Air supply mechanism for a vehicle seat, and method for the operation thereof

A method for operating an air supply mechanism for a vehicle seat, with an air discharging opening provided in an upper region of the vehicle seat and via which a head, shoulder and neck region of a seat occupant can be subjected to an air flow in order to reduce undesirable draft phenomena, the air flow being regulatable with a control device by regulating a blower speed of a fan and heatable via a heating element, comprising:

• detecting whether there is a switching-on signal for the air supply mechanism, and if there is no switching-on signal, returning to a beginning of the method,
• switching on the heating element and starting the fan by way of a short high voltage pulse when the switching-on signal is present,
• operating the fan at minimum blower speed by way of an operating voltage below said short high voltage pulse for a predetermined period of time after the fan has started,
• detecting a driving speed of the vehicle,
• operating the fan, and therefore the blower speed, as a function of the driving speed after said predetermined period of time has passed, and
• checking whether a switching-off signal is present, and then returning to the beginning of the method when the switching-off signal is present, and again detecting the driving speed of the vehicle and operating the fan as a function of the driving speed when the switching-off signal is absent.