Local man adapts cooling tech for athletes, LEOs
Levi Hill/News-Sun
Scott Evans is on a mission to cool off law enforcement officers, military and athletes and the vision for his mission came directly from on high.
“This was a download from God,” the veteran military, EMT and security officer said of the day he had his idea for a cooling device.
He was at one of his jobs working security at the Hobbs Public Library. The heat was brutal and he was talking to a supervisor about the heat.
“We were outside and it was really hot one day and he said, ‘I wonder if anyone ever tried to develop something to cool off under bullet-proof vests,” Evans said. “I saw a picture of this material in my mind. So, I started looking into it and I found it online.”
Evans was astonished to find the very material he envisioned in his mind had already been developed by a company named Alexium.
The material acts as a “thermal pipe” rather than a heat sink. It pulls heat away from the core and transfers it outward to the surrounding environment. The hotter the wearer’s body gets, the faster the material works to transport heat away.
Evans reached out to the company, which had shelved the tech after their initial military trials proved fruitless. He received a small batch of the super-conductive graphite material and for the last three months has been testing it under his own body armor.
“I have been testing for three weeks and I am very pleased with it,” he said. “They started doing the body armor, but they went to Cambodia. It does not work in very humid environments. So, it sat on a shelf and no one touched it until me.”
Evans built a make-shift pad of the material he wears beneath his body armor and when the temperature climbs, the material wicks away the heat just like a heat sink.
“It’s a 20-degree difference,” he said. “Every time I would do my work, my deodorant would fail and when I got home, I would have to lie down for an hour to cool out. Now I get home and I’m ready to take my dog for a walk. I am amazed how much this has helped.”
Evans already has the product slated for testing across various law enforcement and athletic programs in the area and has already been contacted by overseas military about incorporating the product into their body armor.
“I found a market nobody has touched,” he said. “I am working on an Under Armour-type shirt with a pad in it.”
He said he has already had discussions with Texas Department of Public Safety and other local law enforcement agencies about testing the protypes and just received word he has been invited to India, Egypt, Israel and Nigeria by their militaries to discuss the cooling product with them.
“I am already talking to firefighters about putting this stuff in their suits,” he said. “The oilfield is going to be big. We are going to put it in (fire resistant) shirts.”
Evans said he is the marketer for Alexium to develop and market the cooling system, known as Eclipsys Technology.
“I have a licensing agreement with them,” he said. “I have built it up to the point where I am ready to go.”
Evans said currently the cost to make a liner for one armored vest is about $250-$400, depending on the size, but in time the price could come down.
Still for military with troops facing brutal temperatures like 120 degrees in the Middle East, the padding may be worth every cent. Especially considering that unlike bulky, battery-powered air conditioning units, the Eclipsys system needs no power and weighs only 8 to 10 ounces for a full front-and-back setup, it adds virtually no weight or bulk and requires no charging.
According to his brochure, the system, over 12 hours, provides continuous thermal regulation equivalent to the cooling effect of roughly 11.8 pounds or one pound per hour of ice.
Evans said with the cooling tech the mental drain associated with over-heating is gone and he finds he is more alert and focused even when operating in the heat.
The material also helps with the sweating smell as it accelerates sweat vapor transfer, reducing uncomfortable skin chafing under heavy physical exertion.
