WO2023006201A1 - Method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining desired temperature inside the footwear - Google Patents

Method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining desired temperature inside the footwear Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2023006201A1
WO2023006201A1 PCT/EP2021/071230 EP2021071230W WO2023006201A1 WO 2023006201 A1 WO2023006201 A1 WO 2023006201A1 EP 2021071230 W EP2021071230 W EP 2021071230W WO 2023006201 A1 WO2023006201 A1 WO 2023006201A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
footwear
data
processing unit
temperature
data processing
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2021/071230
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Ivana Marsic
Tomislav MATIC
Marijan HERCEG
Original Assignee
Myrio D.O.O.
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Publication date
Application filed by Myrio D.O.O. filed Critical Myrio D.O.O.
Priority to US18/292,934 priority Critical patent/US20240324713A1/en
Priority to PCT/EP2021/071230 priority patent/WO2023006201A1/en
Publication of WO2023006201A1 publication Critical patent/WO2023006201A1/en

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A43—FOOTWEAR
    • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
    • A43B3/00—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use
    • A43B3/34—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements
    • A43B3/35—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements with electric heating arrangements
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A43—FOOTWEAR
    • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
    • A43B3/00—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use
    • A43B3/34—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements
    • A43B3/38—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements with power sources
    • A43B3/40—Batteries
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A43—FOOTWEAR
    • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
    • A43B3/00—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use
    • A43B3/34—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements
    • A43B3/38—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements with power sources
    • A43B3/42—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements with power sources where power is generated by conversion of mechanical movement to electricity, e.g. by piezoelectric means
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A43—FOOTWEAR
    • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
    • A43B3/00—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use
    • A43B3/34—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements
    • A43B3/44—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements with sensors, e.g. for detecting contact or position
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A43—FOOTWEAR
    • A43B—CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF FOOTWEAR; PARTS OF FOOTWEAR
    • A43B3/00—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use
    • A43B3/34—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements
    • A43B3/48—Footwear characterised by the shape or the use with electrical or electronic arrangements with transmitting devices, e.g. GSM or Wi-Fi®

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining the desired temperature inside a footwear.
  • the said disclosure belongs to the technical field of thermoregulation circuits or devices with energy harvesting ability. More particularly, the disclosed data-processing system enables the footwear, that are equipped with electrical or electronic systems for cooling/heating, to further execute the energy harvesting from a body- footwear-surrounding temperature difference.
  • the footwear is equipped with an additional inductive energy harvesting device situated within the footwear to prolong a battery cycle.
  • Heating or cooling body parts is the most challenging problem encountered in smart-garment or smart-footwear field. All other activities in the said fields, oriented toward the data collection, transmission, various bio-parameter measuring, treating/acting with magnetic or electric filed, illuminating, etc. require substantially lower energy resources, even up to two orders of magnitude. Heating and cooling of the body parts therefore present a challenging problem that requires up to 100 Wats for proper functioning in extreme conditions, i.e., in harsh weather or other conditions.
  • thermoelectric device to power wearable devices, see reference 1): 1) M. Stevens, HUMAN BODY HEAT AS A SOURCE FOR THERMOELECTRIC ENERGY GENERATION, November 27, 2016, submitted as coursework for PH240, Stanford University, Fall 2016 http://large.Stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph240/stevens1/
  • a 100 Watts target that is 0.1 kWh requires a substantial power to be stored in battery pack that implies a significant weight to be carried.
  • the most advanced cellular phone battery is emptied in less than 10 minutes with such power load, which implies that energy harvesting should be incorporated somehow in the energy-scheme to prolong full functionality of a smart footwear.
  • the main technical problem solved with the present disclosure is the formation of smart heating / cooling circuitry, together with the energy harvesting abilities, suitable to be used with a footwear.
  • the above is achieved by using Peltier modules for heating / cooling and energy harvesting at the same time, with carefully selected duty cycles for each Peltier module.
  • the present disclosure addresses few other technical problems, such as additional wireless / inductive charging via carpet-like chargers that prolong the battery life as well, the artificial intelligence (AI) unit that is used to improve footwear's thermograph of heating/cooling abilities, etc.
  • AI artificial intelligence
  • the heating/cooling meta-data is used for diagnostic properties, more particularly for signaling potential user's diabetes mellitus.
  • thermoelectric generators thermoelectric generators
  • Reference 3 demonstrates how off-the-shelf TEG/Peltier modules, with only 5% harvest efficiency, are possible to use for generating enough energy to power small devices using the body heat only.
  • Reference 4 teaches about the socks with cooling and heating abilities.
  • the temperature of the human body part i.e., the foot
  • the temperature of the human body part is maintained at an appropriate temperature which is especially suitable in cases of various diseases, such as frostbite, athlete's foot, eczema, and heat rash. This document remains silent regarding the possible energy harvesting and corresponding controlling of used TEG modules.
  • Reference 5 discloses an insole that is capable to be cooled and heated with the Peltier module. The document is silent regarding the possible energy harvesting feature. 6) KR20140092606A, POWER GENERATION DEVICE USING THE TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLOTHES INSIDE AND OUTSIDE, filed in the name of Park Hyo Jae.
  • Reference 6 discloses a power generation apparatus using a temperature difference between the inside and the outside of a garment, and more particularly, to a power generation apparatus provided in a garment to produce electric power by using a temperature difference between a body temperature inside the clothes and an environment outside the clothes.
  • the document is silent regarding the possible heating / cooling having in mind that is focused solely to the energy harvesting.
  • thermoelectric generator TAG
  • Reference 8 discloses pulsed width modulation (PWM) temperature controller used in controlling a garment temperature, e.g., for active heating of an underwear. The present reference remains silent regarding any harvesting or switching other heating/cooling modules with same or different PWMs.
  • PWM pulsed width modulation
  • the said footwear is equipped with: o a data processing unit for executing the said method, controlling switch SI that regulates working regime heating / cooling, and where the data processing unit additionally controls a driving module and collects the inner and outer footwear's temperature data, o plurality of Peltier modules 1, 2, ..., i,..., N, distributed over the footwear's surface, for heating, cooling, and energy harvesting, that are connected with the corresponding power cables to the power busbar and powered by time-multiplexed pulse trains, o one or more temperature sensors 1, 2, ..., j, M, distributed over the inner footwear's surface, and connected with the corresponding data cables to the sensors' busbar, where said sensors are used for measuring inner temperature Ti at locations j, o a battery module equipped with the power management system for powering the said Peltier modules through a power busbar, for charging the battery
  • Said one or more outer temperature sensors are connected via a data cable or via a wireless connection with the data processing unit for sending measured outer temperatures data To to the data processing unit.
  • the disclosed method is defined via the following steps:
  • Ql, Q2, ... Q(i-l), Q(i+1), ... QN switches into condition for harvesting energy and directs generated currents towards the power management unit, while the data processing unit sets only Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit, and set SI switch to heating, or
  • Ql, Q2, ... Q(i-l), Q(i+1), ... QN switches into condition for harvesting energy and directs generated currents towards the power management unit, while the data processing unit sets Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit, and set SI switch to cooling.
  • step E. and step F the value for the index i is changed consecutively to be l->2->3-> ...->(N-1)->N with a time period D that defines a duty cycle of each i-th Peltier module.
  • all N used Peltier modules are time multiplexed in a manner that only one Peltier module is active at a particular time instance.
  • An adjustable time period D1 is inserted before starting each new cycle l->2->3-> ...->(N-1)->N during which the data processing unit sets all Ql, Q2, ..., QN switches to direct generated currents from the energy harvesting processes from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature towards the power management unit.
  • Time periods D and D1 are used to regulate delivered power for heating/cooling regime and to bring the average temperature ⁇ Ti> within the set range [TLo, THi].
  • the method steps A., B. and C. are independently executed to provide the most recent data about the temperatures, for continuously executing loop defined by steps D.-
  • steps E. and F additional time period D2 is inserted between each switching from i-th to (i+l)-th Peltier module.
  • Said time period D2 is again used in the process of power regulation together with time periods D1 and D, where during the said period D2 all Peltier modules are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature and the data processing unit sets all Ql, Q2, ...QN switches to direct generated current towards the power management unit.
  • time period D for each i-th Peltier module is adjustable and depends on a used Peltier module position and the inner sensor temperature that is most closely situated to the said i- th Peltier module.
  • a footwear with the above said characteristic, that is capable to perform method of operating data-processing system defined above is also disclosed.
  • said footwear is a smart sock.
  • the charging of the said footwear is performed via an inductive charger formed as the carpet or similar 2D device.
  • one or more outer temperature sensors are connected via the data cable with the data processing unit or, said one or more outer temperature sensor are connected via the wireless low energy module with the data processing unit.
  • a meta-data of the conducted method of operation, occurred in the data processing unit are transmitted via the smart device to the cloud, together with the accompanied smart device data.
  • an artificial intelligence unit is used to improve footwear's thermograph of heating/cooling abilities, based on transmitted meta-data.
  • the doctor or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data in order to establish biological circles and patient's behavior, especially when combined with the smart device data.
  • the doctor or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data for an artificial intelligence unit supported diagnostic, especially for signaling potential user's diabetes mellitus disease.
  • Figure 1 depicts the block scheme of a smart footwear and the corresponding system's elements involved, such as a cloud, AI module etc.
  • Figure 2 depicts a smart footwear, more particularly a smart sock together with the used elements in exercising the disclosure.
  • FIG. 3 shows the block scheme of electric circuitry.
  • Figure 4 shows the cyclic switching of Q1 ... QN Peltier modules, during heating / cooling phase.
  • FIG. 5 shows the flowchart of the data-processing algorithm used to control heating or cooling and the time division multiplexing used for circular switching of used Peltier modules between cooling/heating phase and energy harvesting phase.
  • Figure 6 shows the statuses of Q1 ... QN vs. time in the preferred embodiment.
  • FIG. 7 shows another variant of preferred embodiment where harvesting period D2 is executed before each Q(i)->Q(i+l) switching.
  • the present disclosure relates to method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining the desired temperature inside a footwear.
  • the footwear according to the invention is described in detail.
  • the used footwear can be formed as a shoe, a sock, or any other suitable footwear capable to enclose the entire foot, preferably in a manner of a textile or leather barrier to the surrounding environment.
  • Such footwear is depicted on Figure 2, and in this part the references mainly belong to the said figure.
  • Data processing unit (70) may be any of the shelf microcontroller module capable to collect footwear's inner and outer temperature data, to controls switch SI that regulates working regime, i.e., heating / cooling, and where the said data processing unit (70) additionally controls a driving module (71), whose function will be discussed later.
  • the used Peltier modules are flexible one, such as those TEGs described in reference 9) below:
  • Used TEGway's flexible thermoelectric device has a ZT value ( ⁇ 0.7) comparable to conventional rigid bulk type thermoelectric device, and yet provides better performance in real applications.
  • S Seebeck coefficient
  • p electrical resistivity
  • K thermal conductivity
  • each of said Peltier modules (10.i) is simultaneously used for heating / cooling function - in an active state, and for energy harvesting in its passive state, that will be explained in more detail in the section devoted to the method of operation. Furthermore, each Peltier module (10.i) is connected with the corresponding power cable (11.i) to the power busbar (40) connected to the driving module (71) and power management unit (91). Having in mind that all devices are built into the footwear, it is necessary to have power cables (11.i) formed from cables suitable for textile usage. Examples of such power or data cables are these disclosed in reference 10) below:
  • Said cables are entirely washable, able to be stitched, and therefore suitable to be used in smart socks or smart shoes formation.
  • Said sensors (20.j) are used for measuring inner temperature Ti for each sensor on location j, and are preferably uniformly distributed over the surface, and situated away the used Peltier modules (lO.i) in order to eliminate false temperature readings.
  • any off-the-shelf point temperature sensor is suitable for the mentioned purpose, if it is able to communicate via the data-cable with the data processing unit (70).
  • the flexible battery module (90), suitable for wearable technology is used.
  • the busbar is formed from the textile power cables disclosed in reference 10).
  • the power management system is designed to fulfill several tasks, i.e., for charging the battery module (90) in the energy harvesting regime from one or more Peltier modules and for powering the data processing unit (70) and joint circuits that enable the said disclosure.
  • a driving module (71) is designed for executing the data processing unit commands to switch between energy harvesting condition or heating/cooling condition for each Peltier module (10.i) via the set of corresponding switches [Ql, Q2, ...Qi, ..., QN], as depicted on Figure 3, in close cooperation with the power management unit (91).
  • the energy operation scheme of the said driving module (71) will be revealed in more details later.
  • the footwear has a wireless low energy module (80) for establishing a communication with any smart device (300).
  • any smart device (300) such as a mobile device, a smart watch, or similar device, is used to set low (TLo) and high (THi) operational temperature of the mentioned footwear and for controlling parameters of the said method of operation.
  • the outer temperature sensors (30.k) are connected via the data cable (31) with the data processing unit (70), for measuring outer temperatures To.
  • One or more outer temperature sensors (30.k) are needed for proper functioning of the smart footwear. Said sensors can be located on the outer surface of the footwear, or, preferably away of the said footwear to minimize false reading due to the user's body heat emission. In the latter case, it is necessary to have the data cable (31) or the above cited wireless connection (51) to transmit the temperature data to the data processing unit (70).
  • an inductive charging device (92) is designed to be connected with the power management system (91), and to enable additional contactless charging of the battery module (90) beside energy harvesting due to the temperature differences.
  • the dedicated users (200) are sitting at their working places resting their feet on the floor, or on specifically designed resting pads.
  • the similar situation occurs at their homes, for instance during the television watching, when the wireless charging can be performed via smart carpet.
  • the said resting pads or carpets or any other almost two-dimensional (2D) objects can be equipped with inductive charger to cooperate with the charging device (92), built into the said footwear. In that sense, such additional power supply will prolong the ability of the said smart footwear, i.e., the sock, to operate according to the desired needs.
  • the inventive part of the disclosure is that while i-th Peltier module is in its cooling/heating mode, all other Peltier modules are working as the energy harvesting devices and charges the battery module.
  • the set duty cycle for the i-th Peltier module defines the period of activity for the i-th Peltier module.
  • FIG. 3 depicts the block scheme of the inter circuitry connection.
  • the data processing unit (70) collect the data from inner temperature sensors (20.j) in the form of data vector [Til, Ti2, Ti3, ..., TiM]. Also, the data processing unit (70) collects the data from outer temperature sensors (30.k) in the form of another data vector [Tol, To2, To3, ..., TiP]. Said data processing unit (70) is responsible for selection of cooling / heating regime via the reversing polarity (+Vdd) into (-Vdd) and vice versa, controlled by the SI switch.
  • DPU (70) controls the driving module (71) switching abilities. The driving module (71) sets each Peltier module to be in one of the states 0 or 1.
  • step A. the system loading the user (200) pre-defined high temperature threshold THi, and low temperature threshold TLo, entered via the smart device (300) and transmitted via the wireless low energy module (80) into the data processing unit (70), see Figure 4.
  • THi and TLo define the operational range, for instance from 34 °C to 36 °C, but any other convenient range can be set.
  • the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ...Q(i-l), Q(i+1), ...QN switches for harvesting energy to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91), while the data processing unit (70) sets only Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and additionally set SI switch to heating. Said case is depicted for t>t2 on Figure 4.
  • the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ...Q(i-l), Q(i+1), ...QN switches for harvesting energy to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91), while the data processing unit (70) sets Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and additionally sets SI switch to cooling. Said case is depicted for t ⁇ tl on Figure 4.
  • Steps D., E., F. set the regime for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and defines the working conditions for other Peltier units (10.j) where i1j in case of steps E. and F.
  • step E. and step F. the value for the index i is changed consecutively to be l->2->3-> ... ->(N-1)->N.
  • This change has time period D that defines a duty cycle of each i-th Peltier module. Effectively, that defines the working or occupation time for the said Peltier module, as depicted on Figure 6.
  • each Peltier module is engaged for time period D.
  • an adjustable time period D1 is inserted before starting each new cycle l->2->3-> ... ->(N-1)->N during which the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ..., QN switches to direct generated current from the energy harvesting processes from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature towards the power management unit (91). That is depicted on Figure 6.
  • steps A., B. and C. are independently executed to provide the most recent data about the temperatures, while the steps D.->E.->F.->D. are executed in continuous loop.
  • time period D2 is inserted between each switching from i- th to (i+l)-th Peltier module.
  • time period D2 is also used in the process of power regulation together with previously mentioned time periods D1 and D, and where during the said period D2 all Peltier modules (10.i) are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature.
  • the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ...QN switches to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91).
  • the data processing device (70) can firstly read the j-th temperature sensor that is most closely situated to i-th Peltier module (10.i). Based on the said j-th temperature and the desired temperature range, i.e., THi and TLo, it is possible to adjust the time period D for the said Peltier module to achieve the best thermalization properties of the entire footwear.
  • the desired temperature range i.e., THi and TLo
  • Figure 1 depicts further possible use of the said invention.
  • the meta-data of the conducted method of operation such powering scheme and temperature feedback on applied controls, occurred in the data processing unit (70)
  • the smart device (300) can be transmitted via the smart device (300) to the cloud (500), together with the accompanied smart device (300) data such as user's age, location, weather condition, i.e., humidity, etc. In that sense said data are open for inspection and further use.
  • an artificial intelligence unit (400) to improve footwear's thermograph of heating/cooling abilities, based on the transmitted meta-data, by taking into account the current user locations - if necessary.
  • doctor (600) or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data in order to establish biological circles and patient's behavior, especially when combined with other smart device (300) data.
  • the recorded skin temperature can be effectively used for an artificial intelligence unit (400) supported diagnostic, especially for signaling potential user's diabetes mellitus disease.
  • the present disclosure relates to method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining the desired temperature inside a footwear which is improved by energy harvesting regime via already used Peltier modules, beside well-known heating / cooling abilities.
  • Wireless low energy module e.g., Bluetooth Low Energy Module
  • Footwear e.g., smart sock

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Footwear And Its Accessory, Manufacturing Method And Apparatuses (AREA)

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a smart footwear that is capable to maintain the temperature within the set range using Peltier modules (10.i), that are additionally used for energy harvesting. The footwear is equipped with plurality of inner temperature sensors (20.j). Outer temperature is recorded by one or more sensors (30.k). Data processing unit (70) executes a program for heating / cooling and energy harvesting, where only i-th Peltier module is used in time for heating/cooling and other modules (10.1) where i≠1 for energy harvesting. In the preferred embodiment, the index i is changed consecutively to be 1->2->3->... ->(N-1)->N with time period D that defines a duty cycle of each i-th Peltier module, and with the adjustable time period D1 before each new cycle 1->2->3->...->(N-1)- >N, while all Peltier modules are in energy harvesting mode. Time periods D and D1 are used to regulate delivered power for heating/cooling.

Description

METHOD OF OPERATING DATA-PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR MONITORING AND
MAINTAINING DESIRED TEMPERATURE INSIDE THE FOOTWEAR
DESCRIPTION
Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining the desired temperature inside a footwear. The said disclosure belongs to the technical field of thermoregulation circuits or devices with energy harvesting ability. More particularly, the disclosed data-processing system enables the footwear, that are equipped with electrical or electronic systems for cooling/heating, to further execute the energy harvesting from a body- footwear-surrounding temperature difference. Optionally, the footwear is equipped with an additional inductive energy harvesting device situated within the footwear to prolong a battery cycle.
Technical Problem
Heating or cooling body parts is the most challenging problem encountered in smart-garment or smart-footwear field. All other activities in the said fields, oriented toward the data collection, transmission, various bio-parameter measuring, treating/acting with magnetic or electric filed, illuminating, etc. require substantially lower energy resources, even up to two orders of magnitude. Heating and cooling of the body parts therefore present a challenging problem that requires up to 100 Wats for proper functioning in extreme conditions, i.e., in harsh weather or other conditions.
Namely, a resting human body, without any activity, gives 100-120 Watts of energy, where only a small fraction can be used by a thermoelectric device to power wearable devices, see reference 1): 1) M. Stevens, HUMAN BODY HEAT AS A SOURCE FOR THERMOELECTRIC ENERGY GENERATION, November 27, 2016, submitted as coursework for PH240, Stanford University, Fall 2016 http://large.Stanford.edu/courses/2016/ph240/stevens1/
A 100 Watts target, that is 0.1 kWh requires a substantial power to be stored in battery pack that implies a significant weight to be carried. The most advanced cellular phone battery is emptied in less than 10 minutes with such power load, which implies that energy harvesting should be incorporated somehow in the energy-scheme to prolong full functionality of a smart footwear.
The main technical problem solved with the present disclosure is the formation of smart heating / cooling circuitry, together with the energy harvesting abilities, suitable to be used with a footwear. The above is achieved by using Peltier modules for heating / cooling and energy harvesting at the same time, with carefully selected duty cycles for each Peltier module.
The present disclosure addresses few other technical problems, such as additional wireless / inductive charging via carpet-like chargers that prolong the battery life as well, the artificial intelligence (AI) unit that is used to improve footwear's thermograph of heating/cooling abilities, etc.
In yet another embodiment, the heating/cooling meta-data is used for diagnostic properties, more particularly for signaling potential user's diabetes mellitus.
State of the Art
The state of the art has plethora of documents defining the art in general, such as reference 2) and 3) cited below:
2) Nozariasbmarz, A., Suarez, F., Dycus, J. H., Cabral, M. J.,
LeBeau, J.M., Oztiirk, M. C., & Vashaee, D. (2019). THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS FOR WEARABLE BODY HEAT HARVESTING: MATERIAL AND DEVICE
CONCURRENT OPTIMIZATION. Nano Energy, 104265. doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.104265
The above article reveals that body heat harvesting systems, based on thermoelectric generators (TEGs), can play a significant role in wearable electronics intended for continuous, long-term health monitoring. In addition, the said article mentions that the harvested power density from the body using TEGs is limited to a few micro-watts per square centimeter, which is not sufficient for direct powering of the wearable devices.
3) YT® video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsVvBZQkHaM with the title: THERMOELECTRIC ENERGY HARVESTING FOR WEARABLES,
Reference 3 demonstrates how off-the-shelf TEG/Peltier modules, with only 5% harvest efficiency, are possible to use for generating enough energy to power small devices using the body heat only.
4) KR20170064698A, SEASONAL TEMPERATURE CONTROL SOCKS, filed in the name of Kim Dong O, et al.
Reference 4 teaches about the socks with cooling and heating abilities. In addition, with the said invention, the temperature of the human body part, i.e., the foot, is maintained at an appropriate temperature which is especially suitable in cases of various diseases, such as frostbite, athlete's foot, eczema, and heat rash. This document remains silent regarding the possible energy harvesting and corresponding controlling of used TEG modules.
5) US10285469B2, INSOLE FOR CONTROLLING AND ADJUSTING THE TEMPERATURE OF THE FOOT, filed in the name of Aria S.R.L.
Reference 5 discloses an insole that is capable to be cooled and heated with the Peltier module. The document is silent regarding the possible energy harvesting feature. 6) KR20140092606A, POWER GENERATION DEVICE USING THE TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLOTHES INSIDE AND OUTSIDE, filed in the name of Park Hyo Jae.
Reference 6 discloses a power generation apparatus using a temperature difference between the inside and the outside of a garment, and more particularly, to a power generation apparatus provided in a garment to produce electric power by using a temperature difference between a body temperature inside the clothes and an environment outside the clothes. The document is silent regarding the possible heating / cooling having in mind that is focused solely to the energy harvesting.
7) Shuttleworth, R., and Simpson, K. (2013). DISCRETE, MATCHED-LOAD,
STEP-UP CONVERTER FOR 60-400 mV THERMOELECTRIC ENERGY HARVESTING SOURCE. Electronics Letters, 49(11), 719-720. doi:10.1049/el.2012.3879
Reference 7, and cited references therein, discloses power-management circuitry for thermoelectric energy harvesting. Said reference describes a low input voltage step-up converter, constructed from readily available components, able to boost the output voltage of a thermoelectric generator (TEG) energy harvester to a usable level.
8) CN205757224U, INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGICAL NOVEL UNDERWEAR THAT ADJUSTS TEMPERATURE, filed in the name of Guangdong Hanheng Ind. Co. Ltd.
Reference 8 discloses pulsed width modulation (PWM) temperature controller used in controlling a garment temperature, e.g., for active heating of an underwear. The present reference remains silent regarding any harvesting or switching other heating/cooling modules with same or different PWMs.
The above selected documents are cited according to the best inventors' knowledge. Summary of the Disclosure
Present disclosure relates to a novel method of operating data- processing system for monitoring and maintaining desired temperature inside the footwear, by using a smart device which is operated by a user. According to the preferred embodiment, the said footwear is equipped with: o a data processing unit for executing the said method, controlling switch SI that regulates working regime heating / cooling, and where the data processing unit additionally controls a driving module and collects the inner and outer footwear's temperature data, o plurality of Peltier modules 1, 2, ..., i,..., N, distributed over the footwear's surface, for heating, cooling, and energy harvesting, that are connected with the corresponding power cables to the power busbar and powered by time-multiplexed pulse trains, o one or more temperature sensors 1, 2, ..., j, M, distributed over the inner footwear's surface, and connected with the corresponding data cables to the sensors' busbar, where said sensors are used for measuring inner temperature Ti at locations j, o a battery module equipped with the power management system for powering the said Peltier modules through a power busbar, for charging the battery module in the energy harvesting regime, and for powering the data processing unit and joint circuits, o a driving module, that is designed for executing the data processing unit commands to switch between the energy harvesting condition or the heating/cooling condition for each Peltier module, via the set of corresponding switches [Ql, Q2, ...Qi, ..., QN], o a wireless low energy module for establishing the communication with a smart device for controlling parameters of the said method of operation, and, optionally, to communicate with one or more outer temperature sensors 1, 2, ..., k,..., P, if necessary, and o optionally, an inductive charging device connected to the power management system to enable additional contactless charging of the battery module.
Said one or more outer temperature sensors are connected via a data cable or via a wireless connection with the data processing unit for sending measured outer temperatures data To to the data processing unit.
The disclosed method is defined via the following steps:
A. loading the user pre-defined high temperature threshold THi, and low temperature threshold TLo, that is entered via the smart device and transmitted via the wireless low energy module into the data processing unit,
B. loading of inner temperature sensors values [Til, Ti2, Ti3, ..., TiM], and calculating the average inner temperature <Ti> from the said values,
C. loading of outer temperature sensors values [Tol, To2, To3, ..., TiP] via the wireless low energy module or directly the via the data cables,
D. if temperature <Ti> is within the range [TLo, THi], then all Peltier modules are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature, and the data processing unit sets all Ql, Q2, ...QN switches to direct generated currents towards the power management unit, or E. if temperature <Ti> < TLo, then the data processing unit sets all
Ql, Q2, ... Q(i-l), Q(i+1), ... QN switches into condition for harvesting energy and directs generated currents towards the power management unit, while the data processing unit sets only Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit, and set SI switch to heating, or
F. if temperature <Ti> > THi, then the data processing unit sets all
Ql, Q2, ... Q(i-l), Q(i+1), ... QN switches into condition for harvesting energy and directs generated currents towards the power management unit, while the data processing unit sets Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit, and set SI switch to cooling.
In step E. and step F. the value for the index i is changed consecutively to be l->2->3-> ...->(N-1)->N with a time period D that defines a duty cycle of each i-th Peltier module. During step E. and F. all N used Peltier modules are time multiplexed in a manner that only one Peltier module is active at a particular time instance. An adjustable time period D1 is inserted before starting each new cycle l->2->3-> ...->(N-1)->N during which the data processing unit sets all Ql, Q2, ..., QN switches to direct generated currents from the energy harvesting processes from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature towards the power management unit. Time periods D and D1 are used to regulate delivered power for heating/cooling regime and to bring the average temperature <Ti> within the set range [TLo, THi]. The method steps A., B. and C. are independently executed to provide the most recent data about the temperatures, for continuously executing loop defined by steps D.-
>E.->F.->D.
In an alternative embodiment, in steps E. and F. additional time period D2 is inserted between each switching from i-th to (i+l)-th Peltier module. Said time period D2 is again used in the process of power regulation together with time periods D1 and D, where during the said period D2 all Peltier modules are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature and the data processing unit sets all Ql, Q2, ...QN switches to direct generated current towards the power management unit.
In yet another embodiment, time period D for each i-th Peltier module is adjustable and depends on a used Peltier module position and the inner sensor temperature that is most closely situated to the said i- th Peltier module.
A footwear, with the above said characteristic, that is capable to perform method of operating data-processing system defined above is also disclosed. In preferred embodiment, said footwear is a smart sock.
In one variant, the charging of the said footwear is performed via an inductive charger formed as the carpet or similar 2D device. In a yet another variant, one or more outer temperature sensors are connected via the data cable with the data processing unit or, said one or more outer temperature sensor are connected via the wireless low energy module with the data processing unit.
In yet another variant, a meta-data of the conducted method of operation, occurred in the data processing unit, are transmitted via the smart device to the cloud, together with the accompanied smart device data.
In yet another variant, an artificial intelligence unit is used to improve footwear's thermograph of heating/cooling abilities, based on transmitted meta-data.
In yet another variant, the doctor or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data in order to establish biological circles and patient's behavior, especially when combined with the smart device data. In yet another variant, the doctor or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data for an artificial intelligence unit supported diagnostic, especially for signaling potential user's diabetes mellitus disease.
Description of Figures
Figure 1 depicts the block scheme of a smart footwear and the corresponding system's elements involved, such as a cloud, AI module etc.
Figure 2 depicts a smart footwear, more particularly a smart sock together with the used elements in exercising the disclosure.
Figure 3 shows the block scheme of electric circuitry.
Figure 4 revels the cyclic switching of Q1 ... QN Peltier modules, during heating / cooling phase.
Figure 5 shows the flowchart of the data-processing algorithm used to control heating or cooling and the time division multiplexing used for circular switching of used Peltier modules between cooling/heating phase and energy harvesting phase.
Figure 6 shows the statuses of Q1 ... QN vs. time in the preferred embodiment.
Figure 7 shows another variant of preferred embodiment where harvesting period D2 is executed before each Q(i)->Q(i+l) switching.
Detailed Description of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining the desired temperature inside a footwear. In the first part, the footwear according to the invention is described in detail. Footwear
In the preferred embodiment, the used footwear can be formed as a shoe, a sock, or any other suitable footwear capable to enclose the entire foot, preferably in a manner of a textile or leather barrier to the surrounding environment. Such footwear is depicted on Figure 2, and in this part the references mainly belong to the said figure.
Each footwear (100) is equipped with a data processing unit (70) for executing the below described method. Data processing unit (70) may be any of the shelf microcontroller module capable to collect footwear's inner and outer temperature data, to controls switch SI that regulates working regime, i.e., heating / cooling, and where the said data processing unit (70) additionally controls a driving module (71), whose function will be discussed later.
According to the preferred embodiment, a plurality of Peltier modules (10.i); i = 1, 2, ..., N, is distributed over the footwear (100) surface, more preferably close to the inner surface of the said footwear for improving heating / cooling and energy harvesting abilities. Preferably, the used Peltier modules are flexible one, such as those TEGs described in reference 9) below:
9) Flexible thermoelectric device TEGway http://tegway.co/bbs/content.php?co id=flexible&lang=en
Used TEGway's flexible thermoelectric device has a ZT value (~0.7) comparable to conventional rigid bulk type thermoelectric device, and yet provides better performance in real applications. The ZT value is defined as the dimensionless figure of merit, ZT = S2T/(rk), and it is calculated from the Seebeck coefficient (S), electrical resistivity (p), and thermal conductivity (K), where T stands for absolute temperature, where all mentioned physical observables are temperature dependent, which is known in the art. The person skilled in the art will immediately recognize advantages of the flexible thermoelectric devices over a rigid TEGs in formation of the footwear according to the said disclosure.
Each of said Peltier modules (10.i) is simultaneously used for heating / cooling function - in an active state, and for energy harvesting in its passive state, that will be explained in more detail in the section devoted to the method of operation. Furthermore, each Peltier module (10.i) is connected with the corresponding power cable (11.i) to the power busbar (40) connected to the driving module (71) and power management unit (91). Having in mind that all devices are built into the footwear, it is necessary to have power cables (11.i) formed from cables suitable for textile usage. Examples of such power or data cables are these disclosed in reference 10) below:
10) WEEL® textile data and power cables suitable for smart garment and footwears: http://www.weeltechnologies.com/cables.htmt
Said cables are entirely washable, able to be stitched, and therefore suitable to be used in smart socks or smart shoes formation.
In the preferred embodiment, one or more temperature sensors (20.j), j = 1, 2, ..., M; are distributed over the footwear (100) surface and connected with the corresponding data cables (21.j) to the sensors' busbar (50). Said sensors (20.j) are used for measuring inner temperature Ti for each sensor on location j, and are preferably uniformly distributed over the surface, and situated away the used Peltier modules (lO.i) in order to eliminate false temperature readings. Considering the needed reading accuracy, any off-the-shelf point temperature sensor is suitable for the mentioned purpose, if it is able to communicate via the data-cable with the data processing unit (70).
A battery module (90), located preferably close to the ankle region of the said footwear, is equipped with the power management system (91) for powering the said Peltier modules (10.i) through the power busbar (40). Preferably, the flexible battery module (90), suitable for wearable technology is used. Again, the busbar is formed from the textile power cables disclosed in reference 10). The power management system is designed to fulfill several tasks, i.e., for charging the battery module (90) in the energy harvesting regime from one or more Peltier modules and for powering the data processing unit (70) and joint circuits that enable the said disclosure.
One of important and nontrivial joint circuit is a driving module (71). This module is designed for executing the data processing unit commands to switch between energy harvesting condition or heating/cooling condition for each Peltier module (10.i) via the set of corresponding switches [Ql, Q2, ...Qi, ..., QN], as depicted on Figure 3, in close cooperation with the power management unit (91). The energy operation scheme of the said driving module (71) will be revealed in more details later.
The footwear, according to the preferred embodiment, has a wireless low energy module (80) for establishing a communication with any smart device (300). In practice, the best choice seems to be Bluetooth Low Energy Module (BLE), due to its versatility and well-established standard. Any smart device (300), such as a mobile device, a smart watch, or similar device, is used to set low (TLo) and high (THi) operational temperature of the mentioned footwear and for controlling parameters of the said method of operation. In one variant, the said smart device (300) is optionally used to communicate with one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k); k = 1, 2, ..., P, via a wireless connection (51) and to transmit the outer temperature data (To), via the mentioned BLE module to the data processing unit (70). In yet another variant, the outer temperature sensors (30.k) are connected via the data cable (31) with the data processing unit (70), for measuring outer temperatures To.
One or more outer temperature sensors (30.k) are needed for proper functioning of the smart footwear. Said sensors can be located on the outer surface of the footwear, or, preferably away of the said footwear to minimize false reading due to the user's body heat emission. In the latter case, it is necessary to have the data cable (31) or the above cited wireless connection (51) to transmit the temperature data to the data processing unit (70).
In yet another variant of the disclosure, an inductive charging device (92) is designed to be connected with the power management system (91), and to enable additional contactless charging of the battery module (90) beside energy harvesting due to the temperature differences. Namely, most of the time, the dedicated users (200) are sitting at their working places resting their feet on the floor, or on specifically designed resting pads. The similar situation occurs at their homes, for instance during the television watching, when the wireless charging can be performed via smart carpet. The said resting pads or carpets or any other almost two-dimensional (2D) objects can be equipped with inductive charger to cooperate with the charging device (92), built into the said footwear. In that sense, such additional power supply will prolong the ability of the said smart footwear, i.e., the sock, to operate according to the desired needs.
Method of operation
The most challenging part in any heating / cooling of the footwear is its active surface that has to be thermalized. For the person skilled in the art, it is obvious that one Peltier module is not convenient for the mention use, and that more modules should be used. It is observed that the thermal diffusivity, which measures the heat transfer rate of a material from the hot end to the cold end, is significant in foot-footwear system. Therefore, it is convenient to switch one-by-one Peltier module on/off for cooling or heating purpose, which increases the thermalization time but lowers the net current used for powering the system and where such powering scheme preserves battery system. In addition, it is possible in that way to regulate the delivered or extracted heat power from the footwear by changing the duty cycles of the mentioned Peltier modules, in a manner that the duty cycle corresponds with the temperature difference between the desired temperature and actual inner footwear temperature.
The inventive part of the disclosure is that while i-th Peltier module is in its cooling/heating mode, all other Peltier modules are working as the energy harvesting devices and charges the battery module. The set duty cycle for the i-th Peltier module defines the period of activity for the i-th Peltier module.
Figure 3 depicts the block scheme of the inter circuitry connection. The data processing unit (70) collect the data from inner temperature sensors (20.j) in the form of data vector [Til, Ti2, Ti3, ..., TiM]. Also, the data processing unit (70) collects the data from outer temperature sensors (30.k) in the form of another data vector [Tol, To2, To3, ..., TiP]. Said data processing unit (70) is responsible for selection of cooling / heating regime via the reversing polarity (+Vdd) into (-Vdd) and vice versa, controlled by the SI switch. In addition, DPU (70) controls the driving module (71) switching abilities. The driving module (71) sets each Peltier module to be in one of the states 0 or 1. If the i-th switch is set to 1, i.e. Qi = 1. that the i-th Peltier module is in a cooling/heating state, that is determined with the SI switch position. If Qi = 0, then the i-th Peltier module is in energy harvesting state, and generated thermopower, and the correspondent microcurrent, is conveniently used, via power management unit (91) to power the battery (90). Later is achieved via the circuitry that is well-known in the art, e.g., reference 7).
The method steps are schematically depicted on Figure 5 with the example depicted via Figure 4.
Step A.
In step A., the system loading the user (200) pre-defined high temperature threshold THi, and low temperature threshold TLo, entered via the smart device (300) and transmitted via the wireless low energy module (80) into the data processing unit (70), see Figure 4.
THi and TLo define the operational range, for instance from 34 °C to 36 °C, but any other convenient range can be set.
Step B.
In step B., the data processing unit (70) loads the inner temperature sensors' set of values for j=l, 2, ...M, [Til, Ti2, Ti3, ..., TiM] and calculates the average inner temperature <Ti> from the said values.
Step C.
In step C., the data processing unit (70) loads the outer temperature sensors' set of values for k=l, 2, ...P, [Tol, To2, To3, ..., TiP] via the wireless low energy module (80) or directly via data cables, as explained earlier.
Step D.
If temperature <Ti> is within the range [TLo, THi], then all Peltier modules (10.i), i = 1, 2, ...N are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature, as depicted on Figure 4, for times between tl and t2. The data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ...QN switches to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91).
Step E.
If temperature <Ti> is below TLo, then the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ...Q(i-l), Q(i+1), ...QN switches for harvesting energy to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91), while the data processing unit (70) sets only Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and additionally set SI switch to heating. Said case is depicted for t>t2 on Figure 4.
Step F.
If temperature <Ti> is above THi, then the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ...Q(i-l), Q(i+1), ...QN switches for harvesting energy to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91), while the data processing unit (70) sets Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and additionally sets SI switch to cooling. Said case is depicted for t<tl on Figure 4.
Steps D., E., F. set the regime for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and defines the working conditions for other Peltier units (10.j) where i¹j in case of steps E. and F.
In step E. and step F. the value for the index i is changed consecutively to be l->2->3-> ... ->(N-1)->N. This change has time period D that defines a duty cycle of each i-th Peltier module. Effectively, that defines the working or occupation time for the said Peltier module, as depicted on Figure 6. In the simplest scheme, each Peltier module is engaged for time period D. In addition, an adjustable time period D1 is inserted before starting each new cycle l->2->3-> ... ->(N-1)->N during which the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ..., QN switches to direct generated current from the energy harvesting processes from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature towards the power management unit (91). That is depicted on Figure 6.
The person skilled in the art will immediately recognize the ability to regulate delivered power for heating/cooling regime and to bring the average temperature <Ti> within the set range [TLo, THi] by adjusting D and D1 time periods. Longer D1 period means the lower total energy for heating/cooling is achieved in time. Longer D period means the higher total energy of some particular Peltier's unit for heating/cooling is delivered to the system foot-footwear. Similar power management is already disclosed in reference 8) cited before, however without ability to simultaneously harvest the energy from the temperature difference, where reference 8) is silent.
Finally, it is important to note that steps A., B. and C. are independently executed to provide the most recent data about the temperatures, while the steps D.->E.->F.->D. are executed in continuous loop.
In one variant of invention, depicted on Figure 7, in steps E. and F. additional time period D2 is inserted between each switching from i- th to (i+l)-th Peltier module. Hereby time period D2 is also used in the process of power regulation together with previously mentioned time periods D1 and D, and where during the said period D2 all Peltier modules (10.i) are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature. In that regime, the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ...QN switches to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91).
In yet another variant, it is possible to further improve the power regulation. Namely, the data processing device (70) can firstly read the j-th temperature sensor that is most closely situated to i-th Peltier module (10.i). Based on the said j-th temperature and the desired temperature range, i.e., THi and TLo, it is possible to adjust the time period D for the said Peltier module to achieve the best thermalization properties of the entire footwear. Hereby, as well in other variants, all other modules except the i-th are used for the energy harvesting.
The person skilled in the art may find other PWM forms to regulate heating/ cooling power delivered to i-th Peltier module, while other modules j, where j¹i, are turned to harvesting energy regime. Potential use behind temperature regulation
Figure 1 depicts further possible use of the said invention. Namely, the meta-data of the conducted method of operation such powering scheme and temperature feedback on applied controls, occurred in the data processing unit (70), can be transmitted via the smart device (300) to the cloud (500), together with the accompanied smart device (300) data such as user's age, location, weather condition, i.e., humidity, etc. In that sense said data are open for inspection and further use.
It is possible to use an artificial intelligence unit (400) to improve footwear's thermograph of heating/cooling abilities, based on the transmitted meta-data, by taking into account the current user locations - if necessary.
Also, the doctor (600) or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data in order to establish biological circles and patient's behavior, especially when combined with other smart device (300) data.
Furthermore, it is possible to link the foot temperature with the possible health issues, as is demonstrated in the article below:
11) Chatchawan, U., Narkto, P., Damri, T., & Yamauchi, J. (2018). AN
EXPLORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOT SKIN TEMPERATURE AND BLOOD FLOW IN TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS PATIENTS:A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 30(11), 1359-1363. doi:10.1589/jpts.30.1359
So, the recorded skin temperature can be effectively used for an artificial intelligence unit (400) supported diagnostic, especially for signaling potential user's diabetes mellitus disease.
Therefore, the signaling regarding the potential diseases are possible, more specifically, the diseases linked with abnormal foot skin temperature. Industrial Applicability
Industrial applicability for the said disclosure is obvious. The present disclosure relates to method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining the desired temperature inside a footwear which is improved by energy harvesting regime via already used Peltier modules, beside well-known heating / cooling abilities.
Reference numbers
10.i Peltier module; i = 1, 2, ..., N
11.i (Textile) Power Cable; i = 1, 2, ..., N
20.j Temperature sensor; j = 1, 2, ..., M
21.j (Textile) Data Cable; j = 1, 2, ..., M
30.k Outer temperature sensor; k = 1, 2, ..., P
31.k (Textile) Data Cable; k = 1, 2, ..., P
40 Power busbar
50 Sensors' busbar
51 Wireless connection
70 Data processing unit (DPU)
71 Driving module
80 Wireless low energy module, e.g., Bluetooth Low Energy Module
90 Battery module (BM)
91 Power management system
92 Inductive charging device
100 Footwear, e.g., smart sock
200 User
300 Smart device
400 Artificial intelligence (AI) unit 500 Cloud / Data storage
600 Doctor
SI Heating / Cooling switch
Qi Switch for i-th Peltier module; i = 1, 2, ..., N

Claims

1. A method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining desired temperature inside the footwear (100) by using a smart device (300) which is operated by a user (200), where the said footwear (100) is equipped with: o a data processing unit (70) for executing the said method, and controlling switch SI that regulates working regime heating / cooling, and where the data processing unit (70) additionally controls a driving module (71) and collects footwear's inner and outer temperature data, o plurality of Peltier modules (10.i), distributed over the footwear (100) surface, for heating, cooling, and energy harvesting, and connected with the corresponding power cables (11.i) to the power busbar (40), o one or more temperature sensors (20.j), distributed over the inner footwear (100) surface, and connected with the corresponding data cables (21.j) to the sensors' busbar (50), where said sensors (20.j) are used for measuring inner temperature Ti for each sensor location j, o a battery module (90) equipped with the power management system (91) for powering the said Peltier modules (10.i) through a power busbar (40), for charging the battery module (90) in the energy harvesting regime, and for powering the data processing unit (70) and joint circuits, o a driving module (71), executing the data processing unit commands to switch between energy harvesting condition or heating/cooling condition for each Peltier module (10.i) via the set of corresponding switches [Ql, Q2, ... Qi, QN], o a wireless low energy module (80) for establishing the communication with smart device (300) for controlling parameters of the said method of operation, and, optionally, to communicate with one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k), and o optionally, an inductive charging device (92) connected to the power management system (91) to enable additional contactless charging of the battery module (90), wherein one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k) are connected via a data cable (31) or a wireless connection (51) with the data processing unit (70), for sending measured outer temperatures data To to the data processing unit (70), wherein the said method is characterized by the following steps:
A. loading the user (200) pre-defined high temperature threshold THi, and low temperature threshold TLo, entered via the smart device (300) and transmitted via the wireless low energy module (80) into the data processing unit (70),
B. loading of inner temperature sensors (20.j) set of values for j=l, 2, ...M, [Til, Ti2, Ti3, ..., TiM] and calculating the average inner temperature <Ti> from the said values,
C. loading of outer temperature sensors (30.k) set of values for k=l, 2, ...P, [Tol, To2, To3, ..., TiP] via the wireless low energy module (80) or directly via data cables,
D. if temperature <Ti> is within the range [TLo, THi], then all Peltier modules (10.i), i = 1, 2, ...N are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature, the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ...QN switches to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91), or
E. if temperature <Ti> < TLo, then the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ... Q(i-l), Q(i+1), ... QN switches for harvesting energy and directs generated currents towards the power management unit (91), while the data processing unit (70) sets only Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and additionally set SI switch to heating, or
F. if temperature <Ti> > THi, then the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ... Q(i-l), Q(i+1), ... QN switches for harvesting energy and directs generated currents towards the power management unit (91), while the data processing unit (70) sets Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and additionally set SI switch to cooling, where in step E. and step F. the value for the index i is changed consecutively to be l->2->3-> ... ->(N-1)->N with a time period D that defines a duty cycle of each i-th Peltier module, and with an adjustable time period D1 inserted before starting each new cycle l->2->3-> ...->(N-1)->N during which the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ..., QN switches to direct generated currents from the energy harvesting processes from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature towards the power management unit (91), where said time periods D and D1 are used to regulate delivered power for heating/cooling regime and to bring the average temperature <Ti> within the set range [TLo, THi], and where steps A., B. and C. are independently executed to provide the most recent data about the temperatures, for continuously executing loop defined by steps D.->E.->F.->D.
2 . The method of operating data-processing system according to claim
1, wherein in steps E.and F. additional time period D2 is inserted between each switching from i-th to (i+l)-th Peltier module, where time period D2 is again used in the process of power regulation together with time periods D1 and D, and where during the said period D2 all Peltier modules (10.i) are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature and the data processing unit (70) sets all Ql, Q2, ...QN switches to direct generated currents towards the power management unit (91).
3. The method of operating data-processing system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein time period D for each Peltier module (10.i) is adjustable and depends on a used Peltier module (10.i) position and the inner sensor temperature that is most closely situated to the said Peltier module (10.i).
4 . A footwear (100), that is equipped with: a data processing unit (70) for controlling switch SI that regulates working regime heating / cooling, and controlling a driving module (71), plurality of Peltier modules (10.i), distributed over the footwear (100) surface, for heating, cooling, and energy harvesting, and connected with the corresponding power cables (11.i) to the power busbar (40), one or more temperature sensors (20.j), distributed over the footwear (100) surface, and connected with the corresponding data cables (21.j) to the sensors' busbar (50), where said sensors (20.j) are used for measuring inner temperature Ti for each sensor j, a battery module (90) equipped with the power management system (91) for powering the said Peltier modules (10.i), for charging the battery module (90) in the energy harvesting regime, and for powering the data processing unit (70) and joint circuits, a driving module (71), executing the data processing unit commands to switch between energy harvesting condition or heating/cooling condition for said Peltier modules (10.i) via the set of corresponding switches [Ql, Q2, ...Qi, ..., QN] a wireless low energy module (80) for establishing the communication with smart device (300) for controlling parameters of the said method of operation, and, optionally, to communicate with one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k), and optionally, an inductive charging device (92) connected to the power management system (91) to enable additional contactless charging of the battery module (90), wherein said footwear's data processing unit (70) is used to perform method of operating data-processing system defined in any of the previous claims.
5. The footwear (100), according to claim 4, that is a sock.
6. The footwear (100), according to any of claims 4-5, wherein the charging is performed via an inductive charger formed as the carpet or similar 2D device.
7. The footwear (100), according to any of claims 4-6, wherein one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k) are connected via the data cable (31) with the data processing unit (70).
8. The footwear (100), according to any of claims 4-6, wherein one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k) are connected via the wireless low energy module (80) with the data processing unit (70).
9. The footwear (100), according to any of claims 4-8, wherein the meta-data of the conducted method of operation, occurred in the data processing unit (70), are transmitted via the smart device (300) to the cloud (500), together with the accompanied smart device (300) data.
10. The footwear (100), according to claim 9, wherein an artificial intelligence unit (400) is used to improve footwear's thermograph of heating/cooling abilities, based on transmitted meta-data.
11. The footwear (100), according to claim 9, wherein the doctor (600) or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data in order to establish biological circles and patient's behavior, especially when combined with the smart device (300) data.
12. The footwear (100), according to claim 9, wherein the doctor (600) or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data for an artificial intelligence unit (400) supported diagnostic, especially for signaling potential user's diabetes mellitus disease.
PCT/EP2021/071230 2021-07-28 2021-07-28 Method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining desired temperature inside the footwear WO2023006201A1 (en)

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