Climate controlled seating assembly with humidity sensor
AssigneeGentherm Incorporated
InventorJohn Lofy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to certain embodiments disclosed in the present application, a climate controlled seating assembly includes a thermal module. The thermal module comprises at least one inlet channel, at least one outlet channel and a thermoelectric device (e.g., Peltier circuit) positioned upstream of the outlet channel. In one embodiment, the seating assembly includes a sensor positioned within an interior of the thermal module and configured to detect the presence of a liquid, such as water, relative humidity, condensation or other fluids, on or near said sensor.
Claims18
A climate controlled seating assembly comprising:
- a thermal module comprising at least one inlet and at least one outlet;
- a thermal conditioning device positioned upstream of the at least one outlet, said thermal conditioning device being configured to selectively heat or cool a fluid passing through an interior of the thermal module;
- a fluid transfer device configured to transfer a fluid from the at least one inlet to the at least one outlet of the thermal module, at least partially past or near the thermal conditioning device;
- at least one sensor configured to detect a relative humidity of ambient air entering the at least one inlet;
- and
- a controller operatively connected to the thermal conditioning device, the fluid transfer device and the at least one sensor;
- wherein, when the seat assembly is operating under a climate control mode, the controller is configured to at least partially and selectively reduce a voltage supplied to the thermal conditioning device once the at least one sensor detects a threshold level of relative humidity, while a speed of the fluid transfer device remains unchanged;
- and
- wherein a voltage supplied to the thermal conditioning device is configured to remain at a lower level until a level of relative humidity detected by the at least one sensor drops below the threshold level.
A climate controlled seating assembly comprising:
- at least one occupant support member configured to receive an occupant;
- at least one thermal conditioning device configured to selectively heat and/or cool a fluid passing along or near said at least one thermal conditioning device and toward an occupant positioned on the seating assembly;
- a fluid transfer device in fluid communication with the at least one thermal conditioning device, said fluid transfer device being configured to transfer a fluid relative to the at least one thermal conditioning device to selectively transfer heat to or from the fluid being transferred;
- at least one sensor configured to detect a relative humidity of ambient air surrounding the seating assembly;
- and
- a control unit operatively connected to the thermal conditioning device, the fluid transfer device and the at least one sensor;
- wherein, when the seat assembly is operating under a climate control mode, the control unit is configured to at least partially and selectively reduce a voltage supplied to the thermal conditioning device once the at least one sensor detects a threshold level of relative humidity, while a speed of the fluid transfer device remains unchanged;
- and
- wherein a voltage supplied to the thermal conditioning device is configured to remain at a lower level until a level of relative humidity detected by the at least one sensor drops below the threshold level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.