Vehicle Seat Plenum with B-Side Ducts for Uniform Airflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air distribution systems for vehicle seats often fail to effectively connect to the back side of the cushion and distribute air uniformly, lacking efficient sealing and fluid distribution mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A distribution system comprising a plenum with a top layer, a bottom layer, and an open space between them, featuring ventilation holes and ducts that connect to cushion holes, supported by a seat suspension, and including baffles to distribute air uniformly across the back side of the cushion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If a blower is located on a bottom of a seat with an extended tail to distribute air, then air can be moved from a remote location, but the system complexity increases and sealing effectiveness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional approach by locating the blower on the back side of the cushion rather than on the bottom of the seat. This reversal eliminates the need for extended tails and complex routing, allowing the air distribution system to achieve effective cooling with simpler architecture by distributing air directly at the source on the cushion back side.
2Productivity
If a plenum connects to the back side of a cushion, then air distribution along the back side is improved, but sealing effectiveness deteriorates without proper connection features
Solution Approach 1:
The plenum is segmented into a top layer and a bottom layer with connection features extending between them. This segmentation allows the system to maintain effective air distribution along the back side of the cushion while the connection features provide reliable sealing between the layers, resolving the contradiction between distribution efficiency and sealing effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
Connection features act as intermediaries between the top and bottom layers of the plenum, providing both structural support and sealing functionality. These features enable the plenum to maintain air distribution efficiency while ensuring reliable sealing without requiring additional sealant materials.
3Strength
If connection features extend between top layer and bottom layer, then structural integrity is improved and spacer layers are eliminated, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connection features are merged into the plenum structure itself, extending directly between the top and bottom layers as an integrated component. This merging eliminates the need for separate spacer layers and additional assembly steps, providing structural integrity while actually simplifying the manufacturing process by reducing the number of discrete parts.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides effective air distribution along the back side of the cushion, ensuring uniform airflow and efficient fluid communication, while being free of spacer layers and using connection features to connect top and bottom layers without adhesives, enhancing comfort and performance.
Implementation Method 1
A distribution system comprising a plenum with a top layer, a bottom layer, and an open space between them, featuring ventilation holes and ducts that connect to cushion holes
Implementation Method 2
including baffles to distribute air uniformly across the back side of the cushion
Data Source
AI summary
A distribution system that includes a plenum. The plenum has a top layer, a bottom layer, an open space formed between the top layer and the bottom layer, and one or more ventilation holes within the top layer. The plenum includes a duct extending from one or more of the one or more ventilation holes that couples the plenum to a cushion hole within a cushion so that the plenum and the cushion are in fluid communication.