US20110180060A1

US20110180060A1 - Pavement element

Info

Publication number: US20110180060A1
Application number: US12/821,522
Authority: US
Inventors: Shih-Ying Chang; Yen-Huan Lei
Original assignee: National Yunlin University of Science and Technology
Current assignee: National Yunlin University of Science and Technology
Priority date: 2010-01-25
Filing date: 2010-06-23
Publication date: 2011-07-28
Also published as: TW201126042A; TWI420011B

Abstract

A pavement element is revealed. The pavement element includes a thermally conductive covering element and a solar collector frame. The thermally conductive covering element is a foamed metal disposed with a plurality of through holes for providing slip resistance and drainage function. Moreover, the solar collector frame collects heat and then the heat is transferred to the thermally conductive covering element so as to cause high temperature for killing insect larvae or eggs attached to the thermally conductive covering element.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Fields of the Invention
The prevent invention relates to a pavement element, especially to a pavement element that eliminates insect larvae or eggs.
2. Descriptions of Related Art
Dengue fever is also called classic Dengue or primary Dengue. Dengue is an acute viral fever transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquito. Dengue fever is caused by Dengue virus and manifests as high fever, headache, muscle bone and joint pains, retro-orbital headache and rash.
Since 1953, a wired Dengue occurs widely in Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Vietnam, etc. It is prevalent among children ranging from 3 to 10 years and symptoms include serious, fatal hemorrhage and shock. The Dengue has become a major international public health concern. Due to difference in the infected, symptoms and prognosis, this is called Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF), Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS), or secondary Dengue. The following Dengue (fever) means conventional or classic Dengue.
Human infections are due to bites of mosquito vectors carrying Dengue virus. During the period from one day before the onset and 5 days after the onset of the Dengue fever, virus is present in patients' blood and this is called viremia. The primary mosquito vectors in Taiwan include Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.
The biting midge, Forcipomyia (Lasiohelea) taiwana (Shiraki) (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) is a human-biting pest. Adults fly and feed during daytime and female mosquitoes hunt their blood host. The adult is tiny and the body size is only 1.4 mm. Mosquito bites are annoying and they are difficult to control with sprays. They can easily pass screened windows and doors and bite people. The bites are often found on the lower leg area.
Moreover, a mosquito bite usually results in itching, redness and minor local swelling around the mosquito bite site and tends to last for several days, which subsides after a few hours. For some severe cases, they may have allergic reactions. Although there is no evidence show that the Forcipomyia (Lasiohelea) taiwana transmits diseases, they are blood sucking insects and a nuisance to human being.
The Forcipomyia (Lasiohelea) taiwana (Shiraki) is distributed from outback locations to cities gradually. Their infestation period is in June and July. Thus children lived in the area where these pests thrive still need to wear clothing with long sleeves in hot summer for preventing and avoiding mosquito bites. Thus learning emotion is affected. People who work away from home or even local residents are all agitated or annoyed and moved to other areas. This has negative effects on the township development and economic growth. Moreover, in recent years, people have higher requirements for their quality of living due to high environmental consciousness. More township offices pay attention to the nuisance and damage associated with Forcipomyia taiwana. And the only way environmental protection agencies use to deal with the problem is to spray chemical pesticides in the affected area and period. However, the control of the pests is not effective and people still have complaints.
In order to prevent the growth of mosquitoes that transmit Dengue fever (such as Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus and Forcipomyia taiwana), a structure that eliminates insect larvae or eggs attached to paving bricks for preventing an increase in these pests in cities or area that people live in.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a pavement element in which solar heat energy is transferred to the pavement element so as to achieve high temperature and kill insect larvae or eggs attached to the pavement element.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pavement element that includes foamed metal arranged with a plurality of through holes for providing slip resistance and drainage function.
In order to achieve above objects, a pavement element of the present invention includes a thermally conductive covering element and a solar collector frame. The thermally conductive covering element is a foamed metal disposed with a plurality of through holes for providing slip resistance and drainage function. Moreover, the solar collector frame collects heat and then the heat is transferred to the thermally conductive covering element. Thus kill insect larvae or eggs attached to the thermally conductive covering element are killed due to high temperature exposure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing showing structure of an embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a schematic drawing showing structure of a thermally conductive covering element according to the present invention;

FIG. 2B is a partial enlarged view of an embodiment of a thermally conductive covering element according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing showing a solar collector frame of an embodiment according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In order to overcome the shortcoming of conventional paving bricks without drainage course or drainage pavements may have pest larvae or eggs, the present invention provides a pavement element with slip resistance and drainage function. Moreover, the pavement element prevents pest larvae or eggs from attaching thereto by environmental protection techniques.
Refer to FIG. 1, the present invention is a pavement element 10, such as a brick for pedestrian pavement, includes at least one thermally conductive covering element 100 and a solar collector frame 200. The solar collector frame 200 is disposed around the thermally conductive covering element 100. Moreover, the thermally conductive covering element 100 is in a geometric shape such as a tetragon, a quadrate, a rectangle, a rhombus, etc so as to arrange closely and form a planar body or a hive body for covering the sidewalk.
Moreover, refer to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, the thermally conductive covering element 100 is a foamed metal or thermally conductive material disposed with a plurality of through holes 110. The thermally conductive covering element 100 with the through holes 110 provides drainage function and slip resistance. Thus when people walk through, their clothes or shoes will not get wet due to flooding or water accumulated on the pavement. The thermally conductive covering element 100 can be porous aluminum. The aluminum is a preferred material in consideration of the business profits because aluminum has quite high thermal conductivity and low cost. As to the through holes 110, there may be some insect larvae 120 or insect eggs 130 attached thereto.
Furthermore, the solar collector frame 200 is a metal heat pipe that is a hollow tube and having an outer metal tube wall and an inner thermally conductive lining. The thermally conductive lining is a sintered layer, a network layer or slots. In order to make the metal heat pipe provide excellent thermal conductivity, generally the metal heat pipe is made from copper material. And there is a negative pressure within an inner space of the metal heat pipe and a liquid that is water or ethanol is filled into the metal heat pipe. Due to the negative pressure in the metal heat pipe, the liquid filled is in a gas form. After absorbing heat energy, the liquid is changing from a gas form to a liquid form. After the heat being transferred to the thermally conductive covering element 100 by heat conduction, the liquid is changing from a liquid form back to a gas form. According to such design, the solar collector frame 200 absorbs solar energy unfailingly and the heat energy is transferred to the thermally conductive covering element 100 by conduction. Thus the insect larvae or insect eggs attached to the through holes 110 can be killed. The use of the heat pipe is a conventional technique and the related details are not described.
Refer to FIG. 3, the solar collector frame 200 is a transparent heat pipe 210 with a heat absorbing part 220 therein. The transparent heat pipe 210 is filled with water 230 while the heat absorbing part 220 is mounted in the solar collector frame 200. The heat absorbing part 220 is made from metal or grey body material. The heat absorbing part 220 is used to absorb solar energy and water is as a heat conducting medium. Thus the heat is transferred to the thermally conductive covering element 100. The present invention is based on the principle of a solar water heater and its technical features.
In summary, the present invention uses a technique that collects solar heat. Then the heat is transferred to the thermally conductive covering element such as paving bricks. By an environmental way, the insect larvae or insect eggs in the through holes for drainage are killed. In accordance with the above design, the water drainage function and slip resistance are combined. An environmental-friendly, safe and comfortable environment is provided and is maintenance-free. This is suitable for large-area pavement and the growth of pests is effectively controlled. Moreover, the main body of the pavement element is foamed thermally conductive covering element whose material is light-weighted. Thus the pavement element has the advantages of convenient transportation and easy assembling.
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, and representative devices shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A pavement element comprising:

at least one thermally conductive covering element in a geometric shape; and

a solar collector frame wrapped around the thermally conductive covering element.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thermally conductive covering element is disposed with a plurality of through holes and is made from thermally conductive material.

3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thermally conductive covering element is a foamed metal having a plurality of through holes.

4. The device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the foamed metal is porous aluminum.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the geometric shape of the thermally conductive covering element is tetragonal.

6. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the geometric shape of the thermally conductive covering element is beehive.

7. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the solar collector frame is a metal heat pipe that is a hollow tube and having an outer metal tube wall and an inner thermally conductive lining.

8. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the thermally conductive lining is a sintered layer, a network layer or slots.

9. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the metal heat pipe is made from copper material.

10. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein there is a negative pressure within the metal heat pipe.

11. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the metal heat pipe is filled with a liquid.

12. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the liquid is water or ethanol.

13. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the solar collector frame includes:

a transparent heat pipe that is filled with water; and

a heat absorbing part mounted in the transparent heat pipe.

14. The device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the heat absorbing part is made from metal.

15. The device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the heat absorbing part is made from grey body material.