US 11,673,496 B1
Targeted occupant thermal comfort based on seat belt
Taeyoung Han, Bloomfield Hills, MI (US); Shailendra Kaushik, Novi, MI (US); Alok Warey, Novi, MI (US); Chih-Hung Yen, Bloomfield Hills, MI (US); and Bahram Khalighi, Holladay, UT (US)
Assigned to GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC, Detroit, MI (US)
Filed by GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC, Detroit, MI (US)
Filed on Mar. 17, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/697,444.
Int. Cl. F25B 21/02 (2006.01); B60H 1/00 (2006.01); B60N 2/56 (2006.01); B60R 22/12 (2006.01)
CPC B60N 2/5657 (2013.01) [B60N 2/5628 (2013.01); B60N 2/5685 (2013.01); B60N 2/5692 (2013.01); B60R 22/12 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A seat system comprising:
a seat bottom;
a seat back at a rear of the seat bottom;
a thermally controlled seat belt having a lap portion configured to extend over a lap of a passenger seated on the seat bottom and a shoulder portion configured to extend over a shoulder of the passenger, wherein the thermally controlled seat belt includes a plurality of Peltier effect thermoelectric elements mounted to the strap, the thermoelectric elements being connected to a power supply, wherein the thermoelectric elements have a heating side and a cooling side, and wherein when a DC electric current flows through the thermoelectric elements, it brings heat from the cooling side to the heating side, wherein the thermoelectric units are alternated so that a cooling side of a thermoelectric unit is facing the passenger and adjacent ones of the thermoelectric units have their heating side facing the passenger;
a power controller for adjusting an amount of power delivered to the thermoelectric elements from the power supply, wherein when heating is needed, the thermoelectric units with a heating side facing the passenger are activated by the power controller and when cooling is needed, the thermoelectric units with a cooling side facing the passenger are activated by the power controller.