CoreControl DIY

Designed by two Stanford professors, the Avacore Core Control is a heat extractor for the human body which will provide an athlete the ability to recover more quickly than natural methods such as sweating. An interesting product, but with a price tag of $3000, I doubt the the public will get their hands on this anytime soon. This instructable will show you how to build your own CoreControl for about $150.

Before you get started, please familiarize yourself on how the CoreControl works. You can check the published study that goes in depth with the CoreControl. I was able to replicate the functions for my DIY CoreControl using the design specs from this study.

FAQ about the Corecontrol.
More Published studies (bottom of page)

Summary
When our body overheats, it goes through a thermoregulation process to expel excess core body heat.  The palm of our hands is one of the body's "radiators" to expel heat. Why the palm of the hands? The palms have numerous capillaries which cover a large surface area, allowing the removal of excess heat from the body. The vacuum is supposed to draw the blood to your hands to increase the heat transfer rate. The faster you remove the excess body heat, the faster you will recover from exercise.  

You may have heard about rubbing ice cubes on your wrist to reduce recovery time.  However, this method is inefficient because low temperatures cause the blood vessels to constrict, thereby reducing the blood flow.  The CoreControl applies a similar concept, however, is more effective because it uses a vacuum to draw the blood quickly to the palms, and the controlled temperature prevents constriction of blood vessels.

I built my first homemade CoreControl a year ago.  Due to numerous requests, I decided to build a second one in order to write a detailed step-by-step guide. Let's have some fun!

Step 1 Materials

Materials Needed

• 4" Diameter PVC Pipe
• 4" to 3" PVC Reducer 
• 4" Rubber End Cap
• 3" Metal Fastener
• 20' Vinyl tube 5/16" x 3/16" 
• Long Cuff Neoprene Gloves 
• Four 3/16" Barb x 1/4" MIP 
• Two 1/2" FIP x 1/4" FIP Pipe Reducing Coupling
• 1/2" x 5" Brass Pipe Nipple 
• Via Aqua Model: VA-302 (Can be found at a pet store, could use any other water pump)
• OEM Brake Bleed Kit Pump (Can be found at Autozone)
• Digital Thermometer 

Everything can be found at Home Depot or your local hardware store except for the last 3 items.

Comments

[milwaukee]

It's a surprise to see that someone else has built one of these. I built a similar device based on Grahn and Heller's device 2 years ago using a tiny aquarium pump, a dishwasher detergent canisters, a small insulated drink cooler, a shop vac and a homemade copper coil (for heat exchange).

I had some success using the device My experience was that consecutive sets of work felt like the first if the device was use for 3 - 5 minutes before the set. I also noticed that I could perform a larger volume of work: more weight for more reps and sets. A longer duration recovery period after whatever work seemed to improve immediate recovery. I have also used it after a run and have found it possible to go back out and run some more when normally I would have been very fatigued.

The device isn't only for weight lifting- it was just a convenient method for me to test it.

My setup was pretty noisy and large, so I've decided to upgrade to make it more convenient. There are some good ideas in here gyronictonic which I am going to incorporate. Thanks!

[bluesquid]

I had to go up to 6 inch PVC. My hands are too big. Just test it out before you buy, and then adjust accordingly.

[bluesquid]

This was developed by DARPA! Your not going to improve it, or refute it.

Thank you for the design. Im building one tomorrow.

[mnpazan]

Very cool (no pun intended, but enjoy it if you like it). I remember reading about this exact same thing being tested as a new hypothermia treatment years ago (using warm air instead of cold). IIRC it was pretty effective at that, and was being looked at as something to add to the standard EMT/rescue kit for cold weather regions.

This is the first time I've seen it as a cooldown method, but it makes sense that it would work for that too.

[eecharlie]

I love that you've reduced this idea to an affordable DIY project!

Idea: why not flood the whole vacuum chamber with water, leaving some air space if you don't want to suck water into the brake bleed pump?

Idea: what about circulating air between the chamber and a heat exchanger in your ice-water bath? You could use Arduino PID to do temperature feedback control on the air exiting the chamber by increasing or decreasing the pump flow rate.

Concern: It looks the science is not yet 'settled' on this, to make fun of Al Gore. A recent review paper (2010) of 14 different studies found that the average improvement in exercise performance due to cooling interventions was 4.25%. (Review paper link) At a minimum, it seems that your specific exercise routine and timing combined with the use of a tool like this will cause the results to vary greatly. For example, if you're doing anaerobic stuff (weight lifting) it sounds like this doesn't really help, but if you're doing aerobic (soccer) it does.

[ralbritton]

The vacuum against the palm is necessary to keep the capillary vessels from retracting due to the cold temperatures. Flooding the chamber would negate this and the body's normal self-protective reaction to cold would kick in and minimize the thermal transfer from the core.

I haven't found the body of the article you cited but it isn't clear that they tested the effectiveness of the avacore glove, but rather, tested more conventional prevailing methods of cooling. There have been quite a few compelling studies and demonstrations during the development of the glove that indicate it is especially effective--for anaerobic activity, in particular. Not to take anything away from Jim Harbaugh, but (my non-scientific opinion) Stanford's football team has been benefiting from using the glove and their record since its use tends to suggest they should continue to use it.

[eecharlie]

They tested a number of cooling methods, but you're right that it's not clear they tested the avacore glove specifically. I googled quick and there are a number of papers on uses of the avacore specifically but I don't have time to read them now =)

Part of the question I'm asking though is whether a cold shower (if available) would produce the same results even if in a more brute force way (overcoming your body's cold defense response with... lots more cold water). Do you know how important it is to do this during or immediately after your workout, as opposed to 10-15 min later?

Regarding air vs. water- water at the same temperature may have a lower perceived temperature and will remove more heat faster because it has a higher heat capacity and conductivity than air. But, I don't immediately see why you couldn't still use it- maybe a degree or two warmer to avoid causing capillary constriction.

[R.A.T.M]

:creepygusta:

[darwincam]

A few years ago while shingling a roof in very hot conditions, a quick for me recovery. Fill the bathroom sink full cold water, bend over and lay your arms (both of them if the sink allows) in the water for 5 to 7 minutes. Near instant relief from the heat, best thing I ever found.

[saintneko]

I'm curious if an aquarium air pump could be used (seal a line to the air inlet) as a vacuum pump (you would have the problem of measuring the vacuum still, but i bet you could find a guage with a slightly more modern, scientific way of measuring your vacuum than in.Hg, though i'm not sure how cheap thermocouple gauges are these days).

I bet if you could find a sensitive enough thermometer you could find the shut-off threshold by measuring the heat of blood being returned through the veins of your wrist (by testing different temps of cooling liquids until you saw the cessation of cooling in the returned blood).

[gyronictonic]

A fellow redditor came to me showing me his immersion circulator that would be great for this type of application. Not sure how he built it but you ask him. Check out his gallery.

http://gallery.me.com/lachyg#100055&bgcolor=black&view=grid

[6v4idv3d51n2ri5p]

Looking at the Avacore website, it doesn't look as though there are any studies to see if this actually works - it looks like junk science & snake oil to be honest.

[saintneko]

Go work out until you're dripping with sweat. Grab the coldest soda can in your fridge, press it against the palm of your hand firmly for five minutes. The soda will be warm and flat and your sweating will be mostly stopped. It's not as efficient as the vacuum method but costs the soda or beer you already have in your fridge.

Just make sure to not drink the can when you're done, put it back in and grab a fresh one to drink.

Don't use anything freezer cold though, your circulation will slow down to prevent hypothermic conditions from infiltrating your body (and it hurts).

[mgalyean]

I used to ride my bike 8 miles to class and to a campus job while in college nearly every day. I would always ride fairly hard and especially in warm weather would arrive quite overheated. It would take me 10 to 15 minutes to fully recover typically until I discovered that running the chilled drinking fountain water over my wrists and holding cold water in my mouth helped me recover much more rapidly. When I discovered the lab walk-in freezer I was recovering in a couple of minutes when combined with holding cold water in my mouth until it warmed, repeating etc. It really is quite a bit about getting rid of the excess heat for me anyway. Other issues are lactic acid build up and stuff, but the heat is a biggy.

[ralbritton]

Making an assumption about your statement regarding lactic acid: the lactic acid issue you refer to is probably not what you think it is. In fact, the earliest work on the glove began by looking at the prevailing beliefs about lactic acid build up and fatigue and the researchers determined that there was no good (modern) science to back up the beliefs about the role of lactic acid in muscle fatigue. The researchers determined that lactic acid was a good thing for muscles and that the fatigue being experienced was actually due to heat build up, thus the investigation began in how to cool muscles quickly.

[Mastros]

My way to cool myself is to let cool water over my arms, and wash my face. The arms are important because, although their surface is only a fraction of the whole body surface, they contribute a lot to how hot we feel.
Of course, the best of all is a shower. But although something simple, a shower cabin is so difficult to see around --though I remember having seen some at the Brussels airport (the very place I also saw the most bably designed toilets!!, if I may be so bold
).
-.

[doomsdayltd]

i beg to differ, there have been plenty of studies, the tech has also been around since the early 2000's. The apparatus works by the common principle of heat is lost or gained throw the head, hands, and feet. By circulating a cool (not cold) flow to the hand this chills the blood by 2 degree's which circulates through the body reheating and chilling again, unlike hypothermia circumstances where its constant chilling which freezes the body to an unsafe level, this process in the opposite is more or less like defrosting a frozen turkey in the microwave where the process is just to slightly heat the temperature but not to cook it and vice versa :D

[chout]

Saw this on National Geographic's program called Fight Science a while back. I think it was in the episode "Ultimate Soldier". Doesn't look like junk science to me.

http://natgeotv.com.au/tv/fight-science/