Brain hot from serious thinking? This helmet automatically cools your head

The human brain is remarkably efficient, running on the caloric equivalent of about 20 watts of power. But that’s still about 20% of the total required for your entire body, which means your head can get pretty hot. Mike Warren does big thinking and to keep his brain from overheating, he built this helmet to cool his dome automatically based on brain activity.

All of that “you only use 10% of your brain” stuff you’ve heard is complete and utter nonsense. In reality, you’re always using most of your brain. Actively thinking hard only increases energy requirements by a small amount — if at all. So, solving a puzzle shouldn’t make your head noticeably warmer. But this is a silly project for fun, so don’t take the premise too seriously.

Warren created the Brain Turbocharger around a Star Wars Force Trainer toy, which originally hit the market back in 2009. Ostensibly, that toy relies on a basic form of EEG (electroencephalography) to sense brain activity and turn on a fan that blows a ball. It is the same gimmick as many “mind control” toys.

Here, Warren repurposed that output. An Arduino UNO Rev3 board detects the fan signal from the toy’s EEG headset — the signal that corresponds to strong brain activity — and then activates a whole bunch of small cooling fans mounted to the helmet. Power comes from a USB battery pack and the Arduino directs that power to the fans through MOSFET modules. 

The result is significant airflow on and around the scalp, triggered by concentration.

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