When a group of people is walking in a very strong wind they can get seriously chilled. They might be polar explorers, Royal Marines on a yomp or plane crash survivors in the Andes.
Penguins it seems, know all about this problem. They will stand against the Antarctic blast for long periods, but exchanging positions between those who are upwind and those who are in the centre of the crowd. It’s a kind of peloton with the aim of reducing heat loss rather than drag.
Today’s invention is a belt which a group of people can surround themselves with and which is intended to avoid hypothermia. The belt can be tightened to force them to stand closer than normal social rules allow, so that heat is retained within the crowd, but walking as a group is supported.
The ‘buckle’ area has a fixed, small radius corresponding to the width of a human torso. This area contains a temperature sensor. As people pass the belt in a clockwise direction, the sensor will beep when it reaches the point of minimum temperature. This will place the buckle at the point where the wind speed relative to the people is greatest (and the people coldest).
As the group walks in its chosen direction, arrows light up on its surface showing the people adjacent the direction and speed of circulation they should adopt.
This results in a convection current in which cold (blue) people on the windward side, move along and back up through the crowd, where they become pinker (warmer).
