The process -- which uses microtechnology to achieve a heat-actuated, heat-absorption pump -- runs on small amounts of diesel fuel and requires no electricity. Researchers at Oregon State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington hope to have the technology perfected in three years.

Wearable Air Conditioning

OSU mechanical engineering professor Kevin Drost told NewsFactor that the cooling technique might lead to wearable air conditioning not only for military personnel but for anyone required to wear heavy uniforms in hot environments -- including firefighters, police, highway and construction workers.

"I'm sure there will be a commercial market for these [personalized cooling systems]," Drost said. "Maybe golfers will wear them someday."

Heat-Driven Heat Absorption

Drost said that in comparison with the traditional air-conditioner technique -- which has just hit the century mark in age -- the new technique is most significant because it takes advantage of nonelectric heat absorption without needing heavy equipment.

"The trick is that this is heat actuated -- it uses heat to drive the absorption cycle," Drost said. "With microtechnology, we radically reduce the size of the heat-actuated part of the cycle."

Drost said the personalized cooling system, which would be the size of a large paperback book, takes advantage of heat absorption's lack of required electrical power and eliminates the size restrictions of traditional heat-absorption systems.

Cool Military Corps

The work, which won a three-year, US$6 million grant from the Department of Defense, will center primarily on efforts to give soldiers wearing protective gear in hot environments a mobile cooling system.

The entire device is expected to weigh between three and four pounds and will include its own energy source, which relies on less-flammable diesel fuel as well as a heat pump, according to Drost.

Consumers and Cars

Drost said the work could lead to more commercial applications, such as cool wear for consumers, but it might also be the air conditioning used in future cars, boats and airplanes as well.

"It would certainly work for automotive and other portable applications," Drost said, explaining that the technology could cool a car without taking power from the engine.

He added that the heat-actuated cooling might be especially popular in Europe, where most coolant fluids have been banned.

Nice and Cool Nanotech

While electronic cooling involves lowering the temperatures, Drost said that the microtechnology might also find applications in cooling electronic environments, particularly in the small world of nanotechnology.

"Electronics run better if it's cooler, so the possibility exits there might be applications there," Drost said.