Friday, July 25, 2008

Hot dogs? Technology used to keep canines cool

By Efrain Viscarolasaga

The dog days of summer are here, and while the heat in New England can be unbearable for people, other sufferers include, well, dogs themselves.

A Tewksbury entrepreneur, however, has developed a way to keep the modern mutt cool, joining a handful of local companies using technology to making the lives of pets — and their owners — easier.

Laurence Sanford, the co-founder and manager of Kool Kennel LLC in Tewksbury, was spurred to launch the company two years ago while at a particularly warm family gathering that featured his niece and her show dogs. As the dogs suffered in the heat, a relative (and now company co-founder George Lewis Jr.) suggested adding a transducer to the portable kennel to keep the dogs cool.

“I thought it was going to be an off-the-shelf kind of thing, but it turned out transducers can be fairly large and unwieldy,” Sanford said.

After designing seven prototypes with the help of CTO and third co-founder George Lewis Sr. (also the founder of Andover-based ultrasound technology consulting firm Transducer Engineering Inc.), Sanford has settled on a final design, and the product is expected to roll out publicly in the coming weeks.

The unit itself is designed to attach to any kennel and can be powered by a wall socket, car lighter or battery pack. It weighs less than 2 pounds and operates on a thermoelectric process called the Peltier effect, which moves heat (creating cool air) through a solid-state circuit. The result is a 10 degree reduction in temperature around one face of the unit. The unit can also be turned around to offer heating in the winter and will retail for about $200.

If Kool Kennel catches on, Sanford could have his hands full with the pet market alone. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, 71 million U.S. households own a pet and spent $41.2 billion on those animals in 2007.

That’s an opportunity not lost on other local entrepreneurs.

Woburn-based PawSpot Inc., for example, is an online social networking site for people and their pets, where owners can arrange play dates for their dogs, find local services or promote pet-related events. The company has raised more than $1.6 million in angel funding since 2005.

In Boston, startup Snif Labs Inc. is working on a motion sensor-based tracking system for dogs that would provide owners details regarding a pet’s movements via an online portal. The system can track activities such as running, playing with other dogs and swimming, through two-way radio communications, and officials plan to add an application development interface that will allow owners to develop new applications. The product, however, is in beta testing and is not expected to be in full production until later this year, according to a company spokesperson.

Another idea that may come to fruition comes from MIT professor Woodie Flowers, best known for his role as host of “Scientific American Frontiers” and his participation in the FIRST Robotics competition. Flowers has filed a patent covering a fairly low-tech method of keeping water bowls clean and free of algae by automatically rotating the bowl to keep a constant supply of fresh water available.

As for Kool Kennel, pet travel is the most immediate application, but Sanford is also looking at doggie day-care centers, veterinary clinics and shelters.

“Some people have even asked about putting it in their offices and cubicles,” he said.