GelCool Systems gel packs are formulated to maintain proper, safe temperature in the 42 -55 degree range when cooling. Both laboratory and field testing have shown that significant active cooling continues for up to 30 minutes with our products. The U.S. Army in Iraq reports using our large packs for 45 minutes to one hour in the 120 degree summer heat. Standard 7 ounce gel packs taken out of a professional football player's helmet after 20 minutes of live, full-contact testing in 95 degree August practice are still more than 20 degrees cooler than the body. The GelCool gel pack is a single-piece, pliable insert that takes under 2 seconds to insert or remove. Please click on the photo in the upper left corner of this page to see a gel pack in place in a football helmet.
GelCool gel packs deliver the most cooling available per pound of equipment to deal with challenges such as football practice heat, desert military deployment, and workplace heat. When used for warming, the gel packs provide heat directly to the top of the head. GelCool's unique high-tech gel formulation allows us to provide unprecedented cooling and warming duration. Athletic Directors and risk managers may implement GelCool Systems to help reduce the likelihood of a serious heat incident, the liability associated with such events, and in many cases the cost of their liability insurance. GelCool gel packs actually improved football helmet's concussion prevention data in certified laboratory testing (go directly to our football page).
GelCool System's Gel Packs Keep Your Personnel Significantly Safer in the Most Extreme Temperature Environments
While the body is trying to release 60% of its heat through the head, current helmet cooling consists of passive air flow through very small openings on the top of the helmet. Since these openings have a very limited passive effect, GelCool Systems places an active cooling system (cooling gel packs) in the upper helmet. There is a huge cooling differential between passive cooling and GelCool System's new active cooling technique. In the winter, GelCool's gel packs provide active warming to head, which is where the body loses up to 60% of its heat. Our active warming is far more effective than any stocking cap worn in the helmet, and stocking caps significantly alter the helmet's fit, reducing the helmet's effectiveness as personal protective equipment.
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"Like a Soft, Cold, Pillow in the Helmet" - "Fits Like a Glove".
GelCool Systems help manage cranial/brain blood temperature, which enhances safety and performance. Gel packs are worn from the beginning of the thermal exposure, which helps maintain proper cranial blood temperature. We use a patented thermal distribution system that graduates delivery over a long period of time, avoiding potential discomfort and providing more uniform, lasting cooling. Unlike simple wet (evaporative) ice packs and cold packs, or winter stocking caps, GelCool Systems professional-grade gel packs maintain critical helmet/hard hat fit and alignment.
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Professional Grade
Several key factors differentiate GelCool Systems products from any other offerings. First, our products are manufactured to professional specifications and tolerances, allowing their use by professionals, who require predictable and dependable service. Second, quality and material controls are very high, which provides the level of quality required by professional trainers (these packs are manufactured in the same Tennessee factory that makes the g-suits for U.S. Military pilots). Third, GelCool Systems products are sealed units that release a negligible amount of water (condensation) onto the player. Finally, our products are specifically designed for use in helmets. GelCool gel packs deliver the most cooling available in a 7 ounce package: the most cooling per pound of equipment to deal with football practice heat in summer football practice and in early games.
Important Note
The use of GelCool Systems Cooling Products is Only One Part of An Overall Heat Safety Program Which Must Include Proper Hydration. Please Read Our Entire Disclaimer.
Cold-Climate Warming
Users in cold climates may use GelCool's gel packs for warming. Our gel packs have been designed using professional-grade materials that can be safely warmed to help keep users comfortable and more safe in extremely cold climates. Instead of altering the fit of helmets by inserting wool caps or other warmers that were not designed for use with a helmet, the use of GelCool gel packs maintains the important helmet fit and alignment while improving personnel safety and comfort. GelCool Systems makes the only professional-grade head gel packs, designed for use in real-world, rugged environments.
To learn more about the unique (patent-pending) design of our products, please visit our Technical Overview Page, or go directly to our Football or Workplace Products pages. For more supporting medical information about brain stress or injury please visit the Brain Injury Association at http://www.biausa.org/ or the American Academy of Neurology at http://www.aan.com/.
The GelCool Model GX Gel Pack
Advanced Design Gel Pack with Soft Microfiber Against Head |
Top of Gel Pack (Portion Not Touching the Head) |
GelCool Systems and Brain Thermoregulation
GelCool Systems products reduce the risk of heat stress and heat related illnesses such as heat stoke (and hypothermia in the winter). We provide personal cooling (or warming) devices that not only play a significant role in the avoidance of illness, but also allow organizations to structure thermal safety programs to ensure personnel safety and peak performance. Even the mildest forms of heat stress or hypothermia can cause weakness, dizziness, and lack of concentration. One of the more common mild forms of heat illness, heat cramps, can seriously affect your professional's performance. Heat cramps are muscular pains and spasms due to heavy exertion. They usually involve the abdominal muscles or the legs. Over 20% of heat stroke victims die regardless of health or age. In some cases, the side effects of heat stroke are heat sensitivity and varying degrees of brain and kidney damage.
Research by Cabanac and Brinnel shows that during hyperthermia (exercise-induced heat stress), blood flow is increased from the skin of the head into the cranial cavity, and this increase is essential for proper cooling of the brain. Brain temperature changes are important to both the energy metabolism of the brain and the function of the preoptic-hypothalamic thermostat. Heat is produced by cellular energy metabolism and is transferred to the arterial blood in inverse relation to its temperature, which is lower than that of the brain in normal conditions. Brain homeothermy is altered essentially by quantitative imbalances between metabolic heat production and heat loss. Conditions that inhibit homeothermy may result in confusion, irrational behavior, convulsions, coma, and in the worst cases, death.
Professional cooling systems as a part of an overall thermal safety program and personnel safety program are more important than ever.
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Member of the American Society of Safety Engineers
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American Society of Safety Engineers
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GelCool Systems Overview of Head Cooling Physiology |
1. Increased metabolic activity from exertion creates excess body heat.
2. Protective clothing inhibits the body’s ability to dissipate the excess heat.
3. GelCool Gel Packs cool cranial blood via thermal induction: blood carried throughout peripheral cranial vessels becomes cooler as gel packs absorb heat while cooling the cranium.
4. With cooler blood circulating, metabolic activity is reduced(1) and brain function improved.
5. Reduced metabolic activity allows the body to slow vital organ activity (heart, lungs).(1)
6. Perspiration is reduced since the need to dissipate excess heat has fallen(1).
7. Reduced perspiration leads to reduced loss of electrolytes, which improves endurance.
8. Pulmonary function is eased, allowing greater oxygenation of the brain and muscles.
(1) Reduction in metabolic/vital organ activity and perspiration are only possible if the body's thermoregulatory systems determine that overall body temperature is within a safe range.