Patent Application
20090114632
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of water sports garments such as scuba diver's wetsuits. The invention relates more specifically to a remote control operated heater used in a water sports garment.
2. Background Art
Heaters in water sports garments such as wetsuits for scuba divers, are not new. For example, published U.S. Patent Application 2007/0045269 discloses a heating garment having a back section with an electric heating element powered by a portable power source such as batteries. The garment may be used on land as well as in water. However, there are a number of disadvantages associated with such prior art heating garments. For example, the heating device itself is typically not made of an electrically conductive material. Therefore, wires must be employed to carry an electrical current through the heater to generate the requisite heat. Such wires tend to be fairly thick to carry enough current and such thick wires can be felt through the garment, thereby rendering the garment uncomfortable and even irritating adjacent the heating device.
Another significant disadvantage of such prior art relates to control of the heater by means of a wired switch. The wired switch is normally hidden in a pocket or left hanging where it may be inconvenient to locate. Moreover, such switches tend to be simple on/off type which do not provide any significant information or feedback regarding the condition of the heater.
The present invention comprises an aquatic garment-heating device, which overcomes or substantially reduces the noted deficiencies of the prior art. Its preferred embodiment employs a conductive rubber-heating device, which obviates the troublesome wiring of the prior art heating devices. Such heating devices may be provided in virtually any shape such as triangular, or oval, or more complex shapes which better conform to human body geometry. It also employs a wireless switch control, which provides a number of advantages. By using a wireless switch, the on/off mechanism for activating or deactivating the heater, may be worn on a diver's wrist where it can be readily located when needed without requiring wires hanging in inconvenient places. Moreover, because the wireless switch may be located in plain view, rather than hidden in a pocket for example, it may be implemented with meaningful visual devices to convey useful information about the status of the heater. For example, in the preferred embodiment, an observable light provides various different colors to indicate whether the heater is in a low, medium or high temperature condition. Finally, the present invention uses especially thin profile batteries and heating elements to preclude any discomfort for the user.
An alternative embodiment is provided on an external, detachable belt, which may still employ the wireless switch and thin profile heating element and batteries, but in an implementation, which permits the diver to add a heating system to an otherwise conventional wetsuit. Another, hybrid belt arrangement places the heating elements in the garment, but places the batteries and electronics on a belt which can be, in effect, “plugged in” to the wetsuit at or near the heating elements to complete the heating system when needed. This hybrid belt system permits quick battery replacement using multiple belts between battery recharging. The batteries used herein are preferably Li-ion polymer rechargeable types which can store considerable amounts of energy in a relatively flat and unobtrusive profile and be re-charged hundreds of times.
The aforementioned objects and advantages of the present invention, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will be more fully understood herein after as a result of a detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the following drawings in which:
As shown in
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The belt configuration of
Still another embodiment of the invention is shown in
Thus, it will be understood that the present invention provides a more comfortable, more accessible wetsuit heater as compared to the relevant prior art. A principal feature of each of the described embodiments is a remote control ON/OFF and temperature control device which operates using wireless technology such as RF, such as at a frequency of 5.1 GHz using a form of pulse code modulation. The remote control device is shown as a wrist worn device, but may be locate at any convenient and observable location such as on the ankle or waist. An add-on belt embodiment has also been disclosed, which may have heating pad elements and batteries. Conductive rubber heater devices permit heater shapes other than rectangular only such as oval, triangular or complex.
Based upon the foregoing, it will now also be understood that various modifications and additions may be made to the illustrative embodiments disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope hereof is to be limited only by the appended claims and their equivalents.
