Patent Publication Number: US-9888735-B2

Title: Clothing and clothing article

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to the field of clothing, particular to sports clothing and clothing article. 
     PRIOR ART 
     Clothing for human being has been developed for thousands of years. At present, there has been a wide variety of clothing suitable for different occupations. 
     Clothing has a significant impact on some special fields. For example, in a competitive race of challenge to the limits of the human body, the fluid resistance occurred (luring movement can be reduced by designing the structure of clothing, which may have a decisive influence on the outcome of the race. Another example is about police&#39;s and military&#39;s clothing; in this respect, the clothing may play an important role on improving a police&#39;s or a soldier&#39;s moving speed at a crucial moment. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A clothing is provided in the present invention, comprising a base layer having an inner surface and an outer surface; the inner surface being substantially planar and forming a first fluid passage with human skin; the outer surface being formed as a flow-disturbing face or the outer surface being attached with components having flow-disturbing face; the base layer being provided with at least one through opening, through which the first fluid passage being communicating with the flow-disturbing face, so that a pressure difference being generated due to different flow rates between fluid flowed in the first fluid passage and fluid flowed on the flow-disturbing face. 
     The clothing disclosed in the present invention is particularly suitable for sports. With the clothing, the first fluid passage is formed between human skin and the inner surface of the clothing, since the path through which the fluid passed on the flow-disturbing face which is communicated with the first fluid passage and located at the outer surface is greater than the path through which the fluid passed within the corresponding fluid passage, the pressure difference is transferred by the fluid at a low-velocity and high-pressure area within the fluid passage to a high-velocity and low-pressure area via multiple through openings, consequently, a pressure difference transferring area is formed around human body during human movement, and a driving force generated by the pressure difference is able to transfer the fluid resistance partially outwards to reduce the fluid resistance, thus helping to enhance human&#39;s moving speed. Moreover, when in summer, under the pressure difference, human body heat can be dissipated rapidly to the outside of the clothing via the first fluid passage and the through openings to make people feel cooler, and such cooling way is better than an air conditioner in health and environmental protection. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of an upper outer garment according to the clothing of an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of a pair of trousers according to the clothing of an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of a local structure of the clothing according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 4A ˜ 4 E are schematic views of different concave-convex shapes according to the clothing of embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view of another local structure of the clothing according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic view of another local structure of the clothing according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic view of another local structure of the clothing according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic view of another local structure of the clothing according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic view of the fish-scale flow disturbing piece shown in  FIG. 8 . 
         FIG. 10  is a schematic view of the feather-like flow disturbing piece of the clothing according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     REFERENCE NUMERAL LIST 
     
         
         
           
               100  skin 
               200  base layer 
               201  outer surface of base layer 
               202  inner surface of base layer 
               203  connecting piece 
               204  supporting pad 
               300  flow-disturbing face 
               301  concave-convex shape 
               302  component having flow-disturbing face 
               303  fish-scale flow disturbing piece 
               304  feather-like flow disturbing piece 
               341  trunk of feather-like flow disturbing piece 
               342  branch of feather-like flow disturbing piece 
               343  sub-branch of feather-like flow disturbing piece 
               400  first fluid passage 
               401  second fluid passage 
               500  through opening 
           
         
       
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS 
     The technical content, structural features, purposes and effects of the present invention are described in detail in the following embodiments with the accompanying drawings. 
     The present invention is intended to introduce the concept of pressure difference into clothing design, especially for sportswear design, so as to decrease the fluid resistance occurred during human movement and increase human&#39;s moving speed. 
       FIGS. 1-3  show the clothing comprising an upper outer garment and a pair of trousers according to an embodiment of the present invention. The structure of the clothing comprises a base layer  200  having an inner surface  202  and an outer surface  201 . The inner surface is substantially planar with a size slightly larger than the human body wearing the clothing. A first fluid passage  400  is formed between the inner surface and human skin  100 . The outer surface  201  is provided with a flow-disturbing face  300  thereon. The flow-disturbing face can be formed by the outer surface, that is, a concave-convex shape forming the flow-disturbing face is integrated with the base layer. The flow-disturbing face can be formed by a component having flow-disturbing face, and the component is additionally attached to the base layer. Therefore, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the portion having flow-disturbing face and the base layer are separated by a dotted line. The base layer is provided with at least one through opening  500 ; for the sake of example, there is only one through opening depicted in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 ; however, in a practical application, a plurality of through openings can be arranged on the base layer, for example in a uniform or non-uniform arrangement. The through openings can be arranged on the respective portion which forms the flow-disturbing face or be arranged between the portions which form the flow-disturbing face. The first fluid passage is communicated with the flow-disturbing face via these through openings. For an instance, referring to  FIG. 3 , the through openings are arranged between the arc-shaped projections which form the flow-disturbing face. 
     When a person wearing the clothing of the present invention moves, a fluid (e.g. air or water) is entered into the first fluid passage  400  which is substantially planar via a plurality of through openings  500 ; but at the outer surface of the clothing, the path through which the fluid passed is elongated by the flow-disturbing face, which is greater than the path within the corresponding fluid passage. Therefore, the fluid flowed in the first fluid passage is low in flow rate and high in atmospheric pressure, while the fluid flowed on the corresponding flow-disturbing face is high in flow rate and low in atmospheric pressure. A pressure difference generated between fluid flowed inside and fluid flowed outside due to different flow rates is transferred from within via the through openings  500 , thus a driving force is generated, by which a pressure difference transferring area around human body is formed to partially transfer outwards the fluid resistance occurred during movement, so that human&#39;s moving speed is increased. 
     The greater the difference between the path through which the fluid passed the flow-disturbing face  300  and the path through which the fluid passed the first fluid passage  400 , the greater the pressure difference generated; furthermore, the faster the human&#39;s moving speed, the greater the pressure difference generated as well. With a design in making difference between the fluid path at the flow-disturbing face and the fluid path in the first fluid passage, a desired pressure difference is generated. 
     Preferably, a supporting pad  404  is provided between the inner surface  202  of the base layer and human skin  100 . The supporting pad is connected to the inner surface of the base layer. Generally a fluid passage is formed spontaneously between skin and the inner surface without a support pad. However, human skin is likely to adhere to the inner surface when people swim or sweat, so a supporting pad is able to better support the first fluid passage to ensure a smooth fluid passage. The face where the supporting pad contacted with skin is preferably an arc-shaped face adapted with the surface of human skin. The supporting pad is preferably made from soft material with good biocompatibility. In some applications, the width of the first fluid passage is set by adjusting the thickness of the supporting pad, thus adjusting the pressure difference between the inner and outer surfaces. 
     As mentioned above, with reference to  FIGS. 4A-4E , in some embodiments, the base layer has a concave-convex shape ( 301 ) on a side of the outer surface, so that the outer surface is formed as a flow-disturbing face. The concave-convex shape forming the flow-disturbing face can be one or more shapes selected from a group consisting of arc, triangle, zigzag, trapezoid, polygon and bar. For example, the concave-convex shape which forms the flow-disturbing face shown in  FIG. 4A  includes several continuous arcs. For another example, the concave-convex shape which forms the flow-disturbing face shown in  FIG. 4B  is one arc, and the through opening  500  is arranged at the raised position of the arc. For another example, the concave-convex shape which forms the flow-disturbing face shown in  FIG. 4C  is a triangle. For another example, the concave-convex shape which forms the flow-disturbing face shown in  FIG. 4D ) is zigzag. For another example, the concave-convex shape which forms the flow-disturbing face shown in  FIG. 4E  is trapezoid. Although example shapes are provided above, one skilled in the art can also adopt other shapes for the concave-convex structure to form the flow-disturbing face. 
     These concave-convex shapes are arranged at a side of the outer surface in a uniform or non-uniform manner. Moreover, they can be distributed along longitudinal direction and lateral direction as well. The area covered by the flow-disturbing face can be a part of the outer surface of the clothing or the whole outer surface. A single concave-convex shape can be used to form all desired flow-disturbing faces, but two or more different shapes can also be adopted. 
     Preferably, these concave-convex shapes are arranged into one or more rows in a uniform or non-uniform manner along longitudinal direction or lateral direction, thus forming a flow-disturbing face as a whole similar to the surface of water wave. The clothing made with wavy flow-disturbing flow is especially suitable for swimmers and divers to reduce fluid resistance in an even better fashion. 
     As mentioned above, referring to  FIG. 5  and  FIG. 6 , in some embodiments, a desired flow-disturbing face is formed by attaching components  302  having flow-disturbing face to the outer surface  201 . The components  302  having flow-disturbing face are preferably attached to the outer surface via a connecting piece  203 . The flexible or fixed connection between the connecting piece and the outer surface allows the flow-disturbing face of the component to cover the outer surface. A plurality of components can be arranged in one or more rows which are contacted with each other or partially overlapped, so as to cover the whole or a part of the outer surface of the base layer. 
     Preferably, the through opening  500  is provided at a part of the outer surface where the part is covered by the flow-disturbing face of the component, and the through opening is stayed away from the position where the connecting piece is connected to the outer surface. A second fluid passage  401  is formed between the component and the outer surface, through which the first fluid passage  400  is communicated with the flow-disturbing face of the component via the through opening. As shown in  FIG. 5 , there is no overlap between the components, and the second fluid passage is communicated with the flow-disturbing face of the surface of the component through the gap between the components. In other embodiments, the components may be partially overlapped with each other, for example, as shown in  FIG. 8 , the second fluid passage can be extended to the gaps forming by the parts where the components overlapped with each other, and is communicated with the flow-disturbing face on the surface of the component via the gaps. 
     The second fluid passage is able to help to transfer the pressure difference between the first fluid passage and the flow-disturbing face in a better way to reduce fluid resistance. In some applications, the width and the angle of the second fluid passage can be controlled by adjusting the height and the inclined angle of the connecting piece, so as to adjust the pressure difference between the outer and inner surfaces. 
     Furthermore, referring to  FIG. 6 , a supporting pad  204  is preferably provided between the inner surface  202  of the base layer and human skin  100 . In this respect, the connecting piece  203  can be fixed through the base layer and the supporting pad, or a part of the connecting piece is regarded as the supporting pad wherein the part is passes through the base layer and its inner surface come out. The component can be designed with various shapes to form a desired flow-disturbing face, for example, the component can have a concave-convex shape shown in  FIGS. 4A-4E . 
     In an embodiment, referring to  FIG. 7 , a component  302  having an arc-shaped flow-disturbing face is adopted, wherein the radian of the inner surface thereof is smaller than that of the outer surface. One end of the component is fixed to the outer surface of the base layer via a triangle connecting piece  203 ; the arc-shaped flow-disturbing face of the component is covered the outer surface of the base layer with a certain gap, and the gap is formed as the second fluid passage  400  which is communicated with the first fluid passage  400  via the through opening  500 . Preferably, a material which can be controlled through mechanical or optoelectronic means is provided in the connecting piece, such as elastic or magnetic material, to is control the thickness and the angle of the connecting piece, so that athletes wearing the clothing can adjust the state of the flow-disturbing face based on their own needs to achieve better result. 
     In an embodiment, with reference to  FIG. 8  and  FIG. 9 , a fish-scale flow disturbing piece  303  is used as the component. In this embodiment, the fixed way of the component is similar to that shown in  FIG. 7 , which will not be repeated here. Referring to  FIG. 9 , the forepart of the fish-scale flow disturbing piece is smaller than the rear thereof, the middle part of the outer surface thereof is protruded and smoothly extended downward to both sides to form a carved face as the flow-disturbing face, the radian of the outer surface thereof is larger than that of the inner surface, and the path through which the fluid passed at the outer surface of the flow-disturbing piece is larger than the path through which the fluid passed at the inner surface of the flow-disturbing piece. A plurality of the fish-scale flow disturbing pieces can be connected into one or more rows and arranged at the outer surface of the clothing from bottom to up and left to right. As shown in  FIG. 8 , such sequentially arranged flow disturbing pieces may partially overlap with each other and form a structure of covering layer by layer, thus enabling to better transfer the pressure difference from high pressure to low pressure layer by layer to reduce more fluid resistance. 
     In an embodiment, referring to  FIG. 10 , a feather-like flow disturbing pieces  304 , which may be used in place of the fish-scale flow disturbing piece shown in  FIG. 8 , is adopted as the component. The feather-like flow disturbing piece may have a structure imitating a bird&#39;s feather. Each feather-like flow disturbing piece has a trunk  341  and several limbs smoothly extended downward along both sides of the backbone, each limb has a branch  342  and several sub-branches  343  extended downward along both sides of the branch, the middle part of each sub-branch is protruded and smoothly extended downward to both sides to form a carved face, the entire outer surface of the feather-like flow disturbing piece is formed as a flow-disturbing face, the radian of the outer surface thereof is larger than that of the inner surface. For simplicity, only a few sub-branches of one branch are schematically depicted in  FIG. 10 , the sub-branches can be applied to all branches, moreover, if higher manufacture is allowed, a further lower level of sub-branch may be provided at the sub-branches. 
     The special shape of the feather-like flow disturbing piece greatly elongates the path the fluid passed through the flow disturbing face. Every feather or every row of feathers can be partially overlapped in a manner shown in  FIG. 8  and forms a structure of covering layer by layer. The flow-disturbing face formed by the feather-like flow disturbing piece has a special stacked path for fluid to flow through, and the fluid path is gradually enlarged layer by layer via the trunk, branch and sub-branches, which makes it better to generate and transfer the pressure difference to reduce the fluid resistance occurred during movement. Such structure of flow-disturbing face is particularly suitable for sports events, such as long or short runs, high jump, long jump, basketball and football games, and whether the feather-like flow disturbing pieces is arranged on a part of or all of the clothing may be depended on the requirement, for example, disposing one or more layers of feather-like flow disturbing pieces on the arm portion of the clothing. 
     The structure of the clothing according to the present invention can also be applied in other clothing articles, for example, a headgear or footwear. Various forms of flow disturbing can be set at the surface of these clothing articles and communicated with the inner first fluid passage via the through openings on the surface, thus forming a pressure difference transferring area from within, so that the resistance occurred during exercise can be reduced when wearing such a clothing article. 
     In summary, according to the sportswear provided by the present invention, the concept of pressure difference is introduced into the design of the clothing, and the flow resistance acting on human body can be reduced by the clothing mentioned above, especially when the sportswear adopts the design of the present invention, the flow resistance acting on human body can be greatly reduced and the performance of the athlete who wears such clothing can be improved. 
     The description mentioned above serves only as embodiments of the present invention, and not to limit the protection scope of the present invention, therefore, the equivalents using the contents of the description and the drawings, or the applications directly or indirectly used in the related technical field, are included in the patentable scope of the present invention.