WO2006098641A2

WO2006098641A2 - Automatic or manually changeable thermal insulation in clothing with variable thermal conductive shunts

Info

Publication number: WO2006098641A2
Application number: PCT/NO2006/000102
Authority: WO
Inventors: Morten Gulliksen
Original assignee: Warm Systems As
Priority date: 2005-03-18
Filing date: 2006-03-20
Publication date: 2006-09-21
Also published as: WO2006098641A3

Abstract

A near constant heat transfer independent of the outdoor temperature is obtained in a garment, sleeping bag, or shoe, made of fabric or cloth according to the present invention. The insulation is provided variable with a plurality of variable thermal shunts arranged in an insulating layer. The thermal conduction of the shunts is controlled by opening/closing said shunts, wherein said closing/opening operation is dependent on the temperature. The temperature for opening/closing is settable by utilizing the thermal mismatch principle and the material properties of plastic and thermal conductive materials. The shunts or variable thermal conductors can also be made for manual activation by using an inflatable flexible tube to exert force on, and squeeze, the shunt conductors together, or to provide pressure to a pressure dependent shunt. The shunt supply pressure can also be regulated by a phase change liquid/vapour reservoir to obtain an automatic adaption to the ambient temperature.

Description

AUTOMATIC OR MANUALLY CHANGEABLE THERMAL INSULATION IN CLOTHING WITH VARIABLE THERMAL CONDUCTIVE SHUNTS

Technical Field

The present invention relates to insulation of winter clothing and, more specifically, to a variable thermal conductor between thermally conducting inner and outer textiles in a garment or shoe or similar applications.

Background of the Invention

As known in prior art, it is not always possible to remove or dress with insulating clothing to obtain the right thermal state of the body. During cold winter periods, when physically active outdoor, many experience overheating when they enter for example indoor facilities such as shops, waiting rooms at train stations etc. without the possibility to change clothes or undress. The need for thermally adapting clothes has existed a long time.

In prior art heat conducting elements such as carbon fibres and graphite are known, for example are graphite sheets used in portable computers to remove heat from the CPU. In garments, such heat conducting elements can be used, providing a cooling effect instead of providing insulation by transporting heat from an inner side of a garment to an outer side of the garment

The object of the invention is to provide cloth or textiles for use for example in garments or sleeping bags, with changeable/adjustable insulating properties.

This may be achieved according to the invention by arranging cloth/garments with thermal conducting elements, giving the possibility for compensating for the insulation provided by the cloth/garment. By making the heat conducting elements controllable with respect to degree of the heat conduction, there garment can adapt to the desired insulation value at different ambient temperatures and levels of physical activity. The thermal conducting elements can be any element suitable for integrating into cloth and which comprises the desired thermal conductive properties. Examples of usable thermal conducting elements are carbon fibres, carbon fibre bundles and graphite sheets.

According to the present invention the objective is achieved by providing a plurality of variable thermal shunts in series with such thermal conducting elements arranged at different locations between at least two layers of textiles such that each end of said thermal conducting elements each thermally connects to each of said two layers of textiles via said shunts.

These shunts may provide heat insulation or heat conduction by controlling said shunts to an open or closed state. When shunts are closed, heat conducting elements may connect an inner side of a garment with an outer side of the garment, the garment being made of at least two layers of textiles. When shunts are open, the at least two layers of textiles are thermally insulated by the spacing between the two layers. As known to a person skilled in the art, this space may be filled with a thermally isolating substance, further increasing the insulating effect when said shunts are open. Cloth or fabrics manufactured according to the present invention comprising said at least two layers of textiles and a plurality of said shunts, may be used to manufacture garments which provide automatic or manual adaptation of the insulation of the garment to variable ambient temperature to provide a comfortable inside temperature of said garments.

The thermal conduction can be varied between a fully conducting state and a fully insulating state. The term "closed" in this context thus means that the shunt is conducting a significant amount of heat, and the term "open" means that the shunt is conducting a small or no amount of heat. There will of course be a gradual transition between these states, which also is a part of the invention. In one embodiment, the extent of the thermal conduction is determined based on the temperature difference between the actual temperature and the desired temperature, ie. the amount of heat to be transferred. According to an aspect of the present invention, said shunts may be manufactured such that said opening or closing is achieved at a predefined temperature as sensed by the thermal conducting elements thermally connected to one of said two layers of textiles, or as a combination of the temperatures sensed by each of the two thermal conducting elements connected to each of the two layers.

According to another aspect of the present invention, said opening or closing of said shunts may be achieved by an arrangement providing a stress in said shunts closing said shunts, and easing/reduction of the stress will open said shunts. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, said stress is provided by a flexible tube connected in series to the shunts, and having an air/fluid pressurizing arrangement in one end of said tube. When the pressurizing arrangement is compressing, the fluid pressure will be passed to each shunt providing the stress that is closing each connected shunt. The pressurization of the arrangement can be controlled by a manual pump or by a phase change of a fluid such as a refrigerant allowing for both manual and automatic termperature/pressure control.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the opening and closing of said shunts may be achieved by electrically controllably actuators. According to an example of embodiment of the present invention, the electrically controllable actuators are controlled by pressing a centrally located switch that are passing electric power to said actuators from a connected battery.

According to another aspect of the present invention, some of said shunts may be temperature regulated while others are manually operated as described above.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates the principle of one embodiment according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows an arrangement of a plurality of units according to the invention. Fig. 3 and 4 show further details of the embodiment of fig. 1.

Fig. 5 depicts an example of embodiment of a thermal shunt according to the present invention.

Fig. 6 depicts the shunt of fig. 5 in another view.

Fig. 7 shows another example of embodiment of a thermal shunt according to the present invention.

Fig. 8 depicts the shunt of fig. 7 in another view.

Fig. 9 shows a detail of the shunt of figures 7 and 8.

Fig. 10 depicts another example of embodiment of the present invention comprising a closing and opening of said shunt by a stress arrangement.

Fig. 11 depicts the same embodiment as illustrated in figure 5 viewed from another angle.

Fig. 12 shows a further example of an embodiment of a manual operated shunt according to the present invention.

Fig. 13 depicts the shunt of figure 12 in another view.

Fig.14 depicts a calculation of the heat loss through cloth manufactured according to the present invention.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

Figure 1 illustrates an example of an embodiment of the present invention At least two textile layers 102 and 106 are arranged with insulating substances 101, 107 in the space formed between the at least two textile layers. A thermal shunt arrangement comprising a closing/opening means or device 105 is thermally connected with two thermally conducting elements 103, 104 located in the same space as the insulating substance 101. The thermal conducting element 103 is thermally connected to the textile layer 102 while the other thermal conducting element 104 is thermally connected to the textile layer 106 (possibly with adhesive or sewing). When the closing/opening means or device 105 is closed, heat is transported between the textile layers 102 and 106 as known to a person skilled in the art. When the closing/opening means or device 105 is open, the two textile layers 102 and 106 is thermally isolated to a level mainly determined by the isolating substance 101 in the space between the two textile layers 102 and 106.

Figure 2 shows an arrangement of a plurality of units comprising only the conducting elements 103, 104 and the closing/opening device/means 105. The units are overlapping, forming a "shell" surrounding the part to be controllable insulated, for example the body of a user. In use, insulation members as well as textiles will be provided as illustrated in figure 1.

Figures 3 and 4 shows further details of the embodiment of figure 1. The thermal conducting elements are in this embodiment graphite sheets 103', 104'.

According to an example of embodiment of the present invention, the closing/opening means or device 105 of the shunt comprises an encapsulation 51, for example formed by casting plastics, as depicted in figure 5 and figure 6. Two thermal conducting elements 52, 59 (such as carbon fibre or graphite sheets 103 and 104, of figure 1, 3, 4, aluminium or other thermal conducting material) are located adjacent to each other in said encapsulation. The thermal conducting elements may be continuous parts or materials, or, as shown in figures 5 and 6, they may comprise two sections, one section being incorporated in the encapsulation and adapted for connection to the section stretching outside the encapsulation. Each end of the two elements inside the encapsulation is supported by sidewalls 51, 56 and preferably a working polymer 57, 57'. The working polymer is a polymer with desired coefficient of thermal expansion, i.e. which contracts or expands as the temperature changes. In one embodiment the thermal conducting elements 52, 59 are stretching from the supporting sidewalls inwards the encapsulation supported by movable members of the encapsulation sidewalls protruding from each of the supporting sidewalls. The gap formed between the supporting movable members on each side of said movable members (except on the starting side of said protruding) provide heat insulation between the two thermal conducting elements. However, as known to a person skilled in the art, any thermal mismatch between the thermal conducting elements inside the encapsulation and the working polymer or in some cases the encapsulation itself causes sideways movements of the movable members depending on the temperature of each movable member, and may therefore form a variable thermal conductor. As known to a person skilled in the art, the composition of the material in said encapsulation may be provided with a predictable bending dependent on the temperature of said material and other geometrical parameters defining said movable members. Therefore it is possible to design a shunt according to the present invention providing a closing or opening of said shunt at a predefined temperature. In the embodiment illustrated in figure 5 and 6, the encapsulation 51 does not contribute considerably to the closing/opening of the shunt, but is primary a sealed housing. The thermal conducting elements 52, 59 are here arms made of aluminium and are adapted for connection to further thermal conducting element sections, such as graphite sheets, at connection recesses 58. There are provided bending zones 55 close to the outermost ends of the arms. The bending zones 55 are in this embodiment recesses in the material of the arms. The working polymer 57, 57' is a layer connected to the arms 52, 59 and a change in temperature causes a contraction or expansion of the working polymer and thus a movement of the arms 52, 59 by bending of the bending zones 55. When the contact surfaces 53, 54 of the thermal conducting arms are in contact, the shunt is in "closed" state and conducts heat across the insulation barrier.

Figure 7 and 8 illustrates two views of another embodiment of opening/closing means of a shunt arrangement according to the invention. This embodiment comprises housing members 19, 22, 23 arranged on each side of two heat conducting elements 20, 21. In this embodiment the two heat conducting elements 20, 21 are aluminium elements adapted for connection to further thermal conducting elements through recesses 27, 28, as described above. In "open" state, there is an empty gap 29 between the heat conducting elements 20, 21, and the shunt arrangement is in an insulating state. Two fluid chambers 17, 18 are provided in the housing members. The fluid chambers comprise a thermal conducting fluid, e.g. methanol. When the temperature of at least one of the heat conducting elements 20, 21 rises, following the heating of the outside or inside of the garment, the fluid in the chambers 17 and/or 18 expands, causing the fluid to flow in the passage 30 (see figure 9) and further to the gap 29. When the gap 29 is filled with thermal conducting fluid, the heat may flow between the heat conducting elements 20, 21, putting the shunt into its "closed" or conducting state. The housing members and the assembled housing are preferably sealed by sealing means such as a coating, eg. metal plating, to prevent that the fluid evaporates causing malfunction of the shunt.

Figure 10 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention providing a manual means for opening and closing said shunts. The encapsulation 110 comprises a flexible tube 111 located adjacent to a movable member 112 supporting the thermal conducting element 104. Figure 11 illustrates the same arrangement as in figure 5 viewed from a different angle. At an end point of said flexible tube 111, an air pump or compressible air cushion (not shown) is located providing an air pressure in said tube 111 when compressed. The air pressure in said flexible tube 111 causes a force to be applied the movable member 112 causing the movable member 112 to be moved such that the gap between the thermal conducting elements 104 and 105 is closed inside the encapsulation 110, thereby providing a thermal conductive path between the two textile layers 102 and 106. When the compression of the air cushion is eased, the movable member 112 is moved back to its original starting position.

Figure 12 and 13 shows an alternative embodiment of a manual operated shunt arrangement. The opening/closing mechanism 119 comprises two encapsulating parts 120, 121 arranged adjacent to each other. One of the encapsulating parts 120 has one flattened sidewall and one curved sidewall, and comprises a cavity 124 between these walls. The cavity is connected to a tube through connection 125. The flattened sidewall is flexible such that filling the cavity with a fluid causes the flattened sidewall to move outwards. The second encapsulating part 121 is rigid. Connected to the encapsulating parts are two thermal conducting elements 123 and 122, which face each other. In figure 12, the mechanism 119 is in its open state with an air gap 127. When the cavity 124 is filled with fluid by means of the tube, the thermal conducting element connected to the first encapsulating part 120 is forced towards the other thermal conducting element thus creating a thermal connection between the two thermal conducting elements and bringing the shunt arrangement into a "closed" state.

Cloths or fabrics may be manufactured with thermal shunt arrangements according to the present invention as described above. From such fabrics or cloths it is possible to manufacture garments. For example, a jacket may be formed from such fabric. Such jackets maybe suitable for outdoor activities. Figure 12 depicts a graph illustrating calculated heat loss through a jacket manufactured with fabrics according to present invention. The skin temperature of a person wearing said jacket is 30°C. As can be seen from the graph, the heat loss for a common jacket can, over a certain outdoor temperature interval, be kept constant. The jacket, manufactured according to the present invention, provides, as illustrated in figure 14, an adaptation to the outdoor temperature, in the temperature range usually encountered when a person wants to wear a jacket. The jacket will be felt as a comfortable environment for the wearer of the jacket because of the near constant heat transfer achieved by the present invention.

Claims

C l a i m s

1. Cloth comprising insulation between at least two layers of textiles (102, 106), comprising:

a plurality of variable controllable thermal conductive shunts located inside said insulation (101),

wherein said shunts are connected in series with a pair of thermal conducting elements (103, 104), such that an end of a first of said thermal conducting elements (103), is thermally connected to a first one of said at least two layers of textiles (102),

and an other end of said first thermal conducting element is connected to a first end of said shunt, while

an end of a second of said thermal conducting elements (104), is thermally connected to a second one of said at least two layers of textiles (106),

and an other end of said second thermal conducting element (104) is connected to a second end of said shunt.

2. Cloth according to claim 1, wherein the conducting elements comprises carbon fibres or bundles of carbon fibres.

3. Cloth according to claim 1, wherein the conducting elements comprises graphite sheets.

4. Cloth according to claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of variable controllable thermal conductive shunts comprises means to open or close said thermal shunts when a defined temperature in said shunts is reached in an environment of said shunts.

5. Cloth according to claim 4, wherein said temperature in said environment is defined by temperature of a part of one of said thermal conducting elements located inside said shunt.

6. Cloth according to claim 4 and 5, wherein said temperature in said environment is defined by temperature of a part of both of said thermal conducting elements located inside said shunt.

7. Cloth according to claim 4, wherein said means for opening or closing said shunts comprises a flexible tube (111) connected in series between said shunts providing a closing action of said shunts when said flexible tube (111) is pressurized.

8. Cloth according to claim 7, wherein the pressurization is controlled by a manual operated pump or by a phase change of a fluid.

9. Shunt with variable thermal conducting properties, comprising: at least two thermal conducting elements each connected to opposite ends of a closing/opening device, the opening/closing of the opening/closing device being dependent on the temperature of all or part of the shunt device.

10. Shunt according to claim 9, where two longitudinal parts of the thermal conducting elements are located adjacent to each other inside said encapsulation arranged with a gap between them, the heat flow across the gap being dependent of the shunt temperature.

11. Shunt according to claim 9 and 10 where adjacent parts of the thermal conducting elements are supported by two movable members in said encapsulation, where movements of said movable members are temperature dependent.

12. Shunt according to claim 9 and 10, further comprising a thermal conducting fluid, the amount of fluid in the gap being temperature dependent.

13. Application of cloth, according to claim 1, in manufacturing of garments or sleeping bags.

14. Application of cloth, according to claim 1, in manufacturing of shoes.