JP5862414B2 - Cloth heater - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cloth heater capable of selectively heating a plurality of parts.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a cloth-like heater in which conductive yarn is incorporated in a textile product and the whole textile product is warmed by heat generated when the conductive yarn is energized. (For example, see Patent Document 1)
By energizing the conductive yarn 130 in the intermediate layer, the entire surface can be uniformly heated.

JP 2010-144312 A (FIG. 1)

In order to obtain a desired temperature distribution by providing a plurality of heating parts incorporating conductive fibers in such a conventional cloth heater, when a voltage is selectively applied for each heating part, Therefore, it is difficult to make the cloth heater have the intended temperature distribution.
Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to heat only the selected warming site, suppress the heat generated in the warming site from being transmitted to the surroundings of the selected warming site, and achieve an intended temperature distribution. An object of the present invention is to provide a cloth heater.

In the cloth heater of the present invention,
It has a connection thread of the 3rd fiber layer which electrically connects the 1st conduction part provided in the 1st fiber layer, and the 2nd conduction part provided in the 2nd fiber layer, and the 1st conduction part and the 1st It has a plurality of heat generating layers made of connecting yarns provided between the two conductive portions, and has a heat insulating layer between adjacent heat generating layers as the main feature.

  According to the cloth heater of the present invention, the first conduction part provided in the first fiber layer and the second conduction part provided in the second fiber layer are electrically connected with a predetermined electrical resistance value. A heat insulating layer having heat insulating properties is provided around a plurality of heat generating layers made of connecting yarns to be connected, and the selected heat generating layer between the selected first conductive portion and the selected second conductive portion is controlled by the control means. When voltage is applied, it is possible to suppress the heat generated by the selected heat generating layer from being transmitted to other heat generating layers by the heat insulating layer. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the unintended part from being heated, and to make the cloth heater have the intended temperature distribution.

Overall view of a seat with a cloth heater on the seating surface Schematic showing the structure of the cloth heater in the first embodiment (A) AA sectional view of FIG. 2, (b) BB sectional view of FIG. Schematic showing the structure of the cloth heater in the second embodiment CC sectional view of FIG. (A) Other form 1 of connecting thread, (b) Other form 2 of connecting thread (A) Other forms of cloth heater, (b) Other forms of intermediate heating layer

Hereinafter, the embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, taking as an example the case where the cloth heater of the present invention is used as a heater for an automobile seat.
1 to 3 show a first embodiment of a cloth heater according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is an overall view of a seat provided with a cloth heater 1 on a seating surface, and FIG. 2 shows the structure of the cloth heater 1. Partial schematic, FIG. 3
FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of FIG.

  The cloth heater 1 of the present embodiment is provided on the seat surface of the seat as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the cloth heater has an upper layer conductive portion 4 (corresponding to the first conductive portion described in the claims) and an upper layer nonconductive portion 5 (corresponding to the first nonconductive portion described in the claims). Lower layer 3 (corresponding to claim 2) consisting of upper layer 2 (corresponding to the first fiber layer described in claims) and lower layer conducting part 6 (corresponding to the second conducting part described in claims) provided alternately and in parallel. And an intermediate layer 8 (corresponding to the third fiber layer described in the claims) provided between the upper layer 2 and the lower layer 3.

The upper layer conductive portion 4 is composed of a plurality of upper layer conductive portions 4a, b, c,... Which are made of silver coated fibers (manufactured by Shaoxing Unjia Boshoku Co., Ltd.) and have a width of 10 mm and a length of 200 mm. 4 is provided with an upper non-conductive portion 6 having a width of 2 mm and a length of 200 mm formed of a fiber made of polyester fiber (manufactured by Central Fiber Material, Gunze Polina), which is a non-conductive resin. The lower layer 3 is composed of a lower layer conductive portion 6a in which a silver coating fiber (manufactured by Shaoxing Yuka Textile Co., Ltd.) is woven into the entire surface.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the intermediate layer 8 reciprocates between the upper layer conductive portion 4 and the lower layer conductive portion 6 to electrically connect the upper layer conductive portion 4 and the lower layer conductive portion 6. Formed of an intermediate heat generating layer 9 (corresponding to the heat generating layer described in the claims) formed of the connecting yarn 8a, and a heat insulating yarn 8b having heat insulating properties that reciprocates between the upper layer non-conductive portion 5 and the lower layer conductive portion 6, It consists of the intermediate | middle heat insulation layer 10 (equivalent to the heat insulation layer of a claim) provided between the adjacent intermediate | middle heat_generation | fever layers 9. FIG.

The connecting yarn 8a is a conductive polymer fiber having a diameter of about 10 μm obtained by a wet spinning method. A conductive polymer PEDOT / PSS once filtered using acetone (manufactured by Wako Chemical Co., Ltd .: 019-00353) as a solvent phase. Water dispersion (Clevios ^R P from Starck) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)
, Manufactured by Kanto Chemical Co., Ltd.) and extruded from a microsyringe (manufactured by Ito Seisakusho, MS-GLL100, needle inner diameter 260 μm) at a rate of 2 μL / min. As a result of measuring the electrical conductivity of this conductive polymer fiber in accordance with JIS K 7194 (Test method for electrical resistivity of conductive plastics using the 4-probe method), the electrical resistivity (Ω · cm) is about 10 ^{− 1} Ω · cm.

Using a circular knitting machine made by Fukuhara Seiki Co., Ltd., the gauge, number of units, etc., the thickness of the variable resistance heating layer 8 between the upper layer 2 and the lower layer 3 is 10 mm, and the upper layer 2 of the resistance variable heating layer 8 is horizontal. Adjustment was made so that the total area of the cross section of the conductive polymer fiber per unit area of the flat surface was 50%.
The heat insulating yarn 8b is made of polyester fiber (manufactured by central fiber material, Gunze Polina) in the same manner as the upper layer non-conductive portion.

The upper layer conductive portion 4 of the upper layer 2 and the lower layer conductive portion 6 of the lower layer 3 are connected to a voltage application controller 13 (corresponding to the control means in the claims).
The case where the intermediate heat generating layer 9a composed of the connecting yarn 8a electrically connected to the upper layer conductive portion 4a and the lower layer conductive portion 6a is heated will be described. When a predetermined voltage is applied between the upper layer conductive portion 4a and the lower layer conductive portion 6a by the voltage application controller 13, the connecting yarn 8a provided between the upper layer conductive portion 4a and the lower layer conductive portion 6a has a high electrical resistivity. Therefore, heat is generated, and the intermediate heat generating layer 9a made of the connecting yarn 8a generates heat.

At this time, since the intermediate heat generating layer 9a is adjacent to the intermediate heat insulating layer 10 having heat insulation properties, the heat generated in the intermediate heat generating layer 9a is transmitted to the intermediate heat generating layers 9b and 9c through the intermediate heat insulating layer 10. It becomes possible to suppress.
As described above, the cloth heater 1 has the intermediate heat generation layer 9 adjacent to the intermediate heat generation layer 9 so that the heat generated in the intermediate heat generation layer 9 is transmitted to the other intermediate heat generation layers 9 through the surrounding intermediate heat generation layer 10. This is suppressed, and the cloth heater 1 can be heated to an intended temperature distribution.

  FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment, in which the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. As shown in FIG. 4, the upper layer 2 in which the upper layer conductive portions 4 and the upper layer non-conductive portions 5 are alternately provided in parallel, and the lower layer 3 in which the lower layer conductive portions 6 and the lower layer non-conductive portions 7 are alternately provided in parallel. An intermediate heat generating layer 9 formed by a connecting yarn 8a that electrically connects and reciprocates the upper layer conductive portion 4 and the lower layer conductive portion 6, and adjacent to the periphery of the intermediate heat generating layer 9, the upper layer conductive portion 4 and the lower layer conductive portion 4 An intermediate heat insulating layer 10 composed of a heat insulating yarn 8b that connects the non-conductive portion 7, or connects the upper layer non-conductive portion 5 and the lower layer conductive portion 6, or connects the upper layer non-conductive portion 5 and the lower layer non-conductive portion 7. Become.

  The upper layer 2, the upper layer conductive portion 4, and the upper layer non-conductive portion 5 are the same as in the first embodiment. The lower layer 3 is formed of a polyester fiber, and the lower layer conductive portion 6 is formed by applying a conductive paste (made by Fujikura Chemical Co., Dotite) to the lower layer 3 and has a plurality of lower layer conductive portions 6a, b, c. The lower layer non-conductive portion 7 indicates a portion having a width of 200 mm and a length of 2 mm where the conductive paste is not applied. The lower layer conducting part 6 is electrically connected to all the upper layer conducting parts 4 by the connecting thread 8a. When viewed from above the sheet, the side along the longitudinal direction of the upper layer conducting part 4 and the side along the longitudinal direction of the lower layer conducting part 6 Are arranged so as to go straight.

Upper layer conductive portions 4a, 4b, 4c and lower layer conductive portions 6a, 6b, 6c are connected to a voltage application controller 13 (not shown).
A case will be described in which the intermediate heat generating layer 9e composed of the connecting yarn 8a electrically connected to the upper layer conductive portion 4b and the lower layer conductive portion 6b is heated. When a predetermined voltage is applied between the upper layer conductive portion 4b and the lower layer conductive portion 6b by the voltage application controller 13, the connecting yarn 8a provided between the upper layer conductive portion 4b and the lower layer conductive portion 6b has a high electrical resistivity. Therefore, since heat is generated, the intermediate heat generating layer 9e made of these connecting yarns 8a generates heat.

As shown in FIG. 5 which is a CC cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, the intermediate heat generating layer 9e surrounds the intermediate heat generating layer 9e, so that the heat generated in the intermediate heat generating layer 9e is generated by the intermediate heat insulating layer 9e. 10, it is possible to suppress transmission to the intermediate heat generation layers 9 a, 9 b, 9 c, 9 d, 9 f, 9 g, 9 h, and 9 i.
As described above, the cloth heater 1 has the intermediate heat insulating layer 10 adjacent to the periphery of the intermediate heat generating layer 9 so that the heat generated in the selected intermediate heat generating layer 9 passes through the other intermediate heat insulating layer to the other intermediate heat generating layer 9. Propagation to the heat generation layer is suppressed, and the cloth heater 1 can be heated to the intended temperature distribution.

By the way, although the cloth-like heater 1 of the present invention has been described by taking the above embodiment as an example, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various other embodiments can be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, it can be applied not only to automobile seats but also to various uses such as cushion covers and hot carpets.
The intermediate non-functional layer of the present invention can be formed into a gas layer such as air by forming a cavity in addition to an insulating fiber. However, if the cavity is too large, the rigidity of the surface of the cloth-like heater 1 with respect to the applied pressure becomes non-uniform, and when used for a seat, bed, etc., the sitting comfort and the sleeping comfort are uncomfortable. Therefore, it is required to make the intermediate heat generation layer large and the intermediate heat insulation layer small.

Examples of conductive materials used in the present invention include metal wires such as gold, silver, copper and nichrome, carbon-based materials such as carbon and graphite, particles made of semiconductors such as metals and metal oxides, acetylene-based and complex 5-membered Any of ring-type, phenylene-type, and aniline-type conductive polymers may be employed.
Examples of carbon-based materials as conductive materials include carbon fibers other than those generally commercially available such as carbon fibers (Torayca (Toray), Donakabo (Osaka Gas Chemical Co., Ltd.)). It is also possible to use fibers spun by mixing carbon powder or the like.

On the other hand, examples of particles used as the conductive material include carbon-based powders such as carbon black and ketjen black, metal fine particles such as carbon-based fibers, iron, and aluminum, and tin oxide (SnO ₂ ) as semiconductive fine particles. And zinc oxide (ZnO).
Those made of these materials alone, those coated on the surface by vapor deposition, coating, etc., those used as a core material and coated on the surface with another material can be used.

Among these, it is desirable to use carbon fiber or carbon powder as the conductive material from the viewpoint of easy availability in the market and specific gravity. There is no particular limitation on whether the conductive material is made of a single material or a plurality of materials.
In order to provide air permeability, the upper layer 2 and the lower layer 3 themselves are preferably formed of fibers. However, the upper layer conductive portion 4 and the lower layer conductive portion 6 are uniformly formed in the upper layer 2 and the lower layer 3 in a strip shape or on the entire surface. It can also be formed by applying a paint or the like. Examples of the conductive paint include Dotite manufactured by Fujikura Kasei.

As a cloth heater, the upper layer conductive portion 4 and the lower layer conductive portion 6 have substantially the same cross-sectional area as the fibers forming the upper layer 2, the lower layer 3 and the intermediate layer 8 in the sense of avoiding a sense of incongruity due to a difference in partial hardness. It is also possible to use a metal wire or a conductive fiber such as a twisted wire obtained by twisting a metal such as nickel.
The upper non-conductive part 5 and the lower non-conductive part 7 which are non-conductive parts, and the intermediate heat insulating layer 10 are made of polyamide such as nylon 6, nylon 66, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene terephthalate containing a copolymer component, polybutylene terephthalate, polyacrylonitrile. From the viewpoint of cost and practicality, it is preferable to use fibers made of general-purpose resins such as single or mixed.

Further, the upper layer 2 and the lower layer 3 have no particular problem as long as they form a breathable cloth. However, the resistance can be changed by using the above-mentioned woven fabric, nonwoven fabric, knitted fabric, or the like. It is also preferable from the viewpoint of fixing the heat generating layer 8, the purpose of generating heat to feel warmth, the purpose of uniform deformation due to pressure, and the purpose of maintaining insulation between the upper and lower layers.
The short-circuit prevention layer of the present invention is installed in parallel with the upper and lower layers. This is because, when sensing between the upper and lower layers, the method of changing the resistance value differs for each sensing portion unless parallel. If they are installed in parallel, even if they are close to the upper layer or close to the lower layer, the uniformity of the sensing output can be maintained. Extremely, it may be in contact with the inside of the upper layer or the lower layer, or the side where the resistance variable heating layer is present. However, installation in both upper and lower layers is not preferable because the sensing performance is lowered. In order to make the sensing performance as high as possible, it is more preferable to install it between the upper and lower layers.

As a control means for the intermediate heat generating layer used to generate heat at an arbitrary portion, a commonly used switching element, relay or the like is used alone or in combination.
The insulator referred to in the present invention refers to a material having an electrical performance insulating property, and generally refers to a material having low electrical conductivity. Here, the resistivity is generally greater than 10 ⁶ Ω · cm.
The resistivity referred to here means a resistivity determined in accordance with JIS K 7194 (Resistivity test method by conductive probe 4-probe method).

  In the present invention, the fiber refers to a fiber that is spun by a method such as melt spinning, wet spinning, electrospinning, or the like, as well as a slit such as a film cut. The diameter and width of the fibers at this time are about several μm to several hundreds of μm per one. When forming a woven fabric or knitted fabric, weaving, ease of knitting, weaving, woven fabric after knitting, knitted fabric It is preferable because of its softness as a fabric and ease of handling as a fabric.

By making these fibers into bundles (bundles) of several tens to several thousands, handling as fibers becomes easy. At this time, twisting may be applied.
In the present invention, these fibers and / or bundle fibers are used to form the fabric.
Synthetic fibers refer to fibers using general-purpose resins. Polyamides such as nylon 6 and nylon 66, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene terephthalate containing copolymer components, polybutylene terephthalate, and polyacrylonitrile, which are used for the general fibers described above. A fiber made of a general-purpose resin such as a single resin or a mixture thereof is used.

Although it is physically possible to use natural fibers, when considering the heater performance, it is preferable because the quality of the fiber diameter and the variation in physical properties in the fiber length direction is more easily obtained from the synthetic fibers, Synthetic fibers are preferable from the viewpoint of cost and availability.
In the present invention, the connecting yarn 8a does not necessarily have to be connected by one at the connecting portion 11, and as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, either the upper layer 2 or the lower layer 3, or the upper layer 2 and the lower layer 3 and the connecting yarn 8a may be cut off. However, the cut end 12 needs to be fixed to the upper layer 2 or the lower layer 3 by some means.

  In the second embodiment of the present invention, the longitudinal direction of the upper conductive portion 4 and the longitudinal direction of the lower conductive portion 6 intersect each other. However, as shown in FIG. A mode in which the longitudinal directions of the lower layer conductive portions 6 are parallel is also possible. Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, an embodiment in which the connecting yarn 8 a connects the upper layer conductive portion 4 and the lower layer conductive portion 6 not located at the shortest distance from the upper layer conductive portion 4 is also possible.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cloth heater 2 Upper layer 3 Lower layer 4 Upper layer conduction | electrical_connection part 5 Upper layer non-conduction part 6 Lower layer conduction | electrical_connection part 7 Lower layer non-conduction part 8 Intermediate | middle layer 8a Connecting thread 9 Intermediate | middle heat generating layer 10 Intermediate | middle heat insulation layer

Claims (5)

A first fiber layer, a second fiber layer provided at a position facing and spaced apart from the first fiber layer, and a third fiber layer provided between the first fiber layer and the second fiber layer A cloth heater having
The first fiber layer has a plurality of conductive first conductive portions electrically insulated by a first non-conductive portion having insulation,
The second fiber layer has a second conductive part having conductivity,
The third fiber layer is entangled with the first conductive portion and the second conductive portion, and electrically connects the first fiber layer and the second fiber layer with a predetermined electrical resistance value. A plurality of heat generating layers made of connecting yarns, and a heat insulating layer that suppresses heat from being transmitted to the surroundings between the adjacent heat generating layers,
A cloth heater having a control means for applying a voltage between the selected first conductive portion and the second conductive portion to generate heat in the connecting yarn The second fiber layer is electrically insulated by a second non-conductive portion having insulation, and has a plurality of second conductive portions having conductivity,
The cloth heater according to claim 1, wherein the second conduction portion is electrically connected to the first conduction portion by the connecting yarn.   3. The cloth heater according to claim 1, wherein the heat insulating layer is made of a heat insulating material having a lower thermal conductivity than the heat generating layer or the first conductive portion or the second conductive portion.   4. The cloth heater according to claim 3, wherein the heat insulating material is made of a fiber having a lower thermal conductivity than the heat generation layer or the first conduction part or the second conduction part.   4. The cloth heater according to claim 3, wherein the heat insulating material is made of gas.

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