Cooling system based on minichannels for thermal management of CBRN equipment

Civil and military staff must often use protective equipment in harsh environments. The so-called CBRN - Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear - equipment isolates the user from the surroundings contamination agents, but also precludes heat and mass transfer processes, thus introducing a relevant thermal management problem. Consequently, the use of CBRN equipment may easily lead to situations of thermal stress, hyperthermia, and even to the collapse of the user of the equipment. Some cooling solutions are given but are quite bulky and may further increase the weight of the equipment. In this context, the present work addresses the development of a modular cooling system, in which the modules geometry is based on minichannels. This simple and low maintenance solution is now being implemented in the CBRN equipment. In this paper, the project and test of the module are described and discussed. The cooling modules, produced from addictive manufacturing (stereolithography) show good performance under the completed tests which characterized the heat transfer vs pressure losses.