Wheel well heater and heating method
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsStuart C. Salter, Paul Kenneth Dellock, Annette Huebner, Pietro Buttolo, David Brian Glickman
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Abstract
An exemplary extruded heater assembly includes, among other things, a backing, a heating layer having a conductive ink printed on a film, and a wear layer. The heating layer is sandwiched between the backing and the wear layer. An exemplary method includes, among other things, extruding together a backing, a heating layer having a conductive ink printed on a film, and a wear layer to provide an extruded structure. The method further includes mounting the extruded structure within a wheel well of a vehicle.
Claims20
An extruded heater assembly, comprising:
- a backing;
- a heating layer having a conductive ink printed on a film;
- and
- a wear layer, the heating layer sandwiched between the backing and the wear layer, wherein the conductive ink printed on the film comprises a capacitive portion printed on the film that provides a portion of a capacitive circuit, and a heating portion printed on the film that provides a portion of a heating circuit.
A method, comprising:
- extruding together a backing, a heating layer having a conductive ink printed on a film, and a wear layer to provide an extruded structure;
- mounting the extruded structure within a wheel well area of a vehicle;
- and
- printing the conductive ink on a first side of the film, and extruding the wear layer adjacent an opposite, second side of the film,
- wherein some of the conductive ink is within a first circuit and is configured to activate to heat the wheel well area,
- wherein some of the conductive ink is within a second circuit and is configured to activate to detect a buildup of contaminants in the wheel well area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.