Patent Application
20170181482
Every winter, drivers are stranded on roads, run the engines of their vehicles until they run out of gas or other vehicle fuel, and then are subjected to hypothermia while they wait for assistance at a location to which they have not brought sufficiently insulating clothing. Skiers or others participating in winter outdoor activities may similarly dress for a planned short time outside, but then fall or otherwise become caught by unexpected conditions that lead to exposure to cold sufficient to produce hypothermia. Still others may find themselves in such conditions with insufficient clothing insulation. Hypothermia is a danger to victims of natural disasters, and even to persons simply changing a tire on a roadside in winter night.
Hypothermia is defined as the unintentional lowering of the deep body (core) temperature below 95.0° F. (35.0° C.). Hypothermia can be mild, moderate, or severe. According to the CDC, 10,649 deaths were attributed to weather-related causes in the United States during the period from 2006 through 2010. Two-thirds of these deaths were attributed to excessive natural cold. (See: Deaths Attributed to Heat, Cold, and Other Weather Events in the United States, 2006-2010; http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr076.pdf).
Since 1999, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has used information from death certificates categorized with International Classification of Diseases codes to estimate national mortality trends. During 1999, exposure to excessive natural cold (ICD-10 code X31) was listed as the underlying cause of death for 598 persons in the United States, and hypothermia (ICD-10 code T68) was listed as a nature of injury in 1,139 deaths. Of the 598 hypothermia-related deaths, 380 (64%) occurred among males, and 359 (60%) of the 597 persons who died of hypothermia and whose age was known were aged >65 years. During 1999, Pennsylvania and New York had the greatest number of hypothermia-related deaths (36 each), and Alaska had the highest death rate (1.9 per 100,000 population), approximately twice that of Montana, which had second-highest rate (0.9).
Hypothermia during cold weather is the result of decreased heat production, increased heat loss, or impaired thermoregulation. Older persons, who have a decreased basal metabolic rate, might be at further risk for hypothermia because of impaired physical exertion, which produces heat to keep the body warm. Inactivity limits heat production through physical exertion, but overexertion can increase evaporation from the respiratory tract and cause fatigue. Shivering also can cause enough lactate generation eventually to produce acidosis and fatigue. Exposure to high winds can further increase heat loss. As body temperature decreases, the hypothalamus fails to compensate body temperature, and the central nervous system follows the progressive systemic depression of metabolism. Finally, metabolic impairment from alcoholism, malnutrition, hypothyroidism, or advanced age can cause poor endurance to cold. Children, who have a much greater surface—are to metabolic mass, are at even greater risk from hypothermia.
Hypothermia-related morbidity is not exclusive to cold northern climates. Hypothermia can occur in cold and warm climates alike. In fact, a survey of 12 medical centers found that the greatest number of cases of accidental hypothermia occurred in warmer states. Hypothermia has been reported in tropical countries as well. Persons from regions with warmer winters might be at greater risk from the indirect effects of cold weather than persons from regions with colder and longer winters because of inexperience in dealing with cold temperatures. However, geographic distributions might represent not only seasonal temperature variations but also socioeconomic status (which can limit access to controlled indoor temperature), cultural backgrounds (which can influence behavior toward individual protection from cold as well as outdoor activity), or populations with a higher proportion of elderly persons.
The foregoing indicates that an emergency anti-hypothermia system for such conditions is needed. The present invention provides such a system. It provides a thermally insulating inflatable vest that is sufficiently portable to be carried for emergency use in a pocket, purse, backpack, or other such location on a person, or also in a compartment of a vehicle.
The vest provides thermal insulation by being made with air impervious material that also provides for its inflation. The inflating air also provides insulation. Thermal radiation reflective material on inwardly facing surfaces of the vest, preferably inwardly facing surfaces of outer layers of inflated chambers or cells about the vest, serves to retain body heat. The multiplicity of individual inflatable chambers about the vest reduces convection heat transfer. The vest thus preferably provides thermal insulation by anti-conduction, anti-radiation and anti-convection in a highly portable system.
Various other features and attendant advantages of the present invention will become obvious to the reader and become fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is intended that these objects and advantages are within the scope of the present invention. To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, this invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that changes may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described within the scope of this application.
A highly portable, inflatable emergency vest is provided. The vest contains cells, or chambers, which are cross-connected and inflated trough a simple one-way mouthpiece on the vest's collar. Inflating the vest creates a layer of trapped, still air in much the same way as does goose down, while conforming to the shape of the wearer, thus insulating the wearer's body core while allowing moist air to escape through the arm holes and through the integrated vent holes. The interior surface of the vest is thermally reflective, thereby keeping body heat trapped next to the user and preventing as much as 80% to 90% of radiant heat loss. The exterior surface of the vest further is made of radar reflective material. This greatly increases the radar visibility of the vest, to aid in search and rescue efforts to locate a wearer who has become lost or incapacitated. This feature is also useful by operators of small boats and kayaks as it permits positive radar indication of the wearer's location on the surface of large bodies of water from long distances.
The manufacturing process involves placing a first sheet of material onto a second sheet and then bonding the two sheets together along the edges and interiorly by either thermally or ultrasonically welding the first sheet to the second sheet to form the interconnected chambers. The sheets may be preprinted in any preferred color(s) and with any sort of decorative elements desired, through offset printing or other known means. Adhesive strips are attached to the vest for closures. Once assembled, the uninflated vest may be stored in small container or pouch for easy portability. For safety/high-visibility applications, reflective ink for textiles may be used. Such inks are composed of a water-based (latex) ink base combined with retro-reflective microlenses. This process is used for direct screen printing onto fabric or plastics, and the end result with respect to visibility is the same. Retro-reflective films may also be used, being applied to the outside sheet before or after the bonding process.
Other features and advantages of the present invention are described below.
Preferred embodiments will now be described with respect to the following drawings that illustrate but do not limit the invention.
The present invention discloses an emergency anti-hypothermia system. In one embodiment, the system comprises an inflatable vest 100. See
The vest 100 is structured with a closeable front 110, substantially full sides 122,124 of the vest 100, and a substantially full back 130 extending from the neck area 136 to the waist area 138 of the vest 100. The vest 100 moreover has an outer surface and an inner surface, with there being thermal radiation reflective material on at least a portion of the inner surface of the vest 100. When inflated, the vest 100 is thermally insulating around the front 110, sides 122,124, and back 130.
In one embodiment the vest 100 is manufactured as a single part. See
The part of the vest 100 that is inflatable comprises a plurality of interconnected chambers 180. See
The inflation tube(s) 160 comprise a simple one-way mouthpiece, for example a flap valve made of the film material of the vest 100 on the vest's collar 170. See
One or more of the chambers 180 may have an inter-chamber fusion 182 joining the inner surface of the vest 100 to the outer surface of the vest 100. See
The vest 100 may be provided in a deflated state, flattened out as a single sheet. See
The user dons the vest 100 by inserting each arm through a corresponding armhole formed by the side 122, back 130, front 110, and shoulder 126 of the vest 100. Then the front 110 of the vest 100 is closed by bringing one side 112 of the front 110 of the vest 100 into contact with the other side 116 of the front 110 of the vest 100. See
In a preferred embodiment, the vest 100 comprises a radar reflective material on at least a portion of its outer surface. This may be aluminized nylon or other high tensile-strength polyester film metalized on one or both surfaces. The radar reflecting properties of materials such as these are well-established. When inflated, this flexible metalized material forms three-dimensional radar reflective surfaces, presenting much greater reflective opportunity to incident radar waves, and thus aiding in search and rescue operations. In another preferred embodiment, the vest 100 comprises integrated vent holes 150 located in the front 110, sides 122,124, and back 130. These vent holes 150 are punched through the welded vest 100 material at chamber 180 intersections points during the manufacturing process, and allow for greater transfer of moisture from perspiration to the outside of the garment, thereby enhancing wearer comfort and the vest's 100 insulating properties. In yet another preferred embodiment, the vest 100 comprises an integrated inflation tube 160. This tube 160, positioned on the front collar 170, greatly improves the process of vest 100 inflation. In yet another preferred embodiment, the vest 100 comprises a non-inflating integrated collar 170. This collar 170 is produced by fusing both layers of the vest 100 material, thus creating a wind barrier and additional heat reflective surface at the back of the wearer's neck, aiding in overall comfort and utility. In the most preferred embodiment each of these features is incorporated into the vest 100.
In one variant, the vest 100 has a pair of non-inflatable sleeves 190. See
What has been described and illustrated herein is a preferred embodiment of the invention along with some it its variations. The terms, descriptions and figures used herein are set forth by way of illustration only and are not meant as limitations. Those skilled in the art will recognize that many variations are possible within the spirit and scope of the invention in which all terms are meant in their broadest, reasonable sense unless otherwise indicated. Any headings utilized within the description are for convenience only and have no legal or limiting effect.
