Electrically-heated fiber, fabric, or textile for heated apparel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11166344-B2
Application number	US-201916258165-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2019
Priority date	Jan 25, 2018
Publication date	Nov 2, 2021
Grant date	Nov 2, 2021

Abstract

A heating element composite comprises a substrate of one or more fibers or threads and an electrically-conductive polymer coating comprising an electrically-conductive polymer material deposited onto the one or more fibers or threads. A thickness of the electrically-conductive polymer coating is at least about 100 nanometers and the electrically-conductive polymer coating covers at least about 75% of an external surface area of the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate. The resulting heating element composite has a sheet resistance of from about 2 Ω/□ to about 200 Ω/□.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heating element composite comprising:
a substrate comprising one or more fibers or threads;
an electrically-conductive polymer coating comprising an electrically-conductive polymer material deposited onto the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate, wherein a thickness of the electrically-conductive polymer coating is at least about 100 nanometers, wherein the electrically-conductive polymer coating covers at least about 75% of an external surface area of the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate, and wherein the heating element composite has a sheet resistance of from about 2 Ω/□ to about 200 Ω/□; and
a protective coating comprising an electrically-insulating material covering at least a portion of the electrically-conductive polymer coating, wherein the electrically-insulating material of the protective coating comprises trichloro(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl)silane.

2. A heating element composite according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a fabric thread or yarn.

3. A heating element composite according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a textile sheet comprising the one or more fibers or threads collective arranged to form the textile sheet.

4. A heating element composite according to claim 3 , wherein the textile sheet of the substrate comprises a woven fabric sheet or a non-woven fabric sheet.

5. A heating element composite according to claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the electrically-conductive polymer coating is at least about 250 nanometers.

6. A heating element composite according to claim 1 , wherein the electrically-conductive polymer coating covers at least about 80% of the external surface area of the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate.

7. A heating element composite according to claim 1 , wherein the electrically-conductive polymer coating conformally or substantially conformally covers the external surface area of the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate.

8. A heating element composite according to claim 1 , wherein the electrically-conductive polymer material comprises poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene).

9. A process comprising the steps of:
coupling a substrate comprising one or more fibers or threads to a deposition stage;
positioning the deposition stage and the substrate in a reactive vapor deposition chamber;
depositing an electrically-conductive polymer material onto the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate in the reactive vapor deposition chamber to form a heating element composite comprising an electrically-conductive polymer coating covering at least a portion of the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate, wherein the electrically-conductive polymer material comprises a vapor-phase polymerization reaction product of one or more precursor compounds deposited via reactive vapor deposition in the reactive vapor deposition chamber; and
during the depositing of the electrically-conductive polymer coating, maintaining a deposition pressure in the reactive vapor deposition chamber of at least about 200 mTorr;
wherein the electrically-conductive polymer coating has a thickness of at least about 100 nanometers and the electrically-conductive polymer coating covers at least about 75% of an external surface area of the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate, and
wherein the heating element composite has a sheet resistance of from about 2 Ω/□ to about 200 Ω/□.

10. A process according to claim 9 , wherein the one or more precursor compounds comprise 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene and wherein the electrically-conductive polymer material comprises poly(3,4-ethyl enedioxythiophene).

11. A process according to claim 9 , wherein the substrate comprises a fabric thread or yarn.

12. A process according to claim 9 , wherein the substrate comprises a textile sheet comprising the one or more fibers or threads collective arranged to form the textile sheet.

13. A process according to claim 9 , wherein the thickness of the electrically-conductive polymer coating after the step of depositing the electrically-conductive polymer material onto the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate is at least about 250 nanometers.

14. A process according to claim 9 , wherein, after the step of depositing the electrically-conductive polymer material onto the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate, the electrically-conductive polymer coating covers at least about 80% of the external surface area of the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate.

15. A process according to claim 9 , wherein the electrically-conductive polymer coating conformally or substantially conformally covers the external surface area of the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate.

16. A process according to claim 9 , further comprising, after the step of depositing the electrically-conductive polymer material onto the one or more fibers or threads of the substrate, forming a protective coating comprising an electrically-insulating material covering at least a portion of the electrically-conductive polymer coating.

17. A process according to claim 16 , wherein the electrically-insulating material of the protective coating comprises trichloro(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl)silane.

18. A process according to claim 16 , wherein forming the protective coating comprises depositing the electrically-insulating material onto the heating element composite in a protective coating vapor deposition chamber, wherein the electrically-insulating material of the protective coating comprises a polymerization reaction product of one or more precursor monomers deposited via reactive vapor deposition in the protective coating vapor deposition chamber.

19. A process according to claim 18 , wherein the one or more precursor monomers comprise at least one of: one or more acrylic monomers; one or more cyclophane monomers; and one or more siloxane monomers.

Assignees

• Univ Massachusetts

Inventors

• Andrew Trisha L
• Zhang Lushuai
• Baima Morgan

Classifications

• A41D19/01535 Primary

  Heated gloves · CPC title

• A41D13/0051

  Heated garments (heated divers' suits B63C11/28) · CPC title

• H05B2203/036

  Heaters specially adapted for garment heating · CPC title

• H05B3/146

  Conductive polymers, e.g. polyethylene, thermoplastics · CPC title

• H05B3/347 Primary

  woven fabrics · CPC title