Patent Application
20200232245
Summer camping can be hot inside a tent that is closed for mosquito control. Campers offer air conditioning but are prohibitively expensive for many people who want to get away from home. Trailers, tent trailers and tents are less expensive but do not offer air conditioning. On the other hand, air moving fans offer some relief but simply push air around inside a tent and cannot offer relief in extreme climates.
Portable A/C units and portable heaters offer some relief where there is electricity available but are not very efficient and after market hookups are makeshift and prone to malfunction. The hookup of separately sold units aren't reliable not to mention bulky and heavy and time consuming for interfacing connections.
There is therefore a long felt need in the market for a functional, light-weight and convenient airflow tent system that is also able to transform into a portable and transportable unit with other camping gear and for semi-permanent housing needs in military, government and emergency situations.
A disclosed air control system includes a tent having at least one air flow compartment integrated with the tent fabric and configured to define openings in the tent fabric for an air flow interior to the tent. The disclosure also includes at least one flexible tubing having a releasable attachment on a first end to an external air control unit and a releasable attachment on a second end to a complementary attachment integrated on an outside wall of the tent. The disclosure additionally includes at least one releasable attachment for an air inlet hose integrated with the tent fabric and in communication with the at least one air flow compartment. The disclosure further includes at least one releasable closure for the at least one releasable attachment, the at least one releasable closure configured to seal the tent wall in the absence of an air pressure.
The portable air control device further includes a first flexible tubing for an external air inlet and a second flexible tubing for an external air outlet with respect to the outside wall of the tent. Also, the at least one releasable closure comprises a releasable cap configured to seal the tent wall from air flow into or from the interior of the tent and a one-way valve configured to let an airflow into the tent interior but not from the tent interior. Furthermore, a remote control unit for one of an A/C unit, a heater unit and a reversible heat pump unit is included as well as a thermostadt for automatic or manual air temperature and pressure control on a periodic timed basis.
A disclosed method of portable air control includes constructing a tent having at least one air flow compartment integrated with the tent fabric. The at least one air flow compartment is configured to define a plurality of openings in the tent fabric for an air flow interior to the tent. The method also includes providing at least one releasable attachment for an air hose integrated with an outside wall of the tent fabric and in communication with the at least one air flow compartment. The method further includes engineering at least one releasable closure for the at least one releasable attachment, the at least one releasable closure configured to seal the outside tent wall in the absence of an air flow.
Other aspects and advantages of embodiments of the disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrated by way of example of the principles of the disclosure herein.
Throughout the description, similar and same reference numbers may be used to identify similar and same elements in the several embodiments and drawings. Although specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated, the invention is not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The scope of the invention is to be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents.
Reference will now be made to exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. Alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein and additional applications of the principles of the inventions as illustrated herein, which would occur to a person of ordinary skill in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention.
Throughout the present disclosure, the term ‘flow’ refers to a pressurized air flow in a ductlike structure integral with a tent fabric. The term ‘compartment’ refers to a division of tent parts for a temperature controlled air flow. The term ‘releasable’ refers to an ability to connect and disconnect at will to inlcude threaded connections, pressure fit connections, twist connections, and the like. The terms ‘air inlet’ and ‘air outlet’ are interchangeable with respective terms ‘air supply’ and ‘air return,’ and are used with respect to an interior air space of the tent.
The air flow compartments 35 and 40 are elongate and extend along a portion of a tent seam between a wall of the tent 45 and one of a ceiling and a floor 50 of the tent 5. The air flow compartments 35 and 40 are comprised of the tent fabric and the plurality of openings 45 and 50 in the tent fabric are distributed across the air flow compartments to distribute one of cooled air and heated air from an outside unit.
A first air flow compartment for an air inlet and a second air flow compartment for an air outlet relative to the tent interior. A first releasable attachment for an air inlet and a second releasable attachment for an air outlet from one of an A/C unit and a heater unit. At least one flexible tubing having a releasable attachment on a first end to one of an A/C unit and a heater unit and a releasable attachment on a second end to the releasable attachment integrated on the outside wall of the tent. A first flexible tubing for an external air inlet and a second flexible tubing for an external air outlet with respect to the outside wall of the tent.
At least one releasable closure comprises a releasable cap configured to seal the tent wall from air flow into or from the interior of the tent. At least one releasable closure comprises a one-way valve configured to let an airflow into the tent interior but not from the tent interior.
A remote control unit for one of an A/C unit, a heater unit and a reversible heat pump unit. The remote control unit therefore allows an occupant of the tent to operate air control without having to leave the tent. The remote control includes a thermostat for automatic control as well as manual control. Concomitant electronics are also included at the A/C unit, the heater unit or the heat pump unit for remote control.
When the second air flow ducting for cold air return is not used, outside air may be pulled into the system to reduce humidity in dry climates in various embodiments of the disclosure.
Therefore, the present disclosure satisfies the long felt need for an economical, secure and convenient air temperature control tent that is also able to easily transform for packing, moving and hiking with other camping equipment. The disclosed flow tent may also be used for semi-permanent housing as needed for military, government and civil purposes such as quarantine, emergency and war time. The present disclosure therefore is poised to become the tent of choice for hunters, fisherman and the survivalist hereafter to be known as the flow tent series.
Although the operations of the method(s) herein are shown and described in a particular order, the order of the operations of each method may be altered so that certain operations may be performed in an inverse order or so that certain operations may be performed, at least in part, concurrently with other operations. In another embodiment, instructions or sub-operations of distinct operations may be implemented in an intermittent and/or alternating manner.
Notwithstanding specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, the invention is not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The scope of the invention is to be defined by the claims and their equivalents included herein or by reference to a related application.
