Patent Application
20220273177
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
This invention relates to improvements in detecting a skin temperature in a person. More particularly, the present COVID thermal wristband can be continuously warn by a person and does not require any electricity to provide notification that the person may have COVID or a temperature.
In 2019 a pandemic effected the world. A virus designated COVID 19 caused illness to people. Diagnostic of the virus was determined by a nasal swab. One symptom of infection was an elevated temperature that was detected by a thermal scan. Detection of an elevated temperature could be taken as a non-invasive test but required specialized equipment and a power source. Some crystal material change color when subjected to a temperature. These are often formed in a strip, placed on the skin of a person and the temperature of the person on the on the strip is shown. Some jewelry, that was once called “mood rings” or other jewelry changes color based upon the contact temperature of the wearer.
A number of patents and or publications have been made to address these issues. Exemplary examples of patents and or publication that try to address this/these problem(s) are identified and discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,974,441 issued on May 22, 2018 to Seth O. Lartey et al and is titled Fever Detector Wrist Band. This patent discloses a fever detecting wrist band device comprises a flexible band and a fever detection device attached to the flexible band. The fever detection device comprises a thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) material, which can change colors corresponding to a set of temperature ranges, encased in a transparent casing. The transparent casing has a thin bottom section to allow the TLC material to gather body heat when the wrist band is worn by a user and the bottom section comes in contact with the skin of the user. While this patent has a color changing area the color change is in a single button and not the entire band.
U.S. Pat. No. 10,565,489 issued on Feb. 18, 2020 to Luke Christopher Waidmann et al., and is titled Spoolable small-form-factor RFID-enabled wristband. This patent discloses a spoolable RFID-enabled wristbands with maximized read range. In an embodiment, a wristband comprises flexible material formed into a flag portion and a strap portion. The flag portion comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) inlay embedded within the material. While this patent has an RFID, it does not provide an indicator that the wearer has a temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,945 issued on Apr. 9, 1974 to Bill G. James and is titled Heat Sensitive Novelty Device. This patent discloses a novelty device which utilizes the iridescent qualities of liquid crystalline material to effect variations in colorations of the device upon application of different temperatures. This novelty item changes color based upon a temperature it is not made as a homogeneous band that identifies when a person has a temperature.
U.S. Patent Publication Number 2006/0099353 was published on May 11, 2006 to Yi-Ching Needham and is titled Abstract Color Changing Pattern Configuration. This publication discloses an abstract color change pattern configuration, which is primarily structured to comprise a transitional layer and a protective layer. The transitional layer is fabricated from a plurality of temperature variant microcapsule liquid crystal materials, wherewith a plurality of mixing layers of color change microcapsule liquid crystal material are able to transform into irregular patterns, and blended colors manifested therefrom are not limited to generating one pattern, but color blending effectuates a plurality of transformations. Such a configuration realizes fabrication of the transitional layer to produce diverse temperature variant transitional abstract patterns according to user requirements. While the publication discloses color changing it is not a wristband and does not identify when the wearer is sick.
What is needed is a COVID thermal wristband that wraps around a wrist of a user and provides a continuous indication on the thermal health of the user.
It is an object of the COVID thermal wristband to be made from color changing material. The entire wristband is made from the color changing material so the temperature of the wearer can be seen from all around the wrist of the user. The homogeneous nature of the material allows the wristband to be used continuously in dry and wet conditions and is not affected by deep emersion or continuous emersion in water and by chemicals or cleaning solvents in the water or on the hands of the wearer.
It is an object of the COVID thermal wristband to be made from a thermochromic pigment with a universal copolymer. The color of the universal copolymer becomes less as the temperature increases until the plastic thermochromic pigment becomes completely colorless or white. When the temperature of the wristband decreases the color becomes stronger and returns to its original start color. This type of thermochromic plastic is referred to as a reversible plastic since it will repeat the noted color change an unlimited number of times.
It is an object of the COVID thermal wristband to be made from a flexible material that can be stretched around and/or over the hand of the user. This allows the band to be secured around the wrist of a user like a wristwatch or simply stretched over the hand like a rubber band. Contact with the skin of the user makes conduction of the temperature of the user to the band. The a thermochromic pigment material in the band will change the color of the band from gray to an orange or other color based upon the thermochromic pigment material.
It is another object of the COVID thermal wristband to include a ratcheting strap where a user can simply install the band at a loose setting and pull on the loose end to tighten the strap around the wrist of the user. In an ideal size of the wristband the entire interior area of the wristband is in conductive contact with the skin of the wearer. The ratcheting is with one or more one-way teeth. The wristband can be loosened by “looping” the band over the one-way teeth.
It is another object of the COVID thermal wristband to have an RFID data device. An RFID device does not require internal power for communication and can be used as identification to identify a wearer or to tract movement of the user for contact tracing by logging movement of the RFID tag. The RFID tag can provide anonymous tracking of a person until a band is identified as having an elevated temperature. The tracking database can then be queried to identify others that have been in the same general area. The database can identify a number, user ID, student ID or the name of people.
It is still another object of the COVID thermal wristband to be useful for school children or others for non-invasive temperature detection. A parent or teacher can simply look at wristbands as children enter, leave, play or ask all of the children to lift their arm to view the color of the wristbands as a collective group or in a classroom to identify any individual or individuals that exhibit an elevated temperature. The color change is typically gray or orange with minimal transition color so there is no subjectivity to a temperature change provided there is conductive heat transfer by skin contact.
Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.
It will be readily understood that the components of the present invention, as generally described and illustrated in the drawings herein, could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the system and method of the present invention, as represented in the drawings, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, but is merely representative of various embodiments of the invention. The illustrated embodiments of the invention will be best understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout.
While this technology is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail several specific embodiments with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the technology and is not intended to limit the technology to the embodiments illustrated. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the technology. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It will be understood that like or analogous elements and/or components, referred to herein, may be identified throughout the drawings with like reference characters.
The strap tail 62 is shown with a plurality of strap holes 70. The strap holes 70 are configured and spaced to connect with the front tab 40 and the rear tab 41 of the buckle. The strap is retained on the front tab 40 and the rear tab 41 within a bridge opening 50 where the strap tail 62 is configured to pass through the front bridge 30 and the rear bridge 31. While two securing tabs are shown and described it is contemplated that a single tab, 40 or 41 could be used or more than two tabs could be used to secure the strap hole(s) 70. The COVID thermal wristband 20 is intended to be a universal length, and after it is installed around a wrist (or ankle) the extra length of the strap tail 62 can be trimmed with scissors or the like.
Thermochromism is the property of a substance to change color due to temperature. Thermochromism is one of several types of chromism where chromism is a process that induces a change, often reversible, in the colors of compounds. This change is dependent on selective reflection of certain wavelengths by the crystallic structure of the material, as it changes between the low-temperature crystallic phase, through anisotropic chiral or twisted nematic phase, to the high-temperature isotropic liquid phase. Low-temperature state will reflect red-orange.
For installation the free end of the strap tail 62 is installed 99 into the front bridge opening 50 through the front bridge 30, over the tabs 40 and 41 on the strap buckle base 61 and then through the rear bridge opening 51 of the rear bridge 31. After the strap tail 62 is inserted through the rear bridge 31, a user can pull 98 on the strap tail 62 to “ratchet” additional strap holes 70 over the tabs 40 and 41 to shorten the length of the strap to tighten the strap on the arm or wrist of the user. Excessive length of the strap can be trimmed with scissors or the like. To remove the wristband the strap tail 62 can be pushed into the rear bridge 31 to slack 97 the loop 64 and remove the strap tail 62 from retention in the bridges. The wristband can be loosened (or tightened) by creating a “loop” 64 in the band over the one-way teeth or tabs 40 and 41.
One side of the wristband shows the emblem 80, and on the underside of the emblem is an elevated or proud 83 area that increases conductive contact with this particular portion of the body. An optional radio-frequency Identification (RFID) chip 89 is shown inserted within this area of the wristband. The RFID device does not require internal power for communication and can be used as identification to identify a wearer or to tract movement of the user for contact tracing by logging movement of the RFID tag. The RFID tag can provide anonymous tracking of a person until a band is identified as having an elevated temperature. The tracking database can then be queried to identify others that have been in the same general area. The database can identify a number, user ID, student ID or the name of people.
On the other end of the emblem 80 is the strap front body 60 that has a rear bridge 31 with a rear bridge opening 51. After the rear bridge are two tabs with one-way locking ramps, that are identified as the rear tab 41 and the front tab 40. There function has been previously discussed herein. The end to the wristband terminates with the rear opening 50 having the front bride 30 to retain the tail body 63 with the strap tail 62.
In a preferred embodiment the elastomeric material of the wristband in injection mold compatible material that is a combination of thermochromic pigment with a typical common universal copolymer. The color of the universal copolymer is selected as a gray color, but other colors other than black are contemplated. The color of the universal copolymer becomes less as the temperature increases until color of the universal copolymer becomes completely colorless or white. When the temperature of the color of the universal copolymer decreases the color becomes stronger returning to its original start color. This type of thermochromic plastic is referred to as a reversible plastic since it will repeat the noted color change an unlimited number of times. In the preferred embodiment the cold color is gray while the warm color is orange. One preferred ratio is 6% thermochromic pigment by weight to 80% universal copolymer by weight, but a ratio of 2%-30% thermochromic pigment is contemplated with the balance being universal copolymer depending upon the desired effect.
A significant change occurs at the lower inflection point 120 37 degrees C.-37.5 degrees C. where the color becomes significantly lighter with a more abrupt change—occurs at the upper inflection point—orange color 121 38 degrees C. color. The color change 112 after 38 Degrees C. is substantially stable and the change is marginal. The cold color 111 is temperatures below 37 degrees C. and the warm color 114 is temperatures above 38.0 degrees C. As a reference 37 degrees C. is 98.6 degrees F., while 38 degrees C. is a temperature of 100.4 degrees F.
Thus, specific embodiments of a COVID thermal wristband have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.
