Patent Publication Number: US-2011047957-A1

Title: Conductive yarn and cloth containing the same

Description:
This invention is filed by claiming a priority from an U.S. provisional application with a Ser. No. 61/275,127, filed on 25 Aug. 2009. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Fields of the invention 
     The present invention relates to a conductive yarn and a cloth containing the same, especially to a cloth formed by woven yarns coiled around by heating elements for providing heat. The cloth is made into various objects that provide heat and against the cold so as to replace heating equipment. 
     2. Descriptions of Related Art 
     Most of conventional heating equipment such as heaters generates heat by electricity or gas. Then warm air is directed to each corner of a room by each vent. One of the features of hot or worm air is that the light warm air rises within a certain space in the beginning of heating. It takes large amount of electricity and time to make the temperature of the air in the space increase to a certain degree evenly. Moreover, the air in the space is drier, accompanying with thundering noises due to blowing and flowing of hot air. 
     Thus there is a need to provide a novel conductive yarn and a cloth containing the same that overcome the above shortcomings and have more practical value. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a conductive yarn and a cloth containing the same that overcomes shortcomings of heaters available now such as high energy consumption and energy loss. A cloth that gives heat is formed by woven yarns coiled around by heating elements. The cloth is made into various objects that keep warm so as to replace conventional heaters. 
     In order to achieve the above object, a conductive yarn according to the present invention is formed by a plurality of fibers whose outer surface is wound with a heating element helically. Thus a yarn with electrical conductivity and flexibility is produced. 
     Moreover, a cloth containing conductive yarns consists of threads arranged in different directions. The above conductive yarns are used as threads in a first direction while regular yarns with conductive metal wires arranged at the two sides thereof are used as threads in a second direction. The threads are woven to produce a cloth that gives heat while being conducted with electricity. The cloth can be made into mattress, curtains, textile wall coverings, oversleeves, knee braces, waist supports, foot pads, seat cushions, and carpets etc so as to replace various heating equipment. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an embodiment of a conductive yarn according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic drawing showing a perspective view of a woven cloth according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a is a schematic drawing showing a plan view of a woven cloth according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic drawing showing a knee brace as an application of a cloth according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic drawing showing a carpet as an application of a cloth according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic drawing showing a curtain as an application of a cloth according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Refer to  FIG. 1 , a conductive yarn  1  according to the present invention mainly includes a yarn  11  and a heating element  12 . The yarn  11  is formed by a plurality of fibers  111  and the heating element  12  coiled around an outer surface of the yarn  11  in a spiral form so as to make the yarn  11  have electrical conductivity. 
     Refer to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , a cloth  2  containing conductive yarns consists of: at least one conductive yarn  1 , at least one yarn  11  and at least one conductive metal wire  21 . The conductive yarn  1  is used as a thread in a first direction. The yarn  11  formed by a plurality of fibers is used as a thread in a second direction, limited around a middle part of the cloth, and interlaced with the thread in the first direction. The conductive metal wire  21  is used as a thread in a second direction, arranged at the two sides of the yarn  11  on the middle part of the cloth and passed across the thread in the first direction so as to form a conductive path. 
     Back to  FIG. 1 , the fibers  111  made of various textile materials are used as cores of the yarn  11  to be evenly coiled around by the heating element  12  so as to form a spiral conductive yarn  1 . The heating element  12  is made from tungsten alloy microfilament. In production of the conductive yarn  1 , the winding processes are run by a machine. The yarn  11  formed by fibers  111  is set on a yarn winding machine as a core and the heating element  12  is wound around the surface of the yarn  11  in a spiral way so as to form the spiral conductive yarn  1 . After being applied with voltage, the conductive yarn  1  provides uniform heat and having good stretchability as well as flexibility. 
     Refer to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , while manufacturing plain or blended fabric, the conductive yarn  1  is used as a weft yarn while the warp yarn can be a regular yarn with different colors. Thus various types of clothes and carpets are manufactured by the weft yarns and warp yarns interlaced with each other. The clothes and carpets with good softness can generate heat and can be processed such as brocaded, dyed and printed. Moreover, the conductive yarn  1  is produced into threads with different diameters for a wide range of applications. For example, a finer conductive yarn  1  can be made into regular fabric, bed sheets and various kinds of health heating cloth for keeping warm, as shown in  FIG. 4 . A thicker conductive yarn  1  and a roving yarn are woven to produce various kinds of electro heating blankets and carpets, as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     Refer from  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 6 , how the conductive yarn and the cloth containing the same according to the present invention generate heat and their functions are described in details. 
     While producing or weaving various fabrics, the conductive yarn  1  that includes the yarn  11  having a plurality of fibers  111  and coiled around by the heating element  12  is disposed on the first (weft) direction. 
     The plurality of conductive metal wires  21  on two sides of the of the yarn  11  are used as conductive yarns on the second (warp) direction while the yarns  11  on the middle part of the cloth  2  are all regular yarns  11 . The conductive metal wires  21  can be fine copper wires or silver wires. Thus the yarns  11  on the second (warp) direction of different colors, the heating elements  12  wound around the surface of the conductive yarns  1 , and the conductive metal (fine copper wire or silver wire) wires  21  on two sides of the cloth  2  are woven and interlaced with one another in the warp and weft directions so as to form a conductive path. A power supply unit  3  provides alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power, OV-24V, to the conductive metal wire  21  disposed on the two edges of the cloth  2  while the voltage (V), current (A), temperature (T), and time are fine tuned by a computer. The cloth  2  provides the temperature desired ranging from 0 degrees Celsius (° C.) to 85° C. Thus a required uniform temperature is generated among yarns of the whole cloth  2 . Due to low DC used, there is no risk of electric shock. 
     In use, a fixed or moveable carpet is placed on the ground indoors for providing warmth. Within the same unit area, each small unit in the plane gives uniform heat. Thus there is no need to deliver hot air by blowers because heat rises. The heat from electric carpets produced by cloth containing conductive yarns of the present invention rises from the floor or the bottom of the carpet to each corner of the space naturally until the temperature is increased to a given value. Therefore, there is no dryness, noises or other uncomfortable feelings caused by hot air. 
     Moreover, the cloth  2  containing the conductive yarn can be cut in the second (warp) direction. The cutting length/size is determined according to users&#39; requirements. Therefore, after the conductive metal wire  21  disposed on two edges of the cloth  2  being connected in parallel/series and conducted with electricity, another piece of cloth  2  that gives off heat is formed and applied to our daily lives for providing warmth. 
     Compared with the devices available now, the present invention has following advantages:
     1. In the present invention, various types of yarns are used as cores that prevents heating elements such as spiral tungsten alloy microfilament from being broken. Thus the conductive yarn and a cloth containing the same are with flexibility and stretchability.   2. When the heating element is conducted with electricity, there is a certain space to protect the heating element from heat expansion and cold contraction.   3. The conductive yarns and regular yarns are blended and woven into clothes with different uses and the clothes can be dyed, printed and washed.   4. The conductive yarn is used to produce a blended cloth that can made into mattress, curtains, textile wall coverings, oversleeves, knee braces, waist supports, foot pads, seat cushions, and carpets etc for providing heat and replacing various heating equipment in winder while being conducted with electricity. Compared with conventional heaters, the power consumption of the present invention is reduced by more than 65%.   

     Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, and representative devices shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.