Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A41—WEARING APPAREL
  • A41D—OUTERWEAR; PROTECTIVE GARMENTS; ACCESSORIES
  • A41D13/00—Professional, industrial or sporting protective garments, e.g. surgeons' gowns or garments protecting against blows or punches
  • A41D13/002—Professional, industrial or sporting protective garments, e.g. surgeons' gowns or garments protecting against blows or punches with controlled internal environment
  • A41D13/005—Professional, industrial or sporting protective garments, e.g. surgeons' gowns or garments protecting against blows or punches with controlled internal environment with controlled temperature
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A41—WEARING APPAREL
  • A41D—OUTERWEAR; PROTECTIVE GARMENTS; ACCESSORIES
  • A41D13/00—Professional, industrial or sporting protective garments, e.g. surgeons' gowns or garments protecting against blows or punches
  • A41D13/002—Professional, industrial or sporting protective garments, e.g. surgeons' gowns or garments protecting against blows or punches with controlled internal environment
  • A41D13/005—Professional, industrial or sporting protective garments, e.g. surgeons' gowns or garments protecting against blows or punches with controlled internal environment with controlled temperature
  • A41D13/0053—Cooled garments
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A41—WEARING APPAREL
  • A41D—OUTERWEAR; PROTECTIVE GARMENTS; ACCESSORIES
  • A41D13/00—Professional, industrial or sporting protective garments, e.g. surgeons' gowns or garments protecting against blows or punches
  • A41D13/015—Professional, industrial or sporting protective garments, e.g. surgeons' gowns or garments protecting against blows or punches with shock-absorbing means
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F03G—SPRING, WEIGHT, INERTIA OR LIKE MOTORS; MECHANICAL-POWER PRODUCING DEVICES OR MECHANISMS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR OR USING ENERGY SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F03G7/00—Mechanical-power-producing mechanisms, not otherwise provided for or using energy sources not otherwise provided for
  • F03G7/06—Mechanical-power-producing mechanisms, not otherwise provided for or using energy sources not otherwise provided for using expansion or contraction of bodies due to heating, cooling, moistening, drying or the like
  • F03G7/061—Mechanical-power-producing mechanisms, not otherwise provided for or using energy sources not otherwise provided for using expansion or contraction of bodies due to heating, cooling, moistening, drying or the like characterised by the actuating element
  • F03G7/0612—Mechanical-power-producing mechanisms, not otherwise provided for or using energy sources not otherwise provided for using expansion or contraction of bodies due to heating, cooling, moistening, drying or the like characterised by the actuating element using polymers
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F03G—SPRING, WEIGHT, INERTIA OR LIKE MOTORS; MECHANICAL-POWER PRODUCING DEVICES OR MECHANISMS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR OR USING ENERGY SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F03G7/00—Mechanical-power-producing mechanisms, not otherwise provided for or using energy sources not otherwise provided for
  • F03G7/06—Mechanical-power-producing mechanisms, not otherwise provided for or using energy sources not otherwise provided for using expansion or contraction of bodies due to heating, cooling, moistening, drying or the like
  • F03G7/061—Mechanical-power-producing mechanisms, not otherwise provided for or using energy sources not otherwise provided for using expansion or contraction of bodies due to heating, cooling, moistening, drying or the like characterised by the actuating element
  • F03G7/0616—Mechanical-power-producing mechanisms, not otherwise provided for or using energy sources not otherwise provided for using expansion or contraction of bodies due to heating, cooling, moistening, drying or the like characterised by the actuating element characterised by the material or the manufacturing process, e.g. the assembly
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10N—ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10N10/00—Thermoelectric devices comprising a junction of dissimilar materials, i.e. devices exhibiting Seebeck or Peltier effects
  • H10N10/10—Thermoelectric devices comprising a junction of dissimilar materials, i.e. devices exhibiting Seebeck or Peltier effects operating with only the Peltier or Seebeck effects
  • H10N10/13—Thermoelectric devices comprising a junction of dissimilar materials, i.e. devices exhibiting Seebeck or Peltier effects operating with only the Peltier or Seebeck effects characterised by the heat-exchanging means at the junction
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28F—DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OF GENERAL APPLICATION
  • F28F3/00—Plate-like or laminated elements; Assemblies of plate-like or laminated elements
  • F28F3/12—Elements constructed in the shape of a hollow panel, e.g. with channels

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an air- conditioning system for technical wear, namely for motorcycling suits.
• Air-conditioning systems for clothings are known, for example, from US patent application 2003/0019476 or international patent application WO 2004/014169.
• garments having substantially similar structures they contain a heat- carrying fluid, generally water, which flows in a canalization system formed within the thickness of the garment and feature a thermoelectric device allowing to heat or cool the heat-carrying fluid regardless of the environmental conditions .
• thermoelectric device creates a controlled microclimate within the garment, so that the body of the wearer is not exposed to too high or too low outer temperatures .
• Thermoelectric devices are now commonly made by combined use of thermoelectric modules and suitable heat exchangers.
• Thermoelectric modules are made using semiconductor materials which exploit the Peltier effect to heat or cool two opposed plates . This system is particularly advantageous because it is both sturdy and reversible; this means that, by supplying electric current having a certain polarity, one plate is heated and the other is cooled; by inverting the polarity of the electric current supplied to the thermoelectric module, the opposite effect can be obtained.
• thermoelectric module Two heat exchangers are usually connected to the thermoelectric module : one for exchanging heat with the external environment (air) and another for exchanging heat with the heat-carrying fluid (water) .
• Applications have so far always had a relatively low thermal efficiency, never enough for application on sportswear garments: a low thermal efficiency requires the supply of considerable power for operating the thermoelectric device .
• power cannot be easily drawn from the motorcycle motor, as performances might be unacceptably affected thereby: even a few hundredths of a second can make the difference in a competition.
• a device having a standalone power source such as a battery
• a standalone power source such as a battery
• the driver would not have to use his/her own psychophysical resources to resist environmental temperature and could concentrate on driving only.
• the object of the present invention is to provide a garment with a thermoelectric device having a higher efficiency than in prior art, to be able to provide an air-conditioned motorcycling suit.
• thermoelectric device as defined in claim 1 or 5
• air-conditioned garment as defined in claim 14 or 22, or a heat exchanger as defined in claim 31.
• Figure 1 is a schematic view of a motorcycle racer wearing a motorcycling suit having a so-called "hump" ,
• FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a thermoelectric device according to a preferred embodiment of this invention.
• Figure 3 is a schematic sectional view of a garment according to a preferred embodiment of this invention
• Figure 4 is a schematic view of a preferred embodiment of this invention
• FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a micro-finned exchanger having two thermoelectric modules according to a preferred embodiment of this invention.
• numeral 1 designates a protective motorcycling suit; it is generally equipped with an additional element 2, known as "hump", which is designed both to prevent turbulence in the area behind the helmet and to protect the neck from excessive torsion backwards.
• thermoelectric motor 3 it is made up by a first heat exchanger 4 and by a second heat exchanger 7, both of them being in thermal connection with one or more thermoelectric modules 11.
• thermoelectric modules 11 are normal Peltier thermoelectric modules, which are made by semiconductor material interposed between an external plate 12 and an internal plate 13.
• An external heat exchanger 4 allows heat transfer between the thermoelectric module/s 11 and the external environment .
• An internal heat exchanger 7 allows heat transfer between the thermoelectric module/s 11 and the heat- carrying fluid.
• the external environment, the external heat exchanger 4 and the external plate 12 thus form a chain of elements in series which allow heat transfer from the external plate to the external environment or vice versa.
• the external plate 12 acts as a hot source; when the heat- carrying fluid has to be heated, it will act as a cold source .
• Maximum efficiency requires minimization of thermal resistances among the elements of the chain, and particularly those at the interface between the external heat exchanger 4 and the external plate 12.
• Both the external plate 12 of the thermoelectric module 11 and the bottom surface 5 of the external heat exchanger 4 are formed with a defined surface roughness, which limits actual contact between the two surfaces to a fraction of the overall extension of the surfaces themselves .
• a filling material (not shown) is interposed between the bottom surface 5 of the external exchanger 4 and the external plate 12 of the thermoelectric module 11, which material can adapt its shape both to the bottom surface 5 of the external exchanger 4 and to the top surface of the external plate 13, thereby avoiding any effect caused by surface roughness .
• Such filling material may have a high ductility and a high thermal conductivity, for instance it can be a metal oxide-based thermally conductive paste, or graphite-based high conductivity thermal interfaces, or a phase transition conductive material, i.e. having a melting point of 5O 0 C to 100 0 C.
• the thickness of this intermediate layer is of 50 to 200 micrometers.
• the graphite layer is applied by interposing it between the two surfaces and exerting enough pressure thereon to deform it (e.g. a pressure of 1 to 15 bar)
• the layer of the phase-transition thermally conductive paste is applied as follows: first, the paste is interposed between the two surfaces, then the temperature of the thermoelectric module 11 is increased above the melting point of the paste, to cause liquefaction thereof, and finally such temperature is decreased to cause re-solidification; thus, the temporary liquid layer allows the intermediate layer to take the form of the two surfaces, perfectly adapting to the roughness of the two surfaces 5 and 13.
• the external heat exchanger 4 is designed to have as large heat exchange surface as possible.
• One limitation to the shape of the exchanger is that it has to be accommodated in the hump 2 of the suit 1 of the motorcycle racer.
• humps mat have various shapes : all of them have a convex outer surface and a radius of curvature which is generally in a range of 80 to 160 mm.
• a first option is to form the external heat exchanger 4 with one or more fins 5 allowing heat transfer with the surrounding environment.
• the external exchanger may be formed from aluminum or an alloy thereof, preferably as a monobloc, to combine the advantages of light weight, good heat conductivity and thermal isotropy, or for a still lighter weight, from graphite or a graphite-based material .
• the external exchanger 4 is formed from graphite, it is fabricated by superposing a plurality of sheets so that their planes are parallel to the planes of the fins 5; the graphite exchanger 4 is therefore thermally anisotropic, that is, has a very good heat conductivity (approximately equivalent to copper) , along the preferred plane defined by the sheets, but substantially acts as an insulator perpendicular to such plane .
• the bottom surface 5 of the external exchanger 4 when considered in the direction perpendicular to the preferred heat conduction plane of graphite is substantially as large as the external plate 13 of the thermal module 11, when considered in the same direction.
• thermoelectric modules 11 can be generally considered as a 007/000888
• thermoelectric unit composed of such plurality of thermoelectric modules 11.
• thermoelectric modules 11 may be disposed in parallel arrangements within s thermoelectric unit, in rows , columns or in any other arrangement .
• thermoelectric unit This may provide a graphite heat exchanger of greater width than a single thermoelectric module 11, wherefore the outer surface of the hump may be totally used.
• the thermoelectric unit will have its own extension both along the axis perpendicular to the preferred heat conduction plane of the graphite and in the direction perpendicular thereto; the above geometric considerations related to single thermoelectric modules will apply thereto.
• Such heat exchanger 4 with fins 5 may have such construction as to be entirely contained in the outer profile of the hump or, more advantageously, to at least partially project therefrom. In the latter case, the fins of the heat exchanger are at least partly in the air flow path around the racer.
• the suit may be formed with front air passages, e.g. on the shoulders, which are connected to conduits carrying the air introduced therein to the external exchanger 4.
• an air flow may be directed through the fins 5 of the external exchanger, which flow may be sufficient to ensure proper operation of the thermal device 3 with no need for marked external extensions on the suit hump.
• the external exchanger 4 may be equipped with micro-finned elements, i.e. thermally conductive elements, preferably made of metal, of small thickness, generally below 30 mm and preferably below 15 mm, whose top profile does not have real fins, but teeth and grooves, e.g. triangular, which increase the heat exchange surface to air.
• micro-finned elements i.e. thermally conductive elements, preferably made of metal, of small thickness, generally below 30 mm and preferably below 15 mm, whose top profile does not have real fins, but teeth and grooves, e.g. triangular, which increase the heat exchange surface to air.
• the micro-finned exchanger has a curved average outer profile, with a radius of curvature generally from 80 mm to 160 mm, to obtain a curvature substantially corresponding to that of the hump to be covered and/or replaced thereby.
• a third alternative consists in forming the external exchanger with a thermally conductive porous 8
• Substantially porous materials e.g. formed of more or less regular wire hanks, are not suitable for the purpose and cannot be considered as porous metal materials for the purposes of this disclosure.
• Porous materials as mentioned herein are materials having a metal matrix with cavities therein, such as those disclosed in patent application WO 06/31306.
• Heat exchangers formed from thermally conductive porous materials have the advantage of a lighter weight, assuming an equal amount of exchanged thermal power, and are better suited for the proposed application.
• the heat-carrying fluid, the internal plate 13 and the thermoelectric module 11 and, in case, the circulation pump, form the second chain of elements in series for transferring heat from the internal plate to the heat-carrying fluid or vice versa.
• the heat-carrying fluid may include, for instance, a mixture of water and alcohol, Freon, or any other heat-carrying fluid commonly used in the field of refrigeration.
• the internal plate 13 may either be the hot source, if the heat-carrying fluid has to be heated, or the cold source, if it has to be cooled.
• the internal exchanger 7 is formed so that the heat- carrying fluid flowing therethrough passes directly over IB2007/000888
• the internal heat exchanger 7 has a main hollow body, with a heat-carrying fluid inlet conduit 8 and a heat-carrying fluid outlet conduit 9 and one or more ports 10.
• the inner cavity of the internal heat exchanger 7 is at least partly directly delimited by the one or more internal plates 13 of the one or more thermoelectric modules 11 at the one or more ports 10.
• thermoelectric module The internal plate 13 of the thermoelectric module
• thermoelectric modules 11 (or the internal plates 13 of the thermoelectric modules 11) is attached, e.g. glued, at its outer periphery, to provide a water-tight seal and prevent the heat-carrying liquid from leaking therefrom.
• the circulation pump may be advantageously incorporated in the internal heat exchanger.
• a garment e.g. covering the racer's trunk, such as a suit, a vest or a jacket, for heat exchange with the body of the racer.
• Figure 3 schematically shows an embodiment of this invention which provides this additional advantage.
• the garment of this invention comprises an inner metal layer 14, which may be in contact with the racer's body, preferably formed of a metal mesh.
• Such inner metal layer 14 has a network of conduits 15 attached thereto, through which the heat-carrying fluid flows.
• the conduits 15 are preferably welded to the inner metal layer 14.
• the conduits 15 to be welded to the inner metal layer 14 are covered by a layer 16 of a polymer material, preferably polyurethane, to allow a structure 17, preferably made from the same polymer as the layer 16, to be later welded thereto.
• a layer 16 of a polymer material preferably polyurethane
• a support 19 is provided in the conduits 15, which prevents the structure 17 from collapsing onto the layer
• motorcycling suits may be essentially divided into two types: a first type with a central hinge, and a second type with two hinges, arranged symmetrically at the trunk sides, which hold a separable central element .
• two inner wings are provided, which extend from the suit sizes under the hinges and towards the center of the trunk, and cover the area in contact with the racer's trunk during use.
• conduits 15 are formed within the wings which may be in turn advantageously equipped with devices (such as a central hinge) to hold the central edges close together.
• the garments manufactured according to this invention may advantageously comprise a control and monitoring system 20, having one or more humidity 21 and/or temperature sensors 22.
• the control and monitoring system 20 receives signals from one or more sensors 21, 22 and, based on such signals, it determines the optimal operating conditions for the thermoelectric motor 3.
• the air-conditioning system can use the feedback provided by the humidity and/or temperature values detected from the racer's body; operation may be also designed to be a fixed-temperature operation and/or based on external temperature.
• the air-conditioned garment may advantageously comprise batteries, preferably lithium batteries, connected to thermoelectric motor 3 and to control and monitoring system 20, for supplying power to them; it can also have means for connecting to a remote power source, such as a cable for connecting to the mains and allow both recharging and normal operation thereof .
• batteries preferably lithium batteries, connected to thermoelectric motor 3 and to control and monitoring system 20, for supplying power to them; it can also have means for connecting to a remote power source, such as a cable for connecting to the mains and allow both recharging and normal operation thereof .
• battery life may be used only when required, e.g. during the race or tests, at the same time keeping the advantages of the air-conditioning throughout the race preparation time, in which the motorcycle is still at boxes, without reducing the battery life.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Physical Education & Sports Medicine (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Professional, Industrial, Or Sporting Protective Garments (AREA)
• Motor Or Generator Cooling System (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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ID=38581455

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (7)

Family Cites Families (14)

• 2006
  • 2006-04-11 IT IT000718A patent/ITMI20060718A1/it unknown
• 2007
  • 2007-04-04 WO PCT/IB2007/000888 patent/WO2007116286A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2007-04-04 EP EP07734209A patent/EP2012605A2/de not_active Withdrawn
• 2008
  • 2008-10-10 US US12/249,326 patent/US20100071385A1/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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