The miniature personal cooler can be attached to the chin bar of a full face helmet.
Highlights
- Start-up offers battery-operated cooling device for helmets
- Claims to create micro-climate inside helmet which is 6-15 degrees lower
- Gadget provides dust-free ride with a bonus de-fogging feature
A start-up in Bengaluru has come up with an innovative battery-operated personal cooling device for helmets which claims to create a micro-climate inside the helmet which is 6-15 degrees lower than the ambient temperature. Designed for one's existing full-face helmet, the gadget provides a dust-free ride with a bonus de-fogging feature to fight the pollution and dust in the cities, the manufacturers say.
"The idea came with the thought that instead of cooling a room, why not cool the person?" said Sundararajan Krishnan, CEO of AptEner Technologies which has come up with water-based personal air cooler BluSnap.
"For the people wearing helmets, it is quite hot inside, it's like being inside a furnace, so we thought that a helmet-wearing candidate is perfect choice to use the product. Other thought while designing it was to keep the gadget light for the wearer," he added.
The battery can be easily be taken out for charging. Once fully charged, it lasts 10 hours.
The personal coolers can be attached to the chin bar of a full-face helmet and it comes with a replaceable filter that can be cleaned from time-to-time using tap water.
"We did not want to make a disposable filter, but something that can be re-used and is environment-friendly too," said Arvind, the designer for BluSnap.
"The evaporative, water-based cooling technology keeps the insides of the helmet cool and dust-free. The air gets trapped in the water-based filter and what one gets is is cool, clean air. It has a defogging feature that will especially help people who wear eye glasses," he added.
The miniature air cooler for helmet comes with detachable, replaceable parts.
The miniaturized air cooler which works by flowing air through a moistened filter; the evaporation of water from this moistened filter causes the temperature of the air to decrease giving one a cool air flow. It comes with a 10-hour long battery.
"We never had any doubt about the the concept. In Bengaluru's pleasant weather also, where the temp is around 25-27 degrees Celsius, inside the helmet one is at at 36-37 degrees, so the case for cooling inside the helmet makes itself," he said, adding that the only concerns were will people be open to adding another accessory to their helmet as it would add t some weight.
"Since the product is made in India, it has kept the people excited. They feel it's their our own product. Also, our customers have given very positive and encouraging feedback so far," Mr Krishnan said, who is currently focusing on the distributor network to make it accessible for more people in India and around the world.
Going forward, the start-up, wants to build helmets with a cooling feature along with bluetooth, navigation systems, so that one can get features of a car, right inside one's helmet.