Airflow management system for vehicle seat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9975394-B2
Application number	US-201213722156-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2012
Priority date	Dec 23, 2011
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

Vehicle seats may be configured as part of an airflow management system capable of controlling the environment in the immediate vicinity of seated passengers. A vehicle seat may include any number of air intake and discharge ports arranged so that discharged air flows along the body of the seated passenger on its way to the air intake ports. The air may be heated and/or cooled along a system air flow path to have an immediate effect on the comfort of the seated passenger without the need to heat or cool the entire vehicle cabin. Less energy is consumed to achieve a vehicle seat-specific climate than to achieve an overall interior cabin climate. The airflow management system may include more than one such vehicle seat, and the airflow characteristics with respect to each vehicle seat may be separately controllable.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle seat, comprising:
a seat bottom adapted for mounting to a vehicle;
a seat back coupled to the seat bottom;
a first pair of air discharge ports in fluid communication with a positive pressure air source and located along opposite left and right sides of the seat bottom and of a passenger seating area of the seat;
a second pair of air discharge ports located along opposite left and right sides of the seat back and of the passenger seating area;
an air intake port located along a front portion of the seat bottom; and
a pair of air intake ports located along the opposite left and right sides of the seat back,
wherein each of the air intake ports is in fluid communication with a negative pressure source and located along the passenger seating area,
wherein the air intake port located along the front portion of the seat bottom cooperates with the first pair of air discharge ports to form and guide lower streams of air that flow along legs of a passenger when the passenger is seated at the passenger seating area, each of the lower streams of air originating at one of the first pair of air discharge ports and extending to the air intake port located along the front portion of the seat bottom, and
wherein the pair of air intake ports located along the opposite left and right sides of the seat back cooperates with the second pair of air discharge ports to form and guide additional streams of air that flow along a torso of the passenger, each of the additional streams of air originating at one of the second pair of air discharge ports and extending to one of the pair of air intake ports located along the opposite left and right sides of the seat back,
wherein each of the air discharge ports is an opening located along an outer surface of the vehicle seat such that air is discharged directly into a passenger cabin of the vehicle from each discharge port.

2. A vehicle seat as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a third pair of air discharge ports located along the opposite left and right sides of the seat back and of the passenger seating area,
wherein said additional streams of air that flow along the torso of the passenger are medial streams of air, and
wherein the third pair of air discharge ports cooperates with the pair of air intake ports located along the opposite left and right sides of the seat back to form upper streams of air that flow along the body of the seated passenger at a location above the medial streams of air.

3. A vehicle seat as defined in claim 2 , wherein the seat back includes a headrest and one of the pairs of air discharge ports is located along the headrest.

4. A vehicle seat as defined in claim 1 , wherein the lower streams of air include one stream of air originating at the air discharge port along the right side of the seat bottom and flowing from an outer side of a right leg and over the right leg toward an inner side of the right leg, and another distinct stream of air originating at the air discharge port along the left side of the seat bottom and flowing from an outer side of a left leg and over the left leg toward an inner side of the left leg, the two streams merging at the inner sides of the right and left legs to flow into the air intake port.

5. A vehicle seat as defined in claim 1 , wherein each of the air discharge ports is located alongside and outside of the passenger seating area so that the body of the passenger does not obstruct the air discharge ports when seated in the passenger seating area.

6. A vehicle seat as defined in claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of each of the streams of air flows in an upward direction.

7. An airflow management system for use in a vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle seat having air intake ports located along opposite left and right sides of an upper portion of a seat back of the seat, an air intake port located along a front portion of a seat bottom, and air discharge ports located along opposite left and right sides of the seat bottom;
a blower having an output side arranged to provide air flow out of the air discharge ports; and
a controller adapted to control the blower,
wherein the air discharge ports and air intake ports are arranged and cooperate to form multiple streams of air such that each stream of air flows along a distinct portion of the body of a passenger when the passenger is seated at a passenger seating area, each stream of air originating at one of the air discharge ports and extending to one of the air intake ports,
wherein the multiple streams of air include lower streams of air each originating at one of the air discharge ports located along the seat bottom and extending and flowing along a leg of the passenger into the air intake port located along the front portion of the seat bottom, and
wherein the multiple streams of air include additional streams of air extending and flowing along a torso of the seated passenger and into the air intake ports located along the upper portion of the seat back,
wherein each of the air discharge ports is an opening located along an outer surface of the vehicle seat such that air is discharged directly into a passenger cabin of the vehicle from each discharge port.

8. An airflow management system as defined in claim 7 , wherein the blower has an input side arranged to draw air into the air intake ports.

9. An airflow management system as defined in claim 7 , further comprising one or more heat exchangers located along a system air flow path to affect the temperature of the air flowing through the system.

10. An airflow management system as defined in claim 9 , wherein the one or more heat exchangers includes an air-cooling unit and an air-heating unit.

11. An airflow management system as defined in claim 9 , wherein the controller is adapted to receive information corresponding to desired system airflow characteristics and to control the one or more heat exchangers to achieve said airflow characteristics.

12. An airflow management system as defined in claim 7 , wherein the controller is adapted to receive user input from a user interface that is part of the vehicle.

13. An airflow management system as defined in claim 7 , wherein the controller is adapted to receive user input from a user interface that is separate from the vehicle.

14. An airflow management system as defined in claim 7 , further comprising:
a second vehicle seat having air intake ports located along opposite left and right sides of a passenger seating area of the second seat and having air discharge ports located on the opposite left and right sides of the passenger seating area of the second seat, wherein airflow through the ports of the second vehicle seat is separately controllable from the airflow through the ports of the other vehicle seat.

15. A vehicle seat as defined in claim 7 , wherein the lower streams of air include one stream of air originating at the air discharge port along the right side of the seat bottom and flowing from an outer side of a right leg of the passenger and over the right leg of the passenger toward an inner side of the right leg of the passenger, and another distinct stream of air originating at the air discharge port along the left side of the seat bottom and flowing from an outer side of a left leg of the passenger and over the left leg of the passenger toward an inner side of the left leg of the passenger, the two lower streams of air merging at the inner sides of the right and left legs of the passenger to flow into the air intake port.

16. A vehicle seat as defined in claim 7 , wherein each of the air discharge ports is

Assignees

• Faurecia Automotive Seating Llc

Inventors

• Fitzpatrick Robert C
• Hotary James T

Classifications

• B60N2/5671

  forming a windbreak, e.g. warm air blown on the neck of the passenger of an open vehicle · CPC title

• B60N2/5657

  blown towards the seat surface · CPC title

• B60H1/00285 Primary

  for vehicle seats · CPC title

• B60N2/5685

  Resistance · CPC title

• B60N2/5692

  Refrigerating means · CPC title