INTELLIGENT ARTICLE OF CLOTHING WITH AN ACTIVE THERMAL PROTECTION
The area the invention deals with
The invention deals with intelligent clothing with incorporated or attached sensors and executive devices (actuators), with or without a computer incorporated or attached and a system of electrical power connection, with the aim of achieving active automatic thermal insulation. According to the International Patent Classification (MKP) it can be classified as A 41 D 13/00 (Outer clothing; Protective clothing; Accessories; sub-class Professional, industrial and sports protective clothing).
The technical problem involved
Conventional materials and procedures are as a rule used in garment manufacture now. Natural or man-made textile fabrics are almost exclusively used in garment manufacture. Articles of clothing are primarily used for protection, thermal insulation most often, which is generally permanent, depending upon the thickness of the fabric used, and for decoration as well. Protective role of an article of clothing is determined by its design and construction, is passive by nature and cannot be changed as a rule. To protect from cold, people wear thicker clothing, or use multiple layers of thinner articles of clothing. When the outside temperature rises, people unbutton their clothes or take it off.
By this invention the authors wish to change the passive character of the clothing into an intensively active one, incorporating measuring and other sensors onto or under the articles of clothing, such that could detect the conditions related to the environment of the clothing, process these data and bring decisions which would give active character to the clothing, or offer a varying and adaptable automatic function of protecting from the cold. Electrical connections and electronic assemblies in the clothing, with a pre-determined function are used in the process, while, with the aid of a computer, some other functions associated with the development of such clothing and artificial intelligence, could also be performed and regulated. Contemporary state of miniaturisation of electronic components makes a successful integration of sensors, actuators, power and data buses possible, even a direct incorporation of microcomputers into the articles of clothing.
Incorporation of electronic components and assemblies into the articles of clothing enables them to realise completely active thermal reactions. For example, the temperature of the environment and the temperature of the wearer's skin can be detected and pads of thermal protection activated or deactivated, as necessary, to increase or decrease thermal insulation properties of the article of clothing in question. In this way, under the conditions of detected cold of the environment and lowered temperature of body skin, specially designed thermal protection pads are activated and automatically increase thermal protection properties of the clothing, until thermal balance is achieved. A reverse process is also feasible. An intelligent article of clothing, with an active thermal protection function, could make obsolete the practice of taking the clothes on and off under the conditions of changes in the environment temperature or physical exercise, when the body produces high quantities of thermal energy. The clothing would, through its ability to adapt automatically to the newly created conditions, react and change the conditions of wearing by varying thermal insulation.
State of the art
The integration of electronic components as thermal sensors on and/or within an articles of clothing, as well as the integration of converters, measuring amplifiers, assemblies and regulating systems into clothing have not been used to achieve automatic thermal protection until now. The patent described would improve the state of the art in the field considerably.
Description of the main aspects of the patent
The primary aim of the invention is to change the passive character of the thermal protection offered by clothing into an active one, by enabling the clothing itself to determine the thermal conditions of the body (body temperature, thermal flow, relative humidity and air temperature within the clothing and/or some other thermodynamic parameter), as well as of the environment, and to match with no outside intervention the characteristics and values of the clothing thermal insulation properties. An intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection should, to achieve the above, have measuring sensors and devices, an electronic assembly and a computer to control it, as well as an actuator system to regulate thermal characteristics.
Thermal properties of an intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection can be varied by actuating various combinations of insulation chambers and or by varying the thickness of the insulation chambers.
An intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection can also have the option of manually varying the insulation properties, i.e. by actuating hand pumps for compressed air or actuating electrical pumps.
Short description of the drawing
The drawing attached to the description of the patent illustrates the manner, most comprehensively discussed and realised, of an actual realisation of the patent, helping also in explaining the basic principles of the patent.
Fig. 1 presents the basic elements of an intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection and incorporated sensors. The manner of workings of the patent can clearly be seen. Thermal protection is realised by, for example, higher or lower compressed air pressure, that is conducted through the tubes into the air insulation chambers. Higher air pressure inflates the insulation chamber volume, and with it the thickness of the air pad, which directly regulates the degree of thermal protection.
Fig. 2 shows six variants of thermal protection, achieved by various combinations of the air insulation pads activated. Fig. 2a shows an intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection, under the conditions when not a single insulation chamber is activated. Body heat is removed by conduction (1) and convection (2). Fig. 2b shows an intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection, under the conditions when only the lower belt insulation chamber is activated. This is the case of a minimum thermal protection, as the removal of the heat by conduction is virtually unchanged, while convection is reduced. Fig. 2c shows an intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection, under the conditions when only the shoulder insulation chamber is activated. There is no heat removal by convection, while conduction is reduced.
Fig. 2d shows an intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection, under the conditions when the lower belt and shoulder insulation chambers are activated. Heat removal by conduction is reduced here. Fig. 2e shows an intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection, under the conditions when only the chest and back insulation chambers are activated. Both convection and conduction removal of the heat are reduced. Fig. 2f shows an intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection, under the conditions when all the insulation chambers are activated and maximum thermal protection is achieved.
Detailed description of at least one of the manners of realising the patent
In this chapter the details of realisation and functioning of the patent will be presented, with an example illustrated by a drawing attached.
The patent can be realised according to the Fig 1, so that, for example, a number of thermal insulation chambers are incorporated into an insert in the article of clothing presented. The thermal insulation chambers have small tubes through which the compressed air is conducted. The shoulder insulation chamber is inflated through the tube (1), left chest through the tube (2) and right chest through the tube (3). The back insulation chamber is inflated through the tube (4) and the belt insulation chamber through the tube (5). Each chamber should have its own sensor for the compressed air pressure, the shoulder has the sensor (6), the chest the sensor (7) and the belt the sensor (8). Air pressure determines the thickness of the insulation chamber and its thermal regulating properties. Thermal regulation properties within the article of clothing are measured by the sensor (9), while the sensor (10) is used to measure the environment. The relation of the parameters within the article of clothing and the outer ones dictates the character of the decision on the thickness of the thermal insulation chambers, and through it the thermal insulation properties of the article of clothing, achieved by varying the pressure of the air in the chambers. Additional thermal insulation properties can be achieved through different combinations of activated and deactivated thermal insulation chambers.
The manner of applying the patent
The procedures described make an active thermal protection possible, dependent upon the measured thermodynamic parameters within the article of clothing, on the environment near to the body of the wearer and on the parameters of the environment. In case the sensor (9) detects a drop in the temperature of the skin of the wearer, or some other change in thermodynamic parameters in the microclimatic conditions between the wearer's body and the intelligent article of clothing, a decision can be made to increase the level of thermal protection. The level of thermal protection will depend on the thermodynamic parameters measured in the outer environment. Increased insulation properties can be achieved by blowing-in the compressed air into each of the chambers, thus increasing the volume, i.e. thickness of the chambers inflated. Depending upon the ration of the thermodynamic parameters, partial thermal insulation can also be achieved, so that the thermal protection of a particular combination of thermal insulation chambers is activated.
In case of increased bodily effort, when the skin temperature of the wearer rises, the air from the thermal insulation chambers can be, partially or entirely, released, reducing thus the thermal protection and increasing air circulation and conducting the heat from the body.
Following the principles described, the procedures of active regulation can be performed completely automatically, using electronic assemblies or a computer that controls the compressed air pumps, the devices for electrical energy feed, miniature electrical valves and a measuring system. In this way, an intelligent article of clothing with the active thermal protection can be used not only for industrial professional protective clothing and sportswear, but for the conventional everyday articles of clothing as well.