An apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus has a cooling fluid passage, a gaseous fluid blower disposed at an upstream portion or a downstream portion of the cooling fluid passage, and a liquid droplet sprayer disposed at the upstream portion of the cooling fluid passage. A surface portion of the cooling fluid passage is hydrophobic.

Disclosed is a device for protecting a user from smoke or fire, including a sealed dome-like cover. An opening provided in the cover front portion enables emergency oxygen to force smoke present under the cover to be expelled by positive air pressure through a space below the waist. The dome-like cover is overlaid from above the top of the head to at least the waist of the user and connected to a source of oxygen. The device is reversible so that it can also be used as a stretcher. The materials used enable use as a thermal blanket. The device can be provided compactly folded in a bag that can provide lumbar support thereby ensuring that miners will always carry the device with them. A step of vacuum sealing for a predetermined amount of time ensures malleability of the compact device for enhanced lumbar support and device longevity.

A helmetless support and ventilation system for use with surgical hoods and gowns, including a flexible band, a plurality of front offsets connected to the flexible band, an offset extension such that the plurality of front offsets is connected to the offset extension and the offset extension is located away from the flexible band, a plurality of faceplate attachment extensions, wherein each of the plurality of faceplate attachment extensions is connected to the offset extension, a plurality of support faceplate attachments, such that each of the plurality of support faceplate attachments are connected to each of the plurality of faceplate attachment extensions, and a ventilation system located within a surgical gown and a surgical hood for providing filtered, ventilation air within the surgical gown and the surgical hood, wherein the ventilation system is retained by shoulders of a wearer of the ventilation.

A lighting apparatus for use as a surgical headlamp is disclosed. A light emitting diode is positioned in a recess within a frustoconical, thermally-conductive heat sink that has a several circumferential ridges to provide a desired surface area for heat transfer. The diode and the heat sink are provided in a housing that also includes a fan for drawing ambient air into the housing to contact the heat sink and exhausting heated air. A lens is snap-fit into a slide that frictionally engages the interior of the housing, allowing a user to adjust the spacing between the light emitting diode and the lens as desired. Personal cooling apparatuses usable with the lighting apparatus are also described. Auxiliary undergown switches are also described as are personal cooling apparatuses.

A garment attachment includes a first connector and a second connector. The first connector is freely connectable to and detachable from a right front part of a front-open garment. The second connector is freely connectable to and detachable from a left front part of the front-open garment. With the first and second connectors, the garment attachment is freely attachable to and detachable from the front-open garment between divided front parts of the garment.

The present invention relates to an air cooling blower and a piece of air-cooled clothing on which the air cooling blower is mounted. An air intake port is provided on a first end side of a tubular fan case, and an air outlet is provided on a second end side. First lock portions are provided in portions of a mounting flange or in portions of the tubular fan case near the portions of the mounting flange, and a second lock portion is provided in a portion of the mounting flange that opposes the first lock portions via a central axis of the tubular fan case interposed therebetween or in a portion of the tubular fan case near the portion of the mounting flange that opposes the first lock portions via the central axis of the tubular fan case interposed therebetween.

A thermal therapy garment that covers at least the lower extremities of a patient. The garment has an air impermeable outer layer and an air permeable inner layer. An inflatable air chamber is defined between the inner and outer layers. An inlet port connects to the chamber to allow inflation with conditioned air, which is exhausted through the inner layer over a selected region of the patient's lower body. A gown has a length sufficient to overlap a waist portion of the garment, The gown has an opening that coincides with the inlet port, thereby allowing a hose to pass through the gown and connect to the inlet port. In one embodiment, the gown has sleeves and/or a posterior portion that are heat reflective whereby the extremities are warmed to minimize the core to peripheral temperature gradient.

A protective headgear includes two air chambers connected through a fan. Each air chamber has a fabric filter with a large surface area. A frame with a fan compartment and headband engages a person's head and forms a boundary to air flow around the head between the two air chambers. Air flows between the two air chambers primarily through the fan. One air chamber is formed above the head and is at lower pressure than air outside the headgear. Another air chamber is formed around the face and is at higher pressure than air outside the headgear. The fan draws air through a fabric filter to provide filtered air into the air chamber around the face, providing breathing volume and positive pressure protection. Exhaled air dissipates out of the headgear through a fabric filter forming part of the air chamber around the face.

There is provided a garment comprising a fabric at least partially including a hygroscopic fiber, the fabric having an air permeability of 50 to 500 cm.sup.3/cm.sup.2.Math.s, the garment having a power source unit and an air blowing fan unit having an outside diameter of 80 mm or less. The garment of the present invention suppresses a stuffy feeling and a heatful feeling the garment to keep the environment inside the garment comfortable, and has excellent wearing comfortability and an excellent wearing feeling. Also, the garment can be suitably used in a high temperature and/or high humidity environment and in various wearing scenes such as offices and homes where comfortability is required.

To pump-condition a garment that covers at least a portion of an individual, at least one fluid-circulating vent panel circulates a fluid adjacent the garment in an effort to condition the individual. A pump provides a motive force to circulate the circulating fluid through each vent panel, and a conduit is routed within the garment and couples the pump and each vent panel. A controller controls the pump to provide the motive force, and a power source provides power to operate the pump and the controller. The pump may be an ultrasonic piezoelectric pump.