System and method for measuring and controlling foot temperature

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11357282-B2
Application number	US-201816205399-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2018
Priority date	Nov 30, 2017
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

A system for measuring and controlling foot temperature. The system comprises a heating or cooling device including one or more sealed fluidic pathways having a cooling or heating fluid therein and disposed in or on an article of footwear or a sock. A pumping device coupled to the heating or cooling device is configured to circulate the fluid in the one or more sealed fluidic pathways. A heat exchanger coupled to the heating or cooling device is configured to remove or add heat from or to the fluid in the one or more sealed fluidic pathways. A controller coupled to the pumping device and the heat exchanger is configured to control the pumping device and the heat exchanger to cool or heat a foot located inside the article of footwear or the sock.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for measuring and controlling foot temperature, the system comprising:
a heating or cooling device including one or more sealed fluidic pathways having a cooling or heating fluid therein and disposed in or on an article of footwear or a sock;
a pumping device coupled to the heating or cooling device configured to circulate the fluid in the one or more sealed fluidic pathways;
a heat exchanger coupled to the heating or cooling device configured to remove or add heat from or to the fluid in the one or more sealed fluidic pathways, the heat exchanger including a fluid block in fluid communication with the one or more sealed fluidic pathways;
a controller coupled to the pumping device and the heat exchanger configured to control the pumping device to circulate the cooling or heating fluid in the one or more sealed fluidic pathways and also configured to control the heat exchanger to cool or heat a foot located inside the article of footwear or the sock;
a heat sink coupled to the fluid block, a fan coupled to the heat sink, and a power supply coupled to the controller; and
the heat exchanger including a thermoelectric cooling (TEC) device positioned between the fluid block and the heat sink and coupled to the controller and the power supply.

2. The system of claim 1 in which the one or more sealed fluidic pathways are comprised of a thermally conductive material.

3. The system of claim 1 in which the one or more sealed fluidic pathways are configured in a loop.

4. The system of claim 1 in which the one or more sealed fluidic pathways are embedded or disposed in one or more of: an insole of the article of footwear, a side, a top, a front or a back of the article of footwear, a sole of the article of footwear, or the sock.

5. The system of claim 1 in which the pumping device is: integrated in a sole of the article of footwear, attached to a side, a top, a front, or a back of the article of footwear, configured to be attached to a user, attached to an article configured to be attached to the user, or attached to the sock.

6. The system of claim 1 in which the heat exchanger is embedded or disposed in one or more of: an insole of the article of footwear, a side, a top, a front, or a back of the article of footwear, a sole of the article of footwear, or the sock.

7. The system of claim 1 in which the controller is configured to control current or voltage applied to the TEC device such that the TEC device and the fluid block cools or heats the fluid in the one or more sealed fluidic pathways.

8. The system of claim 1 further including one or more temperature sensors in communication with the controller and disposed or embedded in or on one or more of: the sealed fluidic pathways, the fluid block, the heat sink, the TEC device, an insole of the article of footwear, a side, a top, a front, or a back of the article of footwear, a sole of the article of footwear, or the sock, wherein the one or more temperature sensors are configured to measure a temperature of one or more of: the fluid in the one or more sealed fluidic pathways, the fluid block, the heat sink, a hot side of the TEC device, a cold side of the TEC device, the insole of the article of footwear, a side, a top, a front, or a back of the article of footwear, a sole of the article of footwear, or the sock.

9. The system of claim 8 in which the controller is coupled to a proportional integral derivative (PID) control loop responsive to one or more measured input temperatures, the PID control loop configured to control a flow rate of the fluid output by the pumping device and the voltage and current applied to the TEC device to heat or cool the fluid in one or more sealed fluidic pathways.

10. The system of claim 1 further including a pressure sensor layer including a plurality of pressure sensors coupled to the controller, the pressure layer configured to measure pressure at a bottom of the foot.

11. The system of claim 1 further including a phase change layer including a phase change material, the phase change layer adapted to be placed under the foot and thermally coupled to the one or more sealed fluidic pathways, the phase change material configured to change phase in response to heat from the foot such that the phase change layer cools the foot.

Assignees

• Vivonics Inc
• Univ Of North Texas Health Science Center

Inventors

• Cohen Ian
• Hirschman Gordon B
• Galea Anna M
• Ma Hsiang-Wei
• Yavuz Metin
• Adams Linda
• Ersen Ali

Classifications

• A43B3/34 Primary

  with electrical or electronic arrangements · CPC title

• A43B7/02 Primary

  with heating arrangements  (with electric heating arrangements A43B3/35) · CPC title

• A43B7/081

  the air being forced from outside · CPC title

• F25B2321/0251

  by a gas · CPC title

• F25B2321/0212

  of electric power, current or voltage · CPC title