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Effects of back cooling with Peltier devices on thermoregulatory responses in a hot environment
Author(s) -
Suzurikawa Jun,
Fujimoto Sho,
Mikami Kousei,
Jonai Hiroshi,
Inoue Takenobu
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ieej transactions on electrical and electronic engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.254
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1931-4981
pISSN - 1931-4973
DOI - 10.1002/tee.22311
Subject(s) - thermoelectric cooling , thermoelectric effect , heat illness , medicine , environmental science , meteorology , thermodynamics , physics
To prevent individuals with thermoregulatory dysfunction from becoming hyperthermic in a hot environment, we propose a back‐cooling (BC) system with Peltier devices mounted on a wheelchair backrest. Here, we characterize the changes in thermoregulatory responses induced by BC in order to confirm the feasibility of the proposed system. A cooling experiment in a climate chamber at 33°C with six able‐bodied subjects demonstrated that the amount of sweating and systolic blood pressure were significantly lower in the BC trials than in the no‐cooling trials, providing preliminary evidence that BC can partially replace thermoregulatory responses and reduce the heat burden. © 2016 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.