U.S. patent application number 11/818470 was filed with the patent office on 2008-12-18 for enhanced evaporative cooling system.
This patent application is currently assigned to Stephen T Horn. Invention is credited to Stephen T. Horn.
Application Number | 20080307567 11/818470 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40130972 |
Filed Date | 2008-12-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080307567 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Horn; Stephen T. |
December 18, 2008 |
Enhanced evaporative cooling system
Abstract
A blower operated cooling vest that uses the normal movement of
the body to blot excess moisture from the body and evaporate it
away from the body and thus shield it from the heat.
Inventors: |
Horn; Stephen T.; (White
Stone, VA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Stephen T. Horn
1661 James Whact Rd
White Stone
VA
22578
US
|
Assignee: |
Horn; Stephen T
Phyllis C Horn joint Tenals in common
|
Family ID: |
40130972 |
Appl. No.: |
11/818470 |
Filed: |
June 14, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
2/455 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A41D 13/0053
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
2/455 |
International
Class: |
A41D 13/005 20060101
A41D013/005 |
Claims
1. A method of reducing environmental heat being transferred to a
person; said method comprising: a) providing a supporting
structure, b) providing a blotting material, c) supporting a
blotting material parallel to the torso and between said torso and
said environmental heat, d) allowing said blotting material to
absorb a portion of said environmental heat, e) allowing air to
flow between said torso and said blotting material, f) providing
moisture on said torso, g) providing a bending of said torso to
allow a blotting of said moisture to transfer from said torso to
said blotting material, h) allowing said moisture on blotting
material to phase shift to a gas thus transferring heat and
evaporating said moisture, i) allowing said air flow to remove said
evaporated moisture and thus reduce the environmental heat being
transferred to the body.
2. A method of cooling the body: said method comprising: a)
providing a supporting structure, b) providing an absorbent
material, c) providing air flow between said body and supported
said absorbent material, said supported absorbent material
supported parallel to said body and between said body and any heat
source, d) providing moisture on said body, said body bending to
provide contact between said body and said absorbent material, e)
contacting between said body moisture and said absorbent material,
f) transferring said moisture from said body to said absorbent
material, f) evaporating said moisture from said body and said
absorbent material with said air flow, thus removing heat from said
body and said absorbent material, thus cooling said body.
3. A body cooling apparatus that includes a plenum created by
supporting a flexible material off the body and a blower to force
air between said body and said flexible material, wherein said
flexible material is parallel to said body and interfering with
said body absorbing environmental heat, wherein said body bends to
blot sweat from said body to said flexible material where said
blower blows air through said plenum created by said body and said
flexible material whereby heat is transferred through evaporation
from said body and said flexible material and said body is
cooled.
4. claim 1 where said body is covered with clothing
5. claim 2 where said torso is covered with clothing
6. claim 1 where said air flow is provided by a blower
7. claim 2 where said air flow is provided by a blower
8. claim 1 where said auxiliary moisture is provided by a water
source
9. claim 2 where said auxiliary moisture is provided by a water
source
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] None
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
[0002] None
SEQUENCE LISTING
[0003] None
1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The present invention provides a means to use air by a fan
or blower device to increase the evaporation of available moisture
from an individual and thus cool them while they are wearing heavy
protective equipment such as a military tactical vest. The present
device through a blotting action removes moisture from individual
and through wicking distributes this moisture throughout the fabric
of the vest where it is then evaporated by the air flow and hence
removes heat from being transferred from the outer protective vest
to the individual.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,408 by Kaine issued on Jun. 8 1993
discusses a cooling vest that has a fan and a cowling to contain
the pumped air. The present invention does not teach a blotting
action to actively remove excess heat from the plenum surrounding
the body. The present invention does not teach using an absorbent
material to absorb and evaporate the excess moisture from
sweat.
[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,332 by Forgach issued on Apr. 5, 2005
teaches a protective vest cooling system. Forgach teaches a
protective vest for being worn over the body of the user and an
elongated housing generally disposed inside the protective vest.
The elongated housing has holes for the transfer of blown air.
Forgach does not teach a blotting action or provide a method to
increase the evaporative area beneath the protective vest.
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,201 by Rankin issued on Jul. 17 of 2001
teaches a vest with a plurality of tubular members with each member
having a peripheral wall having a plurality of openings therein.
Rankin does not show how to increase the evaporative area of the
vest nor does he describe how to increase the surface area of the
body by blotting the excess moisture expressed by the body. Nor
does he teach the method of reducing the effect of fatty oils
floating on the perspiration on the body.
3. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] Cooling garments are widely used in industry and their
utility is widely accepted. Evaporative cooling is the major method
of cooling with the present invention. Particularly, the present
invention is concerned with enhancing the evaporative cooling of
the body by better using the water expressed in the sweat to cool
the body.
[0009] Vests of this type typically use perforated tubing to force
large amounts of air under an outer covering. The perforated tubing
acts to conduct the air and is between the outer cover and the
body. The present invention forces air under an absorbent material
that is normal to the torso of the individual. The air pressure
helps to keep the material from direct contact with the body. The
plenum through which the air flows is between the body and the vest
shell without tubing to obstruct flow or support the vest across
the major portions of the back and front. A non air carrying
structure both supports the vest absorbent material and the outer
protective garment away from the body. In this case the outer
protective garment is an OTV or outer tactical vest. This is a
Interceptor bullet proof vest used by the army but could be used
with any outer garment. By allowing the plenum which carries the
air to be unobstructed in the middle of the torso by supporting the
outer garment and the absorbent material at the shoulders away from
the body but allows the absorbent material to remain flexible
allows the wearer in normal walking and bending motion to blot
excess moisture from the surface of the back and the front of the
torso. The direct advantage of this is multifold. First, beaded
sweat has far less surface area than skin that is just damp.
Evaporation is proportional to surface area therefore the more
surface area the more water or moisture from sweat will phase shift
to a gas and allow it to be transferred away from the body by the
air flow. Sweat forms smooth circular or rounded particles of
moisture around and over the small cilia or very small hairs on the
body when evaporation lags behind the body's expression of sweat.
This effectively reduces the surface area for evaporative cooling.
The same holds true for a saturated tee shirt over the body, the
surface area for cooling is reduced. The surface area of the beaded
sweat being less than the combined surface area of the skin surface
and the pores and small hairs on the skin or the woven fibers of
the shirt. This reduced surface area consequently reduces
evaporation and reduces cooling. This is why people will typically
wipe sweat from their forehead. It cools them better when the sweat
is wiped away. Importantly the evaporative cooling potential of the
water in the sweat is wasted as it is allowed to drip to the ground
or in the case of the torso, to drip or run down the back of the
person. When water from sweat can be transferred as a liquid from
the body as by contact with another surface then effective cooling
through the phase shift of that water is wasted. The second reason
blotting is important is because the beaded sweat on the person
typically has fats and oils that interferes with evaporative
cooling and builds up on the skin as evaporation takes place. When
the moisture is blotted the fats and oils in the sweat is
interfered with and absorbed by the wicking material to then allow
a greater portion of the water in the sweat to evaporate. The
removal of this oil is important in enhancing the rate of
evaporation from the body and hence the cooling of the body.
Thirdly and possibly most importantly, the blotting of the sweat by
the absorbent covering of the vest effectively doubles the
evaporative surface usable to cool the body. The body often through
a tee shirt evaporates water and cools but at the same time, it is
absorbing heat being radiated by the outer protective vest. The
vest being heated by the sun and other radiating surfaces in the
environment as well as conduction from hot air. Thus in the present
invention, the sun heats the outer protective vest which heats up
and conducts the heat to the inside cooling vest. The cooling vest
blots up excess moisture that ordinarily would be running down the
torso of the soldier and then it is evaporated by the considerable
amount of air being forced through the vest. This evaporation cools
the body but also removes heat that would be radiated or conducted
to the cooling vest and then to the body. Without the air plenum,
being designed with minimum obstructions the heat from the
environment would be directly conducted to the body. The space
between the body and the vest around the torso means that heat from
the environment is transferred primarily by radiation. This is
reduced by the wet evaporative surface of the cooling vest. Here
the moisture phase shifts to a gas on the surface with the transfer
of energy to it. The net result of the blotting is the absorption
of excess wasted sweat and the use of it to cool the body. The
bending of the torso and the consequent blotting is mostly
involuntary and part of normal movement.
[0010] When there is inadequate sweat as in very arid environments
a minute amount of water from a water source can be inserted into
the vest by a pump such as a squeeze bulb. A squeeze bulb pump with
a canteen used for a water source was tested at Kansas State
University, Institute for Environmental Research for use in
injecting water under the vest to enhance the evaporative cooling
of the vest and the blocking of environmental heat.
[0011] Another important aspect of the present invention is the
plenum which conducts the air which removes the heat from around
the body. The heat being transferred to a gas needs to be exhausted
from the space between the body or torso and the vest. Once this
air is saturated no further evaporative cooling is possible.
However with very large volumes of even humid air evaporative
cooling is effective. The plenum is designed to absolutely minimize
obstructions to the flow of air. Rather than duct air through tubes
as is normally done; the present invention eliminates tubing for
the conduction of air and creates the plenum from the use of the
torso as one surface and the vest as the other surface. The vest
forming one large pipe in one sense and the torso being inserted
into this pipe. This unobstructed air flow allows the transmission
of large quantities of air with little back pressure and very
importantly at very little energy costs from batteries. The
inventor has a patent filed on the supporting structure for such
air flow in a vest where the torso or body has a supporting
structure to support the vest away from the body. This has also
been shown to be effective at tests at Kansas State University
where the air flow is large enough for tee shirts worn by the
soldiers to be dry except where the supporting structure touches
the torso and blocks evaporation from the tee shirt. The patent
application Ser. No. is 11/361,866 filed by Stephen T. Horn on Feb.
24, 2006.
[0012] A vest such as this was tested at the Kansas State
University Institute for Environmental Research in the spring of
2007. The measurement was at the top of the scale at 200 watts of
heat transfer from the body. The tests were done using a sweating
manikin. The inventor believes that significantly more heat
transfer is easily achieved.
[0013] Further objects and advantages of my invention will become
apparent from a consideration of the drawings and or ensuing
description.
4. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] On sheet 1 FIG. 1, A is an outer covering or a protective
vest. B is a supporting structure. C is a batten supporting
structure. D is a blower which blows air under E between E and the
torso. E is a blotting material.
[0015] On sheet 2 FIG. 1A is a cross section of the torso and of
course and it need not be said any immediate covering such as a tee
shirt. B is an outer covering or a protective vest. C is a
supporting structure. D is also a supporting structure to maintain
a space between A and E which is a blotting material. F is
environmental heat from the sun and other sources. G through H is
the air flow thru the plenum created by the torso A and the
blotting material E.
[0016] On sheet 2 FIG. 2, A is the torso bending. B is the outer
covering or a protective vest. C and D are supporting structures. E
is a blotting material.
5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)
[0017] FIG. 1A sheet 1 is a protective vest such as the Interceptor
vest. The protective vest is supported from the body by structures
B and C in FIG. 1 sheet 1. FIG. 1E sheet 1 is an absorbent material
such as cotton cloth however any material that will transfer
moisture will work. Even plastic will blot water from a surface.
FIG. 1E sheet 1 is separate from the Interceptor vest in this
embodiment but it could be an integral part of the protective vest.
D in FIG. 1 sheet 1 is a blower that blows air under the absorbent
layer FIG. 1E sheet 1. The air from the blower will remove moisture
through evaporation and cool the wearer. Humid conditions require
more air but still cools the individual. The volume of the air
necessary is proportional to the relative humidity until the air
being pumped in is one hundred percent saturated.
[0018] FIG. 1 sheet 2 shows a cross section of the sectional side
view of the torso with absorbent material and protective vest and
shows the absorption of environmental heat by the outer protective
vest. This method however will work on any part of the body. FIG.
1A sheet 2, is the torso itself, while FIG. 1B sheet 2 is the
protective vest and FIG. 1C sheet 2 is the absorbent material.
FIGS. 1D and E sheet 2 are supporting structures and in this case
are battens that hold the protective vest from the body creating a
plenum through which air is pumped by the blower. Air enters the
created plenum at FIG. 1G sheet 2 and exits at FIG. 1H sheet 2.
[0019] FIG. 2 sheet 2 shows the body bending at the torso and
blotting the moisture from the body. FIG. 2A sheet 2 is the
sectional side view of the torso, FIG. 2B sheet 2 is the protective
vest, while FIGS. 2C and D sheet 2 are supporting structures or in
this case battens, and FIG. 2E sheet 2 shows the absorbent material
blotting moisture from the back of the torso. When the wearer
straitens his back the airflow will remove heat from the body
through evaporative cooling. The surface area of the blotted area
will be increased by removing excess beaded up moisture. Enhanced
cooling will occur. As the wearer, straitens further the absorbent
material FIG. 2E sheet 2 will absorb heat from the protective vest,
FIG. 2B sheet 2. The air flow FIGS. 1G and H sheet 2 will remove
heat through evaporative cooling from both the torso FIGS. 1 and 2A
sheet 2 and from the protective vest FIGS. 1 and 2B sheet 2. The
environmental heat will be hindered from absorption into the body
by transfer of that heat from the protective vest FIGS. 1 and 2B
sheet 2 by the absorbent layer FIGS. 1 and 2E sheet 2. This heat
absorbed by this layer is continuously exhausted from the vest and
away from the body by the flow of air and blotting action. The
blotting action is continuous by making the plenum or space between
the torso and the absorbent material small; in this case about 0.4
inch.
[0020] Absorbent material is anything that will transfer liquid
water from a surface by contact. Cotton works well but so would dry
wood or even plastic film would transfer beaded moisture from the
skin surface. Any number of materials will work.
[0021] Blotting is the action of contacting a surface with the
expectation that a material such as water or oil or fats will be
moved from the first surface to a second surface. Blotting
transfers sweat from one surface to another.
[0022] Supporting structures can be anything that holds the
protective vest or blotting material or absorbent material off the
surface of the body in this case to provide a plenum for the flow
of air. Supporting structures can be a tube or a batten or a piece
of padding. They can be arranged in any number of fashions.
[0023] The body or the torso is an integral part of a person and is
of course often covered with a shirt or other covering. All of this
being the torso or body. Moisture in the present invention is
transferred often from a tee shirt that is in contact with the skin
to the air flow in the plenum or could be transferred directly from
the body.
[0024] Environmental heat is heat radiated or conducted from the
immediate world about the person.
[0025] Moisture is water or in the case of the torso; moisture is
sweat or the water component of sweat.
[0026] Auxiliary moisture is additional water added to any area of
the vest to replace or add to the use of sweat as a moisture
source. Auxiliary moisture is often pumped in with a squeeze bulb
pump feeding a tubing network.
[0027] It is intended that further embodiments incorporating the
spirit of the invention to one skilled in the art, fall within the
scope of this invention.
* * * * *