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Our Design Challenges are Too Complicated... We should be solving the real problems..

cstanton

Like designing products to solve why I'm stuck to this pleather chair in 83.8 deg F heatwaves and why we don't have a way to keep it cool.

If you're from the UK you'll know that air conditioning here really isn't a thing, and it's even harder if you're renting.

When you're working from home, this starts to get to be a challenge, a real hot one. There's only so much I can get from swamp coolers and fans blowing at me, and keeping the curtains shut.

What's worse though, is how hot the chairs are. Why on earth don't we have cooling chairs?

I mean, thermaltake have a cooling gaming chair. I'm not convinced about it though, but I'm even less convinced about this, which looks like five laptop fans stuck together in a pad:

imageimage

We used to have a wild idea of design challenges where people managed to produce products that would sell... if someone can get away with selling this kind of thing on amazon, phew do we overthink things :D

But seriously... how can I cool this chair? Maybe I should have heatpipes in the base...

  • in reply to shabaz

    Quick thought.... So it seems we are stuck in a world where climate change is really going to mess with us. If you are hot now, what will it be like in 2 years? 5 years? 10 years?? My suggestion is this: if it only gets hotter why not put an air conditioning unit or system in now? And if it is a rental, ask your landlord to do so. Realize that by the time everyone realizes it is going to be necessary, everyone will be booked, a/c units and supplies with be practically non-existent and inventory will not be able to catch up with demand. Do it now before the rush and before they start charging 3, 4, 5X's the amount just because they can. Just a thought.

  • in reply to Doreen

    All those A/Cs are going to add to the problem

  • in reply to dougw
    dougw said:
    this assumes you are not in an open concept office..

    especially in the UK where pants more commonly refers to your underwear rather than your trousers

  • in reply to shabaz
    shabaz said:
    UK homes don't normally have air-con

    If UK homes have to start installing heat pumps for heating, then that might change as there will be a tendency to run the heat pump in reverse during the summer months for cooling.

  • in reply to bradfordmiller

    USD1750 Astonished You’d have to be very uncomfortable for that!  For me, it’s not so much a chair as the bedroom.  This week, it’s been 28c at 11pm and summer hasn’t really got started yet, it’s just playing with us.  Last year, during the heatwave we were seeing 32c at 11pm and that is really uncomfortable - cooling sheets is what we need.

  • cstanton said:
    But seriously... how can I cool this chair? Maybe I should have heatpipes in the base...

    Did you miss the Rough Science episode on how to make a cooling system for a spacesuit out of everyday items ?

  • Apply some thermodynamic engineering principles related to heat transfer (imartinez.etsiae.upm.es/.../Heat and mass transfer.pdf) and/or use a bit of science wizardry... www.geeksforgeeks.org/.../

  • in reply to Doreen

    By chance I do have a contact with an air conditioning firm so I might call in a favor or two if it comes to it. I don't know much about UK/EU energy consumption (yet), but I would like to know. Probably everyone in the UK will need to make huge energy savings elsewhere though, if A/C was adopted more, maybe the current capacity isn't enough here (and not affordable, due to the high energy costs here).

    This US diagram of usage (not cost) was created based on information online, but I need to update it with the latest information which was released a few months ago (it is based on survey information which is not annual):

    image

    Some newer machines become more efficient, so it's hard to guess what the difference between 2015 and today is. I think the dip in "lighting and Appliances" energy usage between 2009 and 2015 was CFL and LED adoption, so it might have reduced a lot now, since LED usage has shot up massively.

  • You should probably go for a water cooled chair.

    I have one of the perforated chairs that works well.

  • Perhaps get a 'standing desk' and then the hot chair seat problem goes away.