Brainstorming: Armor Temperature

[SPRTNBD50]

Anyone ever though about the heat you'll experience when you wear Armor. I mean, your Undersuit is black, which absorbs heat and imagine if your armor was black....MORE HEAT :|.
I think this topic would really help since I have big Sweat glands, meaning I can sweat.....even in Air Conditioned rooms :|. I was thinking, if the inside of your Armor was Black, would it help? The idea is since its black on the inside, it will take out some heat from your body to the armor since black absorbs heat. Also thinking of having some parts of the Armor white, which will reflect heat. So, the White of the armor reflects heat whilst the Black(Inside) of the armor will let out excess heat from the Armor.

Will it work?

 

[Brin]

Black doesn't just absorb heat in general if I remember my science right, it absorbs sunlight a lot more than the other colors so I think color of your gear is a mute thing if your mostly indoors?

I'd look toward utilizing the extra room in your armor by building in fans personally. Outside of equipping fans I imagine the only other way to improve cooling is by including vents in key locations that may or may not work into your specific armor.

Also I think I remember you can apply packs of water to draw the heat out of you into the water but I'm not sure how effective or how long that works and how you'd want to work that sorta thing into your armor as well.

 

[0235]

well, there is the theory that if you wear black, like arrabs wear black in the desert, it creates a pocket of hot air around you, which rises, sucking cold air in from underneath, acting as sort of air conditioning.
but yeah. you get super hot in that stuff. i went out in about -5 in my stuff, and inside my armour it felt like room temperature. some hints could be stuff ice packs in your armour and DEFINATELY put a fan in your helmet if you are going to wear it for any amount of time

 

[SPRTNBD50]

Black doesn't just absorb heat in general if I remember my science right, it absorbs sunlight a lot more than the other colors so I think color of your gear is a mute thing if your mostly indoors?

I'd look toward utilizing the extra room in your armor by building in fans personally. Outside of equipping fans I imagine the only other way to improve cooling is by including vents in key locations that may or may not work into your specific armor.

Also I think I remember you can apply packs of water to draw the heat out of you into the water but I'm not sure how effective or how long that works and how you'd want to work that sorta thing into your armor as well.

I would go with the fan idea but as for the packs of water, not so much. I am those "Very Paranoid" person and I'll worry about those packs of water dropping and creating a mess.

well, there is the theory that if you wear black, like arrabs wear black in the desert, it creates a pocket of hot air around you, which rises, sucking cold air in from underneath, acting as sort of air conditioning.
but yeah. you get super hot in that stuff. i went out in about -5 in my stuff, and inside my armour it felt like room temperature. some hints could be stuff ice packs in your armour and DEFINATELY put a fan in your helmet if you are going to wear it for any amount of time

Oh, I'm familiar with those, being a Muslim and Living where I live, there are quite a lot of those people here in Malaysia. I call them "Ninjas" . I'm surprised about the theory but I think it works since cold air from underneath of the Dress, and that the fact its black on the inside which releases heat and makes space for cold air......just my 2 cents on the theory, not so sure on how it works.

 

[Russett]

but yeah. you get super hot in that stuff. i went out in about -5 in my stuff, and inside my armour it felt like room temperature. some hints could be stuff ice packs in your armour and DEFINATELY put a fan in your helmet if you are going to wear it for any amount of time

yea, i was on top of the rocky mountains during a blizzard and it was still pretty warm in the armor. do put a fan in your helmet, it may save your life!

 

[project phoenix]

the thing is, black absorbs all colors of light in the spectrum, and therefor heats up. It does not actually absorb heat, so honestly, I don't think that Idea would work that well at all.

 

[CoolC]

well, there is the theory that if you wear black, like arrabs wear black in the desert, it creates a pocket of hot air around you, which rises, sucking cold air in from underneath, acting as sort of air conditioning...

I don't think this is accurate. Most Arabs do not wear black. They wear lose clothes in white. The lose cloth helps retain cool air underneath and white to bouce the sunlight. Only women wear black covering - probably their religion dictates it. Black absorbs heat and retain it as well. I'm not sure what you refer to sucking cold air is actually scientifically proven. If indeed this is true, it cannot do this enough to cancel the heat it absorbs.

Why don't you do what the astronauts do? Run some tubes underneath your suit and filled it with water. Put in a small circulating pump to circulate the liquid. Without this system, the astraunauts either cooked to death or sweat to death.

I think the easiest way to prevent overheating when you wear the suit is stay out of sun. If you plan to walk a parade, you just need to trick you body to cool it self down. Put in a circulating fan in the helmet. Instead of wearing tight suit underneath, use a jumpsuit. Strategically place mesh under your armpits. This will help in cooling down your body.

 

[phenry]

You're going to sweat in your armor no matter what, especially if you're in Malaysia. You can put as many fans as you want in your armor, but most importantly, stay hydrated and know your body's limits. If you start feeling light headed after a while, take a seat and drink some water. Wearing Spartan armor is cool and all, but not worth heat stroke.

 

[SPRTNBD50]

I don't think this is accurate. Most Arabs do not wear black. They wear lose clothes in white. The lose cloth helps retain cool air underneath and white to bouce the sunlight. Only women wear black covering - probably their religion dictates it. Black absorbs heat and retain it as well. I'm not sure what you refer to sucking cold air is actually scientifically proven. If indeed this is true, it cannot do this enough to cancel the heat it absorbs.

Why don't you do what the astronauts do? Run some tubes underneath your suit and filled it with water. Put in a small circulating pump to circulate the liquid. Without this system, the astraunauts either cooked to death or sweat to death.

I think the easiest way to prevent overheating when you wear the suit is stay out of sun. If you plan to walk a parade, you just need to trick you body to cool it self down. Put in a circulating fan in the helmet. Instead of wearing tight suit underneath, use a jumpsuit. Strategically place mesh under your armpits. This will help in cooling down your body.

Most Arabs do wear black. Not many wear white though. As for the 2nd Paragraph, I'm afraid something could go wrong with the tubes and maybe, it will make a mess. Also, I do not plan to go in the Sun for this year's Comic Fiesta(A Malaysian Con) and the place they're having it is pretty cold, so I don't think thats a problem. There is also a Mall next to the Convention Center, thank god there is an Underground passage to the Train and the Mall!

You're going to sweat in your armor no matter what, especially if you're in Malaysia. You can put as many fans as you want in your armor, but most importantly, stay hydrated and know your body's limits. If you start feeling light headed after a while, take a seat and drink some water. Wearing Spartan armor is cool and all, but not worth heat stroke.

YES! Malaysia is just simply HOT.......and sometimes, cold. I will be drinking water while I wear the armor though. As for the Heat Stroke, yeah, I get them alot, twice to be exact. I heard 5 million people in this world has this Excessive Sweating problem, I'm in that 5 million. So, seems like I gotta be careful.

 

[Swift]

Things are a certain colour because they reflect the lightwave they can't absorb. Hence, plants are green because they reflect green wavelengths, red paint is red for the same reason. Black basically absorbs EVERYTHING (effectively) and the reason your armour would heat up so much is because it's just taking in all the energy in around it. Basically, the changing the inside's colour wouldn't help at all, as the heat would either be reflected back at you, or absorbed into the armour which will then heat you up. (Yes I realise that's a very simple explanation of it all, but oh well <_<)

The only way to avoid this is to change the material type I think. If you look at my underarmour, the top half a meshed motorcycle bodyarmour, which allows for a lot of air flow. This is the main reason wetsuits and the like are a terrible idea for undersuits - they don't allow any air flow between your body and the environment.

SO yeah, I'd just suggest using a fine mesh or finding a material that breathes easier, that's your best bet.

 

[SPRTNBD50]

Things are a certain colour because they reflect the lightwave they can't absorb. Hence, plants are green because they reflect green wavelengths, red paint is red for the same reason. Black basically absorbs EVERYTHING (effectively) and the reason your armour would heat up so much is because it's just taking in all the energy in around it. Basically, the changing the inside's colour wouldn't help at all, as the heat would either be reflected back at you, or absorbed into the armour which will then heat you up. (Yes I realise that's a very simple explanation of it all, but oh well <_<)

The only way to avoid this is to change the material type I think. If you look at my underarmour, the top half a meshed motorcycle bodyarmour, which allows for a lot of air flow. This is the main reason wetsuits and the like are a terrible idea for undersuits - they don't allow any air flow between your body and the environment.

SO yeah, I'd just suggest using a fine mesh or finding a material that breathes easier, that's your best bet.

How about getting a Thermal Undersuit and modifying that?

 

[Spitfire22V]

You could try the Under Armour Heat Gear. It's skin tight, available in black, and won't suffocate you in the summer.

Also, the staying hydrate piece of advice is very good. I think no matter what undersuit you wear, with all that armor on, drinking rehydrating fluids will probably make the biggest difference as to how you perform in the suit.

 

[soul products]

ive seen (not in a suit or anything) cothing that has a water pump that circulates water around the clothing through tubes. i believe the pump had some sort of refrigeration unit on it and the pump would fit in most of our armor backpacks. might be recreatable.

 

[misfitjh]

What about those freezer pack you use in coolers instead of ice... could we not just Velcro( or some thing) a few of those in the armor, maybe two in the chest and two in the backpack.

 

[BenStreeper]

Different types of cooling vests, unfortunately none of them are really kool

http://www.jitlab.com/ALLEGRO-Cooling-Vest-p/lss-86544mp.htm?1=1&CartID=0
http://www.mscooling.com/circulatory-cooling-vest
http://www.stacoolvest.com/cooling-vest.php

 

[J326]

You could try the Under Armour Heat Gear. It's skin tight, available in black, and won't suffocate you in the summer.

Also, the staying hydrate piece of advice is very good. I think no matter what undersuit you wear, with all that armor on, drinking rehydrating fluids will probably make the biggest difference as to how you perform in the suit.

wore my first suit with those Under armor suits. didn't help cuz i was still sweating buckets and i was outside at night during halloween. the parts that get covered by ur armor and especially when u have padding in the armor pretty much nulls the underarmor suit.

 

[Swift]

Different types of cooling vests, unfortunately none of them are really kool

http://www.jitlab.com/ALLEGRO-Cooling-Vest-p/lss-86544mp.htm?1=1&CartID=0
http://www.mscooling.com/circulatory-cooling-vest
http://www.stacoolvest.com/cooling-vest.php

Practicality over awesomeness? DOn't these guys know ANYTHING!? I am very dissapoint...

 

[SchlagerNinja]

Different types of cooling vests, unfortunately none of them are really kool

http://www.jitlab.com/ALLEGRO-Cooling-Vest-p/lss-86544mp.htm?1=1&CartID=0
http://www.mscooling.com/circulatory-cooling-vest
http://www.stacoolvest.com/cooling-vest.php

I find the vest in the last link as the best looking for use under armor. And if you wouldn't like the color, you could always put it under the underarmor suit, right?

 

[Brin]

I agree with SchlagerNinja about the 3rd link from Stacoolvest.com would probably be best to incorporate into any armor you build but the price tag on it is defiantly something else haha.

 

[0235]

anyway, as mntioned before, make sure that you drink plenty of water. you may be tempted not to, as using the toilet could be quite ttricky in armour, but so long as you replenish lost water, you should be ok.
and the fan in the helmet idea is basicaly, if you head is cooler, you will think the rest of your body is cooler. well, another fact from QI i belive, which is where i got the heat rises and the "ninja" dress theory.