Portable, personal air conditioning unit attachable to a person

Abstract

Portable personal air conditioning unit, attachable to the body of a person, with a receptacle for a detachable and therein insertable latent heat storage device with a filler opening containing or receiving a consumable storage medium frozen for the air conditioning operation, having an inlet for air to be delivered past the latent heat exchange device and there to undergo heat exchange, and an outlet for the discharge of the chilled air, as well as a fan, driveable through a power supply provided on the receptacle side, for delivering the air for a self-sufficient operation of the personal air conditioning unit, whereby at least one extraction device is provided for the extraction by the person of thawed, consumable storage medium serving as drinking liquid.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] A personal air conditioning unit portable by a person is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,476 B1. This air conditioning unit is built as a backpack and consists of a large volume, insulated basic case as the container for a chilled substance, ice for instance. Several cooling pipes are led through this case, through which air is blown by a fan located in a separate sealed part of the case, drawing in the surrounding air. After the cooling pipes come into contact with the chilled medium a heat transfer takes place, the air pumped through the cooling pipes being chilled. The cooling pipes terminate in a collar shaped air diffuser, which partially surrounds the person's neck and through which the chilled air is discharged. [0002] This portable backpack air conditioning unit can be carried along relatively easily by the user and offers him some cooling in his leisure time, during sporting and other activities as for instance in a work place, where he is ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007] To allow for easy transport of the personal air conditioning unit the receptacle, which preferably is suitably insulated to prevent early thawing of the storage medium or the thawing process being caused by the surrounding air not specifically drawn past the latent heat storage device, is mounted inside a backpack fitted with straps; alternatively it can also be mounted inside a shoulder or waist bag. The personal air conditioning unit can however come in any form, as long as easy transport is assured. External dedicated openings are provided in the air conditioning unit in any case, which are connected to the receptacle openings via suitable connecting pipes so that surrounding air can be drawn in and chilled air can be discharged to the outside by the fan.

[0028] A further option could be the ability to close the air intake and outlet openings provided for the air conditioning unit for instance in a backpack with suitable flaps or equivalent when not in use to prevent dirt from getting into the system.

Problems solved by technology

During this process a heat exchange takes place as described, resulting in the frozen storage medium slowly thawing.

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