Chairs and seats – Bottom or back – Including a ventilating means
Patent
1998-03-10
1999-12-21
Barfield, Anthony D.
Chairs and seats
Bottom or back
Including a ventilating means
29718014, 29718013, A47C 774
Patent
active
060039507
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for ventilating a chair, which is of the kind comprising a cushion with a shaping filling that carries up and supports a person sitting in the chair and preferably consists of moulded plastic foam or similar material, a covering which is applied over the filling and over an insert located under the covering, the insert comprising a material which is permeable to air and preferably elastic and fibrous and being limited by a layer of airtight material. The ventilating device comprises a covering portion which at least partly is permeable to air and has such a surface extension that it is touched and loaded by the body of the person sitting in the chair, and a suction device which communicates with the inside of the covering portion and through a system of suction openings ventilates away the air that is drawn inwards through the cushion. The system of suction openings together with the air-permeable material of the insert, distributes the negative pressure produced by the suction device and thereby the ventilating flow of air.
The invention is specially intended for vehicle chairs, but shall not be limited hereto but can be applied generally in all kinds of sitting furniture.
2. Description of the Related Art
A ventilating device of the above-stated embodiment is known through Swedish patent 8703176-1 (Publ-No. 459.389). A layer of fibrous, air-permeable material located between the covering and the filling of the chair cushion is, according to the patent, inserted into an airtight bag which also encloses the plastic foam filling of the chair cushion. The bag is also shown containing a second fibrous layer located on the underside of the filling, where the bag has a connection for a suction duct.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The ventilating air shall therefore, according to the Swedish patent, be drawn right through all the parts of material of which the chair cushion is comprised, which irrevocably causes the device to work with a high flow resistance the major portion of which comes from the material enclosed by the bag, while the minor portion appears in the covering of the chair, which is said to consist preferably of woolen fabric. The high resistance that the suction device must overcome limits naturally the flow of air which in turn causes that the desired cooling effect on the body of the person sitting in the chair is not obtained. Briefly, the known device is characterized by a low efficiency, counted as the utilized suction effect in relation to the effect supplied to the suction device.
It is not possible nor desirable, especially in installations in vehicles, to compensate the poor cooling effect by choosing a bigger, more powerful suction device, which would give a sufficiently great ventilating flow of air, because that would give a high power consumption. A device of this kind must work continuously the whole time when the vehicle is driven, and therefore an increased load on its electric system must be avoided.
A valuable contribution to the development in this area which has been presented through the invention according to the above-mentioned patent is the steps disclosed therein to get a uniform distribution of the negative pressure on the inside of the air-permeable covering portion and thereby a uniform distribution of the flow of air through this covering portion. Such a step entails that the suction openings in said insert receiving the ventilating air from the covering are arranged in a special pattern. The suction openings in the seat part of the chair are positioned in a U-shape to give a good suction effect on the sides of the thighs and seat of the person sitting in the chair, while the openings in the insert of the backrest follow a line along the symmetry plane of the chair in order that sweating shall not occur on the person's back. As stated in the patent specification, this causes that the suction effect of the device is limited or concentrated to the surfaces of the c
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patent: 4413857 (1983-11-01), Hayashi
patent: 4671567 (1987-06-01), Frobose
patent: 4946220 (1990-08-01), Wyon
patent: 5403065 (1995-04-01), Callerio
Barfield Anthony D.
Walinov AB
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