Thermophysiological responses induced by a body heat removal system with Peltier devices in a hot environment

Individuals with spinal cord injuries often experience thermoregulation disorders as well as sensory and motor disabilities. In order to prevent such individuals from becoming hyperthermic, we developed a body heat removal system (BHRS) with thermoelectric devices. Our BHRS comprises four Peltier devices mounted on a wheelchair backrest and continuously transfers body heat through the contacting interface to the external environment. Here, we characterized thermophysiological responses induced by this novel contact-type cooling system. A cooling experiment in a hot environment with five able-bodied subjects demonstrated that sweating and systolic blood pressure in the back-cooling (BC) trial were significantly suppressed compared with those in no-cooling (NC) trial, while no difference was found in oral and skin temperatures. A correlation was observed between chest skin temperature and blood flow in the NC trial; this was not observed in the BC trial. These results suggest that BHRS modulates normal thermoregulatory responses, including sweating and vascular dilation and has the capability to partly replace these functions.