Kumo by Moses Rowen from ireland

Define

Humans are versatile creatures, we can survive and adapt to a wide variety of environmental situations. Survival isn’t good enough, our performance is significantly inhibited once air temperature, purity and humidity fall outside our optimum parameters. This is most pronounced during sport and competition when we push our bodies to and sometimes beyond their limits.

Discover

Nature is full of specialists that have adapted to conquer specific adverse environments, inspiration came from creatures that push this concept to the absolute.

Extremophile; An organism that thrives in extreme environments

Disrupt

Psychrophiles can perform at very low temperatures, while Thermophiles thrive at high ones, Xerophiles can survive in extremely arid environments and Anaerobes without Oxygen. Humans are naturally at a disadvantage in these conditions. In order to overcome this the natural order would have to be disrupted.

Design

This would require a device that monitored two data sets. The user’s temperature, heart rate, breathing pattern, etc. and the environment, be it hot, cold, dry or humid. It would then alter the incoming air to optimize the users parameters. The device would have to be able to modify the air’s temperature, humidity and oxygen levels in order to do this.

Deploy

Kumo means cloud, if it’s too cold or dry clouds cannot form, just as people can’t perform.

Kumo first filters the air to ensure it’s free of dust and pollution. A heating element can heat the incoming air so that it can support moisture if its cold. A water injection manifold rehydrates it by spraying a low volume, high pressure mist of water into the air, if it’s too humid the air is routed through a hydroscopic membrane. The pressure for the water is provided by a pair of small oxygen cartridges which are regulated by a solenoid valve. The electricity for the heating element is provided by a lightweight Lithium-polymer battery which is held, along with the water, in the user’s backpack. Sensors in the face mask section of Kumo monitor humidity and temperature. The amount of power supplied to the heating element and the pulse width of the water injection solenoid are regulated accordingly by a miniature programmable logic controller. The air is then dried and the body heat in the exhaled air is re-used by the regenerator side of the heating element. This keeps the user performing at their peak for longer, even in harsh environments.

Kumo, disrupt the natural order.