Patent Application
20190383493
The present invention relates to a body contact-type warmer using a heat pipe, and more particularly, to a body contact-type warmer provided therein with a heat pipe as a heat source to heat a heating plate so as to warm a body part such as a foot or abdomen.
In general, stoves and heating equipment are essential tools for warming a space in the low-temperature seasons such as winter.
However, a person who puts a body around a lower portion of a desk or has hands and feet easily getting cold even when an indoor room is heated, or a person who wants to keep an abdomen warm may need an additional heating device.
To this end, a pocket warmer (a hand warmer) as a portable warmer has been developed and used especially for the purpose of warming hands. Since the conventional portable warmer uses physical/chemical properties of a material, there is a limit to warm a specific part of the body due to low thermal efficiency, and there is a limit to effectively apply the warmer onto a portion required to be heated, such as feet that easily loses heat thereby causing a user to feel cold or an abdomen beneficial to health when the portion is heated. In addition, the conventional portable warmer has difficulty to use continuously due to inconvenience of a temperature control.
To improve the above problems, Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0341341 discloses the conventional body contact-type warmer configured to form a foot insertion hole into which a foot is inserted to warm a foot portion, and provide an acupressure concavo-convex on an outer side thereof to press the foot and warm the foot using heat conducted to the outer side.
However, the above-described body contact-type warmer uses an electric heater, electromagnetic waves generate and a risk of fire is high, and there is a limit to increase thermal efficiency. Thus, a warmer, for a body part, having high thermal efficiency and preventing the risk of electromagnetic waves or fire is highly required to be developed.
As shown in
However, since the above-described small warmer uses a plurality of heat pipes, there are excessive energy wasting factors. In addition, a plurality of heat pipes which are expensive cause an increase of manufacturing costs.
1. Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2011-0050892
An object to solve the above problems in the related art is to provide a body contact-type warmer for warming a body part such as a foot or abdomen by providing sufficient heat to a heating plate despite one heat pipe.
According to embodiments of the present invention for achieving the above object, the warmer includes: a heating part having a body formed therein with a heat preserving material-filled space and heat transfer protrusions formed at both sides of the body; a heat pipe accommodated in the heating part and having a heater; caps for holding the heat pipe and blocking both ends of the heating part; a pair of heating plate fixing parts having heat transfer protrusions coming into close contact with the heat transfer protrusions of the heating part to transfer heat and serve as a connection mechanism; and a heating plate put on upper ends of the heating part and the heating plate fixing parts.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the warmer further may include: a pair of covers that cover both sides of the heating part, the heating plate fixing parts, and the heating plate, in which the covers are configured to install a switch for adjusting a temperature of the heater and turning on/off a power supply and a control panel.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a separation preventing step may be formed at an upper outer edge of the heating plate fixing part such that the heating plate is prevented from being separated.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the warmer may include: a locking step and a locking protrusion, which are correspondingly fitted to each other, may be formed at the heat transfer protrusion of the heating part and the heat transfer protrusion of the heating plate fixing part, respectively.
In another embodiment of the present invention, heat pipe mounting steps may be formed in the caps, in which the heat pipe mounting step formed in one of the caps is positioned lower and the heat pipe mounting step formed in the other cap is positioned higher, so that the heat pipe may be installed to be inclined in the heating part.
As described above, according to the present invention, only one heat pipe is used such that energy savings and cost savings can be implemented. In addition, the heating part may be arranged at a center of the warmer to transfer the heat of the heat pipe quickly and continuously, and the heating plate fixing parts, which transfer the heat with the heating part and fix the heating plate, to the both sides of the heating part to heat the heating plate, so that the body contact-type warmer can have a simple structure and be easily manufactured.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily carry out the present invention. However, the invention may be embodied in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The terms used herein are merely for reference to specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the invention. Further, the singular forms include plural forms unless opposite meanings are clearly indicated. The term “comprise” or “include” used herein specifies a specific feature, region, integer, step, action, element and/or component, and is not intended to exclude the presence or addition of other specific features, region, integer, step, action, element, component and/or group. Although not defined differently, all terms used herein including technical or scientific terms have the same meaning as commonly understood by those having ordinary skill in the art. Terms such as those defined in generally used dictionaries should be interpreted to have the meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the related art and the descriptions herein, and should not be interpreted as an ideal or formal meaning unless otherwise defined.
Embodiments of the invention described with reference to a perspective view specifically illustrate an ideal embodiment of the invention. As a result, various modifications of the design, for example, modifications of manufacturing methods and/or specifications, are expected. Therefore, the embodiments are not limited to any specific form of a region shown herein, and also include, for example, deformations or transformations by manufacture. For example, a region shown or described as being flat may have properties that are generally rough or rough and nonlinear. In addition, a portion shown as having a sharp angle may be rounded. Therefore, the region shown in the drawings is merely an approximate one, and is not intended to depict the exact form of the region or narrow the scope of the invention.
Hereinafter, a body contact-type warmer using a heat pipe according to preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, it shall be noted that same reference numerals may indicate the same elements or components as possible in the drawings. In addition, in the following description of the embodiments of the present invention, the detailed description of relevant known functions or configurations will be omitted not to make the subject matter of the present invention unclear.
A body contact-type warmer 100 using a heat pipe according to the embodiments of the present invention includes: a heating part 110 having a body 111 formed therein with a heat preserving material-filled space 111a and heat transfer protrusions 112 formed at both sides of the body 111; a heat pipe 114 accommodated in the heating part 110 and having a heater 115; caps 113 for holding the heat pipe 114 and blocking both ends of the heating part 110; a pair of heating plate fixing parts 120 having heat transfer protrusions 121 coming into close contact with the heat transfer protrusions 112 of the heating part 110 to transfer heat and serve as a connection mechanism; and a heating plate 140 put on upper ends of the heating part 110 and the heating plate fixing parts 120.
The heat preserving material-filled space 111a is filled with various materials for heat preservation, and a heat preserving material A may include red clay powder, volcanic stone powder or the like which has good heat preservation and emits far-infrared rays when heated. Accordingly, once the heating part 110 is warmed by the heat preserving material A, the warm state is maintained for a long time.
When the heat preserving material A is not filled in the heating part 110, it takes a very long time to heat the heating part 110 using the heat pipe 114, the heat is rarely maintained, and the far-infrared rays beneficial to a human body are rarely emitted.
The present invention has a structure in which the heat pipe 114 is disposed across the heat preserving material A so that the heat pipe 114 is heated by heat of the heater. Accordingly, when the heat pipe 114 is heated, the heat preserving material A is also heated.
At this time, the heat pipe 114 is required to be inclined to generate heat due to a medium therein, the caps 113 are used such that the heat pipe 114 is inclined in the heating part 110. In other words, heat pipe mounting steps 113a are formed in the pair of caps 113 for closing the both ends of the heating part 110, respectively, in which the heat pipe mounting step 113a formed in one of the caps 113 is positioned lower and the heat pipe mounting step 113a formed in the other cap 113 is positioned higher, so that the heat pipe 114 may be installed to be inclined. Of course, the heater 115 is installed at a lower end of the heat pipe 114.
The heating plate fixing parts 120 may be provided at sides of the heating part 110 so that heat of the heated heating part 110 may be transferred to the heating plate 140 more quickly. In other words, the heating plate fixing parts 120 are used to widen a surface area such that the heat of the heating part 110 is transferred to the heating plate 140 more widely and quickly.
To this end, the heat transfer protrusions 112 may be formed on both sides of the heating part 110, and the heat transfer protrusions 121 also may be formed on the heating plate fixing parts 120 connected to the heat transfer protrusions 112 of the heating part 110.
In addition, the heat transfer protrusions 112 are used to transfer the heat of the heating part 110 to the heating plate fixing parts 120 and also used to connect the heating part 110 to the heating plate fixing parts 120.
Accordingly, a locking protrusion 121a and a locking protrusion 112a, which are correspondingly fitted to each other, may be formed at the heat transfer protrusion 112 of the heating part 110 and the heat transfer protrusion 121 of the heating plate fixing part 120, respectively, so as to be fit to each other without using a fastener such as a screw. This is a structure that can facilitate convenience for production.
A separation preventing step 121 may be formed at an upper outer edge of the heating plate fixing part 120 such that the heating plate 140 mounted on a top of the heating part 110 and the heating plate fixing parts 120 is prevented from being separated. At this time, the separation preventing step 121 may be configure to have a concave groove shape to enable an edge of the heating plate 140 to be fitted into the groove, such that the heating plate 140 is prevented from being separated even when the warmer of the present invention is upside down.
For better appearance, a pair of covers 130 may be coupled to sides of the warmer to cover both sides of the heating part 110, both sides of the heating plate fixing parts 120, and both sides of the heating plate 140. A control panel, which has a temperature controller B for controlling a temperature of the heater, a switch C for turning on/off a power source, and a temperature display window (not shown) for indicating the temperature, may be provided in one of the covers 130.
In addition, according to the present invention, a plurality of heat radiation fins 116 may protrude on the side of the heating part 110 to further release the heat transferred from the body 111 to the outside. The heat released by the heat dissipation fins 116 may be utilized to heat the heating plate 140 and the heating plate fixing parts 120.
The heating plate 140 of the present invention may be formed of a material that emits far-infrared rays, such as red clay powder, slab or the like, beneficial to the human body, but any material may be used for warming a part of the human body such as a foot or abdomen.
As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to limited embodiments, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and it will be apparent that a person having ordinary skill in the art may carry out various deformations and modifications within the scope without departing from the idea of the present invention, the following claims and equivalents thereof.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2017-0026736 | Feb 2017 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2017/010151 | 9/15/2017 | WO | 00 |
