- The Do Hiemon Box will cool you down for 20 minutes
- It blasts air on you at temperatures of 5°C or 41°F
- The units are being sold to construction sites and golf courses
If you're in Japan, you have an alternative to air conditioning units and portable fans when it comes to staying cool in sweltering temperatures: a human-sized refrigerator that you can sit inside when the heatwaves get too much.
This is the Do Hiemon Box from Trusco Nakayama (via The Japan Times), and it'll blast your body with air cooled down to a refreshing 5°C or 41°F — about the same temperature as a chiller in a standard refrigerator.
It requires no installation, can be moved on wheels, and according to Trusco Nakayama it beats other solutions by cooling the entire body down evenly. After 20 minutes, the unit automatically switches off to prevent overcooling, and you're back out into the heat.
As per The Japan Times, a couple of hundred of these units have been sold across construction sites, golf courses, leisure facilities, and university campuses since the chamber went on sale earlier this year.
It'll cost you
You need a standard electrical outlet for this to work, and you also need access to the 1.5 million yen it costs (that's about $9,480 / £7,040 / AU$13,460). These personal cooling machines don't exactly come cheap.
The idea is that you get quick, temporary protection against heat exhaustion and heatstroke — a growing problem in our warming world — rather than using this as an air conditioned office or a space to relax in.
According to a Trusco Nakayama executive speaking to The Japan Times, enquiries about the fridge have come from as far afield as Germany and the US. The company is hoping to find more business at summer festivals and shopping malls.
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Before long you might find yourself queuing up for a slot in the human fridge as well as for the loos at your next festival trip — another depressing sign of the consequences of climate change that show no signs of being reversed.
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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.
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