Heat exchange – With vehicle feature – Heating and cooling
Patent
1997-10-07
1999-07-13
Lazarus, Ira S.
Heat exchange
With vehicle feature
Heating and cooling
2971801, 454907, 62261, B60H 300, F25D 2312, A47C 774
Patent
active
059213140
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a conditioned seat that has at least one seat contact surface, the outer side of which faces towards part of a passenger in the seat, an air-conditioning device which supplies air to the region of the inner side of the seat contact surface, the water vapour partial pressure of which air is less than in the microclimate between seat contact surface and a passenger in the seat, an electrical heating element arranged in the region of the inner side of the seat contact surface for warming the seat contact surface, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature in the region of the seat contact surface, and a controlling system which is in connection both with the air-conditioning device and with the electrical heating element and controls these corresponding to a pre-set desired temperature value in dependence on the temperature measured by the temperature sensor.
Such a conditioned seat is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,430.
The human body's thermal balance is of critical importance for a person's sense of wellbeing. If that thermal balance is hindered as a result of contact of a relatively large part of the body surface with the seat surface of a motor vehicle seat, one's sense of well-being is adversely affected and in an extreme case health may suffer.
To solve that problem in the case of cold environmental conditions, heating systems for automobile seats are known which heat the cold vehicle seat within a short time to a temperature that feels comfortable for the passenger in the seat.
But even in hot environmental conditions, for example, in summer, it is undesirable for the body's thermal balance to be upset. The heat produced by the body and supplied to the body from its surroundings is dissipated again partly by loss of moist heat (transpiration) and partly by loss of dry heat (convection). This heat loss is prevented, however, by insulation of the body against the seat surfaces with which it is in contact.
For that reason perspiration will form under hot environmental conditions after a relatively long car journey, even on the best vehicle seat. This perspiration formation becomes disagreeably noticeable on getting out of the car, as one's clothing is damp with perspiration in places. To avoid clothing becoming damp in this manner, DE 41 12 631 C1 proposes a vehicle seat which in the back rest has a duct adjoining the inner side of the seat contact face of the back rest, and air flows through this duct. In the duct there is arranged an airdrying device which cools the air flowing through the duct to below dewpoint so that water contained in the air condenses and is then discharged from the duct. The seat contact surface is permeable to water vapour and largely impermeable to the air flowing through the duct.
The air dehydrated by the airdrying device is then warmed again, to that the relative humidity of that air drops. The water vapour partial pressure is therefore very low, and the air is able to absorb water vapour coming through the seat contact surface until saturation pressure is reached. In this manner water vapour that has passed through the seat contact surface can be removed and the seat contact surface can be kept dry.
In the case of the known vehicle seat, the airdrying device serves purely for the dissipation of moisture at the outside of the seat contact surface. There is no provision for a temperature control by means of the airdrying device.
The invention is based on the problem of producing a conditioned seat using structurally simple means, in which the temperature of the seat contact surface is adjustable in a simple manner independently of the ambient conditions, wherein at the same time uniform temperature balance and a removal of moisture from the seat contact surface is ensured.
This problem is solved by the invention of a conditioned seat with the features according to claim 1.
Depending on the position of the sensor, the temperature sensor can be constructed as a dry temperature sensor or as a wet temperature sensor, which also measures the la
REFERENCES:
patent: 4572430 (1986-02-01), Takagi et al.
patent: 5117638 (1992-06-01), Feher
patent: 5450894 (1995-09-01), Inoue
patent: 5613730 (1997-03-01), Buie
Lorenzen Gunter
Rauh Hans-Georg
Schuller Ferdinand
Weiss Michael
Chandler Lance
Lazarus Ira S.
W.E.T. Automotive Systems Aktiengesellschaft
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