Electrically actuated adhesive physio tape with thermal properties

Abstract

A flexible adhesive kinesiology or physio tape adapted to provide heating as well as cooling in response to an electrical signal. In a general illustrative embodiment, the inventive tape includes a first layer of flexible high quality porous fabric; a pad of electrocaloric polymeric material mounted on the layer of porous fabric; and a controller, mounted on the tape, for electrically actuating the pad of electrocaloric material. In the best mode, plural pads of polarized electrocaloric polymer film are provided with nanotube electrodes mounted therebetween. The first layer of porous fabric includes plural arrangements for retaining the plural pads and providing male and female electrical connections thereto. A bus is mounted on the first layer for providing electrical connection between the controller and the electrical connections to the pads of film. In the best mode, a second layer of porous fabric is included to sandwich the pads between the first layer of porous fabric and the second layer of porous fabric.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.