Is this a Good Idea? Air-Conditioned Clothing?

July 20, 2009

What if you could beat the summer heat by donning clothing with a built-in air-conditioning system? I’m envisioning a complete temperature-controlled ensemble that would keep you cool from head to toe. Think of how advantageous climate-controlled attire would be for people who live in desert cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas. In the summer, instead of frantically rushing from your air-conditioned car to the front door of your air-conditioned house or office building to avoid melting into a puddle, you could take a nice leisurely stroll, or maybe stop at an outdoor café to sip an iced cappuccino. People who have to work outdoors no matter how scorching the temperature is—construction workers, landscapers, soldiers on patrol, furry sports mascots—would no longer run the risk of succumbing to heat exhaustion or worse. Air-conditioned clothing would promote tastefulness as well, since everyone’s favorite Austrian fashion maven, Brüno, no longer would have the weather as a justification to strut around in hot pants and a midriff-baring top.

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And, of course, here’s the inevitable downside to this week’s notion. Since we could stay cool in non-air conditioned buildings, the profits of air-conditioner manufacturers such as Carrier undoubtedly would take a major hit, as would sales of hand-held misting fans. Hollywood might hate this invention as well, since people no longer would be motivated to endure insipid "summer blockbusters" merely for the opportunity to sit for a couple of hours in air-conditioned comfort. Car sunroofs could become extinct, as might seersucker suits and Bermuda shorts.

The first place that I remember seeing this concept was in an old episode of the 1960s TV show Batman featuring the villainous Mr. Freeze, a mad scientist who, after a horrific lab accident, was compelled to wear a special costume that kept his body at subzero temperatures. (Jeez, don’t you hate it when that happens?) But sweltering futurists probably started fantasizing about personal, portable cooling units built into clothing not long after mechanical air conditioning was invented in the early 1900s. In the 1950s, techno-optimists assumed that the advent of air-conditioned clothing—like flying cars, the meal-in-a-pill, picture phones and atomic-powered vacuum sweepers—was just a matter of time. In 1953, a writer for the Sioux Center News, an Iowa newspaper, blithely predicted that smartly dressed future Americans would wear

Zipper suits with built in air conditioning units that will keep the body cool when the weather is warm and warm when the weather is cold. Such an outfit would eliminate the need for large wardrobes and of course it would practically kill the baggage manufacturing industry. When one was going to travel he would simply tuck a couple of pair of socks in the pockets of his all-weather suit, set the thermostat for 68 degrees and depart. Whether he was going north or south would make little difference. The only thing he might want to check on is the number of electronics technicians available for making repairs in the area he was traveling in. It would be bad to have heater trouble in the arctic or cooler troubles at the equator. Atomic energy might be the source of power for a suit of this kind. A few pill-sized energy capsules would furnish sufficient fuel to operate the mechanical unit for the life of the garment.

I’m picturing that outfit as looking something like Mrs. Peel’s zippered cat suit from the 1960s U.K. TV show The Avengers, or maybe those white coveralls that Who guitarist Pete Townshend used to favor. Unfortunately, though, the atomic-powered air-conditioned suit never quite panned out.

But inventors didn’t give up trying to beat the heat. In the mid-1960s, Australian military researchers developed a suit with a 10-pound backpack air-conditioning unit, designed to enable a worker to remain comfortable for up to an hour in temperatures of up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. A decade later, Kansas State University engineers did develop a bulkier, lower-tech variation, a “cooling jacket” with pockets that could be filled with dry ice.

Since then, U.S. patents have been issued for numerous designs for temperature-controlled clothing, mostly for use in hot factory environments or by emergency rescue workers. A 1993 patent for a “wearable air conditioner” , for example, describes a garment with flexible coils built into the fabric, and filled with water that continually circulates to absorb heat, boils at low temperature and then in turn is cooled, perhaps by endothermic chemical reactions. In 2007, another inventor patented a design for air-conditioned shoes.

Development of air-conditioned clothing for ordinary civilians, however, has lagged a bit behind. A Japanese company, Kuchou-fuku (translation: “air-conditioned clothes") has developed jackets and shirts with built-in fans to circulate the air in the space between the fabric and the wearer’s body. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have an English-language Web site, but here’s a Japanese news report on their products.

They’ve also developed a USB-powered air-conditioned shirt, which you can plug into your computer while you’re working.

Another company marketed a solar-powered self-cooling pith helmet a few years back, but it doesn’t seem to be available anymore.

Not quite as cool as the atomic-powered zipper suit of yore, but it’s a start. So what do you think? Is air-conditioned clothing a good idea? Or should we all just go out in the yard and run under the sprinkler, instead? Express your opinion below.

Comments

[Astroboy]

Autobots or Deceptacons?

[Mrs. Peel]

Hey, don't make fun of my wardrobe.

[Mr. Freeze]

I think air conditioned clothing is a fantastic idea. If we had air-conditioned clothing, we wouldn't need central air conditioning, and we'd save enormous amounts of electricity as a result. Also, we could go outdoors in hot weather without sweating like pigs.

[Minh]

I think it'd be awesome, except that it might be heavy.

[Mothra]

It'd be portable and you wouldn't need a big air conditioner for your house.

[Barry Schier]

I wouldn't mind having one of those Japanese shirts with the fans in them.

[Dandroid]

I could really use on of these suits today!

[Astroboy]

me too

[VL]

The device already invented that was displayed in the video, invented in Japan, is too primitive - in a sense - for global distribution. This idea is a really good one, and perhaps can bring humans even further in the prospects of what can be experienced in the 21st centry. It only needs more attention, and even more development.

[Caffeine Driven Stress Magnet]

I agree. We need real mechanical air conditioning and humidity control inside our clothes, not just fans.

[Patrick J. Kiger]

Hmmm....I figured this one would be a bigger hit. But maybe that's because I don't have air conditioning in my bungalow.

[Daniel Jones]

doing stuff like this makes us more and more fragile as a species! selfish, short-sighted people!
but I'm only 13, I may be over reacting...

[Air Conditioner Installation St. Petersburg]

I think it's not a good idea. What if the wire of it got short circuit, it may probably cause of death.

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[Jo Williams]

The suits already have been invented, all we need is to discover a small freezer system to make ice.

[Sports Medicine Las Vegas]

I don't think so, that it would be effective to prevent global warming..

[phoenix air conditioning]

We'd all look ridiculous. How could anyone be stylish like that, lol. Then again, maybe that's the futuristic look...