TNO, Defense and Inuteq are jointly developing a cooling vest called Respire. Barbara Vos designs for this project from Inuteq. The cooling vest must give room to the natural sweat system and must ensure that the soldier does not suffer from extreme heat. In the worst case scenario, extreme heat can lead to heat injuries in the military. The physical and cognitive performance of the soldier can also deteriorate.
Soldiers carry a lot of protection and equipment, more than they used to. This involves more effort, so that the body heat has nowhere to go. In the RESPIRE project, a cooling vest has been developed that is integrated with the new STRONG combat equipment (Sol-dier TRansformation OnGoing). The vest is worn as a combat shirt. There are a number of channels running across the vest and there are small fans that blow air through the channels, allowing the sweat to evaporate. The geometry of the cooling channels of the vest have been optimized since the first developments. The vest is also fully integrated into the Enhanced Soldier Operational System (VOSS).
The idea must also be scientifically substantiated. According to Milène Catoire of the TNO research institute, various tests have been carried out. The vest has been tested for its effect on the heart rate, core temperature, skin temperature and the functioning of the soldier. They first tested this on a doll that could sweat and mimic body temperature. Then they had soldiers walk through the climate chamber, while giving them assignments and puzzles to solve. TNO researchers have extensively measured the influence of the vest on a soldier’s performance. If you look at speed, agility and tension, there were no major differences between wearing the vest or not. With the vest on it was a lot cooler. At the beginning of 2022, they started testing the vest on the field, where conditions are equivalent to those of the deployment area.
ClientDefensie, TNO, Inuteq