Vehicle seat air conditioner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024424861-A1
Application number	US-202418830100-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 10, 2024
Priority date	Mar 18, 2022
Publication date	Dec 26, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a vehicle seat air conditioner is provided in a first seat of a vehicle and performs air-conditioning for another seat other than the first seat. The vehicle seat air conditioner includes a blower, a blowing duct configured to blow out air guided by the blower from a blowing port provided on a side surface of the first seat, and a controller configured to control the blower. The controller is configured to: acquire blowing target positions of air blown out from the blowing port of the first seat and a blowing port of the other seat; and control, based on the blowing target positions, at least one of a time at which air is blown out from the blowing port, a blowing direction, and selection of the blowing ports from which the air is blown out.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle seat air conditioner that is provided in a first seat of a vehicle and performs air-conditioning for another seat other than the first seat, the vehicle seat air conditioner comprising:
a blower; a blowing duct configured to blow out air guided by the blower from a blowing port provided on a side surface of the first seat; and a controller configured to control the blower, the controller being configured to:
acquire blowing target positions of air blown out from the blowing port of the first seat and a blowing port of the other seat; and
control, based on the blowing target positions, at least one of a time at which air is blown out from the blowing port, a blowing direction, and selection of the blowing ports from which the air is blown out.

2 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein
the other seat includes a second seat adjacent to the first seat in a left-right direction of the vehicle, the blowing port of the first seat is provided on the side surface of the first seat facing the second seat, and the controller is configured to execute, based on the blowing target positions, at least one of shifting the time at which the air is blown out from the blowing port provided in the first seat from a time at which air is blown out from the blowing port provided in the second seat, and setting the blowing direction and the selection of the blowing ports from which the air is blown out to reduce interference between the air blown out from the blowing port provided in the first seat and the air blown out from the blowing port provided in the second seat.

3 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a blowing duct selection switching part that selects a ventilation path, wherein the blowing port provided in the first seat includes a plurality of blowing ports on the side surface of the first seat, the blowing duct includes a first blowing duct and a second blowing duct that respectively blow out the air guided by the blower from a first blowing port and a second blowing port that are the plurality of blowing ports, the blowing duct selection switching part has a first mode for guiding the air guided by the blower to the first blowing duct and a second mode for guiding the air guided by the blower to the second blowing duct, and the controller is configured to switch, based on the blowing target positions, between the first mode and the second mode of the blowing duct selection switching part to control the selection of the blowing ports from which the air is blown out.

4 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 3 , wherein
the second blowing port is provided below the first blowing port.

5 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 3 , wherein
the blowing target position of the vehicle seat air conditioner provided in the first seat is selected from among a plurality of portions of an occupant seated in the second seat including a first portion of the occupant and a second portion of the occupant located below the first portion, and the controller is configured to control the blowing direction and the mode of the blowing duct selection switching part based on the blowing target position.

6 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 3 , wherein
the controller is configured to switch, based on the blowing target positions, the blowing direction and the modes of the blowing duct selection switching part at predetermined time intervals.

7 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 2 , wherein
the blowing port provided in the first seat is one blowing port provided on the side surface of the first seat.

8 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 7 , wherein
the controller is configured to: determine, based on the blowing target positions, whether the air blown out from the blowing port provided in the first seat and the air blown out from the blowing port provided in the second seat interfere with each other; and when it is determined that interference occurs, control the time at which the air is blown out so that the air is blown out from the blowing port of the first seat in a first time zone in which air is not blown out from the blowing port of the second seat, and the air is not blown out from the blowing port of the first seat in a second time zone, different from the first time zone, in which the air is blown out from the blowing port of the second seat.

9 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 8 , wherein
the first time zone is a time zone following the second time zone, and the second time zone is a time zone following the first time zone.

10 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 8 , wherein
the blowing target position of the vehicle seat air conditioner provided in the first seat is selected from among a plurality of portions of an occupant seated in the second seat including a first portion of the occupant and a second portion of the occupant located below the first portion, and the controller is configured to control at least one of the time at which the air is blown out and the blowing direction based on the blowing target positions.

11 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 10 , wherein
the blowing port of the first seat is provided at a height corresponding to the blowing port of the second seat, and when both the blowing target positions of the vehicle seat air conditioners in the first seat and the second seat are the first portion or the second portion, the controller is configured to determine that the air blown out from the blowing port of the first seat and the air blown out from the blowing port of the second seat interfere with each other.

12 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 2 , wherein
the controller is configured to control at least one of the blowing direction and the selection of the blowing ports from which the air is blown out based on the blowing target positions and a seat type of the second seat.

13 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 12 , further comprising:
a blowing duct selection switching part that selects a ventilation path, wherein the blowing port provided in the first seat includes a plurality of blowing ports on the side surface of the first seat, the blowing duct includes a first blowing duct and a second blowing duct that respectively blow out the air guided by the blower from a first blowing port and a second blowing port that are the plurality of blowing ports, the blowing duct selection switching part has a first mode for guiding the air guided by the blower to the first blowing duct and a second mode for guiding the air guided by the blower to the second blowing duct, and the controller is configured to switch, based on the blowing target positions, between the first mode and the second mode of the blowing duct selection switching part.

14 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 2 , wherein
the controller is configured to control at least one of the blowing direction and a blowing amount of air blown out from the blowing port based on a detection result of a temperature detection sensor that detects information on a temperature of the second seat.

15 . The vehicle seat air conditioner according to claim 14 , wherein
the controller is configured to control, when a detected value indicating information on the temperature detected by the temperature detection sensor is equal to or greater than a threshold, the blowing direction to be closer to a front

Assignees

• Panasonic Automotive Systems Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nakagawa Takuya
• Makita Yuki
• Inoue Tatehiko
• Maeda Yoshihiko
• Enya Takeshi

Classifications

• B60H2001/003

  Component temperature regulation using an air flow · CPC title

• B60H1/00285 Primary

  for vehicle seats · CPC title

• B60H1/00871

  Air directing means, e.g. blades in an air outlet (construction of nozzles or air diffusers B60H1/34) · CPC title

• B60H1/00564 Primary

  of air ducts · CPC title

• B60N2/56

  Heating or ventilating devices · CPC title