 |
Description  |
|
|
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cover for a seat of a vehicle and the
like, and more particularly to a seat cover which serves as a heater in
winter and as a ventilator in summer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, various types of seat covers are known which are suitably
used in some season of the year only. For example, a seat cover preferably
used in winter usually consists of wool or similar material which provides
a sufficient heat storing capacity and a warm appearance. Further, it is
desirable to use during summer a seat cover which provides an excellent
air permeability and a cool appearance. Generally, however, such a
material is not available with a reasonable cost and, in selecting the
material, the appearance played a major role than the functional
characteristics. Thus, the driver or passenger on the seat tends to sweat
in summer due to the heat storing capacity of the human body and the seat,
and to feel cool in winter as the seat itself is not sufficiently warm.
Moreover, when the above-mentioned two types of seat covers are used
alternately, one of them has to be replaced with the other at each end of
the corresponding season. The seat cover which will not be used in the
subsequent season has to be cleaned and stored requiring an expenditure of
time and storage space.
In an attempt to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, there has been
proposed a seat cover which can be used through all the seasons of the
year. This seat cover has an electric heater adapted to heat one side of
the seat cover, and a ventilating blower adapted to discharge air through
an opposite surface of the seat cover. In winter, the driver or passenger
sits on the surface which serves as an auxiliary heater. The seat cover is
used upside-down or reversed in summer so that the discharged air cools
the other surface of the seat cover and the human body thereon, to prevent
the heat storage and promote dissipation or evaporation of sweat. Such a
seat cover includes a core which consists of hollow material to define an
air passage. In order to improve the user's comfort, the core should have
a sufficient flexibility so that the seat cover conforms with the seat and
the user's body. However, when the core is deformed by the user's weight,
the air passage is closed so that an efficient cooling cannot be achieved.
After a long period of use, the core becomes flat closing the air passage,
and such a deformation cannot be recovered so that the appearance of the
seat cover is greatly injured. In order to prevent closure of the air
passage and permanent deformation of the seat cover, the core should have
a sufficient rigidity. But, in this case, due to insufficient flexibility,
the user's comfort cannot be expected.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved
seat cover which mitigates the above-mentioned disadvantages.
According to the present invention, there is provided a seat cover which
can be mounted on a vehicle seat and used as a heater and as a ventilator,
comprising in combination:
a flat main body including a core which consists of resilient material and
defines therein an air passage;
a motor-driven blower which discharges air from one side of the main body,
through the air passage in the core;
an electric heater which is plain and disposed on the other side of the
main body;
said core including a flexible base plate and a plurality of projections
which project from at least one side of the base plate to define
therebetween said air passage.
The present invention will now be explained more in detail by referring to
the preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a seat cover according to one embodiment of
the present invention, the seat cover being mounted on a vehicle seat;
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal-sectional view of the seat cover shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the seat cover shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of the seat cover shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a core of the seat cover shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a modification of a main body of the
seat cover;
FIG. 7 is a plan view, partly in section, of a seat cover according to
another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a partly sectional bottom view of the seat cover shown in FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is a longitudinal-sectional view taken along the line IX--IX of FIG.
7;
FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view showing the portion X in FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is a fragmentary plan view of a core of the seat cover shown in
FIG. 7; and
FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along the line XII--XII in FIG. 11.
DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 5, there is shown a seat cover 1 according to
one preferred embodiment of the present invention. The seat cover 1
comprises a seat portion 2 and a back portion 3 which are integrally
formed. On both sides of the connection between the two portions 2 and 3,
there are mounted an air recirculating device 4 and a temperature
controller 5. The seat cover 1 is mounted on the seat A and held in
position by hooks 6 and deformable clips 7 made of metallic strip.
The seat portion 2 and the back portion 3 include hollow main bodies 9, 9',
respectively, each of which defines therein an air passage 8. The main
bodies 9, 9' are provided with electric heating elements 10, 10,
respectively, which are plain and covered by a common layer 11 of cushion
material which provides an excellent heat storing capacity. The cushion
layer 11 is covered by a trimming sheet 12. On the opposite side, the main
bodies 9, 9' are formed with a number of holes 13 which are in
communication with the air passage 8. Those holes 13 are covered by a
cushion layer 14 which provides an excellent air permeability. This
cushion layer 14 is covered by a trimming sheet 15 which also is formed
with a number of holes, not shown. At the connection between the seat
portion 2 and the back portion 3, the air passages 8 in the main bodies 9,
9' are communicated with each other through a flexible tube 16. On both
sides of the flexible tube 16, the main bodies 9, 9' are provided with
generally cylindrical projections 17 for accommodating the air
recirculating device 4 and the temperature controller 5. In order to
improve the heat radiating efficiency, there may be disposed between the
surfaces of the main bodies 9, 9' and the electric heating elements 10, 10
metallic foils 18, 18, such as aluminium foils.
The trimming sheet 12, cushion layer 11, electric heating elements 10 and
metallic foils 18 are held in position by buttons 19 which engage with one
sides of the main bodies 9, 9'. Similarly, the trimming sheet 15 and
cushion layer 14 are held in position by buttons 20 which engage with the
other sides of the main bodies 9, 9'. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 21
denotes holes for passing the buttons.
The main bodies 9, 9' each includes a core 22 as shown in FIG. 5, which
consists of resilient material and has a plurality of pin-shaped parallel
projections 22a projecting from a base plate 22b toward the holes 13 in
the main bodies 9, 9'. The rigidity of those projections 22a are
determined such that, when the body weight of the driver or passenger is
applied thereto, the core 22 is deformed to conform with both the seat and
the user's body, but the air passage 8 between the projections 22a is not
closed. The core is enclosed by a bag-like sheet material 25, one side of
which is formed with said holes 13. The periphery 24 of the sheet material
25 is spaced from the periphery of the base plate 22b. By this, the edge
of the seat cover can be rounded.
As shown in FIG. 3, one of the cylindrical projection 17 at the connection
of the seat portion 2 and the back portion 3 is closed by a dish-like grid
26, and accommodates therein the air recirculating device 4 which includes
a blower 32 driven by a motor 33. The other cylindrical projection 17
accommodates a temperature controlling element 27 of the temperature
controller 5. This controlling element 27 is connected with temperature
detecting elements 28, 29 of the electric heating elements 10, 10. The
controlling element 27 supplies the heating elements 10, 10 with
controlled current through lead wires 30, 31, respectively.
The above described seat cover is used in the following manner. In winter,
the seat cover 1 is mounted on the vehicle seat A such that the heating
elements 10, 10 are on the upper side of the seat cover. The temperature
controlling element 27 is connected to the vehicle-mounted battery. As the
controlling element is manually operated, the heating elements 10, 10 are
supplied with current and heated thereby. The temperature of the heating
elements are respectively detected by the detecting elements 28, 29 to
effect a feed-back control of the current supplied to the heating elements
10, 10. By this, the temperature is maintained at a substantially constant
level which can be varied, if necessary. During this heating, the heat
radiation toward the seat is reflected by the metallic foils 18, 18 so
that the driver or passenger on the seat is more effectively heated.
Further, the cushion layer 11 improves a comfortable and warm feeling
around the waist of the driver or passenger. In summer, on the other hand,
the seat cover 1 is used upside-down. Namely, the seat cover 1 is mounted
on the seat A such that the heating elements 10, 10 are on the lower side
of the seat cover. The motor 33 is connected to the vehicle-mounted
battery. Thus, the blower 32 sucks air in the cabin through the grid 26,
and discharges the air through the passage 8, holes 13 on one side of the
sheet material 25, cushion layer 14 and holes in the trimming sheet 15. By
this, the recirculating air cools the human body and the seat cover to
dissipate the stored heat and evaporate the sweat.
In this way, the seat cover according to the present invention can be used
through all the seasons of the year. All the necessary components are
accommodated in the seat cover so that what is required is just to mount
the seat cover on the vehicle seat and electrically connect the seat cover
with the vehicle-mounted battery.
The seat cover according to the present invention includes a core which
consists of resilient material and provides a sufficient flexibility to
conform with both the user's body and the vehicle seat, without closing
the air passage, so that the user's comfort is considerably improved.
Although the core of the seat cover is enclosed by a bag-like sheet
material, the periphery of this sheet material is spaced from the
periphery of the to provide an improved deformability of the seat cover.
FIG. 6 shows a modification of the seat cover, in which the main bodies 9,
9' each includes a bag-like sheet material 25, 25' which encloses the core
shown in FIG. 5. Peripheries 34, 34' of those sheet materials 25, 25' are
spaced from the peripheries of the cores, and formed like bellows. By
this, the peripheries of the sheet materials are easily deformed into a
desired contour.
FIGS. 7 to 12 show another embodiment of the present invention. Reference
numerals used in FIGS. 1 to 6 denote the same or corresponding elements.
This embodiment is substantially the same as the previous embodiment, so
that the differences only will be explained below. In this embodiment, the
main bodies 9, 9' of the seat portion 2 and the back portion 3 each
includes a core 35 as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. The core 35 consists of
resilient material and comprises a base plate 35a which is in the form of
a mesh and has a number of holes 35b. Between those holes 35b, the base
plate is provided with a number of projections 35c which project from both
sides of the base plate 35a to form the air passages 8 on both sides of
the base plate 35a. Instead of bag-like sheet materials, the cores 35 are
covered on both sides by layers 36, 37 of plastics sheet material,
respectively, one of which is formed with a number of holes 13 which are
in communication with the aire passages 8. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, the
core 35 is arranged also at the connection between the seat portion 2 and
the back portion 3, so that a flexible tube 16 shown in FIG. 2 is not
necessary. Further, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the peripheries of the seat
portion 2 and the back portion 3 may be surrounded by a resilient pad 38.
By forming a number of holes 35b in the base plate 35a, the air passage 8
on that side of the base plate 35a which is remote from the holes 13 is
communicated with the holes 13. Moreover, the base plate 35a has a reduced
weight and increased flexibility. As the projections 35c project from both
sides of the base plate 35a, the deformability of the core 35 does not
change when the seat cover is reversed. The core 35 is not enclosed by a
bag-like sheet material which usually disturbs the flexing movement of the
core. The manner of warming and cooling the user in winter and summer, per
se, is the same as that in the previous embodiment.
From the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that the present
invention provides an improved seat cover which can be used through all
the seasons of the year and which includes a flexible core designed to
conform with both the user is body and the vehicle seat. Consequently, the
user's comfort is considerably improved and undesirable permanent
deformation of the seat cover is avoided so that a refined appearance is
maintained for a long time.
* * * * *
|
|
 |
|
 |
Description |
|
