METHOD OF OPERATING DATA-PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR MONITORINGAND MAINTAINING DESIRED TEMPERATURE INSIDE THE FOOTWEAR

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a smart footwear that is capable to maintain the temperature within the set range using Peltier modules (10.i), that are additionally used for energy harvesting. The footwear is equipped with plurality of inner temperature sensors (20.j). Outer temperature is recorded by one or more sensors (30.k). Data processing unit (70) executes a program for heating/cooling and energy harvesting, where only i-th Peltier module is used in time for heating/cooling and other modules (10.1) where i?l for energy harvesting. In the preferred embodiment, the index i is changed consecutively to be 1->2->3-> . . . ->(N?1)->N with time period D that defines a duty cycle of each i-th Peltier module, and with the adjustable time period D1 before each new cycle 1->2->3-> . . . ->(N?1)->N, while all Peltier modules are in energy harvesting mode. Time periods D and D1 are used to regulate delivered power for heating/cooling.

Claims

1. A method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining desired temperature inside the footwear (100) by using a smart device (300) which is operated by a user (200), where the said footwear (100) is equipped with: a data processing unit (70) for executing the said method, and controlling switch S1 that regulates working regime heating/cooling, and where the data processing unit (70) additionally controls a driving module (71) and collects footwear's inner and outer temperature data, plurality of Peltier modules (10.i), distributed over the footwear (100) surface, for heating, cooling, and energy harvesting, and connected with the corresponding power cables (11.i) to the power busbar (40), one or more temperature sensors (20.j), distributed over the inner footwear (100) surface, and connected with the corresponding data cables (21.j) to the sensors' busbar (50), where said sensors (20.j) are used for measuring inner temperature Ti for each sensor location j, a battery module (90) equipped with the power management system (91) for powering the said Peltier modules (10.i) through a power busbar (40), for charging the battery module (90) in the energy harvesting regime, and for powering the data processing unit (70) and joint circuits, a driving module (71), executing the data processing unit commands to switch between energy harvesting condition or heating/cooling condition for each Peltier module (10.i) via the set of corresponding switches [Q1, Q2, . . . Qi, . . . , QN], a wireless low energy module (80) for establishing the communication with smart device (300) for controlling parameters of the said method of operation, and, optionally, to communicate with one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k), and optionally, an inductive charging device (92) connected to the power management system (91) to enable additional contactless charging of the battery module (90), wherein one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k) are connected via a data cable (31) or a wireless connection (51) with the data processing unit (70), for sending measured outer temperatures data to the data processing unit (70), wherein the said method is characterized by the following steps: A. loading the user (200) pre-defined high temperature threshold THi, and low temperature threshold TLo, entered via the smart device (300) and transmitted via the wireless low energy module (80) into the data processing unit (70), B. loading of inner temperature sensors (20.j) set of values for j=1, 2, . . . M, [Ti1, Ti2, Ti3, . . . , TiM] and calculating the average inner temperature <Ti> from the said values, C. loading of outer temperature sensors (30.k) set of values for k=1, 2, . . . P, [To1, To2, To3, . . . , TiP] via the wireless low energy module (80) or directly via data cables, D. if temperature <Ti> is within the range [TLo, THi], then all Peltier modules (10.i), i=1, 2, . . . N are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature, the data processing unit (70) sets all Q1, Q2, . . . QN switches to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91), or E. if temperature <Ti><TLo, then the data processing unit (70) sets all Q1, Q2, . . . Q(i?1), Q(i+1), . . . QN switches for harvesting energy and directs generated currents towards the power management unit (91), while the data processing unit (70) sets only Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and additionally set S1 switch to heating, or F. if temperature <Ti>>THi, then the data processing unit (70) sets all Q1, Q2, . . . Q(i?1), Q(i+1), . . . QN switches for harvesting energy and directs generated currents towards the power management unit (91), while the data processing unit (70) sets Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and additionally set S1 switch to cooling, where in step E. and step F. the value for the index i is changed consecutively to be 1->2->3-> . . . ->(N?1)->N with a time period D that defines a duty cycle of each i-th Peltier module, and with an adjustable time period D1 inserted before starting each new cycle 1->2->3-> . . . ->(N?1)->N during which the data processing unit (70) sets all Q1, Q2, . . . , QN switches to direct generated currents from the energy harvesting processes from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature towards the power management unit (91), where said time periods D and D1 are used to regulate delivered power for heating/cooling regime and to bring the average temperature <Ti> within the set range [TLo, THi], and where steps A., B. and C. are independently executed to provide the most recent data about the temperatures, for continuously executing loop defined by steps D.->E.->F.->D.

2. The method of operating data-processing system according to claim 1, wherein in steps E. and F. additional time period D2 is inserted between each switching from i-th to (i+1)-th Peltier module, where time period D2 is again used in the process of power regulation together with time periods D1 and D, and where during the said period D2 all Peltier modules (10.i) are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature and the data processing unit (70) sets all Q1, Q2, . . . QN switches to direct generated currents towards the power management unit (91).

3. The method of operating data-processing system according to claim 1, wherein time period D for each Peltier module (10.i) is adjustable and depends on a used Peltier module (10.i) position and the inner sensor temperature that is most closely situated to the said Peltier module (10.i).

4. A footwear (100), that is equipped with: a data processing unit (70) for controlling switch S1 that regulates working regime heating/cooling, and controlling a driving module (71), plurality of Peltier modules (10.i), distributed over the footwear (100) surface, for heating, cooling, and energy harvesting, and connected with the corresponding power cables (11.i) to the power busbar (40), one or more temperature sensors (20.j), distributed over the footwear (100) surface, and connected with the corresponding data cables (21.j) to the sensors' busbar (50), where said sensors (20.j) are used for measuring inner temperature Ti for each sensor j, a battery module (90) equipped with the power management system (91) for powering the said Peltier modules (10.i), for charging the battery module (90) in the energy harvesting regime, and for powering the data processing unit (70) and joint circuits, a driving module (71), executing the data processing unit commands to switch between energy harvesting condition or heating/cooling condition for said Peltier modules (10.i) via the set of corresponding switches [Q1, Q2, . . . Qi, . . . , QN] a wireless low energy module (80) for establishing the communication with smart device (300) for controlling parameters of the said method of operation, and, optionally, to communicate with one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k), and optionally, an inductive charging device (92) connected to the power management system (91) to enable additional contactless charging of the battery module (90), wherein said footwear's data processing unit (70) is used to perform the method of operating the data-processing system defined in claim 1.

5. The footwear (100), according to claim 4, that is a sock.

6. The footwear (100), according to claim 4, wherein the charging is performed via an inductive charger formed as the carpet or similar 2D device.

7. The footwear (100), according to claim 4, wherein one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k) are connected via the data cable (31) with the data processing unit (70).

8. The footwear (100), according to claim 4, wherein one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k) are connected via the wireless low energy module (80) with the data processing unit (70).

9. The footwear (100), according to claim 4, wherein the meta-data of the conducted method of operation, occurred in the data processing unit (70), are transmitted via the smart device (300) to the cloud (500), together with the accompanied smart device (300) data.

10. The footwear (100), according to claim 9, wherein an artificial intelligence unit (400) is used to improve footwear's thermograph of heating/cooling abilities, based on transmitted meta-data.

11. The footwear (100), according to claim 9, wherein the doctor (600) or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data in order to establish biological circles and patient's behavior, especially when combined with the smart device (300) data.

12. The footwear (100), according to claim 9, wherein the doctor (600) or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data for an artificial intelligence unit (400) supported diagnostic, especially for signaling potential user's diabetes mellitus disease.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0050] FIG. 1 depicts the block scheme of a smart footwear and the corresponding system's elements involved, such as a cloud, AI module etc.

[0051] FIG. 2 depicts a smart footwear, more particularly a smart sock together with the used elements in exercising the disclosure.

[0052] FIG. 3 shows the block scheme of electric circuitry.

[0053] FIG. 4 revels the cyclic switching of Q1 . . . . QN Peltier modules, during heating/cooling phase.

[0054] FIG. 5 shows the flowchart of the data-processing algorithm used to control heating or cooling and the time division multiplexing used for circular switching of used Peltier modules between cooling/heating phase and energy harvesting phase.

[0055] FIG. 6 shows the statuses of Q1 . . . . QN vs. time in the preferred embodiment.

[0056] FIG. 7 shows another variant of preferred embodiment where harvesting period D2 is executed before each Q(i)->Q(i+1) switching.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0057] The present disclosure relates to method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining the desired temperature inside a footwear. In the first part, the footwear according to the invention is described in detail.

Footwear

[0058] In the preferred embodiment, the used footwear can be formed as a shoe, a sock, or any other suitable footwear capable to enclose the entire foot, preferably in a manner of a textile or leather barrier to the surrounding environment. Such footwear is depicted on FIG. 2, and in this part the references mainly belong to the said figure.

[0059] Each footwear (100) is equipped with a data processing unit (70) for executing the below described method. Data processing unit (70) may be any of the shelf microcontroller module capable to collect footwear's inner and outer temperature data, to controls switch S1 that regulates working regime, i.e., heating/cooling, and where the said data processing unit (70) additionally controls a driving module (71), whose function will be discussed later.

[0060] According to the preferred embodiment, a plurality of Peltier modules (10.i); i=1, 2, . . . , N, is distributed over the footwear (100) surface, more preferably close to the inner surface of the said footwear for improving heating/cooling and energy harvesting abilities. Preferably, the used Peltier modules are flexible one, such as those TEGs described in reference 9) below: [0061] 9) Flexible thermoelectric device TEGway http://tegway.co/bbs/content.php?co_id=flexible&lang=en

[0062] Used TEGway's flexible thermoelectric device has a ZT value (?0.7) comparable to conventional rigid bulk type thermoelectric device, and yet provides better performance in real applications. The ZT value is defined as the dimensionless figure of merit, ZT=S2T/(??), and it is calculated from the Seebeck coefficient (S), electrical resistivity (?), and thermal conductivity (?), where T stands for absolute temperature, where all mentioned physical observables are temperature dependent, which is known in the art.

[0063] The person skilled in the art will immediately recognize advantages of the flexible thermoelectric devices over a rigid TEGs in formation of the footwear according to the said disclosure.

[0064] Each of said Peltier modules (10.i) is simultaneously used for heating/cooling functionin an active state, and for energy harvesting in its passive state, that will be explained in more detail in the section devoted to the method of operation. Furthermore, each Peltier module (10.i) is connected with the corresponding power cable (11.i) to the power busbar (40) connected to the driving module (71) and power management unit (91). Having in mind that all devices are built into the footwear, it is necessary to have power cables (11.i) formed from cables suitable for textile usage. Examples of such power or data cables are these disclosed in reference 10) below: [0065] 10) WEEL? textile data and power cables suitable for smart garment and footwears: http://www.weeltechnologies.com/cables.html

[0066] Said cables are entirely washable, able to be stitched, and therefore suitable to be used in smart socks or smart shoes formation.

[0067] In the preferred embodiment, one or more temperature sensors (20.j), j=1, 2, . . . , M; are distributed over the footwear (100) surface and connected with the corresponding data cables (21.j) to the sensors' busbar (50). Said sensors (20.j) are used for measuring inner temperature Ti for each sensor on location j, and are preferably uniformly distributed over the surface, and situated away the used Peltier modules (10.i) in order to eliminate false temperature readings. Considering the needed reading accuracy, any off-the-shelf point temperature sensor is suitable for the mentioned purpose, if it is able to communicate via the data-cable with the data processing unit (70).

[0068] A battery module (90), located preferably close to the ankle region of the said footwear, is equipped with the power management system (91) for powering the said Peltier modules (10.i) through the power busbar (40). Preferably, the flexible battery module (90), suitable for wearable technology is used. Again, the busbar is formed from the textile power cables disclosed in reference 10). The power management system is designed to fulfill several tasks, i.e., for charging the battery module (90) in the energy harvesting regime from one or more Peltier modules and for powering the data processing unit (70) and joint circuits that enable the said disclosure.

[0069] One of important and nontrivial joint circuit is a driving module (71). This module is designed for executing the data processing unit commands to switch between energy harvesting condition or heating/cooling condition for each Peltier module (10.i) via the set of corresponding switches [Q1, Q2, . . . Qi, . . . , QN], as depicted on FIG. 3, in close cooperation with the power management unit (91). The energy operation scheme of the said driving module (71) will be revealed in more details later.

[0070] The footwear, according to the preferred embodiment, has a wireless low energy module (80) for establishing a communication with any smart device (300). In practice, the best choice seems to be Bluetooth Low Energy Module (BLE), due to its versatility and well-established standard. Any smart device (300), such as a mobile device, a smart watch, or similar device, is used to set low (TLo) and high (THi) operational temperature of the mentioned footwear and for controlling parameters of the said method of operation. In one variant, the said smart device (300) is optionally used to communicate with one or more outer temperature sensors (30.k); k=1, 2, . . . , P, via a wireless connection (51) and to transmit the outer temperature data (To), via the mentioned BLE module to the data processing unit (70). In yet another variant, the outer temperature sensors (30.k) are connected via the data cable (31) with the data processing unit (70), for measuring outer temperatures To.

[0071] One or more outer temperature sensors (30.k) are needed for proper functioning of the smart footwear. Said sensors can be located on the outer surface of the footwear, or, preferably away of the said footwear to minimize false reading due to the user's body heat emission. In the latter case, it is necessary to have the data cable (31) or the above cited wireless connection (51) to transmit the temperature data to the data processing unit (70).

[0072] In yet another variant of the disclosure, an inductive charging device (92) is designed to be connected with the power management system (91), and to enable additional contactless charging of the battery module (90) beside energy harvesting due to the temperature differences. Namely, most of the time, the dedicated users (200) are sitting at their working places resting their feet on the floor, or on specifically designed resting pads. The similar situation occurs at their homes, for instance during the television watching, when the wireless charging can be performed via smart carpet. The said resting pads or carpets or any other almost two-dimensional (2D) objects can be equipped with inductive charger to cooperate with the charging device (92), built into the said footwear. In that sense, such additional power supply will prolong the ability of the said smart footwear, i.e., the sock, to operate according to the desired needs.

Method of Operation

[0073] The most challenging part in any heating/cooling of the footwear is its active surface that has to be thermalized. For the person skilled in the art, it is obvious that one Peltier module is not convenient for the mention use, and that more modules should be used. It is observed that the thermal diffusivity, which measures the heat transfer rate of a material from the hot end to the cold end, is significant in foot-footwear system. Therefore, it is convenient to switch one-by-one Peltier module on/off for cooling or heating purpose, which increases the thermalization time but lowers the net current used for powering the system and where such powering scheme preserves battery system. In addition, it is possible in that way to regulate the delivered or extracted heat power from the footwear by changing the duty cycles of the mentioned Peltier modules, in a manner that the duty cycle corresponds with the temperature difference between the desired temperature and actual inner footwear temperature.

[0074] The inventive part of the disclosure is that while i-th Peltier module is in its cooling/heating mode, all other Peltier modules are working as the energy harvesting devices and charges the battery module. The set duty cycle for the i-th Peltier module defines the period of activity for the i-th Peltier module.

[0075] FIG. 3 depicts the block scheme of the inter circuitry connection. The data processing unit (70) collect the data from inner temperature sensors (20.j) in the form of data vector [Ti1, Ti2, Ti3, . . . , TiM]. Also, the data processing unit (70) collects the data from outer temperature sensors (30.k) in the form of another data vector [To1, To2, To3, . . . , TiP]. Said data processing unit (70) is responsible for selection of cooling/heating regime via the reversing polarity (+Vdd) into (?Vdd) and vice versa, controlled by the S1 switch. In addition, DPU (70) controls the driving module (71) switching abilities. The driving module (71) sets each Peltier module to be in one of the states 0 or 1. If the i-th switch is set to 1, i.e. Qi=1. that the i-th Peltier module is in a cooling/heating state, that is determined with the S1 switch position. If Qi=0, then the i-th Peltier module is in energy harvesting state, and generated thermopower, and the correspondent microcurrent, is conveniently used, via power management unit (91) to power the battery (90). Later is achieved via the circuitry that is well-known in the art, e.g., reference 7).

[0076] The method steps are schematically depicted on FIG. 5 with the example depicted via FIG. 4.

Step A.

[0077] In step A., the system loading the user (200) pre-defined high temperature threshold THi, and low temperature threshold TLo, entered via the smart device (300) and transmitted via the wireless low energy module (80) into the data processing unit (70), see FIG. 4.

[0078] THi and TLo define the operational range, for instance from 34? C. to 36? C., but any other convenient range can be set.

Step B.

[0079] In step B., the data processing unit (70) loads the inner temperature sensors' set of values for j=1, 2, . . . M, [Ti1, Ti2, Ti3, . . . , TiM] and calculates the average inner temperature <Ti> from the said values.

Step C.

[0080] In step C., the data processing unit (70) loads the outer temperature sensors' set of values for k=1, 2, . . . P, [To1, To2, To3, . . . , TiP] via the wireless low energy module (80) or directly via data cables, as explained earlier.

Step D.

[0081] If temperature <Ti> is within the range [TLo, THi], then all Peltier modules (10.i), i=1, 2, . . . N are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature, as depicted on FIG. 4, for times between t1 and t2. The data processing unit (70) sets all Q1, Q2, . . . QN switches to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91).

Step E.

[0082] If temperature <Ti> is below TLo, then the data processing unit (70) sets all Q1, Q2, . . . Q(i?1), Q(i+1), . . . QN switches for harvesting energy to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91), while the data processing unit (70) sets only Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and additionally set S1 switch to heating. Said case is depicted for t>t2 on FIG. 4.

Step F.

[0083] If temperature <Ti> is above THi, then the data processing unit (70) sets all Q1, Q2, . . . Q(i?1), Q(i+1), . . . QN switches for harvesting energy to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91), while the data processing unit (70) sets Qi switch into heating/cooling condition for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and additionally sets S1 switch to cooling. Said case is depicted for t<t1 on FIG. 4.

[0084] Steps D., E., F. set the regime for i-th Peltier unit (10.i) and defines the working conditions for other Peltier units (10.j) where i?j in case of steps E. and F.

[0085] In step E. and step F. the value for the index i is changed consecutively to be 1->2->3-> . . . ->(N?1)->N. This change has time period D that defines a duty cycle of each i-th Peltier module. Effectively, that defines the working or occupation time for the said Peltier module, as depicted on FIG. 6. In the simplest scheme, each Peltier module is engaged for time period D. In addition, an adjustable time period D1 is inserted before starting each new cycle 1->2->3-> . . . ->(N?1)->N during which the data processing unit (70) sets all Q1, Q2, . . . , QN switches to direct generated current from the energy harvesting processes from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature towards the power management unit (91). That is depicted on FIG. 6.

[0086] The person skilled in the art will immediately recognize the ability to regulate delivered power for heating/cooling regime and to bring the average temperature <Ti> within the set range [TLo, THi] by adjusting D and D1 time periods. Longer D1 period means the lower total energy for heating/cooling is achieved in time. Longer D period means the higher total energy of some particular Peltier's unit for heating/cooling is delivered to the system foot-footwear. Similar power management is already disclosed in reference 8) cited before, however without ability to simultaneously harvest the energy from the temperature difference, where reference 8) is silent.

[0087] Finally, it is important to note that steps A., B. and C. are independently executed to provide the most recent data about the temperatures, while the steps D.->E.->F.->D. are executed in continuous loop.

[0088] In one variant of invention, depicted on FIG. 7, in steps E. and F. additional time period D2 is inserted between each switching from i-th to (i+1)-th Peltier module. Hereby time period D2 is also used in the process of power regulation together with previously mentioned time periods D1 and D, and where during the said period D2 all Peltier modules (10.i) are used for harvesting energy from the temperature difference between the inner and outer footwear temperature. In that regime, the data processing unit (70) sets all Q1, Q2, . . . QN switches to direct generated current towards the power management unit (91).

[0089] In yet another variant, it is possible to further improve the power regulation. Namely, the data processing device (70) can firstly read the j-th temperature sensor that is most closely situated to i-th Peltier module (10.i). Based on the said j-th temperature and the desired temperature range, i.e., THi and TLo, it is possible to adjust the time period D for the said Peltier module to achieve the best thermalization properties of the entire footwear. Hereby, as well in other variants, all other modules except the i-th are used for the energy harvesting.

[0090] The person skilled in the art may find other PWM forms to regulate heating/cooling power delivered to i-th Peltier module, while other modules j, where j/i, are turned to harvesting energy regime.

Potential Use Behind Temperature Regulation

[0091] FIG. 1 depicts further possible use of the said invention. Namely, the meta-data of the conducted method of operation such powering scheme and temperature feedback on applied controls, occurred in the data processing unit (70), can be transmitted via the smart device (300) to the cloud (500), together with the accompanied smart device (300) data such as user's age, location, weather condition, i.e., humidity, etc. In that sense said data are open for inspection and further use.

[0092] It is possible to use an artificial intelligence unit (400) to improve footwear's thermograph of heating/cooling abilities, based on the transmitted meta-data, by taking into account the current user locations-if necessary.

[0093] Also, the doctor (600) or other authorized data scientist can access the meta-data in order to establish biological circles and patient's behavior, especially when combined with other smart device (300) data.

[0094] Furthermore, it is possible to link the foot temperature with the possible health issues, as is demonstrated in the article below: [0095] 11) Chatchawan, U., Narkto, P., Damri, T., & Yamauchi, J. (2018). AN EXPLORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOT SKIN TEMPERATURE AND BLOOD FLOW IN TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS PATIENTS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 30(11), 1359-1363. doi:10.1589/jpts.30.1359

[0096] So, the recorded skin temperature can be effectively used for an artificial intelligence unit (400) supported diagnostic, especially for signaling potential user's diabetes mellitus disease.

[0097] Therefore, the signaling regarding the potential diseases are possible, more specifically, the diseases linked with abnormal foot skin temperature.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0098] Industrial applicability for the said disclosure is obvious. The present disclosure relates to method of operating data-processing system for monitoring and maintaining the desired temperature inside a footwear which is improved by energy harvesting regime via already used Peltier modules, beside well-known heating/cooling abilities.

REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0099] 10.i [0100] Peltier module; i=1, 2, . . . , N [0101] 11.i [0102] (Textile) Power Cable; i=1, 2, . . . , N [0103] 20.j [0104] Temperature sensor; j=1, 2, . . . , M [0105] 21.j [0106] (Textile) Data Cable; j=1, 2, . . . , M [0107] 30.k [0108] Outer temperature sensor; k=1, 2, . . . , P [0109] 31.k [0110] (Textile) Data Cable; k=1, 2, . . . , P [0111] 40 [0112] Power busbar [0113] 50 [0114] Sensors' busbar [0115] 51 [0116] Wireless connection [0117] 70 [0118] Data processing unit (DPU) [0119] 71 [0120] Driving module [0121] 80 [0122] Wireless low energy module, e.g., Bluetooth Low Energy Module [0123] 90 [0124] Battery module (BM) [0125] 91 [0126] Power management system [0127] 92 [0128] Inductive charging device [0129] 100 [0130] Footwear, e.g., smart sock [0131] 200 [0132] User [0133] 300 [0134] Smart device [0135] 400 [0136] Artificial intelligence (AI) unit [0137] 500 [0138] Cloud/Data storage [0139] 600 [0140] Doctor [0141] S1 [0142] Heating/Cooling switch [0143] Qi [0144] Switch for i-th Peltier module; i=1, 2, . . . , N