  Simply because it’s harder to crush. But I guess that depends on the overall size you want it to be and if you don’t see yourself leaning back on it a lot and impeding flow. 

[Lipe123]

Or.. this is crazy but.. you could just wear a moisture wicking material and it will accomplish the same thing with no extra weight etc.

To actually make this idea work you need sub ambient cooling, you wouldn't get any benefit from water + ambient air.

 

The commercial versions of this like the nascar examples surely will connect to an AC system in the vehicle to provide proper cooling.

Or like the crazy adam savage thing they hooked a small AC unit to the water heat exchanger to cool down the water significantly.