Research: Testing of a Novel Portable Body Temperature Conditioner Using a Thermal Manikin
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology
Abstract
A battery-operated active cooling/heating device was developed to maintain thermoregulation of trauma victims in austere environments while awaiting evacuation to a hospital for further treatment. The use of a thermal manikin was adopted for this study in order to simulate load testing and evaluate the performance of this novel portable active cooling/heating device for both continuous (external power source) and battery power. The performance of the portable body temperature conditioner (PBTC) was evaluated through cooling/heating fraction tests to analyze the heat transfer between a thermal manikin and circulating water blanket to show consistent performance while operating under battery power. For the cooling/heating fraction tests, the ambient temperature was set to 15°C ± 1°C (heating) and 30°C ± 1°C (cooling). The PBTC water temperature was set to 37°C for the heating mode tests and 15°C for the cooling mode tests. The results showed consistent performance of the PBTC in terms of cooling/heating capacity while operating under both continuous and battery power. The PBTC functioned as intended and shows promise as a portable warming/cooling device for operation in the field.
DOI
10.2345/0899-8205-50.5.336
Publication Date
9-2016
ISSN
1943-5967
Recommended Citation
Heller D, Heller A, Moujaes S, Williams SJ, Hoffmann R, Khalili K, Browder TD, Kuhls DA, Fildes JJ. Research: Testing of a Novel Portable Body Temperature Conditioner Using a Thermal Manikin. Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology. 2016; 50(5). doi: 10.2345/0899-8205-50.5.336.
