Wearable garment

Abstract

A wearable garment includes at least one impact absorbing pad with an inner face facing the body of a wearer and an opposite outer face, and a pressure sensor on the side of the pad faced by the inner face of the pad positioned so as to measure the effect at the inner face of an impact on the outer face after a portion of the impact has been absorbed by the pad.

Claims

1. A wearable garment comprising: an impact absorbing pad with an inner face facing a body of a wearer and an opposite outer face; a pressure sensor at the inner face of the impact absorbing pad, positioned so as to measure a force transmitted to the inner face of an impact force on the outer face after a portion of the impact force has been absorbed by the impact absorbing pad; and a means to calculate the impact force on the outer face of the impact absorbing pad based on the force measured at the inner face, the means to calculate the impact force including a control system which is programmed with a padding dampening factor relating to an impact absorbing capacity of the impact absorbing pad.

2. The wearable garment according to claim 1, further comprising an accelerometer and a gyroscope to measure a change in velocity magnitude and direction due to the impact.

3. The wearable garment according to claim 1, wherein an inner fabric layer is provided covering an inner face of the pressure sensor.

4. The wearable garment according to claim 1, wherein an outer fabric layer is provided covering the outer face of the impact absorbing pad.

5. The wearable garment according to claim 1, wherein the pressure sensor is in the form of a matrix array which is able to detect pressure changes across a portion of a width of a impact absorbing pad.

6. The wearable garment according to claim 1, wherein an impact dissipating layer which has a higher flexural rigidity than the impact absorbing pad is provided to dissipate the impact force across a wider area of the pressure sensor.

7. The wearable garment according to claim 1, further comprising a control module with an electrical connection to the pressure sensor.

8. The wearable garment according to claim 7, comprising a plurality of impact absorbing pads each with its own pressure sensor and each being connected to the control module.

9. The wearable garment according to claim 7, wherein the control module further comprises a transceiver which is able to transmit data wirelessly.

10. The wearable garment according to claim 7, wherein the control module comprises a lithium ceramic battery.

11. A system comprising the wearable garment according to claim 1, in combination with a data processing and display device arranged to receive information from the pressure sensor.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein the processing and display device is arranged to receive data from a plurality of garments.

13. A wearable garment comprising: an impact absorbing pad with an inner face facing a body of a wearer and an opposite outer face; a pressure sensor at the inner face of the impact absorbing pad, positioned so as to measure a force transmitted to the inner face of an impact force on the outer face after a portion of the impact force has been absorbed by the impact absorbing pad; an accelerometer and a gyroscope to measure a change in velocity (magnitude and direction) due to the impact; and a control module with an electrical connection to the pressure sensor, the control module including a processing unit to receive data from the pressure sensor, carry out any required calculation of the impact force, and control the transmission of data as required.

14. The wearable garment according to claim 13, wherein the processing unit calculates a received impulse by integrating the force measured by the pressure sensor over time.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1A is a front view of a garment according to the present invention;

(2) FIG. 1B is a back view of the garment of FIG. 1A;

(3) FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the garment of FIGS. 1A and B;

(4) FIG. 1D is a top view of the garment of the previous Figures;

(5) FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-section through various layers of the pad, sensor and garment;

(6) FIG. 3A is an exploded perspective view of a pressure sensor;

(7) FIG. 3B is an assembled plan view of the same sensor;

(8) FIG. 4 shows the layout of the control module; and

(9) FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the general operation of the system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

(10) FIGS. 1A to D show a padded top which is a type of padded underlayer intended for use by a rugby player. As described elsewhere in this application, the invention is applicable to wearable garments in general where impact protection is required. Whilst the top illustrated in FIGS. 1A to D is being used as an illustration, it will be readily understood that, for other such garments, the impact absorbing pads are placed in the areas most likely to receive an impact.

(11) As shown in FIGS. 1A to C, the garment 1 comprises five impact absorbing pads 2 comprising a pair of shoulder pads, a pair of upper arm pads and a chest pad. Towards the upper part of the back of the garment 1 is a control module 3. This is surrounded by a soft layer 4 to provide comfort for the person wearing the garment as well as anyone impacting on them. The control module 3 is connected via an electrically conductive line 5 to each of the pads 2. The line 5 may simply be a wire which is retained between layers of the garment so that it does not impede the wearer.

(12) The number and positioning of pads is provided as one example only. There may be fewer pads, for example just the shoulder pads, or additional pads, such as pads which protect the ribs.

(13) FIG. 2 shows the structure of the pad 2 in greater detail. The pad is sandwiched between an outer fabric layer 10 and an inner fabric layer 11. The pad consists of an impact absorbing layer 12. This may be made of a material such as foamed elastomers, thermoplastic elastomers, foamed thermoplastic elastomers or any suitable compliant material. This layer 12 will generally be less than 100 mm thick, more preferably less than 50 mm thick and most preferably less than 20 mm thick. Within the impact absorbing material 12 is an impact dissipating layer 13. This is an optional layer. This may be embedded in the impact absorbing material at the point of manufacture. Alternatively, the impact absorbing material 12 may be formed of two parts which are sandwiched around the impact dissipating layer 13. The impact dissipating layer 13 may be high impact engineering polymers (such as polycarbonate or nylon), glass or carbon fibre composites, bi-axial oriented films or any other material which provides high flexural strength, high puncture resistance and flexibility.

(14) Between the impact absorbing material 12 and the inner fabric layer 11 is a sensor 14. This sensor is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 3A and 3B. Another suitable sensor is shown in US2014/0083207.

(15) The sensor 14 comprises two substrate layers 14a, 14b between which is provided a spacer layer 14c and, optionally, one or more dielectric layers 14d, 14e. The facing surfaces of the substrate layers 14a, 14b may carry conductive traces of known resistance printed thereon such that when contacting the substrate layers 14a, 14b provide a variable resistance that depends on the force of contact. Preferably, an array of such force sensing resistor elements is arranged in a grid pattern on the substrates 14a, 14b. The sensor can be designed in any desired pattern (the grid pattern does not have to be a regular pattern) with the effective sensing grid arranged within.

(16) The layout of the control module 3 is shown in FIG. 4.

(17) This module contains the following components.

(18) An accelerometer (e.g. ADXL375) which is a three axis accelerometer rated for high g applications. This will measure the acceleration of the wearer during normal motion as well as measuring an abrupt change upon impact.

(19) A gyroscope 51 (e.g. ADXRS290). This may be a 2 or 3 axis gyroscope, which is capable of detecting the angular orientation of the wearer's motion and also any resulting impacts.

(20) A processor 53 (e.g. ARM Cortex M3) which will receive the readings from the pressure sensors 14 from the accelerometer 50 and gyroscope 51 and carry out various calculations and output diagnostic information as set out below.

(21) A connector 54 to connect to the matrix sensor.

(22) A power management integrated circuit 55.

(23) A transceiver 56 such as a Bluetooth device.

(24) A socket 57 via which a battery can be recharged.

(25) An LED 58 which is preferably a multicolour device to provide an indication of device status such as on/off, low battery, charging or the like. It may also be used to provide visual output depending on the magnitude of the impact.

(26) An on/off switch 59 for activating the device.

(27) A battery connection 60 for attachment to a battery such as a lithium ceramic battery which provides a relatively large power source in relatively small volume. Although shown as a separate connection, the battery is preferably part of the control module 3.

(28) The operation of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 5. The controller 53 receives a number of inputs as described below in order to assess the nature of an impact and to carry out various calculations and to provide useful output.

(29) Certain information is provided by a user before first wearing the garment. This can conveniently be done by providing a user interface 70 such as an app or a website that a user can access when they first use the garment. Information is required on a number of parameters specific to the user such as their weight, height and dimensions such as chest and waist measurements. These are all used in determining the nature of the impact. There may also be an age input to allow the software to determine what might be considered to be an acceptable level of impact.

(30) The software is pre-installed with data 71 concerning the threshold levels of peak pressure and impulse which are considered acceptable. These will include values for an individual impact as well as data concerning cumulative impact. Such values can be set based on existing medical research on safe levels of impact. This aspect of the software is updatable to allow for new information gathered from the latest medical research.

(31) The input from the or each pressure sensor 14 is designated by numeral 72. The sensed value is the normal component of the transmitted force. The pressure sensor 14 provides an indication of the impact force F.sub.N as well as the area A.sub.pad over which this force has been applied.

(32) The inputs from the accelerometer 50 and the gyroscope 51 are designated by numeral 73. The padding dampening factor 74 is programmed into the software based on the calibration of the material.

(33) This may be as simple as applying an impact of a known magnitude to the pad and measuring the transmitted force. A more sophisticated calibration may be carried out by applying impacts of different magnitudes to the pad.

(34) All of this information is then received by the processor 53 which can calculate the impulse felt by a user. This is achieved by integrating the force detected by the pressure sensor 14 over time.

(35) Using this data, together with the individual user date, the accelerometer and gyroscope data as well as the padding dampening factor, the algorithm is able to calculate the incident force F.sub.i by solving the equations of motion using laws of momentum and energy conservation.

(36) The output values can include the impulse and the peak pressure both as felt on the outside of the pad and as a peak pressure transmitted to the user, as well as an indication of the risk of injury and an indication of the effectiveness of the padding.