Could this be the way of the future as people around the world adapt to rising temperatures?

With summers becoming ever hotter in Japan, companies are increasingly thinking outside the box to come up with new and better ways to help people cope with the oppressive heat.

One company is making waves for an unusual new invention which it proudly describes as a “human refrigerator“. Called the Do Hiemon Box, this one-person cooling booth looks like a giant refrigerator, but it’s designed to cool just one thing – the human body.

Developed by Japanese refrigeration and vending machine manufacturer SDRS, and sold by industrial equipment supplier Trusco Nakayama, the booth was inspired by the refrigerated vending machines commonly seen throughout Japan.

▼ The shape and size of the unit is similar to a Japanese vending machine.

The Do Hiemon Box maintains an interior temperature of 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit) so it’s already cool from the moment you step inside. When you sit on the built-in chair, air that’s been chilled to around 5 degrees Celsius blows out towards the head, neck, shoulders and back, instantly surrounding your body with cooling relief.

▼ Check out the video for the human refrigerator below

The company says users can feel noticeably cooler within around five minutes, and spending about 10 minutes inside may help to relieve symptoms of heat exhaustion by rapidly lowering body temperature. This is particularly helpful for people who work in hot environments such as construction sites, factories, warehouses and outdoor event venues.

The booth offers three airflow and cooling settings, automatically switches off after 20 minutes to help prevent overcooling, and consumes roughly half the electricity of a typical spot air conditioner. It requires no installation work, can be used both indoors and outdoors, and is mounted on wheels so it can be moved around where needed.

The product went on sale in April and has already begun appearing in public spaces. Earlier this year, one unit was donated to Maebashi City Hall in Gunma Prefecture, where visitors can use it free of charge during opening hours if they need to cool down.

▼ There are many scenarios where a human refrigerator can come in handy.

With Japan recently introducing new terminology for days when temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius, the human refrigerator comes at a crucial time. As summers become hotter and heatstroke cases continue to rise – 48 people were taken to hospital for heatstroke in Tokyo on 15 July – businesses and local governments are increasingly looking for new ways to protect workers and the public from dangerous temperatures.

The Do Hiemon Box is now on sale in Japan through industrial equipment distributors, with the standard model priced at a cool 1.5 million yen (US$9,326.25) plus tax. Though currently aimed primarily at businesses and organisations rather than home users, if Japan’s summer temperatures continue to rise, we may soon see the human refrigerator becoming a more common fixture in public spaces, and perhaps one day as common as a Japanese vending machine.

Source: Yahoo! News Japan
Top image: Trusco
Insert images: Press release
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