GB2503356A

GB2503356A - Electrically heated jacket

Info

Publication number: GB2503356A
Application number: GB201310950A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Martin Richard David Attfield
Original assignee: ENMAN Ltd
Current assignee: ENMAN Ltd
Priority date: 2012-06-19
Filing date: 2013-06-19
Publication date: 2013-12-25
Also published as: GB201210819D0; GB201310950D0

Abstract

A garment such as an armless jacket or waistcoat 1 comprises front 7a and rear fabric panels with an electrical heating element 3 with a connector component 9 fixedly secured to the garment 1. In use, the connector 9 is mated with a second connector 11 in such a way that the connectors 9, 11 may be a released quickly. The second connector 11 is fitted with a cable and a means of electrical connection to the power supply. It may also include a temperature control switch. The heating element may be a triaxial cable.

Description

tM:;: INTELLECTUAL !. .*. PROPERTY OFFICE Application No. 0B1310950.9 RTM Date:9 September 2013 The following terms are registered trade marks and should be read as such wherever they occur in this document: Velcro Intellectual Properly Office is an operaling name of Ihe Patent Office www.ipo.gov.uk 1 Electrically Heated Garment

ELECTRICALLY HEATABLE GARMENT

The present invention relates to an electrically heatable garment.

A large number of heated garments are already available. An overwhelming majority of such garments address the market for people operating outside or in harsh, cold environments, riding motorcycles, etc. where a key factor for the garment is that its wearer needs to be mobile. Various different types of heating mechanisms have been suggested, but for those which rely on electrical heating the source of the electricity is invariably a battery. This has i 0 the advantage of making the garment portable, such that its user can be mobile, but the disadvantage of adding weight to the garment. Moreover, batteries tend to be expensive and they either require regular replacement or recharging. A battery is not a particularly efficient mechanism for providing electricity.

The present invention seeks to address an audience that has hither to not formed part of the market for such mobile heated garments. The target audience is people who have, by choice or necessity, a sedentary lifestyle where they spend a significant amount of time seated (for example, watching television or home working) and have a need to stay warm while doing so.

Increasingly, the cost of heating dwellings means the dwelling places of such people can be cold and they do not wish to incur the cost of heating the dwelling to a suitable temperature.

The present invention aims to provide an electrically heatable garment to address this market.

According to the present invention, there is provided an electrically-heatable garment comprising: at least front and rear fabric panels; secured to the front and rear panels a continuous electrical heating element having first and second end conductive portions housed in respective pins of a first connector component, the first coirnector component fixedly secured to one of the panels; a second connector component with recesses for receiving the pins and adapted to mate with the first connector component in a quick release fashion, the second connector component having an electrical plug configured to be received in a socket providing a 2201240v ac. supply whereby when mated an electrical connection is formed between the supply and the heating element, and when unmated the second connector 2 Electrically Heated Garment component is not connected to the garment, thereby allowing the heated garment and the first connector component to be washable.

The first connector component is fixedly secured to the panel so that it is located on an outer face of the panel wholly within the boundary of the panel leaving an exposed margin of fabric around the component.

Preferably, the electrically heatable garment is in the form of an armless jacket having one real' panel and two front panels. While seated, a person can weal' the jacket plugged into the i 0 normal mains supply and use the jacket to heat their body and thereby permit them to lower the general temperature of their dwelling. This saves a considerable amount of energy -a typical power consumption may be a maximum of 40 watts which works out at less than 5p/hour to run (based on current electricity prices in the UK).

The quick release mate of the first connector component with the second connector component and the onentation of the first connector component means that when a wearer stands up and moves away, the connector automatically releases in a safe manner to reduce the risk of damage to the connector components, the panels and the cables, and to reduce the risk of the cable becoming a trip hazard. For most people, it has been established that an appropriate location for fixedly securing the first connector component to the garment is on the lower part of the right hand panel (such that it is located by the right hip of the wearer Preferably, the first connector component is oriented with the pins facing towards a lower edge of the panel. This reduces the risk of damage and facilitates quick release should the wearer attempt to move away whilst still connected.

For a better understanding of the present invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 which is a schematic diagram of the garment; 3 Electrically Heated Garment Figure 2 which shows first and second connector components, mated; Figure 3 which shows first and second connector components un-mated; and Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an alternative embodiment.

Figure 1 illustrates in one example an electrically heatable garment in the form of an armless jacket or waistcoat 1. The jacket can be made of any suitab'e fabric, in particular, a p&yester fleece is suitaHe of the type used to make electric blankets.

An electrical heating ekment 3 in the form of a pair of concentrically-wound heating I 0 elements separated by a temperature-sensitive insulating material (availaHe commercially) extends in a ioop of around 9 metres which is fitted to the inside of the jacket 1 generally in vertical runs covering front and rear pan&s. The ioop of heating element 3 returns to a start point by running horizontally along the line of the shoulder as can be seen at 3a. The precise configuration and length of the loop with respect to the garment is not important, but it shoukl provide an even distribution of heat.

The heating element 3 starts and ends at a first connector component 9 which is fixedly secured to the right hand front panel 7a preferably at a lower edge and within the boundary of the jacket -leaving a margin all around the connector of typically a minimum distance of 5 cm. The distance is suitaHy selected to prevent the component 9 overhanging the boundary and to provide some protection during washing etc. The first connector component 9 is mated with a second connector component 11 in a quick release fashion. The detail of the mated connector components is shown more clearly in Figure 2.

The details of the comiector components. separated, are shown in Figure 3.

The first connector component 9 has a plurality of internal pins which are connected to the heating element 3. The connector 9 has an open face 12 into which the pins extend from a recessed-based portion 14. In this way, the walls of the open face 12 conceal the pins 10, and further provide a mating part with the second connector 11. The second connector 11 has a protruding section 13 which is received in a mating fit quick-release fashion by the open face 4 Electrically Heated Garment 12. The protruding portion 13 includes recesses 15 for receiving the pins 10. The second connector 11 further includes a cable 17 connected to a conventional 3-pin plug 19. When the plug 19 is inserted into the socket of a conventional main supply, for example, 240v AC, electricity is supplied to the second connector ii, and with the pins 10 received by the recesses 15 when the fir st connector component is in the mated position, to the mated first connector component and thus to the heating element.

The internal electrical circuitry of the first and second connector components resembles that of electrically heated blankets and is therefore not described further herein. Of importance, i 0 however, in heating blankets, the first and second connector components are generally secured to one another by a securing component which requires a positive action to release it.

This is to prevent the components from becoming accidentally disconnected and preventing the heating blanket from functioning as intended.

Unlike electric blankets which have a discrete connector and a discrete temperature control device, the second connector component 11 is provided with an integral temperature control switch with, for example, three heating settings as illustrated, such that: The wearer can more easily access the temperature control device, There are a reduced number of components to the heated garment.

As shown, the heating element can be applied on the inner surface of the garment and can be glued in position. For example, it could be sandwiched between an outer fleece and an internal lining of fabric. The aim of the heating element is to heat the core of the body only (i.e. not the arms or legs). and the jacket can be fastened at the front by a zip or Velcro or any other suitable fastening.

Reference will now be made to a further example wherein the heating loop is replaced by a single triaxial liexible heating element 4, referring to figure 4, terminating at 4a. Instead of being constructed in a heating loop, this product is designed as a single wire heating element in yhjch the "live" and the "common" wire are co-located in the same cable. This element consists of an inner heating wire ("live") coated in a fusible separation layer, overlaid with a Electrically Heated Garment spirally-wound middle heating wire ("common") coated in a negative-temperature coefficient separation layer, overlaid with a positive temperature coefficient pick-up wire, coated in an outer insulating sheath.

The purpose of this design is to prevent instances of "hot-spotting" causing the heating element to fail safely but permanently, and works as follows. In the case of the heating loop, if an instance of excessive local temperature occurs (known as "hot-spotting") a negative-temperature separation layer effectiv&y melts allowing 2-wires to touch and the safety fuse to be tripped. This is an effective safety feature and is to be retained in the example of Figure 1, but when activated, it rends the product unusable thereafter. The improvement in Figure 4 i 0 introduced by the triaxial heating element is that before the temperature become high enough to activate the negative-coefficient matter as described above, the positive-temperature coefficient pick-up wire detects the increase in temperature and then immediately lowers the voltage applied across the heating element, thus lowering the temperature and conecting the fault. An example of such a triaxial element is shown in US Patent US69433 19. It is used to particular advantage in the present context. When the wearer detects the reduction in temperature, he may instinctively adjust the jacket so that the cause of the hot-spotting (typically 2 heating elements coming into close proximity to each other) is removed and the jacket then once-again functions fully as designed.

All other features of the electrically-heatable garment described previously are retained in this

example.

Claims

Electrically Heated GarmentELECTRICALLY HEATABLE GARMENTCLAIMS: 1. An electrically heatable garment comprising: at least front and rear fabric panels: secured to the front and rear panels an electrical heating element having first and second end conductive portions housed in respective pins of a first connector component. the first connector component fixedly secured to one of the panels: JO a second connector component with recesses for receiving the pins and adapted to mate with the first connector component in a quick release fashion, the second component having an electrical plug configured to be received in a socket providing a 220(240v a.c.supply whereby when mated an electrical connection is formed between the supply and the heating element, and when unmated the second component is not secured to the garment.
2. An electrically heatable garment according to Claim 1 comprising an armless jacket having one rear and two front panels.
3. An electrically heatable garment according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the first connector is fixedly secured at a location on the lower part of a right hand panel.
4. An electrically heatable garment according to any preceding claim made of a polyester fleece,
5. An electrically heatable garment according to any preceding claim wherein the second connector component is provided with a temperature control switch.
6. An electrically heatable garment according to any preceding claim wherein the heating element is sandwiched between an outer fleece and an inner lining.Electrically Heated Garment
7. An electrically heatable garment wherein the second component houses substantially all required electrical components whereby the garment and the first connector component are washable.
8. An electrically heated garment according to any preceding claim 1 of which the first connector component is oriented in a direction: to reduce the risk of damage to the connector, the panels and the cables during normal use, to facilitate quick release should the wearer move away whilst still connected to the 240v a.c. supply, minimising the risk of the garment not disconnecting and becoming a trip hazard,
9. An electrically heatable garment according to any preceding daim wherein the first connector component is secured to the panel on a face of the panel within a boundary of the panel
10. An electrically heatable garment according to any preceding claim wherein the heating &ement is a triaxial cable.
11. An electrically heatable garment substantially as herein described and illustrated.