US 11,731,541 B2
Seat heater, and temperature control method and temperature control program for seat heater
Kyoichi Muramatsu, Shizuoka (JP)
Assigned to KURABE INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD., Hamamatsu (JP)
Appl. No. 16/650,844
Filed by KURABE INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD., Hamamatsu (JP)
PCT Filed Sep. 25, 2018, PCT No. PCT/JP2018/035449
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 25, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/065628, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 4, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 2017-190197 (JP), filed on Sep. 29, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0276922 A1, Sep. 3, 2020
Int. Cl. B60N 2/56 (2006.01); G05B 13/04 (2006.01); H05B 1/02 (2006.01); H05B 3/16 (2006.01); H05B 3/34 (2006.01)
CPC B60N 2/5678 (2013.01) [G05B 13/041 (2013.01); H05B 1/0238 (2013.01); H05B 3/16 (2013.01); H05B 3/34 (2013.01); H05B 2203/029 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A seat heater comprising:
a heater that is provided between a seat cushioning material and a seat trim cover and comprises a heating wire laid on a base material;
a temperature detection unit provided on the base material and in the vicinity of the heating wire of the heater, the temperature detection unit comprising a thermistor being positioned apart from where a seat occupant comes in contact with the seat; and
a temperature control unit configured to control a temperature of the heater so that it approaches a target temperature in accordance with a temperature detected by the temperature detection unit, wherein
the temperature control unit starts heating the heater at a target temperature corresponding to an initial temperature detected by the temperature detection unit at a start of heating the heater, calculates an estimated environmental temperature, which is an estimated value of a temperature around the temperature detection unit, based on a rate of increase of a temperature indicating an amount of change of the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit in a period after an elapse of a predetermined time from a start of heating the heater, and corrects the target temperature so that it becomes lower as the estimated environmental temperature becomes lower.