Thermally adaptive fabrics and methods of making same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12389964-B2
Application number	US-202217976634-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 28, 2022
Priority date	Mar 5, 2018
Publication date	Aug 19, 2025
Grant date	Aug 19, 2025

Abstract

A thermally adaptive material configured to assume a lofted configuration and flat configuration in response to different temperatures. The thermally adaptive material includes an adaptive first textile layer with one or more sections of a first material that has a first thermal expansion coefficient and one or more sections of a second material disposed adjacent to the one or more sections of the first material, the one or more sections of the second material having a second thermal expansion coefficient that is different from the first thermal expansion coefficient. The thermally adaptive material also includes a second textile layer disposed opposing the adaptive first textile layer; a plurality of engaging portions between the first textile layer and second textile layer; and one or more cavities defined by the first and second layers that are generated while the adaptive textile is at least in a lofted configuration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermally adaptable insulating garment wearable by a user and configured to change between configurations based on at least one of body temperature of the user and temperature of an environment immediately external to the thermally adaptable insulating garment, the configurations including a lofting and flattening to provide for increased and decreased insulation provided by the thermally adaptable insulating garment based on the at least one of the body temperature of the user and the temperature of the environment immediately external to the thermally adaptable insulating garment, the thermally adaptable insulating garment comprising:
an adaptive material configured to assume a lofted configuration and a flat configuration in response to different temperatures, with the flat configuration occurring within a temperature range of 10-40° C., the adaptive material including:
an adaptive first textile layer including:
a plurality of twisted polymer coil actuators with a first thermal expansion coefficient with a magnitude of at least 1000 μm/m/K and an average spacing between twisted polymer coil actuators at least 100% of average diameter of the twisted polymer coil actuators, and
a second material disposed adjacent to the twisted polymer coil actuators, the second material having a second thermal expansion coefficient that is different from the first thermal expansion coefficient;

a second textile layer disposed opposing the adaptive first textile layer;
a plurality of linear engaging portions between the adaptive first textile layer and second textile layer; and
a plurality of elongated cavities defined by the first and second textile layers and respective adjacent pairs of the linear engaging portions, the plurality of elongated cavities generated while the adaptive material is at least in the lofted configuration, wherein the plurality of elongated cavities further comprise a plurality of additional layers extending within the plurality of elongated cavities and coupled to respective opposing sides of an internal face of a portion of the plurality of elongated cavities defined by the adaptive first textile layer.

2. The thermally adaptable insulating garment of claim 1 , wherein the second textile layer comprises an adaptive second textile layer, the adaptive second textile layer including:
a second plurality of twisted polymer coil actuators with a third thermal expansion coefficient with a magnitude of at least 1000 μm/m/K and an average spacing between twisted polymer coil actuators at least 100% of the average diameter of the twisted polymer coil actuators, and
a fourth material disposed adjacent to the twisted polymer coil actuators, the fourth material having a fourth thermal expansion coefficient that is different from the third thermal expansion coefficient, the twisted polymer coil actuators and fourth material configured to change from a planar configuration to non-planar curved configurations in response to a change in temperature to generate the lofted configuration.

3. The thermally adaptable insulating garment of claim 2 , wherein the first and second adaptive textile layers are disposed in an opposing configuration with the first and second plurality of twisted polymer coil actuators, with the twisted polymer coil actuators of the adaptive first textile layer facing respective sections with the twisted polymer coil actuators of the second textile layer, a plurality of sections of the second material of the adaptive first textile layer facing respective sections of the fourth material of the second textile layer.

4. The thermally adaptable insulating garment of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of elongated cavities further comprise a plurality of fibers disposed within the plurality of elongated cavities.

5. The thermally adaptable insulating garment of claim 4 , wherein each of the plurality of fibers extend between and are coupled to opposing internal faces of the first and second textile layers.

6. A thermally adaptive material configured to change configuration in response to different temperatures, with a lofted configuration providing for increased insulation relative to a flatter configuration, the thermally adaptive material comprising:
an adaptive first textile layer including:
a plurality of twisted polymer coil actuators with a first thermal expansion coefficient with a magnitude of at least 1000 μm/m/K and an average spacing between twisted polymer coil actuators at least 50% of an average diameter of the twisted polymer coil actuators, and
a second material disposed adjacent to the twisted polymer coil actuators, the second material having a second thermal expansion coefficient that is different from the first thermal expansion coefficient;

a second textile layer disposed opposing the adaptive first textile layer;
a plurality of engaging portions between the adaptive first textile layer and second textile layer;
one or more cavities defined by the first and second textile layers and respective adjacent pairs of the engaging portions, the cavities generated while the thermally adaptive material is at least in the lofted configuration; and
a plurality of additional layers extending within the cavities and coupled to respective opposing sides of an internal face of a portion of the cavities defined by the adaptive first textile layer.

7. The thermally adaptive material of claim 6 , wherein the thermally adaptive material assumes the flatter configuration within a temperature range of 10-40° C.

8. The thermally adaptive material of claim 6 , wherein the adaptive first textile layer comprises:
a plurality of sections containing twisted polymer coil actuators, and
a plurality of sections of the second material disposed adjacent to respective sections of the plurality of sections containing twisted polymer coil actuators.

9. The thermally adaptive material of claim 8 , wherein the second textile layer comprises an adaptive second textile layer that includes:
a second plurality of twisted polymer coil actuators with a third thermal expansion coefficient with a magnitude of at least 1000 μm/m/K and an average spacing between twisted polymer coil actuators at least 100% of the average diameter of the twisted polymer coil actuators, and
a fourth material disposed adjacent to the twisted polymer coil actuators, the fourth material having a fourth thermal expansion coefficient that is different from the third thermal expansion coefficient, the twisted polymer coil actuators and fourth material configured to change from a planar configuration to non-planar curved configurations in response to a change in temperature to generate the lofted configuration.

10. The thermally adaptive material of claim 6 , further comprising a plurality of fibers extending between opposing internal faces of the first and second textile layers.

11. The thermally adaptive material of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of fibers extending between the opposing internal faces of the first and second textile layers within the cavities wick fluid associated with the body of a user away from the body of the user toward the external environment by wicking fluid from the second textile layer toward the adaptive first textile layer.

12. The thermally adaptive material of claim 6 , wherein changing from the flatter configuration to the lofted configuration in response to different temperatures results in an increase of at least 100% in a thickness of the thermally adaptive material.

13. The thermally adaptive material of claim 6 , wherein the first thermal expansion coefficient of the plurality of twisted polymer coil actuators is negativ

Assignees

• Other Lab Llc

Inventors

• Ridley Brent
• Chang Jean
• Bryson Leah

Classifications

• D10B2501/04

  Outerwear; Protective garments · CPC title

• B32B2437/00

  Clothing · CPC title

• D10B2401/04

  Heat-responsive characteristics · CPC title

• B32B2307/30

  having particular thermal properties · CPC title

• B32B27/12

  next to a fibrous or filamentary layer · CPC title