Can Heat Exchange Through the Rete Venosum of a Hand or Foot Improve Quality of Sleep

摘要

We developed technology that inserts heat into or removes heat from the body efficiently and rapidly. The technology exploits special circulatory adaptations of the non-hairy skin that include gated anastomoses between arteries and veins and veins that are arranged in a network. By applying a heat source or sink and a partial vacuum to these skin surfaces in the palms and the soles, it is possible to transfer significant amounts of heat efficiently. Our first task was to test whether we could use this technology to facilitate sleep in non-neutral thermal environments. Our second task that was added later was to develop a multiuser heat removal system for the crew deck recovery shacks on aircraft carriers. We do not have positive results to report for task 1 as we were unable to acquire versions of the technology compatible with sleep. We did succeed in Task 2, but have not found clients to accept the technology for trials.