Temperature Plummets 3°C in 3 Minutes... The Secret Behind a Cooling Vest with Sales Surging 1,300%

[Anchor]

Whenever heading out these days, people first reach for cooling products like neck-band fans or cooling patches to escape the heat even a little. Recently, cooling vests using tiny semiconductors to draw heat away from the body have even emerged.

How well do they actually perform? Reporter Choi Seung-hun tried one on directly.

[Reporter]

A semiconductor construction site in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

Strong sunlight beats down, but a worker is wearing an extra vest layered beneath his safety vest.

It is a cooling vest designed to lower the heat accumulated in the body.

[Lim Ho-gwan / Safety Management Company Employee: There is definitely a part where you can better manage your physical strength. Even after returning to work, you get less exhausted and sweat noticeably less....]

Fans are attached to both sides, and a cooling plate called a Peltier element utilizing semiconductors is fitted on the back.

It operates on the Peltier effect, where passing an electric current between different semiconductors makes one side cold and the other hot, drawing heat away from the skin and expelling it outward.

To see how much the temperature drops when wearing this cooling vest, I will put it on myself and measure it with a thermal imaging camera.

Before putting on the vest, the surface temperature of my back was 36.9°C (98°F), but about three minutes after wearing it, it dropped by 3.7°C to 33.2°C (92°F).

The manufacturer explains that cooling vests have gained such popularity that sales are projected to surge 1,300% compared to last year, and this semiconductor cooling method is also spreading into everyday products.

A Japanese electronics company has released a body temperature regulator that cools the skin by pressing a cooling plate tightly against the back of the neck.

[Shin Yubin / Electronics Company Marketing Team: Since it is hardly noticeable when tucked inside clothes, you can maintain your own optimal temperature without worrying about other people's gazes....]

There are also products that combine cooling plates and fans to be hung around the neck or fixed to the waist.

[Kim Sung-hyun / Camping Equipment Company Sales Headquarters: Whether you are commuting, watching professional baseball games, or going on a trip, you can comfortably use it hung around your neck....]

However, just because your skin feels cool does not mean your internal core body temperature drops or that it prevents heat-related illnesses.

You must stop using it if skin abnormalities occur, and it should not be charged while wet.

(Camera: Lee Moo-jin | Video Editing: Chae Chul-ho | Design: Seo Seung-hyun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.