US20180290044A1

US20180290044A1 - Protective gear and operating control method thereof

Info

Publication number: US20180290044A1
Application number: US15/567,235
Authority: US
Inventors: Hailan JIN; Lei Cao
Original assignee: BOE Technology Group Co Ltd
Current assignee: BOE Technology Group Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-08-11
Filing date: 2017-05-19
Publication date: 2018-10-11
Also published as: CN107715438A; WO2018028266A1; CN107715438B

Abstract

Protective gears and operating control methods thereof are provided. The protective gear includes at least one impact-resistant pad, containing a phase-change material and capable of at least partially wrapping a protected area; a phase-change controller, including a heating device and a cooling device configured to control the phase-change material; and a control circuit, configured to send a signal to the phase-change controller to control the phase-change material to be in a solid phase state after detecting a fall-down of the protected area, and send another signal to the phase-change controller to control the phase-change material to be in a liquid phase state after detecting an un-fall-down of the protected area.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 201610659869.6, filed on Aug. 11, 2016, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of sports equipment and, more particularly, relates to protective gears and operating control methods of the protective gears.

BACKGROUND

Various protective gears can be used to protect different key parts of human body in sport activities from hurts or less hurts. According to the different parts of the human body to wear, the protective gears can include knee brace, wristlets, elbow guards, ankle guards, etc.
For an existing skating knee brace, to avoid or reduce knee injury during a fall-down, a high-strength hard material is usually used in the skating knee brace to improve the impact resistance. However, such material may lead to a poor degree of comfort for wearing of the knee parts of the human body. Further, such material may restrict flexible movement of the human body. On the other hand, if the knee brace is designed to be softer, it may not have a good protective function, thereby losing the significance as a protective gear.
Currently, most of the existing protective gears cannot combine a high protection degree with a high degree of comfort for wearing. This disclosure provides protective gears, operating control methods of the protective gears, and operating control apparatuses of the protective gears to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, protective gears, operating control methods of the protective gears, and operating control apparatuses of the protective gears are provided.
One aspect of present disclosure provides a protective gear, including: at least one impact-resistant pad, containing a phase-change material and capable of at least partially wrapping a protected area; a phase-change controller, including a heating device and a cooling device configured to control the phase-change material; and a control circuit, configured to send a signal to the phase-change controller to control the phase-change material to be in a solid phase state after detecting a fall-down of the protected area, and send another signal to the phase-change controller to control the phase-change material to be in a liquid phase state after detecting an un-fall-down of the protected area.
Optionally, the protective gear further includes an acceleration sensor electrically connected to the control circuit to detect whether a fall-down occurs to the protected area.
Optionally, the heating device includes a heating circuit on the wearable support configured to, when switched on, maintain the liquid phase state of the phase-change material in the at least one impact-resistant pad. The control circuit is electrically connected to the heating circuit, and is configured to switch on the heating circuit in response to detecting the un-fall-down, and to switch off the heating circuit in response to detecting the fall-down.
Optionally, the cooling device includes a plurality of semiconductor cooling plates or a refrigeration cycle system.
Optionally, the at least one impact-resistant pad is made of polydimethylsiloxane.
Optionally, the at least one impact-resistant pad is formed by using an injection-molding process or a 3D-printing process.
Optionally, the at least one impact-resistant pad includes a plurality of runners; and the phase-change material is filled within the plurality of runners.
Optionally, the plurality of runners is configured in a gridded form.
Optionally, the plurality of runners includes a plurality of spring-like sub-channels each having a central axis perpendicular to a lateral direction of a corresponding impact-resistant pad.
Optionally, the phase-change material includes a liquid metal, including at least one of Ga, Ga67In20.5Sn12.5, Ga75.5In24.5, and Ca61In25Sn13Zn1.
Optionally, the protective gear further includes a wearable support. The at least one impact-resistant pad is on the wearable support and the at least one impact-resistant pad is flexible.
Optionally, the protective gear includes at least two impact-resistant pads, configured to respectively wrap different protected areas, each of the impact-resistant pads corresponding to one phase-change controller.
Optionally, the control circuit is further electrically connected to each of the phase-change controllers, and is further configured to: in response to detecting a fall-down, determine which impact-resistant pad to be activated based on detection data of an acceleration sensor, and switch on a phase-change controller to activate the determined impact-resistant pad.
Optionally, the protective gear is one of a knee brace, a wristlet, an elbow guard, and an ankle guard.
Another aspect of present disclosure provides a method for controlling an operation of a protective gear. The method includes obtaining detection data from an acceleration sensor; determining whether a fall-down of the protective gear occurs based on the detection data from the acceleration sensor; in response to detecting an un-fall-down, switching off a phase-change controller; and in response to detecting a fall-down, switching on the phase-change controller to cool down a phase-change material within an impact-resistant pad into a solid phase state.
Optionally, the method further includes: in response to detecting the un-fall-down, switching on a heating circuit to maintain a liquid phase state of the phase-change material in the impact-resistant pad; and in response to detecting the fall-down, switching off the heating circuit.
Optionally, the method further includes: in response to detecting a fall-down, determining one or more impact-resistant pads to be activated based on the detection data from the acceleration sensor, where the one or more impact-resistant pads respectively wrap different protected areas of the human body, each impact-resistant pad corresponding to one phase-change controller respectively; and switching on one or more phase-change controllers to activate the one or more impact-resistant pads.
Optionally, the at least one impact-resistant pad includes a plurality of runners; and the phase-change material is filled within the plurality of runners.
Optionally, the plurality of runners is configured in a gridded form.
Optionally, the plurality of runners include a plurality of spring-like sub-channels each having a central axis perpendicular to a lateral direction of a corresponding impact-resistant pad.
Other aspects of the present disclosure can be understood by those skilled in the art in light of the description, the claims, and the drawings of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various objectives, features, and advantages of the present disclosure can be more fully appreciated with reference to the detailed description of the present disclosure when considered in connection with the following drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements. It should be noted that the following drawings are merely examples for illustrative purposes according to various disclosed embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of an exemplary protective gear in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of an exemplary flexible impact-resistant pad of a protective gear in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of another exemplary flexible impact-resistant pad of a protective gear in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of another exemplary protective gear in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of another exemplary protective gear in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic flowchart of an exemplary operating control method of a protective gear in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of an exemplary operating control apparatus of a protective gear in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference input now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the invention, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in order to fully understand and being able to implementing the present disclosure and to realizing the technical effect. It should be understood that the following description has been made only by way of example, but not to limit the present disclosure. Various embodiments of the present disclosure and various features in the embodiments that are not conflicted with each other can be combined and rearranged in various ways. Without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, modifications, equivalents, or improvements to the present disclosure are understandable to those skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed within the scope of the present disclosure.
To combine a high protection degree and a high degree of comfort for wearing of protective gears, in accordance with various embodiments, the present disclosure provides protective gears, operating control methods of the protective gears, and operating control apparatuses of the protective gears.
Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic structural diagram of an exemplary protective gear is shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
As illustrated, the protective gear can include a wearable support 1, at least one impact-resistant pad, such as a flexible impact-resistant pad 2 on the wearable support 1, a phase-change controller 3, an acceleration sensor 4, and/or a control circuit 5. More devices can be added or omitted in the exemplary protective gear.
The flexible impact-resistant pad 2 can be sufficiently flexible and capable of at least partially wrapping a protected area of any object such as a human body, an animal body, or any suitable objects, who wearing the protective gear.
The impact-resistant pad can contain a phase-change material. The phase-change material may be switchable between a liquid phase state and a solid phase state by a phase-change controller, in response to a heating or cooling condition. For example, the phase-change material may include a liquid metal, an organic material such as a thermosetting resin, or any suitable phase-change material(s).
In one embodiment, the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 can be filled with a liquid metal 6 or otherwise contain the liquid metal therein.
The phase-change controller 3 can be used for, when switched on, cooling the liquid metal 6 in the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 into a solid phase state.
The control circuit 5 can be electrically connected to the phase-change controller 3 and the acceleration sensor 4 respectively. The control circuit 5 can be configured to switch off the phase-change controller 3 in response to detecting an un-fall-down of the human body. The control circuit 5 can be further configured to switch on the phase-change controller 3 in response to detecting a fall-down of the human body.
The protective gear can be a knee brace, a wristlet, an elbow guard, an ankle guard, or any other suitable protective gear, which is not limited here. Based on different types of the protective gear, the shapes and specifications of the wearable support 1 and the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 can also be different.
In various embodiments, a material of the wearable support 1 may be a wear-resistant and breathable cloth. A material of the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 may be polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The flexible impact-resistant pad 2 may be formed by using an injection-molding or a 3D-printing. 3D-printing is a rapid prototyping technique. Based on digital model files, by using powdered metal, plastic, silicone and other adhesive materials, an object can be constructed by printing layer by layer. 3D-printing technique does not require setting up different production workshops and production machine tools for different products, and does not have any restriction of the shape of the object to be printed. Further, 3D-printing technique can have a high printing precision, and can desirably save raw material costs and energy.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the composition of the liquid metal 6 in the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 may include at least one of the following materials: Ga, Ga₆₇In_2.05Sn_12.5, Ga_75.5In_24.5, and Ca₆₁In₂₅Sn₁₃Zn₁. The thermal conductivity of Ga is 40.6 W/m·K. The thermal conductivities of the Ga-based alloys can firstly decrease and then increase with a decreasing of the mass ratio of Ga, and can also be related to the temperature of the Ga-based alloys. Generally, the thermal conductivities of the Ga-based alloys can be in a range from 25 W/m·K to 40 W/m·K.
The physical properties of Ga and Ga-based alloys can be represented by the parameters shown in Table 1. According to the specific application environment of the disclosed protective gear, an appropriate composition ratio can be determined to obtain a desired melting point of the liquid metal 6. As such, the liquid metal 6 can be made to satisfy the specific requirement to maintain a flexibility after detecting an un-fall-down of the human body.

	TABLE 1

	Chemical Composition

	Ga	Ga₆₇In_20.5Sn_12.5	Ga_75.5In_24.5	Ca₆₁In₂₅Sn₁₃Zn₁

Melting point (° C.)	29.8	10.5	15.5	7.6
Boiling point (° C.)	2204	>1300	2000	>900
Density (kg/m³)	6080	6360	6280	6500
Conductivity (Ω⁻¹m⁻¹)	3.7*10⁶	3.1*10⁶	3.4*10⁶	2.8*10⁶
Viscosity (m²/s)	3.24*10⁻⁷	2.98*10⁻⁷	2.7*10⁻⁷	7.11*10⁻⁷
Surface tension (N/m)	0.7	0.533	0.624	0.5
Compatibility with	Incompatible	Incompatible	Incompatible	Incompatible
water

The flexible impact-resistant pad 2 may be designed to include at least one cavity to accommodate the liquid metal 6. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 can include multiple runners within which the liquid metal 6 is filled. As such, the amount of liquid metal 6 can be decreased to reduce the weight of the disclosed protective gear. More importantly, the liquid metal 6 can be more evenly distributed in the flexible impact-resistant pad 2.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, schematic structural diagrams of exemplary flexible impact-resistant pads of protective gears are shown in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.
In some embodiments as illustrated in FIG. 2, the multiple runners 8 may be designed in a gridded form. For example, the multiple runners 8 may be configured across over one another to form a three dimensional gridded form.
In some alternative embodiments as illustrated in FIG. 3, the multiple runners 8 may also include multiple spring-like sub-channels 81 arranged along a thickness direction of the flexible impact-resistant pad 2.
As used herein, the thickness direction may refer to a direction perpendicular to a lateral direction (e.g., along the top surface or bottom surface) of the impact-resistant pad. For example, a central axis of each of spring-like sub-channels 81 may be substantially parallel with the thickness direction and may be perpendicular to the lateral direction of the impact-resistant pad.
Optionally and additionally, the spring-like sub-channels may be configured to have their central axis in parallel with the lateral direction of the impact-resistant pad.
With these designs as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the distribution of the liquid metal 6 within the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 can be relatively uniform. Not only a higher degree of comfort for wearing can be provided in response to detecting an un-fall-down of the human body, but also a uniform and comprehensive high-strength protection can be provided when the human body falls down.
In addition, when the runners 8 is designed as shown in FIG. 3, when the human body falls down, the liquid metal 6 in the spring-like sub-channels 81 may change into a solid phase state, which can have a certain elastic property. Thus, the liquid metal 6 in the solid phase state in the spring-like sub-channels 81 can play a certain buffer effect and/or damping effect, thereby further improving the protective properties of the disclosed protective gear.
The acceleration sensor 4 can be an electronic device configured to measure an acceleration force. By measuring the acceleration due to gravity, a tilt angle of the electronic device with respect to the horizontal plane can be calculated. By analyzing the dynamic acceleration, a movement of the electronic device can be analyzed.
During a fall-down of the human body, the acceleration and the tilt angle of the human body may have a great change. Therefore, three feature values including a synthesized acceleration, an acceleration average, and a body inclination can be extracted from the information detected by the acceleration sensor. By comparing the three feature values to preset thresholds, it can be determined whether a fall-down occurs. Further, the three feature values can also be used as judgement bases to determine a type of a certain fall-down, such as a forward falling, a backward falling, a sideward falling, etc.
When a user wearing the disclosed protective gear falls down, the phase-change controller 3 can cool the liquid metal 6 in the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 into a solid phase state at the moment of falling. As such, the disclosed protective gear can provide a high protection degree for the human body portion wearing the protective gear. When the user is in a safe state during a sport, the liquid metal 6 in the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 can keep a liquid phase state to provide a desirable flexibility, which has a high degree of comfort for wearing to the user. Therefore, the disclosed protective gear can provide a protection as well as comfortable protection to the user.
Referring to FIG. 4, a schematic structural diagram of another exemplary protective gear is shown in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated, the protective gear may further include a heating circuit 7 on the wearable support 1. The heating circuit 7 can be configured to maintain a liquid phase of the liquid metal 6 in the flexible impact-resistant pad 2.
In some embodiments, the control circuit 5 can also be electrically connected to the heating circuit 7 for switching on the heating circuit 7 in response to detecting an un-fall-down of the human body, and switching off the heating circuit 7 in response to detecting a fall-down of the human body.
In some embodiments, the heating circuit 7 can heat the liquid metal 6 to a temperature that is slightly above the melting point of the liquid metal 6. In order to further improve the flexibility of the protective gear when the user is in a safe state during a sport, the heating circuit 7 and other circuit structures may be flexible circuits.
Accordingly, when the human body does not fall, the heating circuit 7 can be in an operation state, so that the liquid phase of the liquid metal 6 in the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 can be stably maintained. Since the liquid phase state of the liquid metal 6 cannot be affected by the ambient temperature, the disclosed protective gear can consistently provide a high degree of comfort for wearing to the user.
In a specific embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the protective gear can be a ski knee brace. The melting point of the liquid metal 6 in the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 is 25° C. Since the temperature of a ski field is low, the ambient temperature is insufficient to maintain the liquid phase state of the liquid metal 6. Therefore, in response to detecting an un-fall-down of the human body, the heating circuit 7 can be in the operation state to heat the liquid metal 6 to keep a temperature slightly higher than its melting point, so that the liquid phase of the liquid metal 6 can be maintained.
When the control circuit 5 determines that the human body falls down, the heating circuit 7 can be switched off, and the phase-change controller 3 can be switched on to cool the liquid metal 6 into a solid phase state. Under a large impact, the liquid metal 6 in the solid phase state may be crushed. However, when the human body returns to a safe state, the heating circuit 7 can be switched on again to melt the liquid metal 6 from the crushed solid phase state into a liquid phase state.
FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of another exemplary protective gear in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the specific type of the phase-change controller 3 is not limited.
As illustrated, in some embodiments, the phase-change controller 3 can include multiple semiconductor cooling plates. The multiple semiconductor cooling plates can be arranged at intervals from the multiple flow passages in the flexible impact-resistant pad 2. When the human body falls down, the liquid metal 6 in the multiple runners 8 can be cooled through heat conduction by the multiple semiconductor cooling plates to cool the liquid metal 6 into a solid phase state.
In addition, the phase-change controller 3 can also include a refrigeration cycle system. Multiple evaporation elements of the refrigeration cycle system can wrap the multiple runners. When the human body falls down, the liquid metal 6 in the multiple runners 8 can be cooled through heat conduction by the multiple evaporation elements to cool the liquid metal 6 into a solid phase state.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, at least two flexible impact-resistant pads 2 may be provided for respectively wrapping different protected areas of the human body wearing the protective gear. Each of the flexible impact-resistant pads 2 can be disposed in correspondence with one phase-change controller 3.
The control circuit 5 can be electrically connected to each of the phase-change controllers 3. When it is determined that the human body falls down, the control circuit 5 can be used to determine one or more flexible impact-resistant pads 2 to be activated based on the detection data from the acceleration sensor 4, and to switch on corresponding one or more phase-change controllers 3 to respectively activate the one or more flexible impact-resistant pads 2.
By using the above described design, when the human body falls down, based on the information of one or more potentially to-be-impacted regions of the human body portion wearing the protective gear, the control circuit 5 can activate one or more corresponding flexible impact-resistant pads 2. Other flexible impact-resistant pad(s) can continually maintain a flexible state. As such, the degree of comfort for wearing can be further improved.
For example, when the human body falls down forwardly, the control circuit 5 can determine that the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 in front of the knee is to be activated. So only the flexible impact-resistant pad 2 in front of the knee can be controlled to switch to a high degree of impact-resistant state, and the flexible impact-resistant pads on both sides of the knee can continually maintain a flexible state.
Referring to FIG. 6, a schematic flowchart of an exemplary operating control method of a protective gear is shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated, the operating control method can include the following steps.
At step 101, detection data of an acceleration sensor can be obtained.
At step 102, it can be determined whether a human body wearing the protective gear falls down based on the detection data from the acceleration sensor. If the determination result is positive (“Yes” at step 102), step 104 can be executed. Otherwise (“No” at step 102), step 103 can be executed.
At step 103, a phase-change controller can be switched off.
At step 104, the phase-change controller can be switched on to cool a liquid metal within a flexible impact-resistant pad into a solid phase state.
In some embodiments, the operation control method can further include the following steps.
In response to detecting an un-fall-down of the human body, a heating circuit can be switched on to maintain a liquid phase state of the liquid metal in the flexible impact-resistant pad. In response to detecting a fall-down of the human body, the heating circuit can be switched off.
In some embodiment, when the protective gear includes at least two flexible impact-resistant pads for respectively wrapping different protected areas of the human body wearing the protective gear, each flexible impact-resistant pad can correspond to one phase-change controller respectively. In such case, the operation control method can further includes determining one or more flexible impact-resistant pads to be activated based on the detection data from the acceleration sensor when it is determined that the human body falls down, and switching on the one or more phase-change controllers corresponding to the one or more flexible impact-resistant pads to be activated.
By using the disclosed operation control method, when a user wearing the protective gear falls down, the phase-change controller can cool the liquid metal in the flexible impact-resistant pad into a solid phase state at the moment of falling. As such, the protective gear can be controlled to provide a high protection degree for the human body portion wearing the protective gear. When the user is in a safe state during a sport, the liquid metal in the flexible impact-resistant pad can be controlled to keep a liquid phase state to provide a desirable flexibility, which has a high degree of comfort for wearing to the user. Therefore, the disclosed operation control method can control the protective gear to provide a protection as well as comfortable protection to the user.
It should be noted that, the above steps of the flow diagram of FIG. 6 can be executed or performed in any order or sequence not limited to the order and sequence shown and described in the figures. Also, some of the above steps of the flow diagram of FIG. 6 can be executed or performed substantially simultaneously where appropriate or in parallel to reduce latency and processing times. Furthermore, it should be noted that FIG. 6 is provided as an example only. At least some of the steps shown in the figure may be performed in a different order than represented, performed concurrently, or altoobtainher omitted.
Referring to FIG. 7, a schematic structural diagram of an exemplary operating control apparatus of a protective gear in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated, the operating control apparatus can include an obtaining unit 51, a determining unit 52, and a controlling unit 53.
The obtaining unit 51 can be configured to obtain detection data of an acceleration sensor.
The determining unit 52 can be configured to detect whether a fall-down occurs to the human body based on the detection data from the acceleration sensor.
The controlling unit 52 can be configured to, in response to detecting an un-fall-down of the human body, switch off a phase-change controller; and in response to detecting a fall-down of the human body, switch on the phase-change controller to cool a liquid metal within a flexible impact-resistant pad into a solid phase state.
In some embodiments, the controlling unit 52 can be further configured to, in response to detecting an un-fall-down of the human body, switch on a heating circuit to maintain a liquid phase state of the liquid metal in the flexible impact-resistant pad; and in response to detecting a fall-down of the human body, switch off the heating circuit.
In some embodiment, when the protective gear includes at least two flexible impact-resistant pads for respectively wrapping different protected areas of the human body wearing the protective, each flexible impact-resistant pad can correspond to one phase-change controller respectively. In such case, the controlling unit 52 can be further configured to determine one or more flexible impact-resistant pads to be activated based on the detection data from the acceleration sensor in response to detecting a fall-down of the human body, and switch on the one or more phase-change controllers corresponding to the one or more flexible impact-resistant pads to be activated.
In some embodiments, the obtaining unit 51, the determining unit 52, and the controlling unit 53 can be implemented as a hardware module, a software module, or a combination of a hardware module and a software module.
The hardware module may include any suitable hardware processor, such as a microprocessor, a micro-controller, a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components.
The software module may reside in any suitable storage/memory medium, such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc.
The hardware processor can realize the functions of the obtaining unit 51, the determining unit 52, and the controlling unit 53, and can implement the steps of the disclosed method by combining the hardware including the disclosed protective gear, and the software read from the storage/memory medium.
In some embodiments, the operation control apparatus of the protective gear may be integrated with the protective gear, and become a part of the protective gear. In some alternative embodiments, the operation control apparatus may be located separately from the protective gear. In some other embodiments, a first part of the operation control apparatus may be located separately from the protective gear, and a second part of the operation control apparatus of the protective gear may be integrated with the protective gear.
In a special embodiment, a software application for controlling the protective gear may be installed in a smart watch that is worn by the user wearing the protective gear. And there is a wireless communication link between the smart watch and the protective gear to realize information communication and control instruction transmission.
By using the disclosed operation control apparatus, in one embodiment, when a user wearing the protective gear falls down, the phase-change controller can cool the phase-change material such as a liquid metal in the impact-resistant pad into a solid phase state at the moment of falling. As such, the protective gear can be controlled to provide a high protection degree for the human body portion wearing the protective gear. When the user is in a safe state during a sport, the phase-change material such as the liquid metal in the flexible impact-resistant pad can be controlled to keep a liquid phase state to provide a desirable flexibility, which has a high degree of comfort for wearing to the user. Therefore, the disclosed operation control apparatus can control the protective gear to provide a protection as well as comfortable protection to the user.
The provision of the examples described herein (as well as clauses phrased as “such as,” “e.g.,” “including,” and the like) should not be interpreted as limiting the claimed subject matter to the specific examples; rather, the examples are intended to illustrate only some of many possible aspects.
Accordingly, protective gears, operating control methods of the protective gears, and operating control apparatuses of the protective gears are provided.
Although the present disclosure has been described and illustrated in the foregoing illustrative embodiments, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example, and that numerous changes in the details of embodiment of the present disclosure can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, which is only limited by the claims which follow. Features of the disclosed embodiments can be combined and rearranged in various ways. Without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, modifications, equivalents, or improvements to the present disclosure are understandable to those skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed within the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A protective gear, comprising:

at least one impact-resistant pad, containing a phase-change material and capable of at least partially wrapping a protected area;

a phase-change controller, including a heating device and a cooling device configured to control the phase-change material; and

a control circuit, configured to send a signal to the phase-change controller to control the phase-change material to be in a solid phase state after detecting a fall-down of the protected area, and send another signal to the phase-change controller to control the phase-change material to be in a liquid phase state after detecting an un-fall-down of the protected area.

2. The protective gear of claim 1, further comprising:

an acceleration sensor electrically connected to the control circuit to detect whether a fall-down occurs to the protected area.

3. The protective gear of claim 1, wherein:

the heating device includes a heating circuit on the wearable support configured to, when switched on, maintain the liquid phase state of the phase-change material in the at least one impact-resistant pad,

wherein the control circuit is electrically connected to the heating circuit, and is configured to switch on the heating circuit in response to detecting the un-fall-down, and to switch off the heating circuit in response to detecting the fall-down.

4. The protective gear of claim 1, wherein:

the cooling device includes a plurality of semiconductor cooling plates or a refrigeration cycle system.

5. The protective gear of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one impact-resistant pad is made of polydimethylsiloxane.

6. The protective gear of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one impact-resistant pad is formed by using an injection-molding process or a 3D-printing process.

7. The protective gear of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one impact-resistant pad includes a plurality of runners; and

the phase-change material is filled within the plurality of runners.

8. The protective gear of claim 7, wherein:

the plurality of runners is configured in a gridded form.

9. The protective gear of claim 7, wherein:

the plurality of runners includes a plurality of spring-like sub-channels each having a central axis perpendicular to a lateral direction of a corresponding impact-resistant pad.

10. The protective gear of claim 1, wherein:

the phase-change material includes a liquid metal, including at least one of Ga, Ga₆₇In_20.5Sn_12.5, Ga_75.5In_24.5, and Ca₆₁In₂₅Sn₁₃Zn₁.

11. The protective gear of claim 1, further comprising:

a wearable support, wherein the at least one impact-resistant pad is on the wearable support and the at least one impact-resistant pad is flexible.

12. The protective gear of claim 1, including:

at least two impact-resistant pads, configured to respectively wrap different protected areas, each of the impact-resistant pads corresponding to one phase-change controller.

13. The protective gear of claim 12, wherein:

the control circuit is further electrically connected to each of the phase-change controllers, and is further configured to:

in response to detecting a fall-down, determine which impact-resistant pad to be activated based on detection data of an acceleration sensor, and switch on a phase-change controller to activate the determined impact-resistant pad.

14. The protective gear of claim 1, wherein:

the protective gear is one of a knee brace, a wristlet, an elbow guard, and an ankle guard.

15. A method for controlling an operation of a protective gear, comprising:

obtaining detection data from an acceleration sensor;

determining whether a fall-down of the protected area occurs based on the detection data from the acceleration sensor;

in response to detecting an un-fall-down, switching off a phase-change controller; and

in response to detecting a fall-down, switching on the phase-change controller to cool down a phase-change material within an impact-resistant pad into a solid phase state.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

in response to detecting the un-fall-down, switching on a heating circuit to maintain a liquid phase state of the phase-change material in the impact-resistant pad; and

in response to detecting the fall-down, switching off the heating circuit.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

in response to detecting a fall-down, determining one or more impact-resistant pads to be activated based on the detection data from the acceleration sensor, wherein the one or more impact-resistant pads respectively wrap different protected areas of the human body, each impact-resistant pad corresponding to one phase-change controller respectively; and

switching on one or more phase-change controllers to activate the one or more impact-resistant pads.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the at least one impact-resistant pad includes a plurality of runners; and

the phase-change material is filled within the plurality of runners.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the plurality of runners is configured in a gridded form.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein: