Method and apparatus for providing internal heating of footwear
OwnerThomas Nikita Krupenkin, Joseph Ashley Taylorinventors
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for generating thermal energy (heat) from human locomotion is proposed and used to provide heating of the user's footwear. The apparatus takes the form of a pair of flexible, liquid-filled chambers connected by an energy-generating tube. One chamber is located in the heel region of a footwear insole, with the other in the toe region, such that as a person walks, the liquid moves back and forth within the tube. This movement is used to also move an energy-producing element (either an electromagnetic arrangement or viscous liquid) back and forth within the tube and convert the captured human locomotion energy into thermal energy, thus warming the footwear.
Claims11
Apparatus for converting mechanical energy into thermal energy comprising
- a first flexible chamber containing a quantity of liquid;
- a second flexible chamber containing a quantity of liquid;
- an energy-generating tube including a plurality of segments of conductive material disposed within spaced-apart regions of the tube material along a length thereof, the energy-generating tube coupled to the first and second flexible chambers in a manner such that liquid flows back and forth within the tube as a function of mechanical pressure applied in alternating fashion to the first and second flexible chambers;
- and
- an energy-producing element comprising an energy-generating chain formed of spaced-apart regions of magnetic material disposed along a flexible string, the energy-generating chain disposed within the energy-generating tube in a manner where the chain slides back and forth within the tube as liquid flows between the regions of magnetic material and the conductive segments to create eddy currents within the conductive segments, the eddy currents generating thermal energy in the form of resistive heat.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.