Cooling Suit
The present invention aims at providing a cooling suit having a simple structure and capable of assuredly vaporizing a large amount of perspiration. To this end, there is provided a cooling suit to be worn on a wearer, comprising: an air inlet 2a configured to introduce outside air; parallel airstream generation means 3 for introducing the outside air through the air inlet to generate parallel airstreams which are substantially parallel to the wearer's body; a guide sheet simultaneously serving as a garment 2 and for guiding the parallel airstreams generated by the parallel airstream generation means, parallelly to the wearer's body; an air exit portion configured to discharge the parallel airstreams to the exterior; and electric-power source means for supplying electric power to the parallel airstream generation means; wherein the parallel airstream generation means cooperatively blows air of a total amount of about 5 m3/H to 500 m3/H into between the guide sheet and an undergarment or wearer's body to cause positive pressures between the guide sheet and the undergarment or wearer's body to thereby produce an air flow space therebetween, and the parallel airstream generation means causes the blown air to flow through the air flow space to thereby discharge moisture due to perspiration to the exterior and to thereby constantly feed fresh outside air into the air flow space, thereby largely intensifying conditions where perspiration can be evaporated.
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The present invention relates to a cooling suit configured to cool a wearer's body by causing outside air to flow along the wearer's body parallelly thereto.
BACKGROUND ARTIt is possible to regard a human as an extremely inefficient working device which ingests food to conduct life support activities, pieces of work, and the like, and to generate heat commensurately therewith. Due to the inefficiency, most of caloric intake is turned into heat, thereby requiring radiation of a large amount of heat commensurating with a then quantity of work in order to keep a normal body temperature. To this end, humans each possesses a physiological ability for cooling his/her body by virtue of perspiration. Namely, there is determined a physiologically required quantity of heat radiation commensurately with a quantity of work, and perspiration is exuded commensurately therewith, in a manner to attain heat radiation which is most suitable for the then situation of him/her when the perspiration is fully evaporated. Naturally, the amount of perspiration commensurating with the quantity of heat radiation will not be unequivocally calculated by his/her brain. Nonetheless, drastically raised body temperatures lead to large amounts of perspiration to be continuously exuded, and resultingly lowered body temperatures lead to reduced amounts of perspiration, so that the body is not excessively cooled. As such, there is resultingly exuded an amount of perspiration commensurately with a required quantity of heat radiation.
However, it becomes impossible to obtain a required quantity of heat radiation when vaporization of perspiration is disabled depending on conditions of temperature, humidity, presence/absence of airstreams, quantity of work, and the like, such that perspiration is continuously and uselessly exuded in a liquid state without vaporization, thereby causing not only uncomfortableness but also physiological damages. As such, there is required aid of a cooling suit. Among cooling suits, the cooling suit (hereinafter also called “air-flow type cooling suit”) of a type configured to cool a wearer's body by causing outside air to flow along the wearer's body parallelly thereto, cools the wearer's body by utilizing outside air without using a cooling device such as a compressor, thereby enabling achievement of mild cooling of the wearer's body at a reduced power consumption.
Patent-related reference 1: International Publication WO 02/067708 pamphlet
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONProblem to be Solved by the Invention
Incidentally, conventional air-flow type cooling suits are each capable of evaporating perspiration exuded during conduction of a normal work of a wearer, thereby enabling the wearer of the cooling suit to be appropriately cooled. However, it has been impossible to sufficiently evaporate the exuded perspiration, when the wearer exuded a large amount of perspiration due to a work in a high temperature environment, a hard work, or the like. Namely, it has been impossible to use the conventional air-flow type cooling suits under such severe usage environments. Further, the conventional air-flow type cooling suits are each provided with spacers between the cooling suit and an undergarment so as to ensure an airflow passage. This has caused the conventional air-flow type cooling suits to be complicated in configuration.
Further, cooling suits to be used in a situation that a large amount of perspiration is exuded, are to be desirably easily washable, since such cooling suits are stained with perspiration.
The present invention has been made under the above-described circumstances, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a cooling suit having a simple structure and capable of assuredly evaporating a large amount of perspiration.
In addition to the above object, it is another object of the present invention to provide a cooling suit which is easily washable.
Means for Solving the Problem
To achieve the object, the invention recited in claim 1 resides in a cooling suit to be worn on a wearer, comprising: at least one air inlet configured to introduce outside air; at least one parallel airstream generation means for introducing the outside air through the or each air inlet to generate parallel airstreams which are substantially parallel to the wearer's body; a guide sheet simultaneously serving as a garment and for guiding the parallel airstreams generated by the or each parallel airstream generation means, parallelly to the wearer's body; at least one air exit portion configured to discharge the parallel airstreams to the exterior; and electric-power source means for supplying electric power to the or each parallel airstream generation means; wherein the or each parallel airstream generation means cooperatively blows air of a total amount of about 5 m3/H to 500 m3/H into between the guide sheet and an undergarment or wearer's body to cause positive pressures between the guide sheet and the undergarment or wearer's body to thereby produce an air flow space therebetween, and the or each parallel airstream generation means causes the blown air to flow through the air flow space to thereby discharge moisture due to perspiration to the exterior and to thereby constantly feed fresh outside air into the air flow space, thereby largely intensifying conditions where perspiration can be evaporated.
Effect of the Invention
The cooling suit according to the present invention is capable of causing a large amount of air to flow between an undergarment or wearer's body and a guide sheet so as to largely extend an effective area under the influence of a physiological cooling ability of the wearer to thereby cool the wearer's body.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
- 1 cooling suit
- 2 garment (and guide sheet)
- 3 parallel airstream generation device (fan)
- 4 air exit portion
- 5 air leakage prevention means
- 6 fastener
- 7a front face fan guard
- 7b internal side face fan guard
- 8 flange portion
- 8a magic tape (attachment/detachment means)
- 8b magic tape (attachment/detachment means)
- 9 bottom of fan casing
- 10 vane wheel of sideward-flow fan
- 10a vane
- 11 motor
- 12 over-cooling prevention cloth
- 13 undergarment or wearer's body
- 14 suspending means
- 15 air permeation sheet
- 16 fixation belt
- 17 propeller
- 19 parallel airstream conversion plate (parallel airstream conversion means)
- 20 vane of mixed-flow fan
- 21 string (fixation belt connection means)
- 32 electric power supply cord
- 33 electric-power source
- 160 fixation belt
There will be firstly explained a cooling principle of the present invention. In a state where a large amount of perspiration is exuded by a human, concretely, where an undergarment is stained with perspiration, the humidity near the undergarment or a skin becomes approximately 100% so that perspiration to be subsequently exuded is disabled from vaporizing. Nonetheless, it is possible to cause perspiration to vaporize even when outside air is 90% in humidity, by flowing a large amount of air. Generally, temperatures are not so high when humidities are extremely high, and conversely, humidities are low when temperatures are extremely high. The temperature to be obtained by evaporation of perspiration is determined by a wet-bulb temperature of a wet and dry bulb thermometer. For example, it is possible to lower a body temperature down to 28° C. even at an atmospheric temperature of 50° C. by evaporating perspiration insofar as the humidity is 20%, such that perspiration can be perfectly vaporized in most environments insofar as a sufficient amount of airstream is flowed.
From a standpoint of cooling a body by evaporation, it is possible to classify perspiration into the following three types.
(1) Immediate effect perspiration: which vaporizes simultaneously with exudation from a body to thereby immediately cool the body.
(2) Delayed effect perspiration: which is exuded from a body in a liquid state to thereby wet an undergarment, such that the perspiration fails to immediately exhibit a cooling effect even when the body requires such an effect, but the perspiration belatedly vaporizes to resultingly cool the body when airstreams are caused, for example.
(3) Ineffective perspiration: which drops from a body, and thus has no effects for cooling the body by evaporation.
When ineffective perspiration is exuded, this is a state where a physiological cooling ability is not duly exhibited such that the body temperature is continuously raised, and this state can be never continued.
When delayed effect perspiration is exuded though ineffective perspiration is not exuded, the body temperature is repeatedly raised and returned to a normal temperature. Although there is felt mugginess and thus uncomfortableness in this state, it is not impossible to continue this state. It is due to such delayed effect perspiration, that cooling effects are felt when exposed to airstreams in a state where an undergarment is wet. Meanwhile, when only immediate effect perspiration is exuded, the perspiration is immediately vaporized without delayed cooling in a manner that the body temperature is unchanged, which is an extremely comfortable state without feeling hotness.
Hotness, coolness and the like are not absolute feelings, and are determined depending on a then movement state of a human, an atmospheric temperature, a humidity, presence/absence of airstreams, and the like, so that the human never feels hotness even when the atmospheric temperature is high insofar as all perspiration is immediate effect perspiration. As such, it is possible to convert all perspiration controlled by a brain into immediate effect perspiration by causing a lot of airstreams to flow parallelly to a wearer's body by means of a cooling suit so as to cause exuded perspiration to immediately vaporize, thereby cooling the wearer's body to an appropriate level. Namely, wearing the cooling suit and causing a large amount of air to flow parallelly to a wearer's body, enables drastic extension of a range of conditions where perspiration exuded from a wearer's body can be evaporated.
There was conducted a practical test for an office work such that a cooling suit capable of flowing a lot of airstreams (30 m3/H) was worn by each wearer sitting on a cooling seat cushion of the same principle and also putting a cooling cap on his/her head. As a result, although the room temperature was raised to about 40° C. as the highest, the wearer who was not so fatty did not feel at all a difference between room temperatures of 25° C. and 40° C. Only, limitation temperatures where hotness was felt, varied wearer by wearer. While it is practically experienced that perspiration in a liquid state is exuded when hotness is felt, it has been rather confirmed by the test that sultriness is not felt when only immediate effect perspiration is exuded without exudation of perspiration in a liquid state. Note that airstreams parallel to a wearer's body never impinge on a wearer's body no matter how strongly the airstreams are flowed, thereby preventing a user from uncomfortable feeling which is otherwise caused when exposed to lukewarm airstreams from an electric fan.
The state, where a human feels most comfortable, is a situation where perspiration is being exuded for heat radiation and the perspiration immediately vaporizes, i.e., a situation where a physiological cooling ability (cooler) is enabled. As conditions for realizing this situation, it is required to constantly cause outside air to flow parallelly to a wearer's body to thereby exhaust moisture to the outside, in a state where the outside air temperature is so high that perspiration is exuded.
As described above, the present invention is configured to cause a lot of airstreams to flow parallelly to a wearer's body to thereby largely extend an effective area under the influence of a physiological cooling ability even in a severe environment where ineffective perspiration is exuded.
FIRST EMBODIMENT There will be explained a best mode for carrying out the present invention according to the present application. There is provided a cooling suit according to a first embodiment of the present invention applied to a short-sleeved jacket of a worksuit.
In this embodiment, the parallel airstream generation devices 3 are provided by two in number, and arranged to suck outside air into the interior of the garment when the parallel airstream generation devices are supplied with electric power through cords (not shown), respectively, from an electric-power source or battery (not shown) detachably provided on the garment 2. Further, the total of air blowing amount of the two parallel airstream generation devices 3 is set at about 10 m3/H. Hereinafter, the parallel airstream generation devices 3 are each simply and occasionally referred to as a fan 3. In turn, the air exit portions 4 of the cooling suit of this embodiment include a gap between a collar portion of the garment and the wearer's body, and gaps between sleeve edges and the arms of the wearer, respectively. The air leakage prevention means 5 is configured to prevent air leakage from a hemline portion of the garment, by passing a string through the hemline portion and by strongly knotting opposite ends of the string together, for example.
The first embodiment is constituted in the above manner. Thus, driving the parallel airstream generation devices 3 introduces air of about 10 m3/H into the interior of the cooling suit 1 through the air inlets 2a to cause positive pressures near the parallel airstream generation devices 3 inside the cooling suit 1 to thereby bulge the garment 2 in a manner to produce a space between the garment simultaneously serving as the guide sheet and the undergarment, so that airstreams tending to embrace the wearer's body are established and the airstreams are caused to exit to the exterior through the air exit portions 4 which are end portions of the cooling suit, respectively. Here, the reason why the garment 2 has been called the guide sheet, is that the garment 2 simultaneously plays a role of a guide for forming airflows which tend to embrace the wearer's body. It is thus desirable that the garment is made from a material less in air leakage such as a tight cloth, and is devised in shape such that a lot of airflows are established.
As described above, establishing a lot of airflows parallelly to the wearer's body, enables a larger extension of an effective area under the influence of a physiological cooling ability of the wearer's body to thereby essentially solve the problem due to hotness, by virtue of the cooling suit of this embodiment.
There will be detailedly explained points in case of applying the cooling suit of the present invention to a worksuit.
Items generally required in case of application to a worksuit are:
(1) that the cooling suit is inexpensive;
(2) that the cooling suit has a larger cooling capacity;
(3) that the cooling suit does not deteriorate the workability of the worksuit; and
(4) that electrical components of the cooling suit are to be readily detached from the worksuit since the worksuit is to be washed so frequently.
Contrary, there is not so emphasized an aspect of fashion of the cooling suit, in case of application to a worksuit.
Firstly, concerning the item (1) of inexpensiveness, conventional cooling suits have each required spacers for previously producing airflow passages for establishing airflows parallel to a wearer's body, such that the spacers have a higher proportion of a total cost of the associated cooling suit. Contrary, in the cooling suit of this embodiment of the present invention, a large amount of air is caused to flow into the interior of the cooling suit to thereby form a space between a wearer's body and the cooling suit by virtue of a pressure of air, so as to flow air through the space, thereby realizing the airflow passages without using spacers.
The item (2) of the larger cooling capacity can be realized by using a large-sized fan and by further adopting a high efficient motor for the fan. As such a motor, there is optimally adopted a brush motor, also taking account of cost. The items (3) and (4) will be described later.
The parallel airstream generation device of this embodiment will be described next.
The parallel airstream generation devices 3 of this embodiment each comprises a sideward-flow fan 3a, an over-cooling prevention cloth 12, and a fan casing 31.
As shown in
As shown in
Each over-cooling prevention cloth 12 is made of a cloth which is high in thermal insulation, and attached to the bottom 9 of the associated fan casing 31. The over-cooling prevention cloth 12 has a contour larger than that of the fan casing 31 by about 5 cm to 15 cm, for example. As shown by inclined arrows in
Further, the cooling suit 1 of this embodiment is provided with suspending means 14.
According to this embodiment, a lot of airstreams of about 10 m3/H blown into between and parallelly to the undergarment 13 and the garment 2 by the parallel airstream generation devices 3, cause positive pressures in the space between the garment 2 and the undergarment to thereby bulge the garment to automatically produce airflow passages between the garment and the undergarment, and the airstreams are exhausted to the exterior through the air exit portions 4 formed at the ends of the garment. In this way, since the cooling suit of this embodiment is capable of producing airflow passages without using spacers for ensuring the airflow passages, the structure of the cooling suit is simplified and can be fabricated inexpensively.
Further, it is certainly possible to cause air to flow even by an airstream amount of about 5 m3/H without using spacers by devising a configuration of the garment, an air resistance at each air exit portion, a weight of the garment, and the like. However, in such a case, it is rather desirable to more assuredly ensure airflow passages by using small spacers at important locations, respectively, from a standpoint of cost and cooling capability. Usable as spacers in this case are sponge-made ones or the like, for example. Further, the upper limit of a total air blowing amount by the parallel airstream generation devices is about 500 m3/H. Upper limits exceeding it lead to more large-sized parallel airstream generation devices to thereby deteriorate the workability, which is impractical. Note that the reason why the garment has been called the “guide sheet”, is that the garment itself simultaneously plays a role for guiding parallel airstreams generated by the parallel airstream generation devices up to the air exit portions 4 acting as air exits, while keeping the airstreams parallel to the wearer's body. As the conditions therefor, it is enough to only adopt a material less in air leakage for a garment in a manner to readily produce a space between an undergarment and the garment by a small pressure. Further, it is not absolutely necessary to cause air to flow along the entirety of the wearer's body covered by the garment, and it is enough to devise the shape of the garment or the like such that air is concentratedly flowed along portions where perspiration apts to be exuded. Particularly, it is generally said that a belly is not to be cooled so much. The air leakage prevention means 5 constituted at the hemline is required to prevent air leakage from the hemline and to exhaust all the airstreams blown from the lower portion of the back side, through the air exit portions 4 acting as air exits formed at end portions, after passing through the back side, chest, armpits, and the like. However, the air leakage prevention means may be omitted depending on an attached position of the parallel airstream generation device, a purpose of use of the cooling suit itself, and the like.
SECOND EMBODIMENTThere will be explained a second embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. The second embodiment is applied to a worksuit having a cooling capacity higher than that of the cooling suit of the first embodiment. The second embodiment has an air blowing capacity of about 20 m3/H which is two times that of the first embodiment. The second embodiment is differentiated from the first embodiment, because, in the second embodiment: there is adopted a propeller as vanes of each parallel airstream generation device, instead of a vane wheel; there is provided a new air exit portion provided with an air permeation sheet, as an exit of air; and there is provided a fixation belt as fixation means for preventing a large fan from being swung due to a movement of a wearer's body. Other configuration is the same as that in of the first embodiment. Thus, like reference numerals as used in the first embodiment are used to denote elements of the second embodiment having the same functions as the first embodiment, and the detailed description thereof will be omitted.
Here, required between a lower end of the propeller and the parallel airstream conversion plate 19 is a spacing “H” which is about ⅕ times a diameter of the propeller, and spacings less than it lead to considerably reduced air blowing amounts. At the minimum, there will be required 1/10 times. Although this leads to an increased thickness of the fan as compared with the sideward-flow fan used in the first embodiment, there is provided an advantage that the same airstream amount as the sideward-flow fan is generated by a power consumption smaller than that of the sideward-flow fan. Note that the spacing “H” may be set at zero depending on the usage, such as when a small amount of airstream will do.
Upon using the cooling suit of this embodiment, arms are passed through the sleeves, respectively, then the strings 21 attached at the front ends of the fixation belt 16 are knotted together before the fastener 6 is closed to thereby fix the fans to the wearer's body, and thereafter the fastener is closed. Of course, the connection means of the fixation belt 16 is not limited to the strings, and magic tape or the like may be used.
According to this embodiment, airstreams blown into the interior of the garment (guide sheet) by the parallel airstream generation devices are guided by the guide sheet parallelly to the wearer's body and exhausted to the exterior through the air exit portions acting as air exits, respectively, in the same manner as the first embodiment. In this embodiment, a part of the upper portion of the back side of the garment is substituted by the air permeation sheet, thereby becoming the second air exit portion in addition to the first air exit portions. It is typical and frequent that a collar portion of a worksuit or the like has a front portion which is to be largely opened and a rear portion which is to be closely contacted with a neck of a wearer. In such a configuration, the collar portion of the worksuit is insufficient at the rear portion thereof in function as an air exit portion, so that airflows are not so established at an upper portion of the back side of the wearer. To aid it, the part of the cloth of the garment at the upper portion of its back side is substituted by the sheet which has an excellent air permeability to thereby cause the part to function as an air exit portion, thereby enabling improvement of an airstream amount at the upper portion of the back side. Other functions and effects of this embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment.
THIRD EMBODIMENT There will be explained a third embodiment of the present invention. The third embodiment is different from the first embodiment and second embodiment, in that the former includes a fixation belt having not only fans but also an electric-power source (battery), cords and the like, attached thereto. Other points are the same as those in the second embodiment. Thus, like reference numerals as used in the second embodiment are used to denote elements of the third embodiment having the same functions as the second embodiment, and the detailed description thereof will be omitted.
According to this embodiment, detaching the fixation belt 160 from the garment allows the fans, electric-power source, and cords to be simultaneously detached without a burden, such as when the cooling suit is to be washed. Further, this embodiment is substantially the same in configuration as the second embodiment insofar as the fixation belt 160 is attached to the garment 2, and the manner for wearing the garment 2 is the same as the second embodiment. The third embodiment has its most remarkable advantage in that the electrical components can be collectively and readily attached and detached upon washing as described above. Further, since all the electrical components are fixed onto the belt, handling is facilitated with less trouble. Note that the fixation belt 160 is to be desirably fabricated from a material which rarely gets dirty and is readily wiped down even when it gets dirty, since the fixation belt itself should not be washed. Particularly preferable is a material which does not absorb perspiration, and it is desirable to perform an antifungal process thereto. Further, attachment and detachment of the fixation belt to and from the garment 2 are not limited to the method by magic tapes, and any method will do insofar as a large air leakage is absent between the fans attached to the fixation belt and the garment. Moreover, the functions and effects of this embodiment are the same as those of the second embodiment.
Examples of fans to be attached onto the fixation belt include one having a front face fan guard, and one without a front face fan guard while forming the front face fan guard at the side of a garment. In this case, it is possible to apply a mesh or the like across an air inlet 2a of a garment, for example, instead of a front face fan guard. Further, as shown in
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and many variants are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention. For example, although the above embodiments have been each described for a situation where the cooling suit is a jacket for working, the present invention may be embodied as a cooling suit which is a pair of overalls including a jacket integrally formed with trousers shown in
Although the above embodiments are each provided with the fastener 6 for opening and closing the associated garment, the present invention is not limited thereto and any method will do insofar as the same provides less air leakage. Contrary, it is possible to allow air leakage to a certain extent, so as to utilize an opening and closing portion of a garment as one of air exits (for example, buttons are used instead of a fastener).
Furthermore, in case of adoption of the propeller fan as the parallel airstream generation device as described in the second embodiment, the thickness of the propeller can be reduced by increasing the number of vanes, such that the fan is not necessarily attached to an inside of a garment and may be attached to an outside of the garment when the entirety of fan is made small in thickness.
In case of adopting vanes of the propeller or mixed-flow fan, the parallel airstream conversion plate as the parallel airstream conversion means has been provided at a position separated from the lower end of the vanes by the spacing “H”. However, the parallel airstream conversion means is not limited to the plate-like shape, and is rather desirably formed into a 3-dimensional shape capable of smoothly converting an airstream direction, such as a parallel airstream conversion plate 190 in a substantially conical shape as shown in
Further, the shape of the cloth is not limited to those which fasten in front such as described in the above embodiments, and may be a T-shirt or the like. In case of a T-shirt, air exit portions are to be provided by a collar portion, sleeves, and hemline of the T-shirt.
The guide sheet (garment) may have a certain air permeability depending on a purpose, insofar as sufficient parallel airstreams can be flowed by a fan(s) providing a larger air blowing amount. In this case, since pressures are particularly increased in an area around the fan(s), the effect thereof is improved by providing a guide sheet (garment) having a smaller air permeability in such an area only. Meanwhile, in case of a long-sleeved cooling suit, it is likely that parallel airstreams are not flowed deeply into sleeves depending on a shape of the cooling suit. In this case, it may be sometimes desirable to adopt a cloth having a due air permeability, since airstreams will then impinge on arms when the arms are moved.
Moreover, the electric-power source means is not limited to a battery, and may be a commercial-power supply. For example, it is possible to supply electric power to the cooling suit of the present invention having its cord kept connected to a commercial-power supply, such as when a wearer works in a state sitting on substantially the same position.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITYAccording to the present invention as described above, it becomes possible to cause a large amount of air to flow parallelly to a wearer's body so as to largely extend an effective area under the influence of a physiological cooling ability of the wearer to thereby assuredly cool the wearer's body even in a situation where a large amount of perspiration is exuded. It is thus possible to apply the present invention to a cooling suit to be used for cooling a wearer's body in a situation where a large amount of perspiration is exuded.
Claims
1-16. (canceled)
17. A cooling suit to be worn on a wearer, comprising:
- at least one air inlet configured to introduce outside air;
- at least one parallel airstream generation means having: vanes; a motor for rotating said vanes; a front face formed with an air suction port; and a side surface formed with a parallel airstream deliver portion; the or each parallel airstream generation means being provided for introducing outside air from said air suction port and for blowing the air substantially in a sideward direction from said parallel airstream deliver portion to generate parallel airstreams which are substantially parallel to the wearer's body;
- a guide sheet simultaneously serving as a garment and for guiding the parallel airstreams generated by the or each parallel airstream generation means, parallelly to the wearer's body;
- at least one air exit portion configured to discharge the parallel airstreams to the exterior; and
- electric-power source means detachably provided on said guide sheet and for supplying electric power to the or each parallel airstream generation means;
- wherein the or each air inlet is formed in said guide sheet;
- wherein the or each parallel airstream generation means is detachably provided inside said guide sheet so that said air suction port of the or each parallel airstream generation means is opposed to the or each associated air inlet formed in said guide sheet, and so that said parallel airstream deliver portion of the or each parallel airstream generation means is positioned inside said guide sheet; and
- wherein the or each parallel airstream generation means cooperatively blows air of a total amount of about 10 m3/H to 500 m3/H into between said guide sheet and an undergarment or wearer's body to cause positive pressures between said guide sheet and the undergarment or wearer's body to thereby produce an air flow space therebetween, and the or each parallel airstream generation means causes the blown air to flow through said air flow space to thereby discharge moisture due to perspiration to the exterior and to thereby constantly feed fresh outside air into said air flow space, thereby largely intensifying conditions where perspiration can be evaporated.
18. The cooling suit of claim 17, wherein the or each parallel airstream generation means comprises a sideward-flow fan.
19. The cooling suit of claim 17, further comprising a fan guard attached to an air inlet of the or each parallel airstream generation means.
20. The cooling suit of claim 17, wherein the or each parallel airstream generation means comprises: a propeller fan or mixed-flow fan; and a parallel airstream conversion plate; and
- wherein said propeller fan or mixed-flow fan and said parallel airstream conversion plate are integrated with each other.
21. The cooling suit of claim 17, wherein the or each parallel airstream generation means includes a parallel airstream deliver portion formed with a fan guard.
22. The cooling suit of any one of claim 17, further comprising suspending means for suspending the or each parallel airstream generation means from the above so that parallel airstreams delivered by the or each parallel airstream generation means are made substantially parallel to the wearer's body.
23. The cooling suit of claim 17, further comprising fixation means provided for fixing the or each parallel airstream generation means to the wearer's body or undergarment.
24. The cooling suit of claim 17, wherein said electric-power source means comprises a fuel cell.
25. The cooling suit of claim 17, wherein the or each parallel airstream generation means are provided by two in total number which include one and the other provided at the right and left of a lower portion of a back side of the wearer, respectively.
26. The cooling suit of claim 17, wherein the or each air exit portion is an end of said guide sheet simultaneously serving as the garment.
27. The cooling suit of claim 17, wherein the or each air exit portion comprises a sheet having a larger air permeability constituting a portion of said guide sheet simultaneously serving as the garment.
28. The cooling suit of claim 17, further comprising spacers attached to said guide sheet simultaneously serving as the garment, at important locations of said guide sheet, respectively.
29. The cooling suit of claim 23, wherein said fixation means includes, attached thereto: the or each parallel airstream generation means; an electric-power source for supplying electric power to the or each parallel airstream generation means; and connection means for electrically connecting the or each parallel airstream generation means to said electric-power source.
30. The cooling suit of claim 29, wherein said fixation means is made of a material having a low water absorptivity.
31. The cooling suit of claim 30, wherein said fixation means is formed of a material performed an antifungal process.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 29, 2004
Publication Date: Mar 8, 2007
Applicant: SEFT DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY CO., LTD. (Saitama-shi)
Inventor: Hiroshi Ichigaya (Saitama)
Application Number: 10/566,685
International Classification: A41D 13/00 (20060101);