Seat air conditioner for vehicle

Details Seat air conditioner for vehicle Seat air conditioner for vehicle

1999-06-14

2001-01-30

Joyce, Harold (Department: 3744)

Ventilation

Vehicle

Seat structure

C297S180140, C454S907000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06179706

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seat air conditioner for a vehicle which supplies conditioned air to a seat of the vehicle.
2. Related Art
JP-Y2-4-45929 discloses a forced ventilation seat for a vehicle. The seat has an air permeable pad having an air chamber in a lower part thereof. Conditioned air from a front air conditioning unit of the vehicle flows into the air chamber of the pad, and is blown out from a surface of the pad toward a passenger.
However, in the above-mentioned seat, the pad needs to have relatively high air permeability. Therefore, the pad may not have sufficient hardness nor soft touch. As a result, when the passenger is seated on the seat, the pad is heavily squashed by seating pressure of the passenger, and the passenger may have difficulty in maintaining his or her seating posture. Further, when the pad is squashed, ventilation resistance of conditioned air in the pad is increased. As a result, amount of conditioned air to be blown out from the seat may be decreased.
Referring to
FIGS. 12
,
13
, a seat air conditioner for a vehicle in which a pad of a seat is restricted from being squashed is disclosed to cope with these problems. As shown in
FIG. 12
, a seat of the seat air conditioner has a pad
100
made of material having sufficient hardness such as urethane. An introduction passage
110
for introducing conditioned air to the pad
100
and plural distribution passages
120
are formed inside the pad
100
. Each of the distribution passage
120
extends from the introduction passage
110
to a surface of the seat. Further, plural air outlets
130
are formed to be opened in the surface of the seat so that each of the air outlets
130
communicates with each of the distribution passages
120
.
However, as shown in
FIG. 13
, when a passenger is seated on the seat, most of the air outlets
130
are blocked by the passenger. Therefore, conditioned air in the distribution passages
120
stagnates and is not blown out smoothly. As a result, the seat air conditioner can not provide the passenger with sufficient warmth and comfort. Further, each of the distribution passages
120
extends from a lower part to an upper part of the seat. Therefore, when conditioned air flows through the distribution passages
120
, heat loss of conditioned air is relatively large. As a result, the seat air conditioner can not provide an immediate effect.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a seat air conditioner for a vehicle which immediately provides a passenger seated thereon with sufficient warmth and comfort.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a seat air conditioner for a vehicle which has less air heat loss and provides a passenger seated thereon with sufficient warmth and comfort.
According to the present invention, a seat air conditioner for a vehicle has a seat and a blower unit for forcibly blowing conditioned air toward the seat. The seat has a shock absorbing member having an air passage and an air permeable seat surface member disposed on a surface of the shock absorbing member. The air passage includes an introduction passage for introducing blown air toward the surface of the shock absorbing member, plural distribution passages communicating with the introduction passage and a communication passage causing communication among at least two of the distribution passages. Each of the distribution passages and the communication passage is formed on the surface of the shock absorbing member. Therefore, air smoothly flows into each distribution passages through the communication passages without stagnation. As a result, air is smoothly blown out from a surface of the seat. Further, blown air is directly introduced toward the surface of the shock absorbing member through the introduction passage, and then flows into each of the distribution passages. Therefore, heat loss of air while flowing through the distribution passages is reduced.
Preferably, at least one of the distribution passages extends outside a passenger contact portion of the surface of the seat which contacts with a passenger seated on the seat. Therefore, even when the passenger is seated on the seat, air is smoothly blown out from the downstream air end of the distribution passage extending outside the passenger contact portion. As a result, the passenger immediately feels sufficiently warm and comfortable.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a seat air conditioner for a vehicle has a seat having an air passage and a blower unit for forcibly blowing air toward the seat. The air passage includes an introduction passage having a communication hole and plural distribution passages communicating with the introduction passage through the communication hole and outwardly extending from the communication hole. At least one downstream air end of the distribution passages is opened in a side surface of the seat. Further, the communication hole is disposed at a portion of the seat to which seating pressure of a passenger seated on the seat is applied. Therefore, when the passenger is seated on the seat, air is not directly blown out from the communication hole, but is distributed to a whole surface of the seat through the distribution passages. As a result, the surface of the seat has uniform temperature and the passenger feels sufficiently warm and comfortable.
Preferably, the distribution passages extend substantially linearly. As a result, heat loss of air while flowing through the distribution passages is reduced.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2826135 (1958-03-01), Benzick
patent: 2826244 (1958-03-01), Hurley
patent: 5597200 (1997-01-01), Gregory et al.
patent: 5645314 (1997-07-01), Liou
patent: 6059018 (2000-05-01), Yoshinori et al.
patent: Y2-4-45929 (1992-10-01), None

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