Air-conditioned upholstered element for the seat of a motor vehicle

• US 20040189061A1
• Filed: 01/28/2004
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Johnson Controls GmbH (Adient plc)
• Original Assignee: Johnson Controls GmbH (Adient plc)
• Inventors: Schmale, Gerhard, Hartwich, Dirk
• Granted Patent: US 7,108,319 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 297/180.14
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/56 Heating or ventilating devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/5635 coming from the passenger compartment

Abstract

The invention relates to an upholstered element (1) for a lower seat part (2) and/or a backrest (4) of an air-conditioned motor-vehicle seat (6), comprising an elastic upholstered air-permeable base part (8) and an air-permeable air-conditioning layer (10) which is disposed on the surface of the base part (8). The air-conditioning layer (10) consists of at least two partial layers (14, 16), i.e. a lower layer (14) which is oriented towards the base part (8) and an upper layer (16) which is disposed on top of the lower layer (14). The upper layer (16) is made of a material which absorbs moisture. Preferably, an intermediate layer (22) made of an air-permeable material is disposed between the base part (8) and the lower layer (14). The lower layer (14) is relatively softer and the intermediate layer (22, 22a) is relatively harder, whereby the lower layer (14) and intermediate layer (22) are prevented from being pressed into holes (18) in the base part (8) when the seat is occupied.

Claims

1. A cushion part (1) for a lower seat part (2) and/or a backrest (4) of an air-conditioned vehicle seat (6), having an elastic, air-permeable cushion base part (8) and an air-permeable air-conditioning layer (10) arranged flat on the base part (8), characterized in that the air-conditioning layer (10) comprises at least two sublayers (14, 16), specifically a lower layer (14) facing the base part (8) and an upper layer (16) lying on the lower layer (14).

2. The cushion part as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the upper layer (16) consists of a moisture-absorbing material.

3. The cushion part as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the upper layer (16) contains—

at least proportionally—

a nonwoven, a hydrophilized textile material, rubberized hair and/or activated carbon.

4. The cushion part as claimed in one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the upper layer (16) consists of a base material, in particular foam, with activated carbon placed in it, the base material preferably being needle-punched with a nonwoven.

5. The cushion part as claimed in one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the upper layer (16) consists of a relatively soft material having a compression hardness of, in particular, approximately 4 to 6 kPa and a high air permeability preferably of at least 500 l/dm²/min.

6. The cushion part as claimed in one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the lower layer (14) consists of soft, slightly compressed rubberized hair with a relative density in particular approximately in the range of 500 to 800 kg/m³.

7. The cushion part as claimed in one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the lower layer (14) consists of a plastic knit with a high compression hardness of, in particular, approximately 5 to 20 kPa.

8. The cushion part as claimed in one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the lower layer (14) has a high elastic restoring force and a high air and water-vapor permeability.

9. The cushion part as claimed in one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the base part (8) consists of a single-piece foamed-plastic body and, for its air permeability, has holes (18) which are distributed over the seat surface and extend continuously through the base part (8) in a direction perpendicular with respect to the main seat plane (20).

10. The cushion part as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that the holes (18) each have a length (L) which is determined by the height (H) of the base part (8) and a cross section (D), the ratio of length (L) to cross section (D) lying in the range of 2:

1 to 3;

1.

11. The cushion part as claimed in claim 9 or 10, characterized in that an intermediate layer (22) of an air-permeable material lies between the base part (8) and the lower layer (14), the lower layer (14) being of relatively softer design and the intermediate layer (22, 22a) of relatively harder design in such a manner that, when the seat is subjected to a load, a pressing of the lower layer (14) and of the intermediate layer (22) into the holes (18) of the base part (8) is avoided.

12. The cushion part as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that the intermediate layer (22) consists of highly compressed rubberized hair with a relative density of, in particular, approximately 600 to 1000 kg/m³.

13. The cushion part as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that the intermediate layer (22) consists of a highly compressed, in particular perforated, nonwoven material.

14. The cushion part as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that the intermediate layer (22a) consists of a relatively thin, perforated plastic plate.

15. The cushion part as claimed in one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that the base part (8) has edge regions (24) which are raised at least approximately to the level of the upper side of the air-conditioning layer (10).

16. The cushion part as claimed in claim 15, characterized in that channel-like clearances (28) are formed between the air-conditioning layer (10) and the edge regions (24) of the base part (8).

17. The cushion part as claimed in one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that the cushion base part (8) lies flat on an air-permeable, in particular perforated, supporting seat structure (30).

18. The cushion part as claimed in one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that the base part (8) and the air-conditioning layer (10) are jointly covered by a covering material (12), the covering material (12) having high air and water-vapor permeability at least in the actual seat surface region.