Looking at the pictures of doctors and nurses on the frontlines against the Covid-19 epidemic with blistered skin on their hands and bodies, and some even fainting due to overheating, a group of students from the Institute of Chemical Engineering (Hanoi University of Science and Technology) decided to design a cooling shirt weighing only about 1kg.

Nguyen Thi Huong Hao, a student at the Institute of Chemical Engineering, a member of the group manufacturing a cooling vest. Photo: Duy Thanh

The heat resistant vest was created by a group of students from the Institute of Chemical Engineering, including Pham Dinh Gioi, Nguyen Thi Huong Hao, and Kieu Thi Thuy Linh, and Associate Professor Vu Dinh Tien was the advisor.

They used the principle of cold water circulation.

Nguyen Thi Huong Hao, a member of the research team, said that the cooling vest is not a new product. In. Vietnam the product must be imported at high prices. Hao's team has invented a cooling vest with the price that is one fourth of the imported product and weighing only about 1 kilo.

The team completed the first vest in less than a day, under the advice and support of Dr. La Thi Ngoc Anh, former head of the Garment and Fashion Faculty of the Institute of Textiles, Footwear and Fashion.

The vest uses a phone's backup battery, so it can work for more than eight hours. In addition, users can add "coolant" by adding ice into the included water jug without taking off their vests, Hao said.

The team is trying to improve the product with the desire to minimize the number of times that users have to add ice to the water jug.

This product is also suitable for those who work in hot environments or who have to move outdoors.