Convective seating and sleeping systems

Abstract

A convective seating and sleeping system with a plenum for use as a mattress, cushion or as part of seat or other structure to deliver air flow to a user or users. The convective cushion includes a modular plenum made of removable pockets and a thermocouple to provide control data to selectively control the temperature and / or quantity of the air delivered to the cushion. The cushion includes the use of tubular spacer material. The cushion has deep styling lateral and longitudinal pleats and air flow structures around the pleats to provide a controlled air flow to the cushion. The invention includes an improved Stirling cycle heat pump with magnetic bearing structures and relative humidity controls and an improved thermoelectric heat pump that selectively controls the relative humidity of the air delivered to the cushion. The cushion can be activated and operated by remote operation from a telecommunications device.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION DATA [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of pending application Ser. No. 11 / 225,605 filed on Sep. 13, 2005 which is a continuation-in-part of pending application Ser. No. 11 / 024,073 filed on Dec. 28, 2004, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] This present invention relates to improved convective cooling and heating of seats, mattresses, mattress pads and other articles used as a cushioning device. [0004] 2. Description of Related Art [0005] There are many applications and situations where it is desirable to provide for convective cooling or heating of various articles including seats, mattresses and other articles used for supporting individuals while either sitting or laying down on the article. Many of the conventional devices that have been used suffer from serious drawbacks. As one example, the resistance heated type prior art mattresses and cushions do ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] In one or more embodiments, the invention includes a convective cushion having removable modular pockets that when assembled together form the convective cushion. The pockets contain tubular spacer material and are arranged to deliver air of a selectively variable temperature and quantity to an air permeable top cover. Further embodiments include the use of a divider to create different sections within the cushion with different air inlets to provide for two or more temperature zones on the cushion for different users. Additional embodiments use tubular spacer material that has been cut to length along a cut line and along a film placed adjacent to the cut line that effectively limit the undesired unraveling of fibers of the tubular spacer material along said cut line.

[0010] Embodiments of the invention include an improved Stirling cycle heat pump with a magnetic bearing powered by a permanent magnet that eliminates the input power requirement for a gas bearing on every stroke of the piston. One of the disadvantages of conventional gas bearings that is overcome is the fact that, when the conventional bearing is not energized sufficiently by the motion of the piston, such as when the machine is being started or stopped, the gas bearing function is significantly diminished, allowing the piston to “land” against the piston bore. This has been handled in the past by using a non-stick, low friction coating on the inside of the bore and on the piston itself. Although wear has been reduced significantly, it was not completely eliminated in these conventional systems.

[0011] The second and most important disadvantage overcome by the present invention is that the gas bearing requires a power input to function. The power input is in the form of the pumping action of the piston reciprocating in the cylinder. Part of the force applied to the piston is used to pump the gas bearing on each stroke. As these machines operate in the region of 60 Hertz or more, this is a loss mechanism that reduces the efficiency of the Stirling device. Because of the elimination of the gas bearing pumping requirement, the Stirling device will operate more efficiently and because piston “landing wear” on start-up and shut-down is substantially eliminated, the reliability of the Stirling cycle device will be improved.

Problems solved by technology

One of the disadvantages of conventional gas bearings that is overcome is the fact that, when the conventional bearing is not energized sufficiently by the motion of the piston, such as when the machine is being started or stopped, the gas bearing function is significantly diminished, allowing the piston to “land” against the piston bore.

Although wear has been reduced significantly, it was not completely eliminated in these conventional systems.

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