Vehicle interior assemblies having leather cover with electrically conductive coating

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10875430-B2
Application number	US-201815978533-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2018
Priority date	May 14, 2018
Publication date	Dec 29, 2020
Grant date	Dec 29, 2020

Abstract

A leather cover for a vehicle interior assembly such as a vehicle seat, a steering wheel, a console, etc. includes a leather layer and an electrically conductive coating applied onto the leather layer. The electrically conductive coating is either applied to a finish side of the leather layer or to a flesh side of the leather layer. The electrically conductive coating may function as: a wire harness component and is connected to wiring of a wire harness system of a vehicle; an electrical resistance heater and is connected to wiring of a heater system of a vehicle; an electrically conductive touch control and is connected to wiring of a control system of a vehicle; or electroluminescent or electrochromic lighting and is connected to wiring of a lighting system of a vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle seat comprising:
a seat body;
a leather cover covering the seat body, the leather cover having a leather layer and an electrically conductive coating applied onto the leather layer;
wherein the electrically conductive coating is part of a wire harness system of a vehicle with the electrically conductive coating functioning as wiring of the wire harness system and being connected between a first wiring of the wire harness system and a second wiring of the wire harness system to connect the first wiring to the second wiring; and
control, diagnostic, and/or power electric signals communicated over the wire harness system are communicated through one of the first wiring and the second wiring to the electrically conductive coating and through the electrically conductive coating to the other one of the first wiring and the second wiring.

2. The vehicle seat of claim 1 wherein:
the electrically conductive coating is applied to a finish side of the leather layer.

3. The vehicle seat of claim 2 wherein:
the leather cover further includes a base coat on the leather layer, a color coat, and a top coat on the color coat; and
wherein the electrically conductive coating is between the base coat and the color coat.

4. The vehicle seat of claim 1 wherein:
the electrically conductive coating is applied to a flesh side of the leather layer.

5. The vehicle seat of claim 4 wherein:
the leather cover further includes a base coat on a first side of the leather layer, a color coat on the base coat, and a top coat on the color coat; and
wherein the electrically conductive coating is on a second side of the leather layer, the second side of the leather layer being opposite to the first side of the leather layer.

Assignees

• Lear Corp

Inventors

• Bailey Christopher Todd

Classifications

• B60N2/0228

  Hand-activated mechanical switches (B60N2/0229 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H03K17/9622

  using a plurality of detectors, e.g. keyboard · CPC title

• B60R16/027

  between relatively movable parts of the vehicle, e.g. between steering wheel and column {(devices for measuring, signalling or controlling tyre pressure or temperature specially adapted for mounting on vehicles B60C23/00)} · CPC title

• H05B2203/013

  Heaters using resistive films or coatings · CPC title

• H03K2217/960765

  Details of shielding arrangements · CPC title