JPS6341570B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a cooling pillow, and more particularly, to a cooling pillow in which a Peltier element is disposed within the pillow body, and the upper surface of the pillow body is cooled by energizing the Peltier element. It is something.

[Background Art] Generally, in this type of cooling pillow, the upper surface of the thermoelement 60 is the cooling surface 4, and the lower surface is It is known that the heat dissipation surface 2 is . By the way, such a thermoelement 60 operates similar to a heat pump, and the heat removed from the cooling surface 4 of the thermoelement 60 is released from the heat radiation surface 2. Therefore, the heat radiation surface Unless the heat released by the pillow body 2 is taken out of the pillow body 7, the heat absorption by the cooling surface 4 will not be carried out sufficiently. Conventionally, the lower surface of the thermoelement 60 was used as the heat dissipation surface 2, so for heat dissipation, a circulation waterway 61 was provided that came into contact with the lower surface of the thermoelement 60.
By introducing cooling water into the circulation waterway 61 from outside the pillow body 7 and taking it out of the pillow body 7,
The heat emitted from the thermoelement 60 is discharged to the outside of the pillow body 7. That is, when in use, the pillow body 7 has a water pipe 62 that serves as a flow path for cooling water.
As a result, it was inconvenient to use.

On the other hand, the electronic cooling pillow disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 55-129076 attempts to solve this problem by providing a heat dissipating block on the electronic cooling heating element and placing this heat dissipating block behind the pillow body. It has a structure that protrudes from the side. By the way, the Peltier element is common as this type of electronic cooling heating element, but since the Peltier element separates heat at the joint, the cooling part and the heating part are close to each other, and the pillow In order to make the head feel only cold, it is necessary to place a cooling plate in close contact with the cooling surface of the Peltier element and to transmit the coldness through this cooling plate. However, if a cooling plate is provided, a load will be applied to the cooling plate from above when the head is placed on the pillow, and if the cooling plate or the member supporting the lower surface of the Peltier element is a soft member, The load acts directly on the Peltier element and the cooling plate, and the close contact between the Peltier element and the cooling plate may come off. On the other hand, if the cooling plate or the member supporting the lower surface of the Peltier element is a hard member, the load from above will not be much applied to the contact area between the cooling plate and the Peltier element, but the pillow will be hard. The problem arises that it becomes uncomfortable to sleep on. To solve this problem, one idea is to support the cooling plate and the Peltier element with a support member made of a hard material, and then place the pillow section on top of the cooling plate to ensure the necessary flexibility as a pillow. However, in that case, in order to obtain the necessary flexibility, the pillow section disposed above the cooling plate must be made somewhat thick, which reduces the heat transfer ability of the pillow section and reduces the thickness of the pillow section. A problem arises in that the upper surface of the part cannot be cooled sufficiently. In order to solve this problem, the electronic cooling pillow disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 55-129076 fills the pillow with a cold storage agent to cool the entire pillow. There is a problem in that it takes a long time to start up before the head can be cooled, making it difficult to use.

[Object of the invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and its purpose is to solve the conventional problems at once, and to provide a system that can be used easily without using cooling water. To provide a cooling pillow that reduces the load applied to the connection between the cooling plate and the Peltier element, has sufficient flexibility as a pillow, and has a short rise time and sufficient cooling capacity. be.

[Disclosure of the Invention] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. In the cooling pillow according to the present invention, a cooling unit 6 configured in such a manner that the heat dissipation fins 3 are brought into close contact with the heat dissipation surface 2 of the Peltier element 1 and the cooling plate 5 is brought into close contact with the cooling surface 4 connects the heat dissipation fins 3 to the pillow body 7. In the cooling pillow housed in the pillow body 7 in a manner that is exposed on the rear side, the pillow body 7 has three layers with a middle layer plate 22 interposed between a lower layer plate 23 and an upper layer plate 21 formed of an elastic material. The middle layer plate 22 has a storage recess 24 with an open top surface in which the cooling plate 5 is stored within the thickness of the middle layer plate 22 so as to be approximately parallel to the upper surface of the pillow body 7, and a Peltier element. The middle plate 22 is made of a harder material than the lower plate 23 and the upper plate 21 so as to be able to support the cooling plate 5 and the Peltier element 1. A cushion 8 made of an elastic material with good thermal conductivity is fitted into the upper plate 21, and the cushion 8 is arranged such that its lower surface abuts the upper surface of the cooling plate 5 and its upper surface faces the center of the upper surface of the pillow body 7. The heat dissipation fins 3 are exposed on the rear side of the pillow body 7 to radiate heat, making it easy to use without using cooling water, and the middle layer plate 22 is made of a hard material. A storage recess 24 formed in the middle plate 22
By storing the cooling plate 5 and the Peltier element 1 in the storage section 41 and the cooling plate 5, the cooling plate 5 and the Peltier element 1 are supported by a hard material to reduce the load applied to the connection part. 21 and upper plate 2
3 is made of an elastic material, and the upper plate 23 is made of an elastic material.
By fitting the cushion 8 into the middle layer plate 22, sufficient flexibility as a pillow can be obtained.In addition, members made of an elastic material that provide flexibility as a pillow are used as the lower layer plate 21 and the upper layer plate 23. By distributing the cooling plate 5 and the pillow body 7 to the upper and lower parts,
By reducing the distance from the top surface of the cooling plate 5 to enable efficient transmission of coldness, and by forming the cushion 8 in contact with the cooling plate 5 from a material with good thermal conductivity, the rising time is shortened.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the pillow body 7 is a laminate formed by stacking an upper layer plate 21, a middle layer plate 22, and a lower layer plate 23 in three upper and lower layers and adhering them to each other, and the middle layer plate 22 is The upper plate 21 and the lower plate 23 are made of an elastic material such as soft urethane foam. A storage recess 24 that opens upward is formed in the center of the middle plate 23, and a through window 25 is formed in the upper plate 21 at a position corresponding to the storage recess 24. The upper plate 21, the middle plate 22, and the lower plate 23 have cutouts 26, 27 opening at the rear edge, respectively.
28 is formed.

The cooling unit 6 has the Peltier element 1 arranged so that the heat radiation surface 2 faces backward and the cooling surface 4 faces the front, the heat radiation fins 3 are brought into close contact with the heat radiation surface 2, and the cooling plate 5 is brought into close contact with the cooling surface 4. configured. The cooling plate 5 is made of a material with high thermal conductivity such as aluminum, and a mounting piece 29 is provided at the rear end of the cooling plate 5.
is extended, and this attachment piece 29 is closely attached to the Peltier element 1 in such a manner that it covers substantially the entire cooling surface 4 of the Peltier element 1. The front end of the cooling plate 5 is placed horizontally and accommodated in the storage recess 24 of the middle layer plate 22,
It is fixed to the middle layer board 22 using an adhesive or the like. As described above, since the cooling plate 5 is surrounded by the pillow body 7, and the pillow body 7 is made of a material having heat insulating properties such as urethane foam,
The influence of the ambient temperature of the pillow body 7 on the cooling plate 5 is reduced, and the cooling plate 5 is efficiently cooled.

On the other hand, the heat dissipation fin 3 is constructed by fixing a plurality of fins 32 to a substrate 31.
The front surface of Peltier element 1 is brought into close contact with heat dissipation surface 2 of Peltier element 1 . As shown in FIG. 13, the substrate 31 is formed in a shape in which fitting grooves 33 and 34 of different depths are formed alternately on the surface, and in order to fix the fins 32 to this, The fins 32 may be caulked and fixed by inserting the ends of the fins 32 into the deeper fitting grooves 33 and expanding the fitting grooves 34 between adjacent fins 32 with a punch 35. By forming the heat dissipation fins 3 in this manner, costs can be reduced compared to extrusion molding in the case of small quantity production. Heat dissipation fin 3
Fin covers 36 and 37 are respectively fixed to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 31 to cover the upper and lower sides of the fins 32, and a protective cover 38 is disposed between the fin covers 36 and 37 to cover the rear surface of the heat dissipation fins 3. Ru. The upper and lower fin covers 36 and 37 are respectively fixed to the upper plate 21 and the lower plate 23 using an adhesive or the like. That is, the upper plate 21 and the lower plate 23 are stacked and fixed to the fin covers 36 and 37 that cover the upper and lower sides of the fins 32 of the heat dissipation fin 3, respectively. As a result, the hot air heated by the fins 32 of the heat radiation fins 3 and released upward is
It is obstructed by the upper plate 21 and is emitted from the opening on the rear surface of the pillow body 7.
The protective cover 38 is formed in a grid shape and allows outside air to flow between the fins 32 of the heat radiation fins 3. On the side of the protective cover 38 between the fin covers 36 and 37 is a switch base 3 equipped with a switch 51 for turning on and off the power supply to the Peltier element 1.
9 is arranged. In this way, the heat dissipation fin 3, the fin covers 36 and 37 surrounding it, and the protective cover 38
The heat dissipating section 30 constituted by the above is housed in the above-mentioned notches 26, 27, and 28 formed at the rear end of the pillow main body 7.

In the middle plate 22, a part of the rear wall of the storage recess 24 is cut out to form a storage part 41 that connects the storage recess 24 and the cutout 27.
A Peltier element 1 is housed within the housing 1 . When the Peltier element 1 is stored in this storage part 41, the fifth
As shown in the figure, since the upper layer plate 21 and the Peltier element 1 are separated from each other, a filling plate 42 made of the same material as the middle layer plate 22 is housed in this part.

The cushion 8 is placed on the upper surface of the cooling plate 5 with the cooling unit 6 housed in the pillow body 7 as described above. The cushion 8 is made of a material with good thermal conductivity and elasticity, such as silicone rubber, and is made of a through-hole 2 in the upper plate 21.
5 has become obstructed. This cushion 8 transmits heat from the person's head to the cooling plate 5, thereby cooling the head and providing a comfortable sleep. As cushion 8,
In addition to silicone rubber, as shown in FIG. 11, there is a heat storage part 10 made of a mixture of sand-like limestone and water in a seal cover 12 formed of a sealed bag made of vinyl chloride, etc., and a heat storage part 10 made of silicone rubber. In this case, the heat storage section 10 and the heat transfer section 11 are arranged alternately in the front-rear direction. In this way, the heat storage section 10 and the heat transfer section 1
1 housed in the seal cover 12, the heat from the head is transferred to the cooling plate 5 through the heat transfer part 11, so that the head is not only cooled, but also the heat storage part 10 has a large heat capacity. Therefore, once the cushion 8 is cooled, it is not easily influenced by the surrounding temperature and can cool the head at a constant temperature. In addition to sand-like limestone as the heat storage section 10, the same effect can be obtained by using hydrogel as shown in FIG. 12. As described above, the upper layer plate 21 and the lower layer plate 23, which are the surface layer portions of the pillow body 7, are made of an elastic material, the inner middle layer plate 22 is made of a hard material, and the upper layer plate 22 is made of a hard material. By forming the part that comes into contact with the pillow body 8 with the cushion 8, the hardness inside the pillow body 7 maintains its shape retention, making it possible for the user to be conscious of the fact that the corner of the cooling unit hits the head. Moreover, due to the elasticity of the surface layer of the pillow body and the elasticity of the cushion, the cushion softly contacts the head and provides a comfortable feeling of use.

The outer periphery of the pillow body 7 in which the cooling unit 6 is built in as described above is covered with a pillow cover 46, as shown in FIG. The pillow cover 46 is made of fabric such as cotton or synthetic fiber and is formed into a bag shape.
A cooling sheet 47 is provided on the upper surface of the pillow body 7 at a portion corresponding to the upper surface of the cooling plate 8 . The cooling sheet 47 is made of a material with relatively good thermal conductivity and elasticity, such as vinyl chloride, and has a larger area than the upper surface of the cooling plate 8.
Covers most of the top surface. Further, a plurality of planar fasteners 48 are provided on the upper surface of the pillow cover 46 corresponding to the peripheral edge of the upper surface of the pillow body 7.
It is adapted to be detachably connected to a sheet fastener (not shown) provided on the back surface of the pillow cover 49 covering the upper surface of the pillow case 6. This allows the pillow cover 49, which comes into direct contact with the head, to be easily replaced.

A temperature sensor 9 such as a thermistor is disposed within the cushion 8 near its upper end. This temperature sensor 9 is connected to the Peltier element 1 through a control circuit as shown in FIG. That is, the temperature sensor 9 is connected to a plurality of other fixed resistors R1, R2, R
3 and variable resistor RV.
The output of this bridge circuit 52 is applied to a comparator made up of an operational amplifier OP and fixed resistors R4, R5, and R6. With this configuration, the output of the comparator can be reversed when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 9 falls below a predetermined value. The output of the comparator is applied to the base of the relay drive transistor Tr, and when the output of the comparator is reversed, the contacts of the relay Ry
CN is now inverted. By the way, the contact CN of the relay Ry is connected to the drive circuit 5 of the Peltier element 1.
3 and the commercial power supply AC, and the contact CN is released when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 9 falls below the value set by the variable resistor RV. ing. This prevents the Peltier element 1 from getting too cold and allows the cushion 8 to be cooled to a substantially constant temperature. The temperature is set by the variable resistor RV of the bridge circuit 52, and the temperature is generally set within the range of 32 to 34 degrees Celsius. In Figure 8
CT is a chiyoke transformer, DB is a diode bridge, and C1 is a smoothing capacitor. Further, the drive circuit 53 rectifies the secondary output of the step-down transformer PT using rectifier diodes D1 and D2, smoothes it using a chiyoke coil CH and a smoothing capacitor C2, and applies the smoothed signal to the Peltier element 1. This control circuit may be built into the pillow body 7 or
As shown in the figure, an adapter 45 having a plug blade 44 may be provided on the power cord 43 pulled out from the pillow body 7 and housed in the adapter 45.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention has a cooling unit configured such that the heat dissipation fins are brought into close contact with the heat dissipation surface of the Peltier element and the cooling plate is brought into close contact with the cooling surface. In a cooling pillow housed in a pillow body in such a way as to be exposed to A storage recess with an open top surface for storing the cooling plate within the thickness of the middle layer board so as to be approximately parallel to the top surface of the pillow body, and a storage section with an open top surface for storing the Peltier element are formed. The middle plate is made of a harder material than the lower and upper plates so as to support the cooling plate and the Peltier element, and the upper plate is fitted with a cushion made of an elastic material with good thermal conductivity. , the cushion is arranged such that its lower surface abuts the upper surface of the cooling plate and its upper surface faces the center of the upper surface of the pillow body,
Since the heat dissipation fins are exposed on the rear side of the pillow body to dissipate heat, it has the advantage of being easy to use without using cooling water like conventional pillows.
In addition, the pillow body is formed with a three-layer structure, and the middle layer plate is made of a material that is hard enough to support the cooling plate and the Peltier element, and the storage recess and the storage portion formed in the middle layer plate are respectively provided. Since the cooling plate and the Peltier element are installed, the cooling plate and the Peltier element can be supported by the intermediate plate to prevent force from being applied to the succeeding part, and as a result, the contact area between the cooling plate and the Peltier element is reduced. This will prevent accidents such as falling off and causing damage. Furthermore, since the lower layer plate and the upper layer plate are made of an elastic material, and the cushion is fitted into the upper layer plate, sufficient flexibility can be obtained as a pillow; By distributing members made of an elastic material above and below the middle layer plate as a lower layer plate and an upper layer plate, the distance between the cooling plate and the upper surface of the pillow body can be reduced to efficiently transmit coldness to the head, and This has the advantage that the rise time can be shortened by forming the cushion in contact with the cooling plate from a material with good thermal conductivity. In other words, it has the advantage of providing a sufficiently cool feeling to the head and making it comfortable to sleep on as a pillow.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a conventional example, and Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional example.
In the figure, a sectional view taken along the line X-X, FIG. 3 is an external perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention with a pillow cover attached, and FIG.
The figure is a perspective view of the exterior with the pillow cover removed.
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same as above, Fig. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the same as above, Fig. 7 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the same as above, Fig. 8 is a circuit diagram of the control circuit used in the same as above, and Fig. 9 is FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the same as above with the pillow cover removed; FIG. 11 is a vertical sectional view of a cushion used in another embodiment of the present invention. , FIG. 12 is a longitudinal sectional view of a cushion used in still another embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 13 a, b, and c are plan views showing the assembling process of a heat dissipation fin used in the same embodiment. 1 is a Peltier element, 2 is a heat radiation surface, 3 is a heat radiation fin, 4 is a cooling surface, 5 is a cooling plate, 6 is a cooling unit, 7 is a pillow body, 8 is a cushion, 9 is a temperature sensor, 10 is a heat storage section, 11 1 is a heat transfer part, and 12 is a seal cover.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cooling unit configured in such a manner that a heat dissipation fin is brought into close contact with the heat dissipation surface of the Peltier element and a cooling plate is brought into close contact with the cooling surface, and the cooling unit is configured such that the heat dissipation fin is exposed on the rear side of the pillow body. In the cooling pillow housed in the main body, the pillow main body is made up of three layers with an intermediate plate interposed between the lower plate and the upper plate each made of an elastic material.
It is formed in a layered structure, and the middle layer plate has a storage recess with an open top surface in which the cooling plate is stored within the thickness of the middle layer plate so as to be approximately parallel to the top surface of the pillow body, and an upper surface in which the Peltier element is stored. The middle plate is made of a harder material than the lower and upper plates so as to support the cooling plate and the Peltier element, and the upper plate is made of an elastic material with good thermal conductivity. 1. A cooling pillow, characterized in that a cushion formed of a material is fitted into the cushion, and the cushion is disposed such that its lower surface abuts the upper surface of the cooling plate and its upper surface faces the center of the upper surface of the pillow body. 2 A temperature sensor is disposed within the cushion,
2. The cooling pillow according to claim 1, wherein the output temperature of the Peltier element is controlled in response to the output of the temperature sensor, and the temperature of the upper surface of the cushion is maintained at a substantially constant value. 3 The cushion is formed by sealing a heat storage part made of a mixture of sand-like limestone and water and a heat transfer part made of silicone rubber inside a bag-shaped seal cover. 2. The cooling pillow according to claim 1, wherein the heating portions are alternately arranged within the seal cover in a plane substantially parallel to the upper surface of the cushion. 4 The cushion is formed by sealing a heat storage part made of hydrogel and a heat transfer part made of silicone rubber inside a bag-shaped seal cover, and the heat storage part and the heat transfer part are sealed in the cushion inside the seal cover. The cooling pillow according to claim 1, wherein the cooling pillows are arranged alternately in a plane substantially parallel to the upper surface of the cooling pillows.