Self-contained heating or cooling suit

Abstract

The inventive concept involves a garment or full body suit that covers the entire body of a wearer including the hands, the feet and the head. The garment can be used in either a cold or a hot environment. The heating or cooling system is controlled by a microprocessor that operates on a mini pump that pumps a heating or cooling liquid through tubes that are imbedded throughout the suit.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The inventive concept is directed to cooling or heating the body of a person in all different climates or environments, whether hot or cold. The only known body cooling device is on the market under the registered Trademark “Cool shirt”. It is only designed to cool the body of the wearer and that is the upper extremity of a person. Together with the “Cool shirt” there is used a separate bag that contains the component parts that are instrumental in supplying the cooling medium to the shirt.

Russia has developed and employed a cooling garment under the designation of KVO ORLAN Cooling garment. It is a water cooled insulation garment that is worn underneath the space during space walks. It is a one-piece hooded jumpsuit with long sleeves including a network of plastic tubes through a knotted net garment with front zipper and stirrups. Polyvinylchloride tubing is strung through the garment facilitated thermal regulation using a glycol mixture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The disclosed cooling and or heating garment is a full body suit that can be used to either cool or heat the body of a wearer and it is self-contained, that is, it covers the full body of the wearer including the feet the hands and the head including the ears. By being self-contained, there is no requirement to carry a bag because the components used for cooling or heating are contained within the suit and carried thereby.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 illustrates the fluid tubes in a full body suit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As can be seen in FIG. 1 the suit that covers the full body of a wearer shows the front of the suit at 1 and at 5 is shown in light color incoming fluid that flows through the tubing and at 10 in dark color is shown the fluid that flows out of the tubing. Located within the confines of the suit there is placed a micro-processor 15 in a box. Also located within the confines of the suit is a heater 20 which could possibly be located within the box of the micro-processor 15. Located within the vicinity of the micro-processor is a heat sensing element 21. Also FIG. 1 shows a fluid pump 25 that is controlled by the micro-processor 15. The fluid pump 25 is responsible to pump the cooling or heating fluid throughout the seat whatever the environment may be. The overall system is powered by a battery which may be contained in a pocket of the suit. At 30 is shown a back view of a ski style or hunting style suit, while 35 is a front view of an all enclosing head cover style or hunting style suit. At 40 is shown a back view of a head cover of a ski style or hunter style suit. In FIG. 1, all Figs. show the inner skin or inner lining 45 as it may be incorporated in all different versions or specific environments for which the all body covering suit is designed.

The heating or cooling aspect is controlled by a microprocessor for safety reasons. That means, the suit cannot overheat or in the opposite it cannot let go of the cooling so that the person wearing the suit cannot freeze. The heating element consists of a motor with a pump connected to it. The pump is known as a micro-miniature-pump. The pump circulates a fluid throughout the suit and the fluid is known as an antifreeze medium such as polypropylene glycol. The tubes, through which the fluid circulates, are embedded or incorporated into the material of the suit. The fluid passes through a heating element which is encapsulated inside another container. It is controlled by a sensor like a thermistor. A thermistor is a type of a resistor with resistance that is proportional to its temperature. Thermistors differ from resistance type detectors (RTD) in that the material is generally a ceramic or polymer. RTD's use metal as a source. The temperature response is also different. RTD's are useful over larger temperature ranges while thermistors typically achieve a higher precision within limited temperature ranges. That is why the use of thermistors is advantageous in the inventive concept. Heating and cooling is achieved through the use of a peltier device undergoing the peltier effect. Peltier effect is the change in temperature at either junction of a thermocouple where a current is maintained in a thermocouple and after allowance is made for a temperature change. Thermoelectric cooling uses the peltier effect to create a heat flux between the junction of two different types of material. A peltier cooler, heater or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid state active heat pump which transfers from one side of the device to the other side against the temperature gradient (from cold to hot), with consumption of electric energy. Such an instrument is also called a peltier device, peltier diode, peltier heat pump etc. Peltier devices are mostly used for cooling. However, when a single device is to be used for both heating and cooling, a peltier device may be desirable. Simply connecting it to a low voltage will cause one side to cool, while the other side warms. The effectiveness of the pump at moving the heat away from the cold side is totally dependent upon the amount of current provided and how well the heat from the hot side can be removed.

Peltier devices have commonly been known to be used in camping and portable coolers and for cooling electronic components and small instruments. But this is the first time that a peltier device is used for cooling or heating a garment which covers the whole body of a user.

Peltier devices, depending on polarity, either heat or cool the liquid medium passing through the tubes of the garment. To operate this system a lithium carbonate battery is recommended.

In the garment or suit disclosed, the heater element operates at about 142 W and it will heat water up to 130 degrees F. The microprocessor can be programmed to maintain a predetermined level of heat. The pump motor is of a micro miniature construction and made of aluminum and it can get hot. This can be taken advantage of when the suit is in a heating mode. The circulatory system takes the heat off the different or various devices including the pump and circulates this attained heat through the whole body suit. The peltier device has a heat exchanger attached thereto being operative whether in a cooling or heating state. For heating alone there is just a heating unit attached to the or included in the circulating medium. The heating device is basically a ceramic tube with macro-wire wrapped around the same and then a coating of ceramic material is applied to the wrapped tube including heat fins on the outside.

For cooling the peltier device is required.

The same suit can be used for both cooling or heating if so desired.

But it is more efficient when the suit is used for one mode at a time. That is so because different components are used for both heating and/or cooling.

When in a heating mode all necessary components are additive in the heating circuitry. The device uses a Pulse width Modulation PWM to control the heating effect including utilizing high power Mosfet transistors. A PWM modulation is a standard by which a digital device can generate an analog voltage. A PMW signal can be interfaced to a simple capacitive current to thereby generate an analog voltage.

A Mosfet transistor is a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor that is used to amplify or switch electronic signals. A Mosfet transistor contributes to the heating effect the design of which incorporates the heat produced to control the heating or cooling element by the Mosfet and channels the heat into the heat exchange device. This method allows for a very efficient heating with low heat loss. This design also solves the problem of lost energy while at the same time preserving the life of the battery.

Another modulation that can be used is the effect of interrupt modulation. This modulation is fully explained in the applicant's own U.S. Pat. No, 6,194,978.

When in a cooling mode, the components are carried outside of the suit such as on a belt. The wind surrounding the wearer contributes to the cooling effect. When in a heating mode, the wearer of the suit can be a hunter on an observation stand where his position can not be detected because the elements of the heating system are operating very quietly.

The life of the battery 26 is estimated at about 8 hours. The life of the battery can be extended to a much longer time by keeping the suit or adjusting the temperature to just above freezing in an emergency. It is foreseen that extra batteries can be carried on the person in pockets or retained on a belt or in a backpack. The electric system can also be used by plugging the same into the cigarette lighter of a car or by using solar energy.

The garment or the suit can be subdivided into four different quadrants by directing the heating or cooling fluid separately into the four quadrants. The four quadrants are identified as the upper torso left and right sections including left and right arms and two lower torso sections including the left and the right legs, respectively. If there were a full suit at all times an active person could interrupt the flow by bending a lower leg, for example, which could choke off the fluid flow. However if subdivided into four quadrants, if one quadrant is choked off, the other quadrants would still be active and operating.

After all of the above, it now be seen that a very versatile garment or suit has been disclosed which can be a survival in either a cold or hot climate. The suit could even be incorporated into a space walking suit of an astronaut.

Claims

1. A garment or a full body suit that has means therein for either cooling or heating the body of a wearer including means for propelling a fluid through said suit by way of tubes imbedded in the fabric of the suit, the said means for propelling includes a fluid pump and a heat exchanger attached thereto.

2. The garment of claim 1 including a microprocessor for controlling said means for propelling.

3. The garment of claim 2, wherein said microprocessor includes a pulse modulation device.

4. The garment of claim 3, wherein said device is an interrupt modulation device.

5. The garment of claim 2, wherein said microprocessor includes mosfet transistors.

6. The garment of claim 2, wherein said microprocessor includes a peltier device.

7. The garment of claim 1, including a heating element that has an energy consumption of up to 142 watts and can heat water up to 130 degrees F.

8. The garment of claim 7, wherein said heating element is constructed as ceramic tube having micro resistance wire wrapped there around and again covered by a ceramic coating.