Chairs and seats – With heat exchanger or means to provide fluid or vapor... – Power source propels air for heat exchange
Patent
1998-12-07
2000-08-29
Barfield, Anthony D.
Chairs and seats
With heat exchanger or means to provide fluid or vapor...
Power source propels air for heat exchange
29718013, 29718016, 29745242, 29745244, 29745247, 56522, 5653, A47C 3100, A47C 772
Patent
active
061096881
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to seat, rest, or couch upholstery and its general object is to improve the ventilation of that type of upholstery.
It is a nuisance to perspire when sitting on a chair, a swivel armchair at a desk, or a seat in a car, usually equipped with strong thermal insulation. Bed ridden patients and senior citizens who have to spend a lot of time reposing often complain about a lack of ventilation of their beds and frequently suffer bedsores.
It is a problem with the ventilation of seats or beds that the customary type of upholstery is compressed under the weight of the person sitting or lying on it, whereby ventilation normally is greatly affected in spite of reduced thermal insulation. Intensive thermal insulation or even active cooling at little ventilation of diffusion-permeable seat covers may lead to condensation in the colder part of the upholstery, often accompanied by fungus proliferation in these areas which by no means are hermetically sealed, and that is objectionable from the hygienic point of view.
To overcome this inconvenience, seat upholstery has been proposed (W95/14 409, WO 96/05475) with which a fan blows conditioned air under positive pressure through passages and pores in the upholstery to the buttocks and back of the person seated on it. In spite of the very great expenditure, only a minor effect or great energy input may be expected from this known seat upholstery because there is insufficient coordination between the passages supplying and carrying off the drainage air and the person sitting on or leaning against the upholstery. Uncomfortable undercooling due to an intensive by-pass flow must be expected particularly in the marginal regions of a sitting person.
Likewise known is mat-like padding (U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,294; EP 0 689 786 A1) containing a plurality of valves which are controlled to open under the load of a person seated on them. Then conditioned air is blown out through the valves against the buttocks and back of the seated person. With this padding, the valve travel is short compared with the compression of the upholstery so that the padding practically does not contribute to the cushioning effect. The conditioned air which is blown out may cause undesirable undercooling of the body parts mentioned. The problem of discharge of the air enriched with the effluvium from human bodies was not taken into account.
It is known per se to subject foam upholstery to forced ventilation by means of blast air which acts by pressure or suction (DE 31 47 610 A1). A solution for motor vehicle upholstery, working with positive pressure, accomplishes that with a differential pressure of 100-600 mbar (DE 3 705 756 A1).
It is the object of the invention to provide an apparatus for effective and pleasant ventilation of seats, rests, or beds which restricts draft-free ventilation substantially to the parts of the seats or beds contacted by the body, and which can be manufactured and operated at low cost. The apparatus is to be suitable, at the same time, for retrofitting of existing seating and bedding pieces of furniture.
This object is met by seat, rest, or couch upholstery as defined in claim 1. Advantageous modifications of the invention are specified in the subclaims.
According to the invention the flow of draining air is increased automatically or given a desired flow distribution by the surface area pressure exerted by the seated person. That is accomplished by controlling the valve means, preferably connected in parallel, to open because it is only under pressure load or compression that they liberate the cross section of the passage opening. This causes the draininig air not to be guided past the loaded surface but instead to travel through directly to where the ventilation is intended to have its effect. The flow cross sections of the valve means and the drainage channels may be designed so that even a very small pressure difference in the order of from 50 to 200 Pa and correspondingly little energy expenditure will provide a satisfactory air flow rate.
Retrofit uphols
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Hartig Stefan
Wurz Dieter
Barfield Anthony D.
Wurz Dieter
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