8. Cooler-hat

<Intro>

With warmer seasons approaching and ending, it makes sense that during the afternoons the environments get very hot and humid, and even in the fall, I can still feel such temperatures during those times. So I decided to do something about it by making my own wearable cooling apparatus. It requires a hat and a more active cooling system for cooling the wearer's head

<Design>

The original iteration involves using a couple of AA-sized batteries, and a solar panel as a way to power the fan. For the results, It works like it was supposed to, but since it didn't produce as much airflow as it needed to, I went ahead and improved a bit further by switching the power supply from the AA batteries (and solar panel) to using a Li-ion battery. This allowed more air to flow to the user's face, and in addition, I decided to wire in an LED to make it more multipurpose in mind. Another thing to note in the designs is that in the first iteration, the fan is positioned on the side (45 degrees to the right) to make sure that the fan provides cooling while also preventing obstruction to the user's sight. This is later changed to have it in the center since having it right on the side made the hat lopsided (or unbalanced), and besides, the wearer can just adjust their hat on their head to suit their needs.

  

<Original version>

<Tidbits>

Noting from the second iteration, the reason why I used a li-ion battery is that not only are they rechargeable, but they have a much high energy density than a typical AA battery, which results in providing more power for the load, in this case, a fan. 

With the addition of an led, it also gives the user better visibility at night time, or in dark areas that require a light source.

<New version>

<Conclusion>

Overall, this project was simple to make, but it also takes some trial and error to get what I need. This also means that this is one of those projects that take designing to mind, as in what are the things that can suit a user to fit their needs. That is what it means to be an engineer!

<Circuitry>