User:Lihan161051/Ice pool

An ice pool is a rapid cooling apparatus for removing heat from the human body in hot outdoor environments to prevent heat exhaustion and heatstroke. It is designed to be assembled from readily available off the shelf components and can be improvised from any suitable materials available on site.

The main operating principle of the ice pool is exposure of a large surface area of the body near the core portion of the torso to a highly thermally conductive heat sink of ice water, through a thermally conductive but watertight tarp surface that keeps the body and clothing of the person being cooled dry.

Materials

 * Inflatable wading pool (about 6' diameter)
 * Plastic tarp (must be watertight)
 * Water (to fill pool to a depth of at least a few inches)
 * Ice (bags of ready made ice cubes preferred, use enough to cover water to a depth of 1-2 inches)

Assembly

 * Add water and ice to wading pool
 * Lay tarp over ice water mixture, making sure that tarp extends over all sides of pool and does not allow water to overflow onto top surface of tarp

Use
Carefully sit down just inward of the rim of the pool, at the edge, facing outward, then lie down on back on top of tarp. The application of cold to the body may be painful on skin areas not covered by clothing. For persons needing rapid cooling to avoid or treat heat exhaustion or heatstroke, assist the person in lying down face up with as much of the person's back in contact with the tarp surface as possible. Unconscious heat illness patients may be lowered by hand, with a sufficient number of assistants, into the pool in the same manner, with CPR or other resuscitation treatments, if needed, applied while in the pool. Unlike immersion in water, ice pool treatment presents little or no risk of drowning or aspiration of water as the cooling surface is dry or merely damp from condensation.

Maintenance

 * Ice will melt over time, and will need to be replenished if the ice pool is to be kept ready for long periods of time. The large thermal mass of water in the ice water mixture, and the relatively low surface area of the volume of ice water, will tend to slow this process, as will chilling of the ground surface immediately underneath the pool, but conduction to hot outside air will add heat to the system.  Some performance improvements may be seen by using styrofoam insulation underneath and possibly around the pool, although this will increase the complexity of the system in terms of assembly and materials.
 * Condensation will tend to form on the surface of the tarp above the ice water, which may collect in puddles on the top surface. The tarp should be towelled off periodically to remove condensation, and may need to be lifted and shaken off from time to time in humid environments as condensation may collect rapidly with high humidity.