Temperature sensor for a warming blanket
First Claim
1. A warming fabric, comprising:
- a fabric;
a heating element aligned along the fabric and configured to heat the fabric;
a temperature sensing element independent of the heating element and configured to generate data regarding a temperature of the fabric; and
a microcomputer configured to set the level of heat output of the 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.
63 Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A warming fabric, comprising:
-
a fabric;
a heating element aligned along the fabric and configured to heat the fabric;
a temperature sensing element independent of the heating element and configured to generate data regarding a temperature of the fabric; and
a microcomputer configured to set the level of heat output of the 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. A warming fabric, comprising:
-
a fabric;
a heating element configured to heat the fabric and extending across the fabric in a sinusoidal pattern;
a temperature sensing element configured to generate data regarding a temperature of the fabric and extending across the fabric in a sinusoidal pattern transversely across the sinusoidal pattern of the heating element; and
a microcomputer configured to set the level of heat output of the heating element based at least partly upon the data generated by the temperature sensing element. - View Dependent Claims (12)
-
-
13. A warming fabric, comprising:
-
a fabric;
a heating element aligned along the fabric and configured to heat the fabric, comprising resistive wire extending between first and second wire busses that extend along opposite sides of 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 heating element based at least partly upon the data generated by the temperature sensing element. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
-
-
16. A warming fabric, comprising:
-
a fabric;
a heating element aligned along the fabric and configured to heat the fabric;
a temperature sensing element independent of the heating element and comprising a positive temperature coefficient compound extruded onto a nonmetallic core and configured to generate data about the temperature of the fabric; and
a microcomputer configured to set the level of heat output of the heating element based at least partly upon the data generated by the temperature sensing element. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
-
-
19. A warming fabric, comprising:
-
a fabric;
a heating element aligned along the fabric and configured to heat the fabric; and
a positive temperature coefficient temperature sensing element independent of the heating element and configured to generate data regarding a temperature of the fabric and aligned transversely across the heating element.
-
-
20. A warming fabric, comprising:
-
a fabric;
a heating element configured to heat the fabric and extending across the fabric in a sinusoidal pattern;
a positive temperature coefficient temperature sensing element configured to generate data regarding a temperature of the fabric and aligned across the fabric in a sinusoidal pattern transversely across the sinusoidal pattern of the heating element. - View Dependent Claims (21)
-
-
22. A warming fabric, comprising:
-
a fabric;
a heating element aligned along the fabric and configured to heat the fabric, the heating element comprising resistive wire extending between first and second wire busses that extend along opposite sides of 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 heating element. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
Specification