Thermal insulating structure
Assigneeadidas AG
InventorsJulie Caroline Gretton, John Rutledge, Stephen John Russell, Vera Chetty, Matthew James Tipper
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a thermal insulating structure including at least one baffle, to an article of wear and a sleeping bag including such a thermal insulating structure, and to a method for manufacturing such a thermal insulating structure. In some embodiments, the baffle includes a plurality of natural and/or synthetic down fibers and a plurality of low-melt fibers, wherein the low-melt fibers have been melted to the natural and/or synthetic down fibers by heating inside the baffle.
Claims18
A thermal insulating structure comprising at least two baffle boxes, each of the at least two baffle boxes comprising:
- at least two surfaces coupled at opposing edges to form a cavity within each of the at least two baffle boxes;
- a plurality of at least one of natural down fibers or synthetic down fibers positioned within the cavity;
- and
- a plurality of low-melt fibers positioned within the cavity,
- wherein the plurality of low-melt fibers have been melted to the plurality of at least one of the natural down fibers or the synthetic down fibers by heating inside the cavity of each of the at least two baffle boxes,
- wherein the plurality of low-melt fibers have been carded with the plurality of at least one of the natural down fibers or the synthetic down fibers into a web structure before heating inside the cavity each of the at least two baffle boxes,
- wherein the melted plurality of low-melt fibers and the plurality of at least one of the natural down fibers or the synthetic down fibers form an individual three-dimensional structure within the cavity of each of the at least two baffle boxes, and
- wherein the at least two baffle boxes are coupled along one of the opposing edges of each of the at least two baffle boxes.
A method for manufacturing a thermal insulating structure comprising the steps of:
- forming at least one baffle box;
- filling a plurality of at least one of natural down fibers or synthetic down fibers into the baffle box;
- filling a plurality of low-melt fibers into the baffle box;
- carding the plurality of at least one of the natural down fibers or the synthetic down fibers and the plurality of low-melt fibers into a web structure before heating inside the baffle box;
- and
- heating the fibers inside a filled baffle box.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.