Ventilated seat and method for ventilating a seat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10974629-B2
Application number	US-201815969039-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 2, 2018
Priority date	Jun 14, 2017
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

A ventilated seat having ventilation openings arranged on a seat surface of the seat, a ventilation device for generating an air flow, ventilation channels for air-conducting connection of the ventilation device to the ventilation openings, flow control devices for the individual opening and closure of the ventilation channels and/or of the ventilation openings, sensors for determining a force applied to the seat surface and/or a pressure acting on the seat surface and/or for determining an air pressure in the ventilation channels, and a control unit designed to control the flow control devices in accordance with the force determined and/or the pressure determined by the sensors.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A ventilated seat comprising:
ventilation openings arranged on a seat surface;
a ventilation device generating an air flow;
ventilation channels for air-conducting connection of the ventilation device to the ventilation openings;
flow control devices for individual opening and closure of the ventilation channels and/or of the ventilation openings;
sensors determining at least one of a force applied to the seat surface, a pressure acting on the seat surface, and an air pressure in the ventilation channels; and
a control unit controlling the flow control devices in accordance with the force determined and/or the pressure determined by the sensors, wherein the control unit opens ventilation channels and/or ventilation openings having the force and/or the pressure greater than a limit value while closing ventilation channels and/or ventilation openings having the force and/or the pressure less than the limit value.

2. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the sensors comprise pressure sensors.

3. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the sensors comprise force sensors.

4. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the flow control devices comprise valves.

5. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the seat is a vehicle seat.

6. A ventilated seat comprising:
ventilation openings arranged on a seat surface;
a ventilation device generating an air flow;
ventilation channels connecting the ventilation device to the ventilation openings;
flow control devices for controlling air flow through the ventilation openings;
one or more sensors determining a load on the seat; and
a control unit controlling the flow control devices in accordance with the load, wherein the control unit determines a pressure and/or force based on the load for each of the ventilation openings and determines if the determined pressure and/or force for each of the ventilation openings is greater than a limit value, and further opens ventilation openings having the determined pressure and/or determined force greater than the limit value while closing ventilation openings having the determined pressure and/or determined force less than the limit value.

7. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the load comprises force or pressure applied to the seat.

8. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise pressure sensors sensing pressure acting on the seat.

9. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise force sensors sensing the force applied to the seat.

10. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the load comprises air pressure in the ventilation channels.

11. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise air pressure sensors sensing the air pressure in the ventilation channels.

12. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the flow control devices comprise valves.

13. The ventilated seat as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the seat is a vehicle seat.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Wolf Philipp
• Hennes Nikica
• Lem Jeroen

Classifications

• B60N2210/22

  Optical; Photoelectric; Lidar [Light Detection and Ranging] · CPC title

• B60N2210/40

  Force or pressure sensors · CPC title

• B60N2/002

  Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon (detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266) · CPC title

• B60N2/5657 Primary

  blown towards the seat surface · CPC title