Heating system for heating a living being

• US 9,873,308 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2013
• Issued: 01/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TRUMPF Photonic Components GmbH (TRUMPF SE + Co. KG)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Moench, Holger, Carpaij, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Pelham, Joseph M
• Application Number:
  US14/369,222
• Publication Number:
  US 20140346160A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,832 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00742 by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 1/00 Details of electric heating devices
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 1/0236 for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 2203/032 Heaters specially adapted for heating by radiation heating

Abstract

The invention relates to a heating system for heating a living being, for instance, a person (2) within a vehicle (1) being preferentially a hybrid car or an electric car. The heating system comprises an infrared laser system (5, 6) for illuminating the living being with infrared laser light, thereby heating the living being. Thus, heating radiation is used, which has a high collimation and which can be focused relatively easily. The heating can therefore be confined to a certain region, in which the living being is located. The heating can even be confined to the living being or to parts of the living being only. This more focused heating allows for a reduction of the energy consumption.

Claims

1. A heating system, comprising:

an infrared laser system including one or more infrared lasers disposed in a vehicle and configured to illuminate and heat a living being disposed within the vehicle with infrared laser light, wherein the illuminating of the living being with the infrared laser light is confined to a location of the living being by a collimation of the infrared laser light; and

a control unit configured to control the infrared laser system in response to a presence signal indicating the presence of the living being within the vehicle such that the living being is illuminatable by the infrared laser light from the one or more infrared lasers,

wherein the presence signal is generated in response to an image produced from infrared light reflected from the living being in response to the infrared laser light,

wherein the heating system is configured to detect predefined regions of the living being from the image by performing comparisons of the image with known shapes of the predefined regions, and to direct the infrared laser light to the predefined regions of the living being which are detected from the image.

2. The heating system of claim 1, wherein the infrared laser system comprises one or more vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers.

3. The heating system of claim 1, further comprising:

a presence signal providing unit for providing the presence signal,

wherein the presence signal is indicative of whether the living being is present such that the living being is illuminatable by the infrared light from the infrared laser system,

wherein the presence signal providing unit comprises a camera configured to detect the infrared light reflected from the living being in response to the infrared laser light and to provide the image from the detected infrared light.

4. The heating system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle includes a window and wherein at least one of the infrared lasers is also configured to illuminate the window.

5. The heating system of claim 4, wherein the at least one infrared laser is configured to switch, in response to a user control, between illuminating the window and illuminating the living being.

6. The heating system of claim 1, wherein the living being is a driver of the vehicle,

wherein the heating system comprises an attention signal providing unit for providing an attention signal, if the driver'"'"'s attention is to be attracted,

wherein the control unit further controls the one or more infrared lasers depending on the provided attention signal.

7. A driver assist system for cooperating with the heating system of claim 6, wherein the driver assist system is adapted to

detect a dangerous driving situation,

generate an attention signal, if a dangerous driving situation has been detected, and

send the attention signal to the heating system, in order to allow the control unit of the heating system to control the infrared laser system of the heating system depending on the presence of the attention signal.

8. The heating system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle includes a window, the heating unit further comprising:

a cooling unit configured to cool the one or more infrared lasers, wherein heated exhausted air of the cooling unit is directed to the window so as to heat the window.

9. The heating system of claim 1, wherein the predefined regions comprise bare skin regions of the living being.

10. The heating system of claim 1, wherein the predefined regions include a face and hands of the living being.

11. The heating system of claim 1, wherein the one or more lasers include a plurality of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers disposed at different locations than each other within the vehicle and being configured to illuminate the living being from a plurality of different directions.

12. A method, comprising:

illuminating a living being with infrared laser light produced by an infrared laser system, wherein the illuminating of the living being is confined to a location of the living being by collimation of the infrared laser light;

detecting infrared light reflected from the living being in response to the infrared laser light;

acquiring an image from the detected infrared light reflected from the living being;

detecting predefined regions of the living being from the image by performing comparisons of the image with known shapes of the predefined regions; and

directing the infrared laser light to the predefined regions on the living being which are detected from the image to the predefined regions of the living being.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the predefined regions comprise bare skin regions of the living being.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the predefined regions include a face and hands of the living being.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the infrared laser system is disposed in a vehicle which includes a window, the method further comprising:

illuminating the living being with the infrared laser system when the infrared laser system is in a first operational state; and

illuminating the window with the infrared laser system so as to heat the window when the infrared laser system is in a second operational state,

wherein the infrared laser system automatically switches between the first operational state and the second operational state.