Cooling Suit for First Responders

Details

• Personal Author:
  Copeland R ; Elliott J ; Gebhard S ; Mason G ; Srinivas G
• Description:
  This final report was included as part of the Phase II proposal. In Phase I of the Cooling Suit for First Responders SBIR project, TDA successfully designed, built, tested and demonstrated the effectiveness of our carbon fiber composite trim cooler heat exchanger (Figure 1) that is part of a system for cooling the air inside of a Level A Hazmat suit. The system effectively and safely cools the air during use in contaminated external environments without exposing the wearer to toxic or other dangerous materials. The trim cooler is the key technological innovation in TDA's Hazmat suit cooling system. It is used to cool clean air inside the suit using indirect heat transfer with external contaminated air that has been cooled by the evaporation of water. The heat exchanger, is made from carbon fiber composite materials and has a large heat transfer surface area making is lightweight and compact. TDA's cooling system also incorporates a desiccant to prevent humidity from building up in the suit. With TDA's system, a first responder in a Level A Hazmat suit can work safely for extended periods of time without danger of heat exhaustion. The trim cooler that we fabricated in Phase I (Figure 1) successfully passed all tests. In these laboratory tests, the "contaminated air" stream was simply room air heated to temperatures between 95 degrees F and 120 degrees F and humidified to a 65 degrees F dew point. For simplicity, no toxic components were added to the "contaminated" air because they do not affect the heat transfer characteristics of the trim cooler. The clean air inlet temperature was varied between 106 degrees F and 140 degrees F. Table 1 summarizes the test results showing the various inlet and outlet air temperatures. The dimensions and weight of the trim cooler were: overall height of 8 inches, depth of 6 1/4 inches, width of 7 1/4 inches, and weight of 2.39 lbs without brass fittings (2.67 lbs with the brass fittings). The sections that follow describe the design, construction and testing of the trim cooler in detail. Even with contaminated air in at a temperature of 122 degrees F, the clean air outlet temperature was 75 degrees F, indicating that the trim cooler was functioning as designed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Hazardous Substances Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety
• Keywords:
  Cooling Systems First Responders Hazardous Materials Personal Protective Equipment PPE Protective Clothing
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-27
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20054536
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2019-100562
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R43-OH-009349, 2009 Feb; :1-27
• Contact Point Address:
  TDA Research, Inc., 12345 W. 52nd Avenue, Wheat Ridge, CO, 80033-1916
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Performing Organization:
  TDA Research, Inc., Wheat Ridge, Colorado
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20070901
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20140930
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fe22bcbaa095c4915dfdb5770b0788bb96241640642247d4b12c64b7acb65f6d4ad1826a59bee8002f8bb062a60d0ddb0d333875895cacd3d93516042e854bae
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218816/cdc_218816_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 504.77 KB ]