Warmer for temperature conditioning wet dressings and other articles

Abstract

A warmer for heating wet dressings and other articles disposed in a combined heating and storage compartment in stacked relation insures that a bottommost article about to be dispensed is at a proper temperature so as to avoid burning the patient to whom the article is applied. The articles in stacked relation rest on a thin aluminum plate to which an electrical heater is connected for supplying thermal energy thereto, the plate having a center aperture forming a thermal island in which a first thermal sensor is disposed which projects into the compartment in contact with the bottommost one of the articles therein. A circuit board has control circuitry for the heater thereon and is disposed beneath the plate so as to simultaneously function as a stiffener for the plate. The control circuitry is connected to the first sensor as well as to a second thermal sensor which is directly responsive to the temperature of the heater. The control circuitry automatically limits the thermal energy supplied to the compartment as a function of the sensed temperature of the first and second thermal sensors for bringing the temperature of the bottommost article to a selected level and maintaining the temperature of that article at the selected level.