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| >Projects |
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Milk-Away
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| Using the body temperature to warm up milk of babies. |
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| Wouter Halfmaerten, Thomas Leterme, David Schenk, Dries Vervoort |
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| Comparison |
The Philips Baby Care baby bottle warmer needs about 80W per hour to heat up milk to 37°C (takes between 8 and 10 minutes).
Some models that heat up milk in less than 3 minutes require 250 W per hour!
Running a modern, high performance personal computer under relatively heavy load would require 160W of power per hour (this value is without power consumption of peripherals like monitors, keyboards etc.). This is the equivalent of only 2 (!) of the standard type Baby Care bottle warmers when used continuously during 1 hour.
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| Concept |
This process can be done much more efficiently. A solution is the use of body heat to warm milk for babies.
It is especially interesting because of the infinite disposability of this kind of energy. Also the human body has the exact right temperature needed for the baby to feel comfortable with.
In normal situations where milk is served in vast quantities over predefined periods this heating method can imply substantial energy savings when considered on year basis for instance.
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| Prototype |
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We created a wearable bottle warmer that conducts the body heat from the skin via embedded metal plates.
The milk is poured into a bag and carried around on the body, where it can be warmed entirely passively. No energy except for the natural body warmth is needed in the process.
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| Of course there will always be the 'nocturnal emergencies' where the body cannot deliver the needed warmth fast enough. So in this respect classic, electric bottle warmers are not to be totally abandoned yet. |
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| References |
Philips Baby Care
Computer Power Consumption
Power Consumption Reference Guide
Power Consumption Table
What is the ideal temperature for a refrigerator? |
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