Temperature sensor for a warming blanket
First Claim
1. A warming fabric, comprising:
- a fabric;
a wire heating element aligned along the fabric and configured to heat the fabric;
a temperature sensing element configured to generate data regarding a temperature of the fabric; and
a microcomputer configured to set the level of heat output of the wire heating element based at least partly upon the data generated by the temperature sensing element.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A warming blanket having a temperature sensing element for sensing the temperature of the warming blanket. The temperature sensor may be a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) element that is threaded throughout the blanket. In one embodiment, the temperature sensing element runs perpendicular or transverse to the heating wires in the warming blanket, permitting the temperature sensing element to measure an average blanket temperature. In another embodiment, the heating element is supplied as a pair of buss wires extending along opposite sides of the warming blanket and having a number of heating wires extending therebetween. In this embodiment, the temperature sensing elements may run either parallel to or transverse to the heating elements. Temperature changes/signals in the temperature sensing element are sent to a microprocessor, which in turn changes the wattage of the heating elements to prevent overheating of the warming blanket.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A warming fabric, comprising:
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a fabric;
a wire heating element aligned along the fabric and configured to heat the fabric;
a temperature sensing element configured to generate data regarding a temperature of the fabric; and
a microcomputer configured to set the level of heat output of the wire heating element based at least partly upon the data generated by the temperature sensing element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A warming fabric, comprising:
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a fabric;
a heating element aligned along the fabric and configured to heat the fabric;
a temperature sensing element comprising a positive temperature coefficient compound extruded onto a nonmetallic core and configured to generate data about the temperature of the blanket; and
a microcomputer configured to set the level of heat output of the wire heating element based at least partly upon the data generated by the temperature sensing element. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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19. A warming fabric, comprising:
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a fabric;
a wire heating element aligned along the fabric and configured to heat the fabric; and
a positive temperature coefficient temperature sensing element configured to generate data regarding a temperature of the fabric and aligned transversely across the wire heating element. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification