# Blood cooler
## Problem/Finish Description

Avacore is a company selling a product called "CoreControl Glove." It is a commercial product selling for about $1000 that is under patent. It has applications in:
* sports
* weight training
* weight loss, pain reduction, emergency care, firefighting
* hospitals, anthesia problems
* Multiple Sclerosis
* special forces
Conceivably this could be present in every home, hospital, and athletic facility. And it looks simple enough to build and begin using. The goal is to build one for a school athletic department.

## Conceive

The commercial version has gone through several revisions that addressed cost. One way this was done was by replacing a mechanical iris to create a wrist vacuum seal with a consumable/replaceable rubber sleeve. Initial sales were to special forces and pro sports. The goal here is to make one out of parts found at retail stores. The goal is to create a blood cooler for everyone.
Blood Cooler Requirements:
* Quick turn around: Swim to edge of pool, stick arm, cool, then swim again
* Use just one arm
* Touch nothing but the brass with cold water circulating in it

## Design

123D Drawings
Vacuum Chamber and Water Circulation System Designs
Red Vacuum Cleaner Design
Goal is to develop open source version of blood cooler .. can see hacked vacuum cleaner, and cold water bottle
water bottle is to contain ice water and clear jar is to contain hand in a vacuum
water bottle to contain ice water, clear jar with wrist seal to hold vacuum
water bottle to contain ice water ... typically it is double walled so it would prevent the cold (opposite of what we are trying to do) from getting to the palm of the hand
pull vacuum in here with vacuum cleaner and put hand in through the top
Tools and supplies to build the first design of blood cooler
Insides of a vacuum cleaner considered for the first core control
More detailed picture of insides of vacuum cleaner considered for the first Blood cooler design
Working on the switch for the first vacuum cleaner considered for the blood cooler
This model failed because the cold water bottle was double walled, the vacuum cleaner AC motor began to send out sparks in a way that did appear safe, the vacuum motor was very loud and the vacuum seal ripped after several insertions and did not grab the wrist tight enough.
Green Vacuum Cleaner Design
Original Vacuum without the dirt collector
Vacuum Chamber made out of dirt collector
Reconfiguring vacuum cleaner so lays flat on table
Testing the Blood Cooler make out of green vacuum cleaner
The vacuum cleaner was scary. The vacuum was too active and felt dangerous. Nobody really wanted to use it.
Then an instructable was found that used a brake bleeder hand pump to draw a vacuum with some PVC pipe.
PVC Pipe Break Bleeder Build #1
Creating a Vacuum in a Creamer Container
::Sealing the Threads
:Latex Hose Over a Tube
::5 Inches of Mercury
::Sealant on the hose
::7 Inches of Mercury
Filed Off a Ridge That was Scraping my Hand Then Assembled The Glove
::Ridge Inside 3" x 4" Reducer
:::Ridge Filed off
:::Assembled Glove
:::Case
:::Seemed Like a Good Idea
Creating the Cooling Pipe
::Checking Size of Water Pump Attachment
::The Piping
::Preping the Rubber
::Latex Around the Pipe
::Pipe Through the Rubber
::The Hole Shabang
PVC Pipe Break Bleeder Build #2
Outside
dimensions
can see brass pipe and couplings to circulate cold water
can see teflon tape used to create water seal
pvc pipe reducer was glued to the end
aquarium water pump used initially
with break bleeder to create vacuum
Sealing Wrist to create vacuum
Sealing Wrist with gloves and waterbottles
Sealing wrist from water is different than a vacuum
Want the palm of the hand to touch cold and the wrist part to grip the wrist strong enough to hold a vacuum
A water bottle has thick rubber that may withstand more inserts, but still doesn't accommodate enough different wrist sizes.
This is starting to look like the disposable corecontrol glove
Sealing a wrist to hold a vacuum with a glove doesn't support many different wrist forearm sizes
Cutting up a neoprene glove has the same fitting problem as latex and rubber gloves
Rubber band used to attach part of the glove to the vacuum chamber
Neoprene is stiffer and may last longer, but still doesn't fit a lot of different sized wrists
Closeup of a wrist seal attempt
Hand stuck through glove tears the glove, distorts if large hand
Most gloves are designed to seal against moisture, yet let air in and out. Once the hand is cut out, the gloves loose their strength and rip easier. The wrist area is not always designed to create a seal. Wiggling arm a little causes vacuum to be lost. Is uncomfortable and typically doesn't seal a wide variety of wrist diameters and survive a wide variety of fists that have to go in and out of it. Distance between the seal and the water bottle varies as well. Potentially some people's arms could be too short or too long.
Scuba Divers Glove
Creating an Airtight Seal Around the Wrist
::Scuba Divers Gloves
::::Wrist Strap
::Cut Glove Just Below the Fingers
::To Secure the Glove Piece to the PVC Reducer
::Assembled Wrist Seal
PVC pipe reducer
Video showing attempt to cut out just the palm of a latex glove. Another attempt was made with a Nitrile glove.
trying to seal with gloves again
tried cutting out the palm
tried cutting at mid palm
tried cutting at the wrist
mounting resulted in vacuum loss if hand was turned, and it was uncomfortable .. no attempts were made to try different sizes
PVC pipe reducer worked, but only fits one size wrist
So have a vacuum seal by pressing wrist into the PVC pipe reducer and hoping that reach the cold brass rod or that length of arm inside the vacuum chamber is not too long.
Buckle tightening seal requires another step
Buckles were looked at that tighten around the wrist to create a vacuum seal. Too strong and could hurt someone's arm. Too little breaks the vacuum. Doing this manually requires another step. Even so, various types of buckles were explored. In some engineering schools a class in buckles exists. The goal was to look through these links for inspiration:
Buckle Strap
Buckle Strap 2
buckle Strap website
buckle lever
buckle lever 2
google buckle levers
buckle Lever Kit
Buckle Lever Kit
Boot Buckle
roller blade buckles
roller blade buckles 2
In the end buckles were abandoned because they required another operational step, create a safety hazard and increase complexity.
Donut Balloons work hint at working, but would have to be fabricated from scratch
16 inch (when filled with air) donut balloons, when filled with water are between 3 and 4 inches in diameter
16 inch donut balloons are available. When filled with water rather than air they shrink to about the diameter of the PVC pipe and:
feel comfortable
move out of the way
hold their shape
naturally help form vacuum seal
But they have these drawbacks
hole is very small and have to really work to get wrist through hole so can grab wrist
seal between balloon and PVC pipe wall has not been tested
need to be made with larger hole
The donut would have a tail off it like the letter Q. The Q tail would then be filled up with water and mounted onto the interior of the entry point to form the seal. The persons arm would more water out of the ring as more space was needed and the excess water would be stored in the "tail" of the Q. This would form an adjustable air tight seal.
Vegetable steamer
Used a $7 vegetable steamer to create possible one-size-fits-all opening.
Air leaks between the steamer's many collapsing prongs.
A one-size-fits-all opening for HCC's blood cooler
Video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogv0_RoZ4t0 Two-minute video of universal opening enclosing around objects of different sizes and how the apparatus was constructed.]
Closed completely
Partially open
Mostly open
Open completely
Further Brainstorming
Freemind ... ??
Requirements Expansion
This exposed problems with the CoreControl Glove and our Blood Cooler:
Only one arm, what about sticking each arm into a blood cooling unit?
Operation involves using two hands
Operation is slowed down by putting on sleeve, gripping unit and then folding back onto the unit
Sleeve wears out and has to be replaced
These problems were restated as a new set of Requirements:
Quick turn around: Swim to edge of pool, stick arm, cool, then swim again
Use just one arm
Touch nothing but the brass with cold water circulating in it
Detecting hand insertion
Hands free operation is going to require a switch detecting the insertion of a persons hand and then doing the following:
inflating a balloon or blood pressure cuff like device to create a vacuum seal around arms of various sizes
drawing a vacuum
circulating cold water
Taking apart, can see black lump that is completely enclosed in the case but appears to have diode in it
Works outside of the case
cutting wires and exposing second laser diode
extended cable works
Have taken two photogates apart and attempted to mount them in PVC Pipe #2 design. They both worked when initially taken apart, but when the wires were cut and lengthened, they began to work intermittently. At first it was thought that the heat from soldering extra length wires damaged components. So a second photogate was taken apart and soldered with heat sinks between the soldering spot and the component. This did not change the symptoms. Next steps are to consider are:
putting back together to see if wire lengths themselves are causing the problem
try other infrared sending, detecting devices such as TV remotes, sensors
Angled Water Container
Angled water container design
Implement
Water Supply mounted to form one unit
A protein container was attached to the end of the unit using silicone and a lot of tape. The container is attached securely.
Fixed the grommet leak with epoxy
Fixed the Aquarium pump wire seal with epoxy
Measuring Vacuum and Temperature
The following devices could be connected to an arduino or used with the LabQuest for testing:
Vernier LabQuest reading pressure and temperature ... that an arduino could replace
What a gas pressure sensor looks like that could be attached to an arduino
a temperature sensor that could be connected to an arduino
Storyboard of 5 minute blood cooler sell
Video exploring goanimate.com possibilities
Sweating when in shape and out of shape
This is a quote:
.. people sweat sooner at lower body temperatures, they sweat more, and their sweat is more diluted. Training actually changes the sweat glands and causes an increase in plasma volume that is essential in the production of sweat and for other cardiovascular and thermo-regulation demands. All of this allows a trained person to store less heat and therefore have a lower core temperature than an untrained person.
Kludgy Evidence
Carrying around a bag
Putting plastic glove on that grips the skin ... while sweating
Interrupts workout
Kludgy Sell
Mystery Parts versus Reuse ... air matress pump, pvc pipe, aquarium water pump, balloon
Convince that works:
Science, Truth ... can refer to academic papers, but customers will not read these ... talking heads don't solve the problem
Anecdotal, Business, Goodness ... stories from people that it works
Short Video, Beauty .. this is what is missing ... this is needed to motivate people to change
Marketing
Three general media starting points besides news shows:
Biggest Loser .. look up episode around Oct. 29, 2013
Shark Tank .. did not find any references, but look
Myth Busters .. found reference but no episode, need to look deeper
Target specific groups, call news papers
MS
Fire Fighters
Anesthesiologists
Isn't this under patent?
Yes. But will go off patent eventually. And am not building one to sell/compete with current patent holder.
How Body Works
wikipedia Thermoregulation
Collectively the human body has these objectives:
maintain 98.6°F
store chemical potential energy
Convert raw materials (food) into energy
Movement (muscular system)
Allow us to react with our environment (senses)
do battle with invaders .. immune system
Where Energy is Stored & how used
Energy comes from intestines, through the blood and is then stored with the following priorities:
white fat (eating too much, belly fat)
brown fat (helps burn, not store calories .. is in neck and shoulders .. good fat .. generated by working out and living cold)
muscles
brain
Our unconscious mind doesn't want us to loose weight.
Over Heating versus Lactic Acid
What limits our reps?
Lactic Acid
Respiratory system
overheating
hydration
Exhaustion
Frequency and Volume of workouts
Central Nervous System
Recovery Ability
Health (sickness)
Over training
Under resting
Room Temperature
What is the most dangerous thing that can happen during exercising?
heat stroke
pain
head ache
Dehydration
Pulled Muscle
Strained muscle
Torn Muscle
Ect...
What is the best evidence of good exercise?
Core Temperature rises
Controlled rest time
sensitivity to air/water temperature
Continued progress
Feeling better/stronger the next workout
Heat influences every aspect of exercise. Lactic Acid occurs to protect the body and limit over training. Its what causes soreness the next day.
Blood Cooling Solution
Blood cooling solves all these problems. We want to show you a beauty proof. The beauty proof has to be short, convincing and lead to scientific questions and an appetite for anecdotal stories.
Swimming Benefits
A swimming work out is like any other: Interval swimming, with rest. The Blood cooler aids in recovery time and prevents overheating in warm water (82°F) and above.
Weight room Benefits
Standard workout: Cardio warm up, dynamic warm up, warm up inside of each lift, perform working sets with timed rest intervals, cool down and stretch
In the weight training video, the athlete will first use the blood cooler with hot water to stimulate circulation before preforming a short cardio warm up. The athlete will preform a 15 rep timed set of Clean & Jerks. Only after 15 reps reps are completed will the athlete be allowed to re-hydrate and use the blood cooler. The rest time will be exactly 10 minutes and during that time the athlete will record the sensations of using the blood cooler. Once the rest time is up, the athlete will repeat the workout. At the end of the second set, the recorded finish times recorded will be compared to see the effects of the blood cooler and the athlete will be asked to review the blood cooler.
The blood cooler will keep the rest times more consistent, allow the body to retain more water, allow smoother/more working sets and aid in relaxing the body afterwards.
Track Benefits
Standard sprinter workout: 6 lap warm up, static stretches, dynamic stretches, mobility work/drills, footwork and stride drills, "working sets" of prescribed distances based on the athletes race with STRICTLY timed rest intervals, cool down an stretch.
In the sprint video, the athlete will use the blood cooler with hot water to stimulate blood flow before warming up. The athlete will then preform a set amount of short distance sprints (10x100m) with a rest time of 2-3 minutes. During the rest time, the athlete would use the blood cooler to regulate their body temperature and then record the feelings and sensations that it creates. This would occur 10 times and then a final recording of feelings at the end of the workout to summarize how the athlete feels.
The blood cooler will a in the recovery of the athlete during the workout as well as allow for a more efficient rest/decrease rest time.
Standard Thrower Workout: 6 lap warm up, static stretch, dynamic stretch, foot work drills, technique drills, warm up throws, meet simulated throws, technique work till exhaustion.
Along with weekly sprint workouts an core workouts with timed rest intervals.
In the Thrower`s workout video, the athlete would use the blood cooler with hot water to stimulate circulation before preforming a cardio warm up. The athlete would then preform their implement specific warm up routine before starting their workout. The thrower would take about 5 throws (as there isnt as much cardio required) after being thoroughly warmed up and then begin using the blood cooler with cold water to regulate the body system. The athlete would record the sensations of the blood cooler after each use. And then write a overall summary and rating of the blood cooler. The throwing athlete may experience the best and most obvious results during the hammer and javein throws because of the increased time under tension (TUT) when comparing to a shot put or discus throw.
The Blood cooler will allow the thrower to relax their body and increase kinesthetic awareness as well as body control. This allows for a more technical throw since throws are mainly timed explosions.
Operate
Demo
Presentation
Presentation April 24th, 2014
Next Steps
The next steps would be to:
Survey fist size with fingers pointing and touching as if to spread open a hole
Survey distance between knuckles and elbow
Find min and max arm diameter at certain distance from knuckles
Operate with air compressors/vacuum generators and tanks to store the vacuum/compressed air
Find solenoid that opens and/or closes valve that can hold vacuum or compressed air
Choose a design for a wrist vacuum seal and begin building it .. check out this company's products
Shoot video of unit working
Practice measuring pressure and temperature
Start dialogue with the athletic department about testing (safety, worth investing in ... that it works)
Find an IR switch that can detect hand insertion
Find the type of clamp used in the picture or use 3D printer to print the clamp.
Get new flexible tube since the current one seem to be easily broken.
Get everything together and clamp the tubes to the water container.
Drill a hole for the water pump power supply cable and seal it so no water can leak. :