Patent Application
20230276869
The present invention generally relates to a cooling system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system to provide a cooling vest with an effective cooling operation for stabilizing a wearer/individual's body temperature using a Peltier chip and improving the personal comfort of the wearer.
Refrigerators and air-conditioners are old and clunky technology, and represent a field ripe for disruption. They consume a lot of electricity. They generally rely on chemicals called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). If the HFCs leak into the atmosphere, they cause a potent greenhouse-warming effect. Buildings' central-heating systems, meanwhile, are often powered by methane in the form of natural gas, which releases carbon dioxide and another greenhouse gas called methane. When it is burned, it has a tendency to leak from the pipes that deliver it, which is unfortunate and one much more potent than CO2.
One potential way of getting around all this might be to exploit the thermoelectric effect, a means of carrying heat from place to place as an electric current. Thermoelectric circuits can be used either to cool things down, or to heat them up. A firm called Phononic, based in Durham, N.C., has developed a chip for thermoelectric effect. The thermoelectric effect was discovered in 1834 by Jean Charles Peltier, a French physicist. It happens in an electrical circuit that includes two materials of different conductivity. A flow of electrons from the more conductive to the less conductive causes cooling. A flow in the other direction causes heating effect.
An article entitled ‘Cool Thinking: A New Approach to Carrying Heat Around as an Electric Current.” Economist. Oct. 9, 2021; P. 77’. discloses a new approach to carry heat around as an electric current.
The thermoelectric effect works best when the conductors involved are actually semiconductors, with bismuth and tin being common choices. Fancy cameras contain simple cooling chips which use these, as do some scientific instruments. But Phononic's boss, Tony Atti, thinks that is small beer. Using the good offices of Fabrinet, and a chipmaker in Thailand, he has started making more sophisticated versions at high volume, using the set of tools and techniques normally employed to etch information-processing circuits onto wafers made of silicon. In this case, though, the wafers are made of bismuth.
The results are, admittedly, still a long way from something that could heat or cool a building. But they are already finding lucrative employment in applications where space is at a premium. At the moment, the fastest-growing market is cooling the infrared lasers used to fire information-encoding photons through fibre-optic cables, for the long-distance transmission of data. They are also being used, though, in the 5G mobile-phone base stations now starting to blanket street corners, to keep the batteries of electric vehicles at optimal operating temperatures, and as components of the optical-frequency radar-like systems known as LIDAR, that help guide autonomous vehicles.
The crucial question from Mr Atti's point of view is whether semiconductor-based thermoelectronics can break out of these niches and become more mainstream, in the way that semiconductor-based electronics and lighting have done. In particular, he would like to incorporate heat-pumping chips into buildings, to provide them with integral thermoregulation.
In their current form, thermoelectric chips are unlikely to replace conventional air conditioning and central heating because they cannot move heat over the distances required to pump it in and out of a building in bulk. But they could nonetheless be used as regulators. Instead of turning a big air-conditioning system on or off, to lower or raise the temperature by the small amounts required to maintain comfort, with all the cost that entails, thermoelectric chips might tweak matters by moving heat around locally.
Phononic has already run trials of such local-temperature-tweaking chips in Singapore, in partnership with Temasek, that country's state-run investment fund. In 2019 S P Group, Singapore's utility company, installed eight of the firm's heat pumps, which comprise an array of chips pointed down at people, pumping heat out of the air above them, on the boardwalk on Clarke Quay in the city. Phononic claims the devices lowered the temperature in their vicinity by up to 10° C. and, as a bonus, consequently reduced humidity by 15%. If that can be scaled up, it would certainly be a cool result.
The heat exchange or heating and cooling systems are commonly used for modifying and controlling the temperature of a building, room, car, etc. With the technological advancements, these systems are utilized in clothing and garments in order to maintain the body temperate of a person who suffers from temperature extremities and to those in the medical field, especially surgeons who work in an unbalanced environment. To support such people, the clothing today is in-built with cooling systems that often control and modify the temperature of the clothing.
With the introduction of Peltier devices, the efficiency and marketability of heat exchange systems have increased. This device operates according to the Peltier effect. The effect creates a temperature difference by transferring heat between two electrical junctions having two dissimilar conductors. When an electric current is maintained, a flow of electrons from the more conductive region to the less conductive region causes cooling and similarly, a flow in the other direction causes heating. This creates a temperature balance and more specifically cooling of the system.
Various cooling systems for cooling garments are available. Many of these garments are cooled through a closed water circulation system having a piping network incorporated into the garment. Other cooling system includes some evaporative means incorporated in the garment for cooling the individual's body temperature. Though the above system regulated cooling of the body through garments, there is still a need for a system that uses a cooling means that is environmentally safer than other cooling units.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that provides effective cooling of the vest. Also, there is a need for a system that stabilizes the individual body temperature. Also, there is a need for a system that improves the personal comfort of a wearer.
The present invention generally discloses a cooling system. Further, the present invention discloses a cooling vest system configured to provide effective cooling to stabilize an individual's body temperature.
According to the present invention, the system is designed for providing an effective cooling of the vest. In one embodiment, the system stabilizes an individual's body temperature using a Peltier chip. In one embodiment, further the system improves the personal comfort of a wearer by controlling and modifying the temperature of the vest.
In one embodiment, the system comprises a cooling vest. In one embodiment, the cooling vest is incorporated with a tube of distilled water or water tube wrapped around the vest. In one embodiment, the water tube includes at least two ends. In one embodiment, the two ends are connected at the top of a water block having one or more openings. In one embodiment, the water block transfers heat into the liquid that flows through it. In one embodiment, the system further includes a water pump at least on any one end of the water tube to pump or transfer water passing through the tube. In one embodiment, the system often controls and modifies the temperature of the fluids running through the system.
In one embodiment, the system further includes a radiator with a fan. In one embodiment, the radiator with the fan blows cooling air throughout the vest removing excessive heat around. In one embodiment, the system further includes a heat sink placed below the radiator with a fan. In one embodiment, the heat sink is fastened to a metal plate incorporated in the vest using one or more fasteners. In one embodiment, the larger metal plate is made of aluminum. In one embodiment, the metal plate spreads out the cooling to the surface of the vest. In one embodiment, the system further includes a regulator for monitoring the temperature, water pressure, etc., connected along with the radiator.
In one embodiment, the system further includes an electronic circuit integrated with one or more processors and memory. In one embodiment, the memory stores a set of instructions executable by the processor. In one embodiment, the system receivers control from the electronic circuit. In one embodiment, the system further includes one or more battery compartments for receiving a plurality of batteries. In one embodiment, all these components are interconnected and are placed above the metal plate incorporated at the middle of any one side of the vest.
In one embodiment, the system further includes a Peltier element or Peltier cooling chip. In one embodiment, the Peltier cooling chip works based on the Peltier effect. In one embodiment, the Peltier cooling chip is a small metal plate connected to a power source. In one embodiment, the Peltier cooling chip includes at least one cool side or surface and at least one hot side or surface. In one embodiment, the cool side of the Peltier cooling chip also cools the body directly on the solar plexus area of the wearer's chest.
Advantageously, the system of the present invention provides effective cooling of the vest. Also, the system stabilizes the individual's body temperature using the water tubes and the Peltier chip. Further, the system improves the comfort level of a wearer.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating specific embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of the invention, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, exemplary constructions of the invention are shown in the drawings. However, the invention is not limited to the specific methods and structures disclosed herein. The description of a method step or a structure referenced by a numeral in a drawing is applicable to the description of that method step or structure shown by that same numeral in any subsequent drawing herein.
A description of embodiments of the present invention will now be given with reference to the Figures. It is expected that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive.
Referring to
In one embodiment, the vest 102 includes a plurality of components to control and modify the individual's body temperature. In one embodiment, the vest 102 is incorporated with a tube of distilled water or water tube 104 wrapped around the vest 102. In one embodiment, the water tube 104 includes at least two ends. In one embodiment, the system 100 often controls and modifies the temperature of the fluids running through the system 100. In one embodiment, the water tube 104 is the cooling medium wrapped around the body.
In one embodiment, the vest 102 has a dimension of about 16″ long and about 13″ width. The vest has a dimension of about 5.11″ width at its neck portion and 3″ height at its shoulder from the lowest point of the neck. The water tube 104 is affixed to the vest 102 at about 1″ apart from the sides of the vest 102. The water tube 104 is affixed to the vest 102 in a U-shape configuration at both the sides. The parallel tubes of the U-shape configuration are positioned at a distance of about 1.9″. Further, the water tube 104 has a dimension of about 0.95″ radius and 0.25″ width.
Referring to
In one embodiment, the system 100 further includes an electronic circuit 110 integrated with one or more processors and memory 112. In one embodiment, the memory stores a set of instructions executable by the processor. In one embodiment, the system 100 receivers control from the electronic circuit 110. In one embodiment, the system 100 further includes one or more battery compartments 114 for receiving a plurality of batteries 116. In one embodiment, all these components are interconnected and are placed above the metal plate 118 incorporated at the middle of any one side of the vest 102 (as shown in
Referring to
Advantageously, the system of the present invention provides effective cooling for clothing. Also, the system stabilizes the individual's body temperature using the water tubes and the Peltier chip. Further, the system improves the personal comfort of a wearer.
Preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein, including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention. It should be understood that the illustrated embodiments are exemplary only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.
The foregoing description comprise illustrative embodiments of the present invention. Having thus described exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it should be noted by those skilled in the art that the within disclosures are exemplary only, and that various other alternatives, adaptations, and modifications may be made within the scope of the present invention. Merely listing or numbering the steps of a method in a certain order does not constitute any limitation on the order of the steps of that method. Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains having the benefit of the teachings in the foregoing descriptions. Although specific terms may be employed herein, they are used only in generic and descriptive sense and not for purposes of limitation. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments illustrated herein.
