Patent ID: 6942015

Claim:
A body heating/cooling apparatus, comprising: a vest comprising a front panel and a back panel, said front panel and said back panel defining a cavity; a flexible, continuous channel disposed in serpentine fashion throughout said cavity, said flexible, continuous channel having adjacent portions; inlet means for infusing a fluid into said flexible, continuous channel; outlet means for withdrawing a fluid from said flexible, continuous channel; wherein said adjacent portions of said flexible, continuous channel are placed in fluid communication by passageways extending between corresponding adjacent portions at locations intermediate the ends of said adjacent portions; wherein said passageways are configured with respect to said corresponding adjacent portions such that substantially all of a fluid flowing through said corresponding adjacent portions normally bypasses said passageways; and wherein said passageways are configured with respect to said corresponding adjacent portions such that if one of said corresponding adjacent portions suffers a constriction, fluid will enter a connected one of said passageways to flow from one corresponding adjacent portion to another so as to bypass said constriction.