U.S. patent number 3,657,515 [Application Number 05/065,987] was granted by the patent office on 1972-04-18 for diving suit.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Invention is credited to Norman E. Smith.
United States Patent |
3,657,515 |
Smith |
April 18, 1972 |
DIVING SUIT
Abstract
Sections of electrically conducting rubber material are joined
together to conform generally to a diver's body. Each section
includes an edge portion and a flexible electrode near the edge
portion with the electrode and conducting rubber being coated with
a waterproof electrically insulating material. To provide a desired
unequal heat distribution, one embodiment includes a tapering arm
(or leg) portion wherein the electrically conducting rubber
progressively decreases in thickness.
Inventors: |
Smith; Norman E. (Annapolis,
MD) |
Assignee: |
Westinghouse Electric
Corporation (Pittsburgh, PA)
|
Family
ID: |
22066517 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/065,987 |
Filed: |
August 21, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
219/211;
2/2.16 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H05B
3/342 (20130101); H05B 2203/005 (20130101); H05B
2203/003 (20130101); H05B 2203/036 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H05B
3/34 (20060101); H05b 003/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;219/211,527-529,543,538,549,552-553 ;128/142.5,379,402 ;126/204
;2/2.1 ;338/209-212,217-218,223-225 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Albritton; C. L.
Claims
I claim as my invention:
1. A diving suit comprising
a. a garment of stretchable electrically conducting material
adapted to be worn by a diver and generally conforming to various
shapes of the diver's body, and of the type which generates heat
when supplied with electric energy;
b. electrode means in electrical contact with said material and
disposed to provide a current density through said material, when
supplied with electric energy;
c. a waterproof, electrically insulating stretchable coating in
contact with, and covering said material;
d. means for connecting said electrode means to a source of
electric energy.
2. A diving suit according to claim 1 wherein:
a. said garment is comprised of a plurality of sections;
b. each said section including said material, said electrode means,
and said coating;
c. each said section including a first and second longitudinal edge
portion.
3. A diving suit according to claim 2 wherein:
a. each said section is joined to an adjacent section.
4. A diving suit according to claim 2 wherein:
a. said electrode means includes first and second elongated
flexible metallic conductors;
b. each said conductor being in close proximity to, and extending
in the direction of, a respective one of said longitudinal edge
portions.
5. A diving suit according to claim 2 wherein:
a. a longitudinal edge portion of at least one of said sections is
joined to a longitudinal edge portion of another of said
sections.
6. A diving suit according to claim 2 wherein:
a. a first longitudinal edge portion of at least one of said
sections is joined to the second longitudinal edge portion of that
same said section.
7. Heated apparel comprising:
a. an electrically conducting material of the type which generates
heat when supplied with electric energy;
b. electrode means in electrical contact with said material;
c. said material being elongated and tapering from a thick portion
to a thin portion whereby when supplied with said electric energy
said material will provide unequal heat generation at said
portions;
d. said material forming a sleeve portion of a garment.
8. Heated apparel according to claim 7 wherein:
a. said garment is a diving suit and which additionally
includes;
b. a waterproof, electrically insulating stretchable coating in
contact with, and covering said material.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of The Invention
The invention in general relates to diving suits, and particularly
to an electrically heated diving suit.
2. Description of The Prior Art
When divers are exposed to cold water, some form of thermal
protection is needed. The most commonly employed method is that of
wearing a suit of unicellular neoprene foam. This method is very
limited however to a dive of one to two hours duration, depending
upon the temperature of the water and the activity level of the
diver. For longer exposures or extremely cold water, auxiliary heat
must be provided.
One method of providing heat to a diver employs electrically
resistive elements in the form of resistance wire distributed over
the diver's body or embedded in the neoprene foam suit. By applying
an electrical potential to the resistance wire there results in a
current flow and a heat generation dependent upon the square of the
current times the resistance of the element. One disadvantage in
the utilization of electric resistance wires however is the
possible breaking of the wires and consequent short circuit, due to
repetitive bending. Another disadvantage is the possibility of
diver burns due to the high temperature of the wires coupled with a
wrinkle in the suit or a pressure against the suit causing the wire
to be pressed against the diver's skin.
Suggestions have been made heretofore for protecting persons from
extremely cold atmospheric temperatures by the provision of an
electrically conductive material which generates heat upon the
application of electrical energy. One such proposal is set forth in
U.S. Pat. No. 2,277,772 which describes an electrically heated
wearing apparel such as an aviator's suit. Various electrically
conductive panels or pads are provided for insertion into an
aviator's garment. Each of the electric pads is formed of a piece
of woven material such as cotton having deposited thereon a
sufficient amount of conductive rubber or the like with the
conducting sheet so formed being thereafter sandwiched between two
protecting sheets of fabric such as cotton.
The resulting garment may be suitable in a high altitude
environment however it would be completely inoperable in an
underwater environment and may even present a potentially dangerous
hazard due to electrical shorting through the ambient water. In
addition, in some instances, substantially uniform heating is
desired over the entire body of the diver and the apparel described
in the patent would not provide such a function.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,344,385 directed to a flexible and stretchable
electrode describes an electrically conductive material having an
insulating material disposed on the outside thereof. The patent
mentions that electrically conducting elastomeric materials of
electrically conductive particles suspended in a natural or
synthetic rubber carrier have potential applications in fields
including clothing. The patent which is directed to the electrodes
and which illustrates a rectangular pad suggests a pad insertion
arrangement and not a diving suit structure as herein
disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,674,684 describes an electrically heated garment of
electrically conductive rubber material and illustrates it in the
form of a glove. One electrode is connected at the wrist portion of
the glove and another electrode is selectively connected to one of
three positions located on the thumb and outer end of the hand
portion of the glove. Such arrangement would be inoperable in an
underwater environment due to the short circuit effect of the
ambient water and in addition the current path is established from
one electrode to another electrode and this current path would
cause localized heating substantially along a line joining the two
electrodes, as opposed to distributed heating over the entire hand
portion of the wearer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A diving suit is provided and is formed of a stretchable
electrically conducting material of the type which generates heat
when supplied with electrical energy, and is generally conforming
to various shapes of the diver's body. Electrode means in
electrical contact with the material provides a current density
through substantially all of the material when supplied with
electrical energy. A waterproof electrically insulating stretchable
coating is in contact with, and covers the material and means are
provided for connecting the electrode means to source of electric
energy.
To provide for a controlled unequal heating, an electrically
conductive material is provided which varies in thickness in
predetermined manner.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a diving suit in accordance
with the teachings of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a view along line II--II of FIG. 1 and illustrates a
cross-section of an arm portion of the suit;
FIG. 3 is a view along line III--III of FIG. 1 and illustrates a
cross-sectional view of the torso portion of the diving suit;
FIG. 4 is a view along line IV--IV of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 illustrates in cross-section an alternative
construction;
FIG. 6 is a view, partially in section, of a portion of the diving
suit, and illustrates an alternate embodiment of electrode
means;
FIG. 7 illustrates a particular type of heating unit;
FIG. 8 illustrates the heating unit of FIG. 5 for use as a diving
suit sleeve; and
FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of the diving suit.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In FIG. 1 a diver wears the garment 10 which generally conforms to
various shapes of the diver's body. The garment 10 includes arm
portions A, leg portions L, torso portion T and a hood portion
H.
For ease of fabrication the garment 10 is preferably comprised of a
plurality of sections with each section being joined to at least an
adjacent section. By way of example, the arm portion A may be
comprised of two sections, a lower arm section 13 and an upper arm
section 14 joined together at a seam 15.
The torso portion T may include a plurality of elongated sections
such as sections 19 and 20 covering the front of the diver with two
additional sections covering the back of the diver. The torso
sections 19 and 20 are connected to slide fastener means such as
zipper 22 by which a diver may put on and take off the diving suit.
Upper arm section 14 of the right arm is joined to the sections of
the torso portion at seam 24 and the upper arm section 14 of the
left arm is joined to the torso sections at seam 25.
The leg portions L, like the arm portions may be comprised of a
lower leg section 30 joined to an upper leg section 31 at seam 32
with the upper leg sections being additionally joined to one
another at seam 35 and being joined to the torso portion at seam
37. Similarly the hood portion H may be comprised of one or more
sections.
With additional reference to FIG. 2 which is a sectional view along
line II--II of FIG. 1, the garment includes a stretchable
electrically conducting material 40 of the type which generates
heat when supplied with electric energy, such materials being well
known to those skilled in the art and one example of which is
neoprene rubber having electrically conducting particles such as
carbon or silver dispersed therein.
In general, electrode means are provided in electrical contact with
the material 40 in a manner to provide a current density through
the material when supplied with electric energy. Each section
includes an electrode means comprised of first and second elongated
flexible metallic conductors such as multistranded silver or
cadmium bronze. For example, with respect to lower arm section 13,
there is provided first and second conductors or electrodes, E1 and
E2 extending the length of the section. Different sections may be
of different thicknesses of material 40 for different quantities of
heat generation.
In order to prevent short circuiting through the water the material
40 has a waterproof electrically insulating stretchable coating 47
in contact with and covering the material 40. Such coating 47 may
be for example latex, polyurethane, or butyl rubber to name a few.
With the coating 47 covering all of the material 40 prior to
fabrication of the garment, there will exist an insulating portion
50 between electrodes E1 and E2 when first longitudinal edge
portion 53 is joined to second longitudinal edge portion 54 to form
the section 13 and to define a longitudinal seam 56. As an
alternative, the longitudinal edge portions may be joined to an
elongated strip of higher flexible nonconducting material to
provide for greater suit flexibility.
In order to supply the electrodes E1 and E2 with electric energy
there is provided a junction or terminal box 60 electrically
connected to the electrodes E1 and E2 and being connectable with a
source of electric energy 63 which may be a diver carried or
remotely located power supply.
Electrodes E1 and E2 may be directly connectable with the junction
box 60 or as illustrated in FIG. 1 may be directly connected to
respective electrodes E1 and E2 of upper arm section 14 which in
turn are electrically connected with electrodes E1 and E2 of torso
section 19 by means of conductors 67 and 68, these two conductors
being suitably insulated to prevent short circuiting of electrodes
and to insure a substantially uniform current density through the
respective sections. Electrical continuity between the various
sections of the garment 10 may be accomplished by a series
connection, by a parallel connection whereby each individual
section would be directly connected to the junction box 60, or by
various combinations of series and parallel connections. In FIG. 1,
sections 13, 14 and 19 are connected in series, and by means of
electrically insulating feeder conductors 72 and 73, electrical
connection may be made to the back section of the torso portion T,
the back section including torso sections 76 and 77 being
illustrated in FIG. 3 which is a sectional view along the line
III--III of FIG. 1.
Each torso section 19, 20, 76 and 77 includes the stretchable
electrically conducting material 40 with the waterproof
electrically insulating stretchable coating 47 in contact with and
covering the material. Each section includes first and second
electrodes E1 and E2 each being in close proximity to, and
extending in the direction of, the respective one of the
longitudinal edge portions of the sections. At least one
longitudinal edge portion of a torso section is joined to a
longitudinal edge portion of an adjacent section to thereby define
seams 79, 80 and 81.
To connect various sections to each other or to the terminal box 60
it may be necessary for the electrodes to emerge from their
respective sections. One typical way in which this may be
accomplished is illustrated in FIG. 4 which is a view along line
IV--IV of FIG. 3.
The electrode E2 may be molded in the material 40 with a portion of
waterproof insulating jacket 84 extending through coating 47 a
short way into the material 40, as at 85, thus maintaining
waterproof integrity.
Although the internal structure is not illustrated, the hood
portion H and the leg sections 30 and 31 joined together at seam 32
include the same components and may be fabricated from a single
panel as the lower arm section 13 or may be fabricated with a
plurality of panels similar to the torso portion T.
In FIG. 5 there is illustrated a sectional view similar to FIG. 2
with the exception that the electrically conducting material 40 is
cast as an integral unit with first and second electrodes E1 and E2
separated by an electrically insulating portion 50. The outside, or
water side of the material 40 is covered by a waterproof
electrically insulating stretchable coating 47 as is the inside, or
diver side of the material 40. In the case of FIG. 5 there is no
outside longitudinal seam.
In order to reduce the heat transfer to the surrounding water
medium and in order to increase the heat transfer to the diver, the
outside coating designated 47 may be of a thermally insulating
material such as butyl rubber and the inside coating designated 47'
may be of a relatively thermally conducting material such as
neoprene. Such thermally insulating and relatively thermally
conducting coatings may also be applicable to the structure
illustrated in FIG. 2.
To provide for an even more uniform current density, electrode
means may be placed on either side of and in contact with the
electrically conducting material. FIG. 6 illustrates one such
arrangement.
FIG. 6 illustrates an arm section with portions broken away and
includes the stretchable electrically conducting material 40 having
the waterproof electrically insulating stretchable coating 47
disposed on the water side and on the diver side of the material
40. The electrode means includes first and second electrodes E1 and
E2, the electrode E1 being in contact with the material 40 on the
water side thereof and electrode E2 being in contact with it on the
diver side thereof. Electrically connected to the electrode E1 are
a plurality of flexible conductors 91 which extend
circumferentially around the material 40 and which are undulating
to accommodate for radial stretching. In a similar fashion
electrode E2 has connected thereto a second plurality of flexible
conductors 92 positioned to accommodate for radial stretching of
the arm section. By means of the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 6
a current path is established between conductors 91 and 92.
In FIG. 7 there is illustrated an electrically conducting material
96 of the type which generates heat when supplied with electric
energy for which purpose there is provided electrode means E1 and
E2 in electrical contact with the material and extending along
respective edge portions 98 and 99 of the material 96.
The material 96 has, at a first portion thereof, a first thickness
designated T1, and at another portion thereof a second thickness
T2, T1 being greater than T2 whereby when the electrodes E1 and E2
are connected to a source of electric energy, the material 96 will
provide an unequal heat generation along the length L of the
material. The thinner portion T2 has greater resistivity and
accordingly will provide more heat than the relatively thicker
portion T1.
The unit illustrated in FIG. 7 is in the form of a wedge and can be
utilized in various instances where unequal heat generation is
desired. If, in addition to being electrically conducting, the
material 96 were also stretchable, and if thereafter a waterproof
electrically insulating stretchable coating were placed over the
material, the edges 98 and 99 could be joined to form a section of
a diving suit. Such resultant structure is illustrated in
cross-section in FIG. 8 depicting an arm portion A and wherein the
coating is designated 104. The length L may be of a magnitude
approximately equal to a diver's arm length with the thicker
portion T1 being positioned at the diver's upper arm and the
thinner portion T2 being positioned at the diver's wrist. Since the
wrist has a higher surface area per unit mass ratio than the upper
arm, heat will be lost from the wrist at a higher rate per unit
mass and the arrangement of FIG. 8 will compensate for this
relatively higher loss. In addition, the blood is nearer the
surface of the diver at his wrist and will therefore be carrying
more heat to the fingers where it is needed to maintain manual
dexterity.
In various situations where the diving suit is utilized, the
bendable joint portions thereof, such as at the elbows and knees,
may receive excessive stressing. In FIG. 9 there is illustrated an
embodiment of the invention wherein there is provided sections 110
at the elbow joints and sections 112 at the knee joints which
sections are of stretchable material but which are not utilized for
the generation of heat. The remainder of the suit may be identical
to that described in FIG. 1. With the provision of stretchable
nonheat generating sections 110 and 112 the joints may be
continually flexed without the possibility of cold working and
degrading of the properties of a heat generating material.
* * * * *