Electric heating – Heating devices – With power supply and voltage or current regulation or...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-24
2001-09-18
Paschall, Mark (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Heating devices
With power supply and voltage or current regulation or...
C219S202000, C219S518000, C219S501000, C297S180120
Reexamination Certificate
active
06291803
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to methods and systems of regulating heat in vehicle seats.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As a means of regulating heat, vehicle seats have already been proposed, which have at least one supporting face designed to provide support for an occupant, this supporting face being made from a material susceptible to phase changes and exhibiting phase transition temperatures contained which a range between lower and upper limits of 15 and 37° C. (see, for example, the article entitled “thermal foam keeps seats and headliners warm in winter, cool in summer”, Automotive & Transportation Interiors, October 1998, p. 16).
The known seats of this type therefore have a self-regulated surface temperature which, when the seat ceases to be occupied, is automatically maintained for a certain period of time within the range of phase transition temperatures of the phase-change material. As a result, if the user of the seat gets back into the seat within a relatively short time of having left it (1 hour, for example), his initial contact with the seat will be pleasant.
However, once the phase transition of the phase-change material is complete, the surface temperature of the seat follows the ambient temperature of the vehicle. Consequently, if the user of the seat gets back into the seat some time (2 hours, for example) after having left it, the climatic conditions in certain instances may cause the surface temperature of the seat to shift to values which make the initial contact of the user with the seat unpleasant or even painful.
As a matter of fact, the pleasant contact temperatures which can be supported for a long period of time are in the range of between 28 and 32° C., for example.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The specific purpose of the present invention is to overcome this drawback. To this end, the invention proposes a heat-regulating method for a vehicle seat, which has at least one supporting face designed to provide support for an occupant, this supporting face being made from a material susceptible to phase changes and exhibiting a range of phase transition temperatures having lower and upper limits comprised between 15 and 37° C. (this phase transition “range of temperatures” being, in certain instances, reduced to a single phase transition temperature, which will then constitute both the above-mentioned lower and upper limits),
this method comprising steps which consist in:
measuring at least one reference temperature related to the temperature of the supporting face,
monitoring the occurrence of at least a certain situation, which will be a situation requiring forced regulation, in which the seat is normally unoccupied,
determining whether the reference temperature is within a certain predetermined temperature range, which will be the range at which forced regulation will be triggered,
if the reference temperature falls within the range triggering forced regulation and if the situation of forced regulation is detected, activating a heat-regulating device set up to exchange thermal energy with the supporting face in an forced regulation mode configured so as to bring the temperature of the supporting face to the range of the phase transition temperatures of the phase-change material,
and if at least one predetermined event occurs, terminating the forced regulation mode.
As a result of these features, when the forced regulation mode comes into operation, the supporting face of the seat is brought to a pleasant temperature before the seat is occupied, in cold weather and/or in warm weather.
This forced regulation mode may be activated:
immediately prior to use of the vehicle,
and/or earlier in advance, for example when the vehicle is halted in readiness for the next occupancy of the vehicle, in which case calories or frigories will be accumulated in the phase-change material so that the seat will retain a pleasant surface temperature for as long as possible.
In preferred embodiments of the method proposed by the invention, one and/or the other of the following features may be incorporated:
the heat-regulating device consumes an electric power greater than its normal usage power when said heat-regulating device is operating in forced regulation mode;
it is detected whether a user really is occupying the seat and the forced regulation situation corresponds to at least one situation in which the seat is detected as having no occupant;
it is detected whether a user really is occupying the seat and the forced regulation situation corresponds to at least one situation in which the seat is detected as having no occupant and in which the corresponding door of the vehicle is locked after having been unlocked;
if the external atmosphere is at a temperature below a predetermined limit and the ambient air inside the vehicle is at a temperature higher than the lower limit of the range of phase transition temperatures of the phase-change material, the ambient air contained in the vehicle is circulated in contact with the phase-change material whilst the heat-regulating device is operating in forced regulation mode in order to raise the temperature of the supporting face of the seat to the range of phase transition temperatures;
if the external atmosphere is at a temperature higher than a predetermined limit or insolation is higher than a predetermined value and the ambient air inside the vehicle is at a temperature below the upper limit of the range of phase transition temperatures of the phase-change material, the ambient air contained in the vehicle is circulated in contact with the phase-change material whilst the heat-regulating device is operating in forced regulation mode in order to reduce the temperature of the supporting face of the seat to the range of phase transition temperatures;
it is detected whether a user really is occupying the seat and the forced regulation situation corresponds to at least one situation in which the seat is detected as having no occupant and in which the corresponding door of the vehicle is unlocked after having been locked;
the predetermined event which terminates the forced regulation mode is at least one of the following events:
a user gets into the seat,
the temperature of the supporting surface is within a certain predetermined range of values,
the heat-regulating device has been operating in forced regulation mode for a predetermined period of time,
the engine of the vehicle is started;
if the reference temperature is below a predetermined limit, heated air is circulated on the phase-change material at least for the period during which the heat-regulating device is operating in forced regulation mode;
the heat-regulating device has a heater mat arranged in the immediate vicinity of the phase-change material and, if the reference temperature is below a predetermined limit, the heater mat is heated at least for the period during which the heat-regulating device is operating in forced regulation mode;
the heat-regulating device has a Peltier effect thermoelectric module arranged inside the seat and, at least for the period during which said heat-regulating device is operating in forced regulation mode, air is circulated on the phase-change material following a heat exchange between this air and the thermoelectric module in order to:
either heat the phase-change material if the reference temperature is below a predetermined first limit,
or cool the phase-change material if the reference temperature is above a second predetermined limit (optionally the same as the above-mentioned first limit);
if the heat-regulating device is operating in forced regulation mode, a flow of pulsed air is fed across the support face of the seat in the direction of the occupant;
if the heat-regulating device is operating in a normal heat-regulation mode, air is sucked out from a permeable layer arranged immediately below the support surface of the seat, this suction being applied via suction passages arranged in a central part belonging to the seat, and the permeable layer is supplied with fresh air via air inlet passages
Bertrand Faure Equipments SA
Marshall Gerstein & Borun
Paschall Mark
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