Garment for regulating personal body temperature

Abstract

A wearable vest for regulating personal body temperature. The vest is fluidly connected to tubes that recirculate water. The water passes through a computer-controlled a thermal unit that has a water block with a pair of Peltier modules that heat or cool the water block. A temperature sensor senses the wearer's core body temperature and selectively actuates the Peltier modules.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A vest for regulating personal body temperature, the vest comprising:
 an electrical power supply;   a computer processing unit;   a water pump that is selectively actuated by the computer processing unit;   a thermal unit comprising:
 a water block with a hollow fluid path; 
 a first Peltier module and a second Peltier module, each continuous with opposite sides of the water block; 
 a first cooling fan and a second cooling fan, continuous with the first Peltier module and the second Peltier module, respectively; 
   a vest comprising:
 a first water manifold fluidly connected to the hollow fluid path of the water pump by a water inlet tube; 
 a second water manifold fluidly connected to the hollow fluid path of the water pump by a water outlet tube; 
 wherein the first water manifold segments the water inlet tube into a plurality of tubes and the second water manifold unifies the plurality of tubes into the water outlet tube, the plurality of tubes being disposed over an area of the vest; 
 a temperature sensor configured to send a core body temperature to the computer processing unit. 
   
     
     
         2 . The vest as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of tubes has a total length between 6 meters and 7 meters. 
     
     
         4 . The vest as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the temperature sensor is a first temperature sensor and the vest further comprises a second temperature sensor. 
     
     
         5 . The vest as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the temperature sensor is a thermal resistor. 
     
     
         6 . The vest as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the thermal resistor further comprises a two-voltage divider. 
     
     
         7 . The vest as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the first Peltier module and the second Peltier module are both 60 Watt Peltier modules 
     
     
         8 . A method of regulating personal body temperature, the method comprising:
 wearing, by a indivdual person, a vest that has a structure as recited in  claim 1 , wherein there is water within the plurality of tubes;   monitoring changes in the core body temperature of the indivdival person over time using the temperature sensor;   wherein:
 if the monitoring finds the change in the core body temperature is indicitative of heating above a predetermined threshold then activating a cooling mode by actuating (1) the first Peltier module in a cooling state, (2) the second Peltier module in a cooling state, (3) the water pump, (4) the first cooling fan and (5) the second cooling fan; 
 if the monitoring finds the change in core body temperature is indicitative of cooling below the predetermined threshold then activating a heating mode by actuating (1) the first Peltier module in a heating state, (2) the second Peltier module in a heat state, (3) the water pump, 
   if the monitoring finds the change in core body temperature is indicative of a core body temperature within the predetermined threshold then activating a rest mode by deactuating (1) the first Peltier module, (2) the second Peltier module, (3) the water pump, (4) the first cooling fan and (5) the second cooling fan.   
     
     
         9 . The method as recited in  claim 8 , wherein the temperature sensor is a first temperature sensor and the vest further comprises a second temperature sensor, wherein the first temperature sensor and the second temperature sensor are disposed under different axillae of the individual person. 
     
     
         10 . The method as recited in  claim 8 , wherein the the predetermined threshold is 37° C.+0.6° C.