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US 5,850,741 AGranted
Automotive vehicle steering wheel heating and cooling apparatus
OwnerSteve Feherinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle steering wheel (12) has the temperature of its normally gripped regions (16, 18) modified from extremes to acceptable values by a heat pump (20) with heat transfer occurring along heat pipe sections (22, 24) between primary heat exchangers (26, 28) at the gripped regions (16,18) and a temperature modifiable surface (33). Circuit apparatus (67) automatically energizes the heat pump (20) to provide heating or cooling, as needed.
Claims17
A selectively temperature conditioned automotive vehicle steering wheel assembly, comprising:
- a steering wheel including a hand-gripping portion and arm means interconnected with the hand-gripping portion and extending therefrom:
- electrically energizable thermoelectric heat pump means mounted on the arm means spaced from the steering wheel hand-gripping portion in the ambient air for providing a first surface having a modified temperature from vehicle ambient temperature and a second surface in heat exchanging contact with the ambient air and having a temperature modified oppositely from that of said first surface;
- heat exchanger means mounted on the steering wheel hand-gripping portion;
- and
- heat transfer means interconnecting the modified temperature first surface with the heat exchanger means.
2 more elements
Apparatus for selectively modifying temperature of hand-gripping portions of a vehicle steering implement, comprising:
- selectively energizable heat pump means mounted to steering implement exterior and spaced from said hand-gripping portions for changing the temperature of a surface on said means in a direction dependent upon polarity of energization;
- means for interconnecting the pump means with a source of electrical voltage in either of two polarities;
- a heat pipe having one portion in contact with the changed temperature surface;
- and
- a hand-grippable heat exchanger contacting and substantially enclosing another portion of the heat pipe remote from said first described heat pipe portion.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.