Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05B—ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES, IN GENERAL
  • H05B1/00—Details of electric heating devices
  • H05B1/02—Automatic switching arrangements specially adapted to apparatus ; Control of heating devices
  • H05B1/0227—Applications
  • H05B1/0252—Domestic applications
  • H05B1/0272—For heating of fabrics

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a heating system for all types of clothing including but not limited to footwear, gloves, jacket, hats, pants and sweaters. More particularly, this system prevents overheating which could hurt the user.
• thermal shoes and thermal clothing having an electrical heating system. Some of them are made of heating wire such as carbon fiber bundles as a heating source. Some of them are made of resistance conductive strips as a heating source, such as US patent 4948951. Others such as US patent 3977093 and US2009/0013554 Al, are made using resistors as a heating source. Still others have a thermal sensor to control the heating temperature after the heating system heats up. All of them have a chance for overheating if short circuits occurred or the external temperature is above a predetermined temperature. As a result, the user can be burned. To solve this problem of inadvertently burning the user, this invention provides a system to stop the heating if the external detected temperature is higher than the predetermined and pre-established temperature.
• the present invention comprises at least one thermal sensor, a controller, a switch, a power source and a heating plate, which when connected together, form a heating system.
• the heating plate is made of electrically resistive materials such as carbon fiber, resistance conductive strip, or similar resistive heating material.
• the heat conductive textile layer is used for contacting the user's body and the insulating textile layer is used to prevent heat lost.
• the thermal sensor is placed on or closely adjacent to the heating plate to ensure its measured temperature is the temperature at or closely adjacent to the heating plate.
• the preferred power source is a Li-ion polymer rechargeable battery and could be charged through an adaptor that is plugged into a conventional power source.
• the controller in the system analyzes the signals coming from the thermal sensor before allowing the heating plate to heat up. If these signals represent a detected temperature higher than the pre-determined temperature (for example 55 ⁇ J) , the controller in the system will not operate and allow heating of the heating plate. If the signals represent a detected temperature lower than the pre-determined temperature, the controller in the system will operate for heating until the thermal sensor senses the temperature higher or equal to the per-determined temperature. As a result, this procedure could prevent overheating from occurring if the external temperature is higher than the pre-determined temperature or if short circuits occur.
• the heating plate could be stitched and adhered anywhere in the clothing, footwear, gloves and accessories.
• the power source could be inserted into or hung on the footwear, clothing, gloves and accessories.
• Fig. 1 is an electrical schematic diagram for the preferred invention utilizing one heating plate.
• Fig. 2 is an electrical schematic diagram for an alternate embodiment of the invention utilizing two heating plates.
• Fig.3 is an electrical schematic diagram for a second alternate embodiment of the invention utilizing two thermal sensors.
• Fig. 1 there is illustrated an electrical schematic of the preferred embodiment of the invention. It consists of a power supply (1), a controller (2), a switch (5), a thermal sensor (4), a resistor (6) and a heating plate (3).
• the heating plate (3) should be an electrically resistive material that when electricity is passed through it, it will heat up to a desired temperature. It is preferably thin and flexible so that it can be inserted between the two sheets of material as described above, and further inserted into clothing such as gloves, jackets, footwear and other similar clothing items that will be comfortably worn by the user.
• the thermal sensor (4) is used for detecting the external or ambient temperature.
• the thermal sensor (4) resistance becomes low and allows large current flowing. Then the potential difference across this thermal sensor (4) becomes low. That means the thermal sensor (4) output signal is at a low level.
• the controller (2) does not allow current flowing from the power supply (1) to the heating plate (3) for heating the heating plate (3).
• the thermal sensor (4) resistance becomes high and only allows small current flowing. Then the potential difference across the thermal sensor (4) becomes high. That means the thermal sensor (4) output signal is at a high level.
• the controller (2) allows current flowing from the power supply (1) to the heating plate (3) for heating.
• the controller (2) does not give out a signal to allow current flowing from the power supply (1) to the heating plate (3) for heating until the controller (2) insures the potential difference across the thermal sensor (4) is at a high level. This will prevent overheating that may occur if the detected external or ambient temperature exceeds the per- determined temperature.
• Fig.2 is an electrical schematic diagram for another embodiment of the invention. It consists of a power supply (7), a controller (8), a switch (12), a thermal sensor (11), resistor (13) and at least two heating plates (9, 10).
• the switch (12) closes, the controller (8) does not emit a signal to allow current flowing from the power supply (7) to the heating plates (9, 10) for heating until the controller (8) ensures the potential difference across the thermal sensor (11) is at a high level. This only occurs when the external or ambient temperature detected by the thermal sensor (11) is lower than the pre-determined external or ambient temperature.
• the heating plates (9, 10) could be placed at two different preferred locations allowing the user to heat two different pieces of clothing such as a pair of gloves, two foot warmers, a jacket and a hat, etc.
• Fig.3 is an electrical schematic diagram for another embodiment of the invention. It consists of a power supply (14), a controller (15), a switch (20), thermal sensors (18, 19), resistors (21, 22) and heating plates (16, 17).
• the switch (20) closes, the controller (15) does not emit a signal to allow current flowing from the power supply (14) to each of the heating plates (16, 17) for heating them until the controller (15) insures the potential differences across corresponding thermal sensors (18,19) are at a high level.
• thermal sensor (18) is placed on or closely adjacent to its corresponding heating plate (16). If its potential difference is high, the controller (15) will generate a signal to allow current flowing from the power supply (14) to its corresponding heating plate (16) for heating.
• the controller (15) will not generate a signal to allow current to flow from the power supply (14) to its corresponding heating plate (16) for heating until the thermal sensor (18) detects the pre-determined temperature.
• the controller (15) will generate a signal to allow current to flow from the power supply (14) to its corresponding heating plate (17) until the thermal sensor (19) detects the pre-determined temperature.
• the advantage of this embodiment is to generate different pre-determined preferred temperatures at different locations where the heating plates (16, 17) are located.
• the thermal sensors (4)(11)(18)(19) can be either fixed or adjustable. This means that if they are fixed, the detected temperature at which the resistence becomes low or high is fixed and not variable. In an alternate configuration, one or more of the thermal sensors can be adjustable. This allows the user to adjust the temperature at which the resistance becomes low or high, thus giving the user some selectivity as to the temperature when the heating plates are energized.

Landscapes

• Professional, Industrial, Or Sporting Protective Garments (AREA)
• Footwear And Its Accessory, Manufacturing Method And Apparatuses (AREA)
• Gloves (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=49949312

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (1)

Cited By (2)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 2013
  • 2013-06-25 WO PCT/IB2013/002483 patent/WO2014013347A2/fr not_active Ceased

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