Improving Thermal Comfort in Helmet Using Phase Change Nanocomposite Material

During the summer season, the most common discomfort experienced by helmet wearer is heavy sweat, which occurs due to the excess heat formation, inside the helmet. During hot weather, helmet outer surface temperature can reach up to 50–60 °C. This heat is transferred from the helmet outer surface to inner surface, which cause discomfort to the wearer. In an effort to solve this problem, a novel helmet cooling system using PCM nanocomposite was designed to provide the thermal comfort. The PCM nanocomposite is prepared by dispersing carbon nanotubes (CNTs), acting as thermally conductive nanofiller in molten eicosane, an organic PCM. The PCM-CNT nanocomposite was packed into a lightweight, flexible material, i.e., aluminum foil, which also provides a thermal conducting path for better heat transfer. This novel cooling unit was placed between the wearer head and helmet which can provide the thermal comfort to the wearer head for 2 h. The heat inside the helmet is absorbed by the PCM pouch, through the process of conduction. The stored heat in the pouch had to be discharged for its reuse. The PCM helmet cooling system is simple and had the potential to be implemented as a practical solution to provide thermal comfort to helmet wearer.