In the United States, over 2 million people live without one or more limbs due to amputation, a number that increases by about 100 thousand per year. Many amputees choose to get a prostetic limb to replace the funcitonality of their lost limb, though a prosthetic comes with some drawbacks. In almost all prosthetics, amputees are required to wear a thick silicone layer followed by multiple layers of socks, leading to increadible heat building up near their residual stump. This comebined with actions taking amputees 70% more energy, many are not able to often use their prosthetics due to the discomfort they cause.
This solution would involve using a peltier module to cool liquid running through the prosthetic. A peltier uses thermeoelectric cooling, cooling one side of a surface by transporting it's heat to the other side when electrical current is applied. This method would be very compact and effective however these modules are not very power efficient. The module would also have to be cooled due to the hot side.
This method is very similar to the peltier however it would just use a radiator to cool the waterblock. This takes significant inspiration from PC water coolers, using simple air and fans. This method would be much more power efficient however, it would not cool quite as well as the peltier as it relies on the waterblock first getting hot.
Our final solution took inspiration from household refidgerators. It would contain a refridgerant that would cycle through the prosthetic, heating up into a gas. The coolant would then be recompressed and cooled. This sulution is the least energy efficient among the three. It would also take up the most space, thus we dicided not to act on it.
In the end we chose to use the peltier cooling solution. This was chosen as we were informed that the device is unlikely to be used for more than an hour at a time and the user can plug it in while not in action. The peltier is in contact with a waterblock which water runs though being pulled by a gear based water pump. The pump moves the cold water into a smaller tube which will eventually be implanted inside the users silicone liner. This provides skin to skin contact. As the water runs next to their body, it absobes the heat before being run through the peltier again to start the loop again.