AU2009100172A4

AU2009100172A4 - Heated garment

Info

Publication number: AU2009100172A4
Application number: AU2009100172A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Michael Christopher Ray
Original assignee: Rip Curl Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Rip Curl Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2008-02-19
Filing date: 2009-02-19
Publication date: 2009-03-26
Anticipated expiration: 2017-02-19

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Invention Title: Heated garment The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: Heated Garment Field of the invention I This invention relates to a heated garment and particularly to a flexible heated garment S such as a wet suit worn in aquatic environments and powered by a portable power source.

Background of the invention Flexible insulated garments such as wet suits are often worn when performing outdoor activities particularly water based sports. These flexible insulating garments are produced in a variety of thicknesses depending on the temperature of the environment D which the activity is being performed in and the level of physical intensity of the activity.

As the insulated material of the garments increasingly restricts movement with increasing thickness, parts of the garment requiring more freedom of movement such as arms and legs may often be made from different thickness material to provide greater mobility. This also allows core areas of the body of the garment to be made from thicker material to retain core heat.

Suppliers to the deep sea diving industry have provided heated diving suits for divers to maintain body temperatures in cold water. These heated garments are powered by an external power supply in proximity to the air supply for the air supply hoses with a power line often being coupled to the air supply hose and run down to the diver. The heating elements are often located in the inner garment and the heating element usually attached to the garment on a rigid support to prevent breakage and malfunction of the element.

Since divers operating at depth usually are not able to move quickly due to the pressure of the water, impediments to the movement such as thick garment layers and the inclusion of rigid supports for the heaters are not seen as a major disadvantage.

1034312 c- 5 Recently, others have sought to adapt such heating systems to wet suits using either a separate inner garment or a fairly rigid heating element attached to positions on the back of the wet suit. Such arrangements have proven unsatisfactory due to difficulties in water proofing the connections to the heating element in itself and the relative rigidity of the heating element. Additionally, the heated the coils tend to be sandwiched between two rigid layers of a plastic type material into a fixed shape, usually a rectangle, and then attached as a "rectangle" with elements running through it. This rigidity reduces the overall flexibility of the garment and also limits the opportunities for positioning the element in different parts of the garment.

0 Summary of the invention The applicant has been exploring the area of heated wet suits primarily for water based activities such as surfing, skiing and canoeing in which the heating element is sufficiently flexible to reliably move with and not restrict the wearer during the activity and not be susceptible to damage by the rigours of the wearer's activity. The heating element must be located in a water resistant position or itself be able to tolerate contact with water and ideally the heating element also needs to be powered by a power source which can be located in a part of the suit that does not cause discomfort to the wearer.

A method of producing a flexible heating garment for covering at least the upper torso of a wearer and heating one or more predetermined areas of the wearer, at least one of the predetermined areas of the wearer including a back region of the wearer, the method including the steps of: securing in a predetermined pattern a bendable waterproof heating element to a flexible mounting region on a garment; and fastening a flexible mounting cover against the garment to form a heating element enclosure, the heating element being between the flexible mounting cover and the flexible mounting region of the garment; the predetermined pattern being configured so that in use the heating elements are positioned to heat the predetermined areas of the wearer.

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Preferably the heating element is waterproofed and most preferably provided with water S proof connections which are connected to a control device within the enclosure and the S control device connected to a portable power supply such as a battery. The heating element itself may be covered with a water proof coating and having a water proof seal to the connectors. The heating element is bendable to enable it to be shaped to heat the predetermined areas of the wearer. The shaping occurs by laterally bending the heating 0 element rather than elongating the element. As the heating element generally heats by electrical resistance through an electrically resistant material it is incapable of 0 0 elongating without breaking the electrical continuity of the material. The power source is 0 preferably fitted within the pockets formed in the back section of the garment corresponding to the lumber region of the wearer.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a flexible heated garment covering at least the upper torso of the wearer, the garment comprising: a heated section having a heating element enclosure formed by a cover panel secured around the heated section of the garment; the heated section having a bendable waterproof heating element secured thereto in a pattern intended to heat predetermined areas of a wearer, the heating element being contained in the heating element enclosure positioned between the cover panel and the heated section of the garment; and a control device positioned within the heating element enclosure having water proof connectors for connecting to the heating element and to a portable power source.

The portable power supply is preferably located in a position, responding to the lumber region of the wearer. For activities such as surfing, the power supply is preferably in the lumber region so as not to impede the user while lying on a board. Additionally, the positioning of the power supply in the lumbar region fills a natural bulge in the wetsuit reducing the tendency of the wetsuit to buckle away from the skin in this region and thereby keeping the heating elements close to the body of the wearer.

1034312 O The flexible cover panel is preferably secured at positions around its edges to form the heating element enclosure. As the heating element itself is a relatively inflexible coil positioned on a flexible region of the garment, the ability and capacity of the garment to stretch in the heating region is maximised.

The heating elements are preferably arranged on the mounting region of the back section to correspond to the lumber or lower back regions of the wearer. The heating elements may also extend up the back on either side of the spine of the wearer to just below the cervical vertebrae. The heating element is positioned such that maximum flexibility in the garment is retained.

0 The heating elements are preferably arranged to form a number of spaced wavy lines of medially positioned and laterally positioned heating element arms aligned substantially vertically along the body of the wearer. The laterally positioned heating elements arms preferably include laterally directed portions allowing the heating elements to extend to the lateral regions of the back of the wearer. The heating elements arms are paired and connected to a power junction/control device at one end. The heating element arms are joined at the other by have an integrally formed u-shaped heating element section and form a single flexible heating element. In a preferred form of the invention, a pair of heating elements are aligned on the left side of the spine of a wearer and another along the right side. By providing the spaced substantially vertically aligned heating element arms with only a small amount of the heating elements arms extending laterally, the wetsuit is able to stretch laterally without being impaired by the fixed positioning of rigid laterally extending heating elements or rigid mounting panels on the wetsuit.

In preferred forms of the invention, the heated garment is a neoprene wet suit, vest, steamer or legless water suit for use in aquatic sports.

A further advantage of the invention is that the heating element, not being fixed to a inflexible backing, can be positioned in various mounting regions of the garment to meet different needs of the user. For example a user may have a hip injury meaning that as well as general heating, the user would benefit from specific heating elements positioned in the hip region. The use of a flexible sealed heating coil, rather than a 1034312 S6 element formed by welding heating wires in between two sheets of inflexible material, S allows the coil to be positioned in almost any place in the garment.

Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 is a drawing of a wetsuit with a heating element fitted in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and Figure 2 is a drawing showing a rear panel of a wetsuit with a heating element secured to the material to form the garment prior to assembly of the wetsuit; and Detailed description of the embodiments Referring to the drawings a flexible heated garment 1 is formed by securing flexible 0 heating element 2, 3 to the mounting region 4 located in the back panel of the wetsuit.

Subsequently the thinner cover panel 5 (shown in doted lines) is attached over this to hold the heating elements more securely, and also ensure that the heating element 2, 3 is not in direct contact with the user 6. The mounting material is preferably made from an elastomer rubber such as neoprene. The bendable heating element is preferably a carbon fibre heating element covered in a waterproof PVC coating and connected to a power junction/control device 7 to form a watertight connection.

In the embodiment shown in figure 1 two heating elements 2, 3 are shown. The heating elements 2, 3 are arranged in the desired prearranged pattern on the mounting region 4 of the desired panel of the garment 1 and secured to the it with an adhesive (preferably a high stretch titanium based adhesive which maximises flexibility and is not heat affected). The heating elements in figure 1 are positioned so as to maximise the garment's flexibility in the directions shown by the arrows, as the elements do not inhibit stretch in this direction.

The heating elements are arranged to form a number of spaced wavy lines of medially positioned 8, 9 and laterally positioned 10, 11 heating element arms aligned substantially vertically along the body of the wearer. The laterally positioned heating elements arms 10, 11 include laterally directed portions 12, 13 allowing the heating 1034312 O 7 elements to extend to the lateral regions of the back of the wearer. The heating elements arms are paired and connected to a power junction/control device 7 at one end. The heating element arms are joined at the other by have an integrally formed ushaped heating element section 14, 15 and form a single flexible heating elements. In a preferred form of the invention, a pair of heating elements 9,11 are aligned on the left side of the spine of a wearer and another pair 8, 10 along the right side. By providing 0 the spaced substantially vertically aligned heating element arms with only a small amount of the heating elements arms extending laterally, the wetsuit is able to stretch 0 laterally in areas where maximum flexibility is required such as through the shoulders 0 and upper back area without being impaired by the fixed positioning of rigid laterally extending heating elements or rigid mounting panels on the wetsuit.

The heating elements are preferably carbon fibre elements encased in a PVC cable, comprising two continuous loops of approximately 1.2 metres each and providing approximately 44 degrees to 54 degrees of heating capacity. The control device 7 is attached to a local power source 17 such as one or more lithium batteries with gold coated, brass pinned marine grade electrical waterproof connections and preferably provided with a thermocouple to provide temperature readings for the control device to regulate the temperature to a comfortable level between 40 0 C and 50 0 C. The lithium batteries are preferably lithium ion batteries of approximately 1800 2500 Amp hours, giving 500 recharges and a life of approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes. The heating elements are activated and the temperature regulated by the wearer by a waterproof switch module positioned on the user's hip region.

As shown in figure 2, a thin covering panel 5 is then attached to the garment material over the heating element or elements, preferably to the inside in a position corresponding to the back section of the garments. The covering panel is attached to the garment at points around the edge of the panel to form a heating element enclosure.

The heating element enclosure is not intended, nor does provide a waterproof housing especially because the preferred material of the cover panel, neoprene passes water.

The intention of the cover panel is to hold the elements and protect the wearer from direct contact with the heating elements. The heating elements themselves, and the rest 1034312 8 S of the power circuit to the heating elements is waterproof of itself. Preferably the power S source 17 is also contained in the heating element enclosure.

The position of the heating element or elements on the back section of the garment N determines that part of the wearer's back which is directly heated by the heating 5 element. That part of the wearer preferably corresponds to the lumbar, lower back or C lower kidney regions of the back of the wearer. This is the ideal position for surfing when the surfer lies on his/her front on the board, The power sources conveniently fit on the outside of the heating elements to fill the natural bulge in the wetsuit, keeping the heating elements close to the body. In a conventional wetsuit this area tends to buckle 0 away from the skin..

The heating elements may extend to the lateral regions of the lumbar or lower back region. The heating elements also extend up the back on either or both sides of the medial region or the back or spine up to the cervical vertebrae. Hence the heating zone of the heating element may have a generally pear shaped configuration.

It is another feature of the invention that the positioning of the heating element can be customised to particular users. Unlike other systems which involve the heating element being laminated between two sheets of relatively rigid material, the invention uses a fully waterproof circuit comprising the elements, connectors, switches and joining cables. The heating elements can be configured and attached in particular positions to suit particular uses or requirements of the wearer.

The garment material is preferably a waterproof material such as an elastomer rubber such as neoprene with a thickness between 2mm to 4mm. The covering panel that goes over the coil would be between 0.5mm and 1.0 mm. It is expected that a wetsuit having a thickness of 2mm fitted with the heating elements of the invention can provide the equivalent warmth of a 4mm standard wetsuit material.

It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined in this specification extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features 1034312 9 mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations S constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.

It will also be understood that the term "comprises" (or its grammatical variants) as used in this specification is equivalent to the term "includes" and should not be taken as 5 excluding the presence of other elements or features.

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Claims

1. A flexible heated garment covering at least the upper torso of the wearer, the garment comprising: a heated section having a heating element enclosure formed by a cover panel secured around the heated section of the garment; 0 the heated section having a bendable waterproof heating element secured N thereto in a pattern intended to heat predetermined areas of a wearer, the heating element being contained in the heating element enclosure positioned between the cover panel and the heated section of the garment; and 0 a control device positioned within the heating element enclosure having water proof connectors for connecting to the heating element and to a portable power source.

2. The flexible heated garment of claim 1 wherein the portable power supply is located in a position corresponding to the lumber region of the wearer.

3. The flexible heated garment of claim 1 or 2 wherein the heating elements are arranged to form a number of spaced wavy lines such that flexibility in the garment is retained.

4. The flexible heated garment of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the heating elements are arranged to form spaced substantially vertically aligned heating element arms having only a small amount of the heating elements arms extending laterally so that the flexible heated garment is able to stretch laterally. A method of producing a flexible heating garment for covering at least the upper torso of a wearer and heating one or more predetermined areas of the wearer, at least one of the predetermined areas of the wearer including a back region of the wearer, the method including the steps of: 1034312 V\ 11 securing in a predetermined pattern a bendable waterproof heating element to a dJ flexible mounting region on a garment; and fastening a flexible mounting cover against the garment to form a heating element enclosure, the heating element being between the flexible mounting cover and 5 the flexible mounting region of the garment; the predetermined pattern being configured so that in use the heating elements are C positioned to heat the predetermined areas of the wearer.