Heating and cooling technologies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11033058-B2
Application number	US-201515526954-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2015
Priority date	Nov 14, 2014
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

A heating and cooling device is disclosed comprising at least one integral low voltage heating and cooling source and an efficient flexible heat distribution means having a thermal conductivity of from 375 to 4000 W/mK for distributing the heat and cool across a surface. Further aspects include thermal interface compounds to provide full thermal contact as well as the use of a phase change material to provide a long lasting heating and/or cooling effect without the use of external electrical input. Preferred applications include automotive and furniture seating heating and cooling, along with outdoor garments having distributed heating and cooling effects.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heating and cooling device with a sheeted thermally conductive material for heating or cooling a surface configured to contact a person, comprising:
a low voltage heating and cooling source, including a thermoelectric device for generating heat or coolness; and
a flexible sheeted thermally conductive material in thermal communication with said heating and cooling source for distributing heat or coolness generated by the thermoelectric device across a wider area than the surface of the thermoelectric device itself, including a sheeted thermally conductive material for distribution of heat or coolness generated by the thermoelectric device for heating or cooling the surface configured to contact the person, said distribution being across an area extending beyond and outside of the surface of the thermoelectric device itself, said flexible sheeted thermally conductive material being secured to and in thermal contact with the thermoelectric device and adapted to conductively heat or cool the surface configured to contact the person, and wherein said flexible sheeted thermally conductive material has a thermal conductivity of from 375 to 4000 W/mK for distributing the heat and coolness across the surface configured to contact the person;
said flexible sheeted thermally conductive material comprising a strip of flexible sheeted graphene material that is thermally conductive for distributing the heat or coolness from the thermoelectric device across the surface configured to contact the person,
wherein the flexible sheeted graphene material is configured to have air flow through the flexible sheeted graphene material to be conditioned by passing through openings in graphene of the flexible sheeted graphene material, whereby both conductive cooling or heating to the surface configured to contact the person and convective cooling or heating via moving conditioned air is provided.

2. The heating and cooling device of claim 1 , wherein said thermoelectric device is a bismuth telluride thermoelectric device.

3. The heating and cooling device of claim 2 , wherein the thermoelectric device is a 127 couple or higher count bismuth telluride based device.

4. The heating and cooling device of claim 1 , wherein said low voltage heating and cooling source is configured to operate at a voltage ranging from 10 to 16 VDC, or from a wireless power source transmitted to a magnetic resonance receiver from a magnetic resonance transmitter for wireless recharging.

5. The heating and cooling device of claim 1 , wherein the sheeted thermally conductive material includes thermally conductive materials comprising at least one of thermally conductive flexible sheeted graphene material, polymers, or carbon based conductive materials including carbon fiber fabric and graphite fabrics.

6. The heating and cooling device of claim 1 , wherein the sheeted thermally conductive material includes graphene sheets, strips and slitted thermally conductive material strips in thermal communication with each other.

7. The heating and cooling device of claim 1 , wherein the sheeted thermally conductive material comprises a layer of sheets or strips made of a graphene material comprising at least one of graphene nanoplatelets, graphene nanotubes, or graphene nanoparticles.

8. A heating and cooling device with a sheeted thermally conductive material for distributing heat or coolness across a surface configured to contact a person, comprising:
a heating and cooling source configured to heat or cool the surface configured to contact the person;
a flexible sheeted thermally conductive material in thermal communication with said heating and cooling source, said flexible sheeted thermally conductive material having a thermal conductivity of from 375 to 4000 W/mK for distributing the heat or coolness generated by the heating and cooling source across a wider area than the surface of the heating and cooling source itself; and
a thermally conductive interface for creating a thermal connection between the heating and cooling source and the flexible sheeted thermally conductive material,
wherein the flexible sheeted thermally conductive material is configured to have air flow through the flexible sheeted thermally conductive material to be conditioned by passing through openings in the flexible sheeted thermally conductive material, whereby both conductive cooling or heating to the surface configured to contact the person and convective cooling or heating via moving conditioned air is provided.

9. The heating and cooling device of claim 8 , wherein said heating and cooling source comprises a thermoelectric device.

10. The heating and cooling device of claim 9 , wherein said thermoelectric device is a bismuth telluride thermoelectric device.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the thermoelectric device is a 127 or higher count couple bismuth telluride based device.

12. The heating and cooling device of claim 8 , wherein said heating and cooling source is configured to operate at a voltage ranging from 10 to 16 VDC, or from a wireless power source transmitted to a magnetic resonance receiver from an embedded magnetic resonance transmitter for wireless recharging.

13. The heating and cooling device of claim 8 , wherein the flexible sheeted thermally conductive material includes thermally conductive materials comprising at least one of thermally conductive flexible sheeted graphene materials, polymers, or carbon based conductive materials including carbon fiber fabric and graphite fabrics.

14. The heating and cooling device of claim 8 , wherein the flexible sheeted thermally conductive material includes graphene sheets, strips and slitted thermally conductive material strips in thermal communication with each other.

15. The heating and cooling device of claim 8 , wherein the flexible sheeted thermally conductive material comprises a layer of sheets or strips made of a graphene material comprising at least one of graphene nanoplatelets, graphene nanotubes, or graphene nanoparticles.

16. The heating and cooling device of claim 8 , wherein the thermally conductive interface comprises at least one of thermal greases, silver filled gels, filled waxes, silicones, or pads.

17. The heating and cooling device of claim 8 , wherein the thermally conductive interface includes a reworkable, aluminum nitride filled, electrically insulating and thermally conductive paste type epoxy adhesive.

18. The heating and cooling device of claim 8 , further comprising a thermal control technology via Internet of Things (IoT) connected wirelessly to a smart room thermostat or a building HVAC system.

19. The heating and cooling device of claim 18 , wherein the heating and cooling source comprises a thermoelectric device, the thermoelectric device configured to produce electrical energy via Seebeck effect with a temperature difference between two planar sides of the thermoelectric device, wherein a temperature sensor is configured to be powered by utilizing electrical energy produced via Seebeck effect, wherein temperature information from the temperature sensor can be related to temperature of the person used for controlling temperature of the surface configured to contact the person and aid in turning on or off or modulating heat supplied to or heat removed from the surface configured to contact the person.

20. A heating and cooling device to heat or cool a surface configured to contact a person, comprising:
a heating and cooling source configured to heat or cool the surface configured to con

Assignees

• Gentherm Inc

Inventors

• Cauchy Charles J

Classifications

• A47C7/744

  with active means, e.g. by using air blowers or liquid pumps · CPC title

• F25B21/04

  reversible · CPC title

• B60N2/5678

  characterised by electrical systems · CPC title

• A41D13/005 Primary

  with controlled temperature · CPC title

• B60N2/5635

  coming from the passenger compartment · CPC title