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CoolHead helmet puts air conditioning inside your foam dome

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Now in the final days of their Kickstarter campaign, the CoolHead helmet puts air conditioning on your head. If that sounds overly complicated and a bit unnecessary, the technology behind the one-off product created by Sergejs Zelinskis is surprisingly simple. Inside their proprietary helmet, which in itself isn’t particularly unique, sits a layer of highly absorbent fabric. When soaked with water, the evaporative effect creates a transfer of heat he says can lower the internal temperature of the helmet by as much as 20ºF below body temperature.

As it relates to wearable goods, evaporative cooling technology has been widely used for decades. Typically sewn into vests worn by runners, cyclists, and motorcycle riders, evaporative thermal layers are also used to cool people with medical conditions like multiple sclerosis. I’m a type 1 diabetic and use a small evaporative pouch to keep my insulin cool in transit. As low-tech solutions go, evaporative cooling is well proven. If you sweat, you’re familiar with how it works. In the case of the CoolHead it adds minimal weight, only a small amount of bulk, and it’s easy to use.

To achieve the optimal results, Zelinskis integrated his cooling layer into a helmet of his own design. The air vents are strategically placed to flow air across the cooling pad for maximum effect. The white shell reflects sunlight to further reduce thermal buildup and the pad is quickly “recharged” with a small amount of water. Once wet, the CoolHead provides up two hours of continuous cooling.

The cooling pad in the helmet lowers temp by 20 degrees below body temp.

The Coolhead is sold with a detachable tinted eye shield fixed to the shell with a three-point magnetic attachment system. The shield is easily removed and inverted with just one hand. At 280 grams the CoolHead is relatively light and meets EN-1078 Safety Standards. If you want to opt in early, the first 100 Kickstarter supporters get a CoolHead helmet for just $99, or one-third of the estimated retail price.

Does it work?

As new as it is, the only performance tests have been performed by the CoolHead team, but we don’t doubt the evaporative cooling works, and probably feels quite comfortable. Will it yield any performance results?

The cooling pad in the helmet lowers temp by 20 degrees below body temp.

In a recent discussion with one of the leading sports physiologists in the world, Dr. Andy Pruit, he mentioned various cooling experiments he conducted over the years. They tried cooling the forehead of riders as a means of reducing core temperature. The rationale was sound. For centuries people have soothed a fever and overheating with a cold towel to the forehead. Pruit’s team found that while cooling the forehead did much to relieve the sensation of heat, it didn’t do anything to lower body temperature overall. In fact, it may have been to the athlete’s detriment as it broke the correlation between the feeling of being hot and the actual build up of core heat.

Even if it doesn’t improve performance, it will likely make for a more pleasant ride when the mercury climbs.

coolheadhelmet.com

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Ben
Ben
6 years ago

It’s a good thing our heads wouldn’t do that on their own with adequate airflow…

Neofytos Sak. Mang. (@neoides)

did they actually photoshop their product onto a picture of Cav from 2011 or is it just me?

caliente
caliente
6 years ago

Nice photoshop on the banner image. Cavendish wore it? 😐

Crampagnolo
Crampagnolo
6 years ago

this look is ridiculous

carlos
carlos
6 years ago

Andy Pruitt isn’t a doctor or a sports physician. Don’t call him one.

GB
GB
6 years ago
Reply to  carlos

True BR shouldn’t have called Andy Pruitt a sports physician as he’s not an M.D., but he does have a doctorate, so Dr. Andy Pruitt is fair.

carlos
carlos
6 years ago
Reply to  GB

Vanity degree from an unaccredited institution is not a doctorate.

GB
GB
6 years ago
Reply to  carlos

Hmm, I hadn’t seen what institute it was and you’re right about that. But, I have met Andy Pruitt and everyone I know thinks very highly of him. So why do we need to disparage him in this article? We should be trashing this stupid helmet.

FFM
FFM
6 years ago

1. Budget Air Attack
2. Add Frogg Togg
3. ????
4. Profit!

declan.
declan.
6 years ago

can they do a reverse of the technology for use in Northern Ireland…..its never f####n warm here.

Tom
Tom
6 years ago

Photoshopped the Kask Bambino from Cav’s head… classy.

Steve
Steve
6 years ago

Big heads up here, this helmet is not certified for the American market and can therefore not be sold there. Looks like our inventor here did not bother selecting a helmet at his Chinese provider with CPSC certification. I would be very cautious about putting this thing on my head.

Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
6 years ago

This is literally a helmet with a microfiber cloth sewn into the liner isn’t it. Gotta love crowdfunding this will go nicely with the 12,000,000 other silly crowdfunded helmet designs (e.g. how many super heavy helmets with integrated lights can we create before we realize that turn signals on bikes are silly.)

Lucky Rider
Lucky Rider
6 years ago

How does everyone know so much about this helmet without seeing it in person?
FYI: It is not microfiber inside, I got to see it in person and IT IS NOT MICROFIBER.

john
john
6 years ago
Reply to  Lucky Rider

BUT IT IS FUGLY

Robin
Robin
6 years ago

I just can’t take a company or a company’s product seriously when they photoshop their product into photo as done above. That’s a serious credibility killer. Then you consider some of the whoppers in the video at the company website…..
1. He claims his helmets are white because it’s the best color for not absorbing heat. The color of a bicycle helmet doesn’t impact heat transfer to or away form the head. All of the foam between the shell and the riders head means that such heat transfer is not a concern.
2. Water is a better coolant than air. That displays ignorance of convection and evaporative heat transfer, both of which are the dominant cooling mechanisms for the human corpus.
3. While cycling in Europe he said there was a noticeable improvement in his performance as compared to cycling in Florida. His claims is that only possible difference was heat. Uh-huh. There are so many possible factors for that performance difference, not the least of which is that his physical conditioning might have been better in Europe than it was in Florida. Correlation is not necessarily causation. I’ve noted nearly a perfect, positive correlation between going to movie theater and then having to pee after the movie; yet I’m nearly positive it’s not the movie causing me to urinate.
4. The temperature sampling done in the video? C’mon: the temperature inside the helmets at rest ins’t really relevant. If you really want to know if the helmet is actually doing what’s claimed, you sample the temperature which air flowing.

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