JP7672134B2 - Air-conditioned clothing body and air-conditioned clothing - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to the garment body of an air-conditioned garment and to the air-conditioned garment.

In recent years, air-conditioned clothing has been put into practical use, which evaporates sweat from the body by circulating a large amount of outside air roughly parallel to the surface of the body or underwear. A detailed explanation of the principles and structure of air-conditioned clothing is described in detail, for example, in Patent Document 1. Furthermore, many people who wear air-conditioned clothing also wear helmets, and in this case, while wearing the air-conditioned clothing eliminates stuffiness of the body, it cannot eliminate stuffiness of the head when wearing a helmet.

In recent years, devices have been put to practical use to add a blowing function to existing work helmets that meet safety standards. Such devices are configured so that a blower is attached to the outer edge of the helmet, and outside air taken in by the blower is sent into the helmet through an intake pipe.

JP 2005-54299 A

However, the above-mentioned device for adding a blowing function to a work helmet has the following major performance problems. First, because the device is attached directly to the helmet, it is not possible to use a device with a blower that is too large in weight. As a result, a large amount of air cannot be sent into the helmet, and stuffiness around the head cannot be sufficiently eliminated. Second, because the inlet pipe is installed in the gap between the helmet and the head, the cross-sectional area of the inlet pipe cannot be made very large. Therefore, in order to adequately ventilate the inside of the helmet, it is necessary to increase the wind speed and send a large amount of air into the helmet. However, because power consumption is proportional to the square of the wind speed, increasing the wind speed quickly consumes the battery.

The present invention was made based on the above circumstances, and aims to provide an air-conditioned garment body and air-conditioned garment that can sufficiently eliminate stuffiness not only of the body but also of the user's head when wearing a helmet.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 comprises a clothing part which covers at least the upper half of a user's body and which has an air blowing means attachment part for attaching an air blowing means which introduces air into the interior, and an outlet part which ejects the air introduced by the air blowing means from the rear of the user's neck, wherein a slack portion is provided in a portion from the upper back part of the clothing part to the outlet part, the slack portion being formed by giving slack to the fabric of the clothing part, the slack portion comprising a substantially rectangular slack-forming cloth having a vertical length substantially the same as that of the slack portion, on the inside of the clothing part, with the vicinity of both ends of the slack-forming cloth connected to the clothing part, and the length between the connection parts of the slack-forming cloth with the clothing part being shorter than the length along the clothing part between the connection parts, and the slack-forming cloth is made of a mesh material .

In the air-conditioned garment body and air-conditioned garment of the present invention, air is circulated inside the garment body using an air blowing means, and the circulating air evaporates sweat from the body, and the heat of vaporization generated when the sweat evaporates can cool the user's body. Furthermore, when a helmet is worn, the inside of the helmet can be ventilated, sufficiently eliminating stuffiness around the user's head.

The air-conditioned garment body and air-conditioned garment of the present invention can ventilate the inside of the helmet, sufficiently eliminating stuffiness around the user's head.

FIG. 1(a) is a schematic back view of the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment which is the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1(b) is a schematic side view of the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment, and FIG. 1(c) is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment as viewed in the direction of the arrows A-A. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the air flow in the helmet-compatible air-conditioning garment. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the ejection portion of the helmet-compatible air-conditioning garment. FIG. 4 is a schematic side view showing a state in which a user wears a general work helmet. FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing a modified example of the attachment means in the helmet-compatible air-conditioning garment of the first embodiment. Figure 6(a) is a schematic back view of a helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment which is a second embodiment of the present invention, Figure 6(b) is a schematic side view of the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment, and Figure 6(c) is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment as viewed in the direction of the B-B arrow.

Below, the mode for implementing the invention of this application will be explained with reference to the drawings.

[First embodiment]
First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1(a) is a schematic back view of an air-conditioned helmet garment according to the first embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 1(b) is a schematic side view of the air-conditioned helmet garment, and Fig. 1(c) is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the air-conditioned helmet garment as viewed in the direction of arrows A-A. Fig. 2 is a diagram for explaining the flow of air in the air-conditioned helmet garment, and Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining an ejection portion of the air-conditioned helmet garment.

The helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment of the first embodiment can be used both when a helmet is worn and when not worn. As shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, this helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 comprises a garment part 10, two air blowing means 20, 20, an air exhaust part 30, a power supply means (not shown), a power cable (not shown), an outlet part 60, a guide sheet 70, and an attachment means 80 for attaching the guide sheet 70 to a helmet 110. Note that Fig. 1 shows the manner in which the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 is used when the helmet 110 is worn, and Figs. 2 and 3 show the manner in which the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 is used when the helmet is not worn.

The clothing part 10 is made of a sheet-like material with little or no breathability, and is formed in a shape that covers the upper body and arms. A stretchable material, such as rubber, is attached to the hem 11 of this clothing part 10. This makes the hem 11 of the clothing part 10 tighter and more closely fitted to the body or underwear. In addition, a zipper (not shown) is provided on the front side of the clothing part 10 as an opening and closing means. This zipper is for opening and closing the front part of the clothing part 10 when it is worn.

The air blowing means 20 takes in air from the outside, forms an air flow passage between the clothing part 10 and the body or underwear, and forcibly creates a flow of air within the air flow passage. The two air blowing means 20, 20 are attached to the left and right sides of the lower part of the clothing part 10. Here, a fan with a propeller is used as the air blowing means 20.

The inside of the garment portion 10 is provided with an inner pocket (not shown) for storing a power supply means. The power supply means is for supplying power to the two air blowing means 20, 20. As the power supply means, for example, a power supply device with a built-in battery is used. The power supply means and the two air blowing means 20, 20 are electrically connected by a power cable.

The air exhaust section 30 is for exhausting air circulating in the space (air flow passage) between the clothing part 10 and the body or underwear to the outside. Specifically, the cuffs and neck area of the clothing part 10 serve as the air exhaust section 30.

The helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 of the first embodiment can be used not only when a helmet is worn, but also when a helmet is not worn. When a user does not wear a helmet, after putting on the garment part 10 and closing the fastener, the two air blowing means 20, 20 are operated, and as shown in FIG. 2, outside air is taken into the garment part 10 from the two air blowing means 20, 20. Then, the taken-in air flows upward in the air flow passage approximately parallel to the body, and is discharged from the neck part and the cuff part, which are the air discharge part 30. While the air flows through the air flow passage, it vaporizes sweat from the body, and the heat of vaporization when the sweat evaporates can lower the temperature of the body surface. Therefore, in order for the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 to efficiently perform its cooling function, it is necessary to reduce the resistance that the air flowing through the air flow passage receives from the air discharge part 30 and to flow a large amount of air approximately parallel to the body. As one means for achieving this, the garment part 10 is provided with a set of adjustment cords 13 for widening or narrowing the distance between the back of the neck of the user and the back collar 12 of the garment part 10, as shown in FIG. 3. The ends of each adjustment cord 13 are attached to the inner surface of the back collar 12 of the garment part 10. By tying the set of adjustment cords 13 and adjusting their length appropriately, the size of the opening formed between the back of the neck and the back collar 12 can be made appropriate. A large amount of air that has circulated through the air flow passage can be ejected upward from this large opening. The opening formed between the back of the neck and the back collar 12 is one of the air exhaust parts 30, but is also the ejection part 60 in this invention.

When performing general work while wearing the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1, the length of the adjustment cord 13 is adjusted to set the area of the outlet 60 to about 10 ^cm2 . Also, the rotation speed of the two blowing means 20, 20 is adjusted to take in about 20 liters/second of air from the outside into the garment part 10. At this time, of the approximately 20 liters/second of air taken in by the two blowing means 20, 20, about 12 liters/second of air is discharged from the cuffs and the front of the neck, and the remaining approximately 8 liters/second of air is discharged from the outlet 60.

Most people who wear the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 are also helmet wearers. Therefore, if the air ejected from the ejection portion 60 of the garment portion 10 can be effectively taken into the helmet, the person wearing the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 will be freed from the problem of the helmet becoming stuffy, and since the ejected air flows along the back of the neck, the back of the neck and the back of the head can also be cooled. The helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 of the first embodiment is provided with a guide sheet 70 and an attachment means 80, so that the air ejected upward from the ejection portion 60 of the garment portion 10 can be taken into the helmet along the back of the neck. In other words, this helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 has the function of ventilating the inside of the helmet.

The helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 is designed so that the air taken into the garment part 10 inflates the garment part 10, and as the garment part 10 inflates, an air flow passage is formed between the garment part 10 and the body or underwear. For this reason, air flows through parts of the garment part 10, particularly the back part, which is quite far from the body, and this air does not contribute much to evaporating sweat from the body. Therefore, the air ejected from the ejection part 60 has not deteriorated much in terms of temperature and humidity, and is still sufficiently effective in evaporating sweat from the body.

The guide sheet 70 is for guiding the air ejected from the ejection part 60 along the back of the neck and the back of the head of the user and directing it to the helmet 110. One end of the guide sheet 70 is connected to the back collar part 12 of the clothing part 10. In other words, the clothing part 10 and the guide sheet 70 are integrated together. In fact, the shape of the guide sheet 70 is like that of a hood on a raincoat with the part covering the top of the head removed, as shown in Figure 1.

On the other hand, an attachment means 80 is attached to the tip of the guide sheet 70. This attachment means 80 is for attaching the guide sheet 70 to the helmet 110. Here, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, an elastic loop-shaped belt is used as the attachment means 80. Fig. 4 is a schematic side view showing a state when a user wears a general work helmet 110. As shown in Fig. 4, the general work helmet 110 has a brim 111. The loop-shaped belt, which is the attachment means 80, is fitted into a side periphery 112 along the brim 111 of the helmet 110, as shown in Fig. 1(b).

As shown in FIG. 4, the outer surface of the helmet 110 is usually marked with written information 113, such as the name of the person wearing the helmet 110, the company name, the work content, etc., and this written information 113 is important in terms of work safety, etc. In the first embodiment, the width of the belt, which is the attachment means 80, is made as small as possible so that the belt does not cover the written information 113 as much as possible. Specifically, the size of the belt, which is the attachment means 80, is designed so that when the attachment means 80 is attached to the helmet 110, the proportion of the outer surface of the helmet 110 that the attachment means 80 covers is at most 20% of the entire outer surface of the helmet 110.

As described above, the ejection part 60 is an opening formed between the back of the neck of the user and the back collar 12 of the clothing part 10, and the air that has flowed through the air flow passage is ejected toward the guide sheet 70 through this ejection part 60. In the first embodiment, since the clothing part 10 and the guide sheet 70 are integrated, the position of the ejection part 60 cannot be clearly identified, but by definition, the part of the clothing part 10 that corresponds to the back of the neck of the user can be regarded as the ejection part 60.

As shown in FIG. 1, the upper back portion of the clothing part 10, which extends from the air blowing means 20 to the blowing portion 60, has a slack portion 14 formed by giving slack to the fabric of the clothing part 10. Here, as shown in FIG. 1(a), the portion where the slack portion 14 is provided is a long range in the vertical direction at the upper back portion of the clothing part 10, that is, the range from the center of the back of the clothing part 10 to the center of the guide sheet 70. Specifically, both ends of the slack portion 14 are sewn to the clothing part 10 by five slack-forming strings 141. As a result, when the air blowing means 20 draws in outside air into the clothing part 10, the slack portion 14 bulges outward from the clothing part 10 due to the air that has been drawn in.

Next, a method of using the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 when wearing the helmet 110 will be described.
The user first puts on the garment part 10, and then puts on the helmet 110. After that, the user lifts the guide sheet 70 of the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 so that it covers the rear of the neck and the back of the head, and fits the loop-shaped belt, which is the attachment means 80, into the side peripheral part 112 of the helmet 110. In this way, the user can easily attach the guide sheet 70 to the helmet 110.

When the air blowing means 20, 20 are operated, outside air is taken in from the air blowing means 20, 20 into the air flow passage of the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 and flows toward the cuffs (air exhaust section 30) and the outlet section 60. In the first embodiment, a slack section 14 is provided in the back section of the garment section 10, which is located from the air blowing means 20 to the outlet section 60. When the air blowing means 20, 20 are operated, the slack section 14 expands and a large amount of air can be collected in the slack section 14. That is, as shown in FIG. 1(c), the slack section 14 becomes an air guide passage having a cross section larger than the cross sections of the other air flow sections. Therefore, the collected large amount of air can be guided from the slack section 14 as an air guide passage to the outlet section 60. In addition, because the guide sheet 70 is connected to the rear collar 12 of the garment part 10, the large amount of air ejected from the ejection part 60 can be efficiently guided along the guide sheet 70 to the helmet 110, and can be introduced into the helmet 110 through the air inlet 114 (see FIG. 4) formed between the inner edge of the helmet 110 and the user's head. By introducing air into the helmet 110 in this way, the inside of the helmet 110 can be ventilated.

In the first embodiment, by providing a slack portion 14 at the upper back portion of the garment portion 10, a sufficiently large area can be secured as the area of the blowing portion 60 when the air blowing means 20, 20 are operated, so that the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1 does not necessarily need to be provided with an adjustment cord 13.

In the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment of the first embodiment, air is circulated through the air flow passage using the blowing means, and the circulating air evaporates sweat from the body, and the heat of vaporization when the sweat evaporates can cool the user's body. Furthermore, by providing a guide sheet connected to the rear of the collar of the garment part, when the helmet is worn, the air ejected from the ejection part can be guided to the helmet along the rear of the neck and the back of the head of the user on the inside of the guide sheet. Therefore, the air circulating inside the guide sheet evaporates sweat from the rear of the neck and the back of the head of the user, cooling the rear of the neck and the back of the head, and the air guided to the helmet can be efficiently introduced into the helmet to ventilate the inside of the helmet, sufficiently eliminating stuffiness around the user's head.

In the first embodiment, a slack portion is provided in the fabric at the back of the garment portion, which is located between the air blowing means and the outlet portion. When the air blowing means is operated to allow air to flow through the air passage, the slack portion expands and a large amount of air can be collected in the slack portion. This collected large amount of air can then be guided from the slack portion to the outlet portion, increasing the amount of air introduced into the helmet.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment, when the attachment means is attached to the helmet, the proportion of the outer surface of the helmet that is covered by the attachment means is at most 20% of the entire outer surface of the helmet, so that it is possible to avoid a situation in which the name of the person wearing the helmet, the company name, and other written information on the outer surface of the helmet is completely covered by the attachment means and cannot be recognized by others.

In the first embodiment, the case where a loop-shaped belt having elasticity is used as the attachment means has been described, but in general, the attachment means is not limited to the above configuration, and may be of any configuration as long as it can be attached to the side periphery of the helmet and tighten the side periphery. FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing a modified attachment means in the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment of the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the attachment means 800 of this modified embodiment has a belt 810 arranged approximately parallel to the tip of the guide sheet 70, and two surface fasteners 820, 820 provided at both ends of the belt 81. The belt 810 is made of transparent soft polyvinyl chloride. The soft polyvinyl chloride belt 810 fits well and adheres closely to the surface of the helmet, so that the attachment means 800 can be securely attached to the helmet. Moreover, since the belt 810 is transparent, even if the belt 810 overlaps the display information when the attachment means 800 is attached to the helmet, others can recognize the display information. In this respect, it is generally desirable that the attachment means in the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment of the present invention is transparent.

The attachment means may also be one that has an elastic string attached to the tip of the guide sheet and two hooks (mutual attachment means) attached to the tip of the string. In this case, the guide sheet can be attached to the helmet by wrapping the string around the side circumference of the helmet and attaching the two hooks to each other. Furthermore, the attachment means may also be a loop-shaped elastic string attached to the tip of the guide sheet.

In addition, in the modified example of the attachment means shown in Figure 5 above, the length of the belt of the attachment means may be shortened. In this case, a surface fastener is provided in advance on the side of the helmet at a position opposite the surface fastener provided at both ends of the belt, and the guide sheet can be attached to the helmet by attaching the surface fastener provided at the end of the belt to the surface fastener provided on the helmet. In this way, the length of the attachment means does not necessarily have to be long enough to go around the side circumference of the helmet.

[Second embodiment]
Next, an air-conditioned helmet-compatible garment according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Fig. 6(a) is a schematic rear view of the air-conditioned helmet-compatible garment according to the second embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 6(b) is a schematic side view of the air-conditioned helmet-compatible garment, and Fig. 6(c) is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the air-conditioned helmet-compatible garment as seen in the direction of the arrows B-B. In the second embodiment, components having the same functions as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

As shown in Fig. 6, the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1a of the second embodiment includes a garment part 10, two air blowing means 20, 20, an air exhaust part 30, a power supply means (not shown), a power cable (not shown), an outlet part 60, a guide sheet 70, and an attachment means 80a for attaching the guide sheet 70 to the helmet 110. Here, a slack part 14a formed by giving slack to the fabric is provided in the upper part of the back of the garment part 10, which is a part extending from the air blowing means 20 to the outlet part 60.

The first difference between the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1a of this second embodiment and the first embodiment is that the attachment means 80a uses a substantially hemispherical covering portion that is connected to the tip of the guide sheet 70 and covers substantially the entire helmet when the helmet is worn. Therefore, the attachment means 80a and the guide sheet 70 together form a hood.

Here, as shown in FIG. 6(b), a hood adjustment cord 91 is provided at the edge of the hood to adjust the opening of the hood. After putting the hood over the helmet 110, the user tightens the hood adjustment cord 91. By properly tightening the hood adjustment cord 91, the hood can be firmly attached to the helmet 110 and the gap between the helmet 110 and the hood can be narrowed. This reduces the amount of air that is discharged from between the helmet 110 and the hood, so that the air ejected from the ejection section 60 can be efficiently introduced into the helmet 110. The hood adjustment cord 91 can be omitted.

The second difference between the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1a of the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that the slack portion 14a is formed by sewing a substantially rectangular slack-forming cloth 142 having a vertical length substantially the same as that of the slack portion 14a to the garment portion 10. Here, a coarse mesh material is used as the material for the slack-forming cloth 142. By forming the slack portion 14a using the substantially rectangular slack-forming cloth 142 in this way, the slack portion 14a has a continuously bulging shape, improving the external appearance of the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 1a.

The helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment of the second embodiment has the same effects and advantages as the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment of the first embodiment described above.

[Other embodiments]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention.

For example, in each of the above embodiments, the case where two ventilation means are provided in the clothing part is described, but in order to increase the amount of air introduced into the helmet, three or more ventilation means may be provided in the clothing part. Also, only one ventilation means may be provided.

In addition, in each of the above embodiments, the clothing parts are described as being formed in a shape that covers the upper body, but for example, the clothing parts may be formed in a shape that covers both the upper and lower body. In general, the clothing parts may be of any shape as long as they cover at least the upper body.

In the above embodiments, the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment is mainly used when wearing a helmet, but the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment of the present invention can also be used when not wearing a helmet. In this case, the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment of the present invention can be used with the guide sheet and attachment means hanging down from the rear of the collar.

As described above, with the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment of the present invention, when the helmet is worn, the air flowing inside the guide sheet evaporates sweat from the back of the neck and back of the head of the user, cooling the back of the neck and back of the head, and the air guided into the helmet is efficiently introduced into the helmet to ventilate the inside of the helmet, sufficiently eliminating stuffiness around the user's head. Therefore, the helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment of the present invention is particularly suitable for use when working while wearing a helmet at a work site, etc.

Reference Signs List 1, 1a Helmet-compatible air-conditioned garment 10 Garment portion 11 Hem portion 12 Back collar portion 13 Adjustment strings 14, 14a Loose portion 141 Looseness-forming strings 142 Looseness-forming fabric 20 Air blowing means 30 Air exhaust portion 60 Air outlet portion 70 Guide sheet 80, 80a, 800 Attachment means 810 Belt 820 Flat fastener 91 Hood adjustment strings 110 Helmet 111 Brim 112 Side periphery 113 Marking information 114 Air inlet

Claims (4)

A clothing part that covers at least the upper half of a user's body and has a ventilation means attachment part for attaching a ventilation means for introducing air into the inside of the clothing part;
a blowing section that blows air introduced by the blowing means from behind the user's neck;
Equipped with
A slack portion is provided in the fabric of the garment part in a portion extending from the back portion of the garment part to the spouting portion,
the slack portion is formed by providing a substantially rectangular slack-forming cloth having a vertical length substantially the same as that of the slack portion on the inside of the garment part such that the vicinities of both ends of the slack-forming cloth are connected to the garment part, and by making the length between the connecting parts of the slack-forming cloth with the garment part shorter than the length along the garment part between the connecting parts,
The air-conditioning garment body is characterized in that the slack-forming fabric is made of a mesh material . a guide sheet that guides the air ejected from the ejection portion upward;
An attachment means for attaching the guide sheet to a helmet;
Equipped with
2. The clothing body of the air-conditioning clothing according to claim 1 , wherein the slack portion is provided in a portion extending from the upper back portion of the clothing portion to the guide sheet. The clothing body of the air-conditioning garment according to claim 1 or 2 , further comprising a hood for directing the air ejected from the ejection portion upward. 4. An air-conditioning garment comprising: an air-conditioning garment according to claim 1 , wherein the air-blowing means is attached to a garment body.

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