WO2020165817A1

WO2020165817A1 - A garment warmer

Info

Publication number: WO2020165817A1
Application number: PCT/IB2020/051178
Authority: WO
Inventors: Avnish KUMAR
Original assignee: Arvind Fashions Limited
Priority date: 2019-02-13
Filing date: 2020-02-13
Publication date: 2020-08-20

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a garment warmer for removing creases from a garment, placed inside the garment warmer through uniform heating and circulation of heat flow inside the garment warmer. The heat may be generated by one or more heating units provided in an inner surface of the garment warmer. The one or more heating units may be controlled using a temperature regulator, provided in an outer surface of the garment warmer, which dynamically control the amount of current flow to the one or more heating units of the garment warmer. Further, a fusible resistor is provided in the inner surface of the garment warmer, to prevent electrical shocks, to avoid occurrence of any electrical hazardous situation and dis-functioning of the components present inside the garment warmer, when the current is fluctuating. It also helps in automatic termination of current flow after attaining a predefined time period and a predefined temperature.

Description

TITLE:“A GARMENT WARMER”

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of textiles and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a garment warmer and a method for removing creases of a garment by the garment warmer.

BACKGROUND

Generally, for travelling from one place to another, we tend to fold garments and store them in luggage bags or suitcases that provide confined space. In some scenarios, the luggage bags or suitcases may be overloaded with multiple items apart from garments, which may be placed above or around the folded garments. This may crush the garments stored in the luggage bag which leads to formation of creases on the garments. Such creases may spoil the look of the entire garment.

In scenarios where a person needs to attend important meetings, conferences and the like, the person may have to re-iron the garments to get rid of the creases. However, not all the accommodation places provide ironing appliances for ironing the garments. Further, even if the ironing appliances are available, the person may not have enough time to iron the garments before an important meeting or a conference. In some other scenarios, consider the person tries to iron the garments within limited time. In such scenarios, the following problems may occur such as the ironing appliance may not provide proper temperature settings suitable for the garment, ironing at faster pace may not provide the perfect ironed look or may not remove the creases completely, chances of burning the garment and the like. Alternatively, if the person gets the garments ironed from laundry services provided by the accommodation places, it may be expensive and there is a probability of not receiving the ironed garments on time. Therefore, such resource constraints and time constraints may put the person in embarrassing situations when the garments are not in their proper form.

The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art. SUMMARY

The present disclosure discloses a garment warmer. The garment warmer comprises one or more heating units, a temperature regulator, and a fusible resistor. The one or more heating units are provided in an inner surface of the garment warmer to uniformly circulate heat inside the inner surface of the garment warmer. The temperature regulator is provided in an outer surface of the garment warmer, which regulates heat flow to the one or more heating units of the garment warmer based on a predefined temperature associated with the garment for removing creases of the garment. The fusible resistor is electrically coupled to the one or more heating units which to terminate heat flow to the one or more heating units upon determining a predetermined condition.

Further, the present disclosure discloses a method for removing creases of a garment by the garment warmer. The method comprises placing a garment inside the garment warmer. Thereafter, the method comprises setting a predefined temperature based on type of the garment to remove creases from the garment. After setting the temperature, the method comprises regulating heat flow to the one or more heating units by the temperature regulator of the garment warmer for attaining a predefined temperature. Subsequent to regulation of heat flow by the temperature regulator, the method comprises providing uniform circulation of heat, by the one or more heating units, for removing creases of the garment. Thereafter, the method comprises terminating automatically heat flow to the one or more heating units, by a fusible resistor provided in the inner surface of the garment warmer, upon determining a predetermined condition.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, explain the disclosed principles. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system, apparatus and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and regarding the accompanying figures, in which:

FIG.1A and FIG.1B shows external view of an exemplary garment warmer in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG.2A and FIG.2B shows internal view of one or more heating units in a garment warmer in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG.2C shows an exemplary sectional view of a garment warmer integrated with one or more heating units in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG.3 shows an exemplary electrical connection between various components of the garment warmer in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG.4 shows a flow chart illustrating a method of removing creases of a garment by a garment warmer in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and executed by a computer or processor, whether such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.

The terms“comprises”,“comprising”,“includes”,“including” or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device, or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises... a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system, apparatus or method.

FIG.1A and FIG.1B shows external view of an exemplary garment warmer in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG.1A and FIG.1B, the garment warmer 100 may be in the form of an envelope which is foldable. In some embodiments, the garment warmer 100 may be made of a fabric. As an example, the fabric may be polyester, cotton and the like. In some embodiment, the components of the garment warmer 100 as explained in below sections may be embedded inside any garment material such as quilt for heating purpose.

In an embodiment, the garment warmer 100 may comprise one or more heating units 107 as shown in FIG.2A and FIG.2B, a temperature regulator 113, and a fusible resistor 109. In some embodiments, the one or more heating units 107 may be provided in an inner surface of the garment warmer 100. The one or more heating units 107 may be configured to generate heat and circulate steam inside the inner surface of the garment warmer 100 as illustrated in FIG.2A and FIG. 2B. The one or more heating units 107 as shown in FIG.2A and FIG.2B may be provided in a predefined arrangement inside the inner surface. The predefined arrangement may be one of columnar pattern or row pattern for uniformly circulating heat flow to a garment placed inside the garment warmer 100. The garment may be placed inside the garment warmer 100 using an opening mechanism 101 such as zipper mechanism. As an example, when the garment is a suit, the garment warmer 100 may be a suit envelope which is designed to store the suit. As an example, the garment may be a blazer, a suit, a shirt, a trouser and the like. The one or more heating units 107 may include, but not limited to, electrical wires or cables that conduct heat and electricity. In some embodiments, the electrical wires or cables may be insulated with a non-conductive material which is resistant to electric current, thereby preventing electric current of the electrical wires or cables from coming in contact with other conductive elements of the garment warmer 100, preventing electrical leakage and also preventing electrical wires or cables from environmental threats.

In some embodiments, as shown in the FIG.1A, the outer surface of the garment warmer 100 may be provided with a holder 103 to hold the garment warmer 100 when the garment warmer 100 is in a folded state. In some embodiments, the temperature regulator 113 may be configured to regulate heat flow to the one or more heating units 107. The temperature regulator 113 may control the heat flow to the one or more heating units 107 for uniform circulation of the heat to the garment placed inside the garment warmer 100 based on a predefined temperature. The predefined temperature may be pre-set based on type of the garment, to remove creases of the garment. The temperature regulator 113 may be insulated with non-conductive materials to protect the garment from electrical hazardous situations during operating the garment warmer 100. Further, the outer surface of the garment warmer 100 may include a compartment 105 as shown in the FIG.1A. In some embodiments, the compartment 105 may be designed to hold components such as a temperature regulator 113, tie, cufflinks, hand kerchief, or any other accessories related to the garment or the garment warmer 100.

In some embodiments, the fusible resistor 109 may be electrically coupled to the one or more heating units 107 to terminate heat flow to the one or more heating units 107. Termination of heat flow is enabled upon attaining a predetermined condition. The predetermined condition may be when one of predefined time is reached and when the predefined temperature is attained inside the inner surface of the garment warmer 100.

FIG.2A and FIG.2B shows an internal view of the one or more heating units in a garment warmer in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the inner surface of the garment warmer 100 may integrate the one or more heating units 107 as shown in the FIG.2A and FIG.2B. Further, FIG.2C shows an exemplary sectional view of the inner surface of the garment warmer 100 integrated with the one or more heating units 107 underneath inner layer 108 of the garment warmer 100. The one or more heating units 107 may be laid out in a columnar pattern or row pattern or any other pattern to provide uniform circulation of heat to the garment placed inside the garment warmer 100. FIG.3 shows an exemplary electrical connection between various components of the garment warmer in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the garment warmer 100 may include, but not limited to, electrical wires or cables, a fusible resistor 109, an electric casing 111, a temperature regulatorl 13, and a plug 115. The electrical wires or cables may be insulated with a non-conductive material which is resistant to the electric current and may be connected to the fusible resistor 109. In some embodiments, the fusible resistor 109 may be configured to perform the functionalities of both fuse and a resistor. The fusible resistor 109 may be preferred rather than a combination of the fuse and the resistor, since usage of the fusible resistor 109 may be economical and may also occupy less space on the Printed Circuit Board (PCB). In some embodiments, exemplary value of the fusible resistor 109 used in the garment warmer 100 may be 250V 5A. Further, the electric casing 111 may be a point that keeps the electrical wires or cables 107 intact and safe. In some embodiments, the electric casing 111 may be made of a shock proof plastic material. Furthermore, the temperature regulator 113 may be in contact with the electric casing 111. In some embodiments, the temperature regulator 113 may be configured to control or regulate heat flow to the one or more heating units 107 as per requirement of a consumer. Further, the temperature regulator 113 may be associated with the plug 115 including an alloyed metal pin. The plug 115 may be connected to main source of electricity by plugging into a plug point. In some embodiments, the garment warmer 100 may be configured with a rechargeable battery which acts as the source of electricity.

When the plug 115 is plugged into the plug point, the electricity passes through the one or more heating units 107 that may dissipate heat. The columnar arrangement or row arrangement of the one or more heating units 107 may distribute the heat uniformly throughout the garment warmer 100. In some embodiments, the required amount of heat may be achieved by controlling the amount of current using the temperature regulator 113. The heat thus distributed throughout the garment warmer 100 may remove the creases/wrinkles formed on the garment which is placed in the garment warmer 100. In some embodiments, the fusible resistor 109 may avoid any electrical shock or dis-functioning when the current is fluctuating. Further, the fusible resistor 109 may terminate the current flow automatically after a predefined time period. As an example, the predefined time period may be 45 minutes. In some other embodiments, the fusible resistor 109 may be automatically terminated when the temperature inside the garment warmer 100 exceeds a predefined threshold due to environmental factors or due to any other temperature affecting factors such as damage of components in the garment warmer 100.

Example Illustration

The below Table 1 indicates exemplary values of time required to achieve a certain temperature.

Table 1

As an example, consider the temperature required for a garment“A” may be 56 degrees. The temperature regulator 113 may be operated to attain a temperature of 56 degrees by controlling the current supply. As per the above Table 1, to attain a temperature of 56 degrees, the garment warmer 100 may require 5 minutes. Upon attaining the desired temperature, the exemplary time required to remove the creases/wrinkles on the garment may be 25 minutes. Further, the automatic termination period may be 45 minutes, i.e. upon reaching 45 minutes, the current supply may be terminated. Further, the exemplary cooling down time may be 5 minutes. The example illustrated herein, assumes that the room temperature is 27 degrees and humidity level is 57 percentage. The power supply provided for the working of the garment warmer 100 is 230 volts. However, the aforesaid procedure can be accomplished by a rechargeable battery provided in the garment warmer 100.

As illustrated in FIG.4, the method 400 includes one or more blocks illustrating a method for removing creases of a garment by a garment warmer 100. The order in which the method 400 is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.

At block 401, the method may include placing a garment inside a garment warmer 100. The garment may be placed through an opening 101 mechanism of the garment warmer 100, which is provided in the outer surface of the garment warmer 100.

At block 403, the method may include setting a predefined temperature based on type of the garment, which is placed inside the garment warmer 100 for removing creases. The predefined temperature may be user configurable i.e. based on the requirement of the user or the extent to which the creases must be removed to restore the aesthetic look of the garment.

At block 405, the method may include regulating, by a temperature regulator 113, heat flow to one or more heating units 107 provided in an inner surface of the garment warmer 100 for attaining the predefined temperature, which is pre-set by the consumer based on the type of the garment. The temperature regulator 113 may be provided in a compartment 105 in an outer surface of the garment warmer 100.

At block 407, the method may include providing uniform circulation of heat, by the one or more heating units 107, for removing creases of the garment placed inside the garment warmer 100. The columnar or row pattern arrangement of the one or more heating units 107 may be configured to ensure uniform flow of heat, which consequently unfolds the creases formed in the garment to restore the ironed look of the garment.

At block 409, the method may include terminating automatically, by a fusible resistor 109 provided on the inner surface of the garment warmer 100, heat flow to the one or more heating units 107 upon attaining a predetermined condition. The predetermined condition may be when one of predefined time is reached and when the predefined temperature is attained inside the inner surface of the garment warmer 100. The predefined time may be user configurable depending on the user requirement. The termination of current flow to the one or more heating units 107 may ensure avoidance of overheating of the garment which may cause permanent damage to the fabric of the garment or burning of the garment and the like. Advantages of the present disclosure

In an embodiment, the garment warmer disclosed in the present disclosure is portable and travel friendly.

In an embodiment, the garment warmer disclosed in the present disclosure allows the consumers to maintain ironed state of their garments by placing the garment in the garment warmer, without any additional efforts and hassles related to ironing appliances, third-party services, last minute ironing and the like.

In an embodiment, the garment warmer disclosed in the present disclosure allows the consumers to pre-set the temperature which may be appropriate for the garment.

In an embodiment, the garment warmer disclosed in the present disclosure provides an automatic termination of current flow which prevents the garment from damage due to overheating when the consumer forgets to switch off the garment warmer.

The terms "an embodiment", "embodiment", "embodiments", "the embodiment", "the embodiments", "one or more embodiments", "some embodiments", and "one embodiment" mean "one or more (but not all) embodiments of the invention(s)" unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms "including", "comprising",“having” and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to", unless expressly specified otherwise. The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms "a", "an" and "the" mean "one or more", unless expressly specified otherwise.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the invention.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be clear that more than one device/article (whether they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether they cooperate), it will be clear that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device or article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality /features. Thus, other embodiments of the invention need not include the device itself.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity. Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present invention are intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims. Referral numerals

Claims

We claim:

1. A garment warmer 100, comprising: one or more heating units 107 provided in an inner surface of the garment warmer 100 and is configured to uniformly circulate heat inside the inner surface of the garment warmer 100;

a temperature regulator 113 provided in an outer surface of the garment warmer 100 and is configured to regulate heat flow to the one or more heating units 107; and a fusible resistor 109 electrically coupled to the one or more heating units 107 to terminate heat flow to the one or more heating units 107 upon determining a predetermined condition;

the temperature regulator 113 regulates heat flow to the one or more heating units 107 for uniformly circulating heat to a garment placed inside the garment warmer 100 based on a predefined temperature associated with the garment for removing creases of the garment.

2. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more heating units 107 are provided in a predefined arrangement comprising one of columnar pattern or row pattern in the inner surface of the garment warmer 100 for uniformly circulating heat flow to the garment.

3. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more heating units 107 comprises electrical wires and cables for generating heat controlled by the temperature regulator 113.

4. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein the temperature regulator 113 is placed in a compartment 105 provided in the outer surface of the garment warmer 100.

5. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fusible resistor 109 is provided in the inner surface of the garment warmer 100.

6. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predetermined condition is when one of predefined time is reached and when the predefined temperature is attained inside the inner surface of the garment warmer 100.

7. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1 further comprises an opening 101 mechanism provided on the outer surface of the garment warmer 100 to facilitate placement of the garment inside the garment warmer 100.

8. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1 further comprises a holder 103 on the outer surface of the garment warmer 100 for holding the garment warmer 100.

9. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1 further comprises at least one electric casing 111 provided in the inner surface of the garment warmer 100 to facilitate passage of electrical wires and cables from the temperature regulator 113 into the garment warmer 100.

10. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electric casing 111 and the temperature regulator 113 are insulated with non-conductive materials.

11. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predefined temperature is pre-set based on type of the garment placed inside the garment warmer 100.

12. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein the temperature regulator 113 is connected to a power supply.

13. The garment warmer 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein the garment warmer 100 is equipped with a rechargeable battery for providing power supply to the one or more heating units 107 of the garment warmer 100.

14. A method for removing creases of a garment by a garment warmer 100, the method comprising: placing a garment inside a garment warmer 100;

setting a predefined temperature based on type of the garment required for removing creases from the garment;

regulating, by a temperature regulator 113, heat flow to one or more heating units 107 provided in an inner surface of the garment warmer 100 for attaining the predefined temperature;

providing uniform circulation of heat, by the one or more heating units 107, for removing creases of the garment; and terminating automatically, by a fusible resistor 109 provided on the inner surface of the garment warmer 100, heat flow to the one or more heating units 107 upon determining a predetermined condition.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the garment is placed inside the garment warmer 100 through an opening 101 mechanism of the garment warmer 100, provided in the outer surface of the garment warmer 100.

16. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the heat flow to one or more heating units 107 is regulated by the temperature regulator 113 provided in a compartment 105 in an outer surface of the garment warmer 100.

17. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the predetermined condition is when one of predefined time is reached and when the predefined temperature is attained inside the inner surface of the garment warmer 100.