Liquid cooling and pressure suits for healthcare applications

The spacesuit is a very complex system, equivalent to a small spaceship. Among them, liquid cooling and pressure design are important components of spacesuits, respectively, to help dissipate heat in the case of astronauts' excessive heat and maintain the proper pressure required by the astronauts in a vacuum environment. Now, the liquid cooling and pressure design of spacesuits are also widely used in the fields of protection and medical treatment.

Aerospace suit liquid cooling design for sports injury treatment

The spacesuit liquid cooling suit uses a small electric pump to make its cooling medium (usually ethylene glycol aqueous solution) flow in the circulation loop, the temperature rises after flowing through the body surface pipeline, and then the temperature is lowered by the evaporative cooling device, and the reciprocating cycle constitutes a refrigeration circuit. . The temperature of the cooling medium can be adjusted within the range of 15 to 45 ° C. Therefore, in addition to cooling in a hot environment, the liquid cooling device can also be kept in a cold environment.

William Elkins, the founder of Welkins, was involved in the development of NASA liquid-cooled clothing. The company founded Welkins has also been promoting liquid-cooled clothing technology to more applications, such as racers and shipbuilders, nuclear reactor technicians and other high temperatures. Protective equipment for the working population, as well as the medical field.

In 1997, attention was paid to the use of ice to relieve pain after an athlete's sprain, and long-term ice is likely to cause tissue damage. William Elkins and medical device expert Peter Wasowski founded CoolSystems (now Game Ready), specifically for The athletes developed an ergonomic system to help athletes recover after injury with optimal pressure and cooling, so that liquid cooling suits can be successfully applied to professional athlete treatment centers around the world. Athletes and fitness enthusiasts can also use in training or sports. This product is used to increase the efficiency of exercise and reduce the amount of sweat.

In addition, as the sports concussion has become more and more concerned, Welkins has developed a commercial product called Cooling Headliner. Cooling Headliner is said to lower brain temperature by 4°F in 15 minutes. By reducing brain temperature in sudden traumatic brain injury, it can reduce oxygen demand, prevent cell damage and reduce inflammation. The product was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2012 and is available for use in the medical field.

Aerospace combat pressure design for hemorrhagic shock treatment

Another key functional layer in space suits is the pressure suit, which provides the astronauts with pressure similar to the Earth's atmospheric environment and guarantees the safety of astronauts. The application of the pressure suit also includes the pilot's high-altitude compensation suit, which is used to compensate the pressure on the body surface of the pilot and the residual pressure in the closed helmet to maintain the balance of pressure inside and outside the body when the cockpit loses air tightness or the pilot is in emergency. Prevent lung damage.

In the 1970s, NASA's pressure suits cured a patient with postpartum abdominal recurrent bleeding for the first time, and further studied the pressure-reducing principle of blood flow and its appropriate threshold. Based on these studies, Zoex worked with NASA to develop the first commercial product based on counter-pressure suits to reduce blood flow in the early 1990s.

Because NASA's previous research has shown that excessive pressure may cause insufficient blood supply to important tissues and organs, the company did not use a pneumatic pressure design, but made a pressure range of 20 to 40 Torr with elastic fabric. Tol 133.322 Pa) is a more comfortable counter-pressure garment called "Non-Inflatable Anti-Shock Garment (NIASG).

At present, this product has been widely used in the prevention and treatment of hemorrhagic shock disorders such as postpartum hemorrhage, especially in areas with economic backwardness or underdeveloped medical conditions. NIASG reportedly saved 13 patients' lives in 14 cases of hypovolemic shock in Pakistan using NIASG as the primary intervention in 2004. In 2012, the World Health Organization and the International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have officially included NIASG in their PPH management guidelines.