Vests Keep Pilots Cool, Enhancing Mission Endurance and Comfort

  • Published
  • By Lt. Jacob Heitzman
  • Materials and Manufacturing
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Pilots performing operations in hot environments are getting some relief as a result of work done by the Air Force Research Laboratory. The air-cooled vest prototype development effort, a Company Grade Officer Initiative Program (CGOIP), resulted in a wearable technology that maintains a user's core body temperature.

This technology provides cool air to pilots as they perform walkarounds and other duties before their missions. It is expected that the vest will combat physiological stresses, and enhance a warfighter's cognitive abilities and gravitational-force (g-force) tolerance during mission performance.

Researchers met with pilots from the Springfield Air National Guard, who said they suffer from heat-related fatigue while performing pre-flight aircraft inspections in layers of flight equipment. Additional thermal stresses encountered in the cockpit include in-flight heat from avionics and radiant heat entering through the canopy. Related research also found that a pilot's tolerance to g-forces decreases as a result of heat stress.

The idea for a cooling vest was conceived during a Thermal Management Science and Technology Team (STT) meeting in 2009. Researchers suggested using a thermoelectric heat exchanger to deliver cooled, ambient air to the vest as the warm, moist air is expelled. An integrated product team developed a list of requirements for the cooling vest, which included maintaining core body temperature for 30 to 60 minutes (the duration of a typical pre-flight walk-around), meeting current flight suit standards, a weight of less than 7.5 pounds, low volume, and low cost.

Published research will reflect testing of peak oxygen consumption without the cooling vests, testing of the vests on each subject, and simulated air-traffic control cognitive testing. The final report will be published and briefed to the Thermal Management (STT) and AFRL's Materials and Manufacturing's Technology Advisor.

Follow-on programs for technology development and technology transition strategy implementation are already in progress, and researchers expect to find funding that will support eventual Phase I transition. The Air Force Uniform Office has expressed interest in providing the vest to Air Force users.