Patent Application
20170153047
This application claims priority to Chinese Application Serial Number 201510851581.4, filed Nov. 27, 2015, which is herein incorporated by reference.
Field of Invention
The invention relates to a temperature informing apparatus, and particularly relates to a temperature informing apparatus that allows a user to actually experience a temperature.
Description of Related Art
Typically, both a wearable device and a handheld device have the temperature inquiry function. A user can use this function to search her or his travel region temperature, so as to decide what and how much clothes she/he needs to carry. These devices use numerical or graphical method to show the travel region temperature in a display to inform the user. However, such method often needs to wake up in lock screen for showing the travel region temperature, which is time consuming. Moreover, according to the numerical or graphical temperature, the user at most reads the numerical temperature and the numerical temperature difference between the travel region and the local region. The user cannot experience or feel the real temperature by herself or himself. Therefore, it is difficult for the typical temperature informing method to make the user realize how much clothes she/he needs to carry.
Therefore, a temperature informing apparatus that may solve the aforementioned problems is needed.
The present invention provides a temperature informing apparatus for a user to experience a target temperature actually. The temperature informing apparatus includes a thermoelectric conversion module, a temperature sensor, a first current path, a second current path, a charging/discharging element and a micro-processor. The thermoelectric conversion module is disposed between an upper cover and a lower cover of a wearable device. The temperature sensor is disposed on the upper cover and the lower cover to sense a temperature of the upper cover and the lower cover. The first current path and the second current path are coupled with the thermoelectric conversion module. The charging/discharging element is coupled with the first current path and the second current path. The micro-processor for receives the temperature and the target temperature through a transmitting interface. The micro-processor compares the temperature with the target temperature to get a temperature difference. Then, the micro-processor calculates a corresponding current according to the temperature difference and controls the charging/discharging element to transfer the corresponding current to the thermoelectric conversion module to heat up or cool down the upper cover or the lower cover.
In an embodiment, the charging/discharging element transfers the corresponding current through the first current path to the thermoelectric conversion module in a first direction to heat up a temperature of the upper cover and cool down a temperature of the lower cover to make the temperature of the lower cover be equal to the target temperature.
In an embodiment, the charging/discharging element transfers the corresponding current through the second current path to the thermoelectric conversion module in a second direction to heat up a temperature of the lower cover and cool down a temperature of the upper cover to make the temperature of the lower cover be equal to the target temperature.
In an embodiment, a switch unit is disposed among the thermoelectric conversion module, the first current path and the second current path, wherein the micro-processor switches the switch unit to select the first current path or the second current path.
In an embodiment, the transmitting interface is a Bluetooth interface or a WiFi interface.
In an embodiment, the target temperature is stored in a remote database, wherein the remote database is weather forecast center.
In an embodiment, the micro-processor transfers the temperature to the remote database or another user through the transmitting interface.
In an embodiment, the temperature is set through the transmitting interface by a user.
In an embodiment, the temperature sensor further includes a first temperature sensor and a second temperature sensor disposed on the upper cover and the lower cover respectively to detect a temperature of the upper cover and a temperature of the lower cover respectively.
In an embodiment, the thermoelectric conversion module includes a plurality of P-type thermal-electric material and a plurality of N-type thermal-electric material coupled in series in a P-N pair formed.
Accordingly, in conjunction with a current path providing unit to provide different charging current paths, the thermoelectric conversion module of the charging/discharging apparatus may charge the charging and discharging element whether the user's body temperature is higher than the ambient air temperature or not. Therefore, the present invention may reach the purpose of making full use of the temperature difference.
Because the described procedure identifies differentially expressed genes separately from each data set, its application is not limited by platform differences and its effectiveness is not affected by batch effects.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the embodiment described below, with reference made to the following drawings:
Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiment of the invention, workflow of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers are used in the drawings and in the description to refer to the same parts.
The present invention temperature informing apparatus uses a thermoelectric conversion module to perform a thermoelectric conversion process according to a current corresponding to a temperature difference between a target temperature and a current temperature to heat up or cool down the upper cover and the lower cover of a wearable device. Such apparatus allows the body of a user experience the target temperature actually through the wearable device may. Therefore, the user may better understand what and how much clothes they need to carry.
As illustrated in
The thermoelectric conversion module 110 may perform an energy conversion between the electrical energy and thermal energy. In an embodiment, the thermoelectric conversion module 110 may be disposed between the upper cover 210 and the lower cover 220 of the wearable device 200. The thermoelectric conversion module 110 may heat up or cool down the upper cover 210 and the lower cover 220 according to a current provided by the charging/discharging element 150. The thermoelectric conversion module 110 includes a plurality of P-type thermal-electric material 111 and a plurality of N-type thermal-electric material 112 coupled in series in a P-N pair formed. In one embodiment, the P-type thermal-electric material 111 and the N-type thermal-electric material 112 may be formed by bismuth tellurium compounds or tellurium compounds. One end of the P-type thermal-electric material 111 and one end of the N-type thermal-electric material 112 in a PN pair are connected together through a conductive plate 113. The other end of the P-type thermal-electric material 111 and the other end of the N-type thermal-electric material 112 in a PN pair are connected to other two adjacent PN pairs through two conductive plates 113 respectively to form a series connection structure. The conductive plate 113 is used to perform electrical and thermal conduction. In one embodiment, a copper material with good electrical and thermal conduction is selected to form the conductive plate 113. An electrically insulating thermal coupling layer 114 is further formed between the conductive plate 113 and the upper cover 210, and the conductive plate 113 and the lower cover 220. In one embodiment, a material with good electrical insulation as well as heat transferring property, such as beryllium oxide ceramics, may be used to form the thermal coupling layer 114.
Temperature sensor 160 includes a first temperature sensor 115 and a second temperature sensor 116 that are respectively disposed on the sides of the P-type thermal-electric material 111 in the upper cover 210 and the lower cover 220 for sensing the temperature of the upper cover 210 and the lower cover 220. The sensed temperature is transferred to the micro-processor 130. The micro-processor 130 may transfer the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor 160 to the remote database 170 and search the remote database 170 to get a target temperature through the transmitting interface 140. In an embodiment, the transmitting interface 140 is a Bluetooth or a WiFi transmitting interface. Accordingly, the micro-processor 130 compares the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor 160 with the target temperature and controls the thermoelectric conversion module 110 to heat up or cool down the upper cover 210 and the lower cover 220 according to the comparing result.
On the other hand, the switch unit 120 includes a first switch 121 and a second switch 122. The switch unit 120 is disposed between the thermoelectric conversion module 110 and the charging/discharging element 150. The micro-processor 130 calculates a corresponding current according to the comparing result and switches the first switch 121 and the second switch 122 to select a first current path 161 or a second current path 162 for the charging/discharging element 150. Then, the charging/discharging element 150 may provide the corresponding current to the thermoelectric conversion module 110 through the first current path 161 or the second current path 162. Accordingly, when the micro-processor 130 switches the first switch 121 and the second switch 122 to couples with the node 1 to select the first current path 161 with a first direction current, since the moving direction of the majority carriers (holes) is same as the flowing direction of the current in the P-type thermal-electric material 111, the carriers (holes) with energy are accumulated in the upper cover 210. On the other hand, since the moving direction of the majority carriers (electrodes) is opposite to the flowing direction of the current in the N-type thermal-electric material 112, the carriers (electrodes) with energy are accumulated in the upper cover 210, too. Because all carriers with energy are accumulated in the upper cover 210, the temperature of the upper cover 210 is increased. On the other hand, because all carriers with energy are far away from the lower cover 220, the temperature of the lower cover 220 is reduced.
In contrast, when the micro-processor 130 switches the first switch 121 and the second switch 122 to couples with the node 2 to select the second current path 162 with a second direction current, since the moving direction of the majority carriers (holes) is same as the flowing direction of the current in the P-type thermal-electric material 111, the carriers (holes) with energy are accumulated in the lower cover 220. On the other hand, since the moving direction of the majority carriers (electrodes) is opposite to the flowing direction of the current in the N-type thermal-electric material 112, the carriers (electrodes) with energy are accumulated in the lower cover 220, too. Because all carriers with energy are accumulated in the lower cover 220, the temperature of the lower cover 220 is increased. On the other hand, because all carriers with energy are far away from the upper cover 210, the temperature of the upper cover 210 is reduced. Accordingly, the micro-processor 130 can switches the first switch 121 and the second switch 122 to control the charging/discharging element 150 to transmit current to the thermoelectric conversion module 110 through the first current path 161 or the second current path 162 to heat up or cool down the upper cover 210 or the lower cover 220 according to the comparing result.
In an embodiment, as illustrated in
In another embodiment, the user can set a wanted temperature as the target temperature in the APP 302 through the transmitting interface 301 and transmit the wanted temperature to the temperature informing apparatus 100. Accordingly, when the user takes an exercise to cause his body temperature higher than the target temperature, or when the user goes into an air-conditioned room to cause his body temperature lower than the target temperature, the temperature difference with the target temperature in the both situation triggers the micro-processor 130 in the temperature informing apparatus 100 to control the charging/discharging element to transfer a corresponding current concerned with the temperature difference to the thermoelectric conversion module to heat up or cool down the lower cover to make the user experience the target temperature actually.
Accordingly, the temperature informing apparatus generates a corresponding current according to a temperature difference between a target temperature and a current temperature. The corresponding current is provided to a thermoelectric conversion module to heat up or cool down the upper cover or the lower cover of a wearable device. Therefore, the user can experience the target temperature actually through the wearable device.
Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to an embodiment thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiment contained herein.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201510851581.4 | Nov 2015 | CN | national |
