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About Our Cooling System

CoolZone Exotherm Constant Temperature Regulation

The Cool Zone Exotherm Type cooling systems and technology were specifically designed to meet the requirements of military, law enforcement and government HAZMAT/WMD responders. Cool Zone systems are extensively fielded and proven worldwide in civil, industry, military and law enforcement applications with over 250,000 sold (30,000 delivered to federal/military alone). Most important, our technology is the "original phase-change" technology developed for personal body cooling in the early ‘90s and today, remains the only technology that has successfully undergone rigorous field and instrumented testing by both military test & evaluation agencies and users. In every instance our technology has proved its capability, superior benefits and value!

The exotherm type technology comprising Cool Zone was developed at the request of the Armed Forces during Desert Storm. At that time, it became clear that cooling using evaporative products, ice/gel, water circulative and vortex cooling had limitations that made them unsuitable for many needs. Some were ineffective, others were too complex, while others, though providing a sensation of cooling at the skin, did not affect core temperature. Problems of charging and recharging units in the field were also issues for passive technologies, while the active technologies required power sources that were limited or not readily available.

The objective of this exotherm type technology was to provide a simple, passive method of maintaining thermal regulation for personnel with high activity or wearing body armor and other protective equipment/apparel in hot climates, including hot-dry and hot-humid conditions. It also needed to be simple, effective in cooling the body, rugged, and capable of being charged in a fraction of the time required for ice. Cool Zone Exotherm technology was developed to be "man portable" and user friendly.

Following 3.5 years of development and testing, the anatomic exotherm type cool vest was born. Our technology is like no other. It employs proprietary features such as the Heat Transfer Formula, with the ability to customize temperature blends to work at any range between 42F to 150F. In fact, it can be used in cooling or warming humans, animals and/or inanimate objects/equipment. The UniPak technology uniquely features high tensile strength, puncture resistance, fire-retardancy, and blunt force energy absorption. In addition the UniPak is designed to deliver maximum cooling or warming power. Cool Zone is, therefore, unique in key aspects that remain proprietary and unduplicated today.

This exotherm approach has been further enhanced and adapted to other personal body and functional cooling applications. These include:

1. head/helmet cooling pad;
2. cool seat for aircraft, boats, tanks etc.;
3. canine cooling vests and cooling pads for security, kennels/crates;
4. universal cool packs/pads for special missions, equipment and applications. The latter includes cool inserts for use with body armor, high-temperature resistant packs, emergency medical drugs, and sniper cooling pads. The advanced development allows for the configuration and temperature blend to be customized for each specific application.

For personal body temperature regulation to be effective a number of design and human factors must be optimized. Neglect of any one factor will adversely impact the effectiveness, comfort and/or duration of the cooling offered. Cool Zone technology is unequalled in meeting these criteria to include:

• Optimizing the temperature of cooling medium vis-à-vis the area of the body it is placed on Maximizing thermal exchange with the body including the thoracic cavity (in the vest)
• Providing adequate duration for each mission/application
• Minimizing weight ratio to maximum operational output
• Providing unencumbered range of motion and freedom of movement by wearer
• Offering lowest recharging time and simplified recharging methods for the cooling packs
• Providing maximum strength and durability cooling packs
• Safe, non-toxic, dielectric and nuclear power approved HTF blends
• Compatibility with SCBA/breathing, load bearing and PPE equipment

Compromising on any of these factors reduces the cooling effectiveness and operational utility of the cooling system.

As indicated, Cool Zone is specifically designed to be compatible with various PPE including Level A & B suits, fire bunker gear, JS-LIST, body armor, and other CPO. The Cool Zone "UniPak" is the specific design that was submitted in 1997 by Arthur D. Little in its proposed "interceptor type" body armor with integrated add-on personal cooling! Even today there is no other technology that is as compatible with and can adequately address the challenges and provide the performance benefits of the Cool Zone UniPak when combined with body armor. These benefits have been proven by military and Federal and local law enforcement in field operations from the 1996 Olympics and continuous use since.

Many other "phase-change" products do not match Cool Zone's criteria. Phase change vest products that act at 65-70F do not have adequate cooling "energy" to optimize "body cooling". In addition, use of small rectangular packs cannot optimize body contact and so limit heat abstraction. Due to this shortcoming some last only 1-1.5 hours. To extend duration they must double the packs increasing weight (as much as 8+ lbs. to obtain 2.5 hours) further compromising efficiency and adding wearer load.

In the early to mid 90's, the Cool Zone team determined temperature effectiveness of the original technology conducting research with Dismounted Battlespace Battle Labs, U.S. Army OPTEC, AFOTEC, United States Sports Academy Sports Medicine Lab, Alabama Sports Medicine and HealthSouth. The results included establishing of the 53-55F temperature range in anatomic vessels as the only torso vest solution possessing adequate cooling energy for personnel in hot-humid conditions conducting heavy workload/activity further burdened by wearing chemical protective suits. This was later confirmed in independent Navy/Marine CBIRF trials in 1996 of the 53-55F technology in MOPP suits at Camp Lejeune. This evaluation had two teams consisting of six members each – one team with the cool vest and one team without, both teams performed the same decon tasks in PPE. Team One could not complete the exercise beyond 35 minutes for all six members, while the six members of Team Two continued for 2 hours and 50 minutes before the Commandant called a halt to the exercise. The Air Force Operations Test & Evaluation Center and Alamo Research Laboratory conducted a full-blown instrumented test in 1997 with firefighters in full gear performing a variety of tasks over several days and comparing individual body vitals with and without cooling vest. The exceptionally favorable impact on measured core temperatures resulted in their recommendation of this technology for worldwide Air Force use.

Further testing was directed by HQ AFCESA (in a Joint Chemical Suit Study) for specific use with JS-List Protective Overgarments and MOPP2 / MOPP4 CPOs. The results (Cool Zone Cooling Vest – Field Test, 147 EOD Flight, Houston, Texas) were disseminated through MAJCOMS recommending it for all chemical suit kits for Readiness, Mobility, Guards and Reserves. Additionally, AFCESA assessed and recommended our exotherm technology against other technologies! AFCESA helped to create a "best buy-sole source" program for this technology offering best government pricing in 1999. This program remains in force today. A further evaluation of our exotherm type cool vest in fluorescent orange was just completed by the Air Force Civil Engineers at Lackland and Luke AFB with positive results for use in Fire, Civil Engineering and Security. In addition, Cool Zone products have been field tested and subsequently adopted by other military users including models made for chemical and munitions depots.

Cool Zone's unequalled attributes include:

• Proprietary medical grade tripolymer polyurethane anatomic vessel and Thermal Wave sealing delivers unsurpassed durability and strength (these pack have demonstrated that they can reduce blunt force trauma/energy of impact – particularly when used under body armor)
• Proprietary blending of Heat Transfer Formulas (every degree from 42F to 150F) for optimized cooling efficiency and custom applications (like cool seat, medical bag or helmet cooling pad)
• Anatomic design UniPak (can be worn by both for males & females), places the largest cool cells against the thoracic cavity (heart and lung) surface to abstract maximum heat where maximum heat load is generated;
• Packs and Vest designed specifically to be used with air packs, SCBA, LBE & other equipment,
• Vest design is worn high on the torso (covering the thoracic cavity) for maximum effectiveness, comfort and unencumbered movement and bending
• Simple passive designs delivers more cooling time for less weight
• Available with fire retardant packs with Nomex outershell for high-temperature applications

Changing or "energizing" of the CoolZone Unipaks is both simple and fast. Traditionally, this has been done by placing the paks in a standard refrigerator when in garrison situations or by using a portable insulated "ice-chest"/cooler filled with ice and water in field situations. UniPaks recharge within 15-30 minutes (depending on the pak volume and working temperature – helmet coolers take 1-2 minutes, cool pads & seats, 10-15 minutes, and 4 hour vests 20-30 minutes). Recent feedback from users identified a need for a charging capability that could be portable and not require any ice. In particular, military users in remote field situations drove this need. To address this, the Thermo-Electric Charger/Cooler was introduced. These rugged high efficiency portable units can be run from 12 volt (vehicle/battery), generator or 110 volt power. The smaller manportable is only 26 lbs and will hold 4-6 UniPak sets. The larger 2-man carry will hold 10-12 pak sets. The T-E Coolers can be carried in tactical vehicles, aircraft, or used in stationary sites. They allow CZ personal cooling to be available to any user or Soldier/Marine/Airman in even the most remote environments with maximum flexibility, minimal support needed, in a responsive organic resource.

Field experience, customer feedback, and extensive tests have validated that Cool Zone technology is the most effective solution to heat stress and increased efficiency and operational performance in high temperature environments and high physical activity levels. Plus it does so at the most economical value at the most competitive initial and long term life price.