US 5,924,766 · Granted 1999-07-20
Honda's Peltier Seat: The Patent That Made Car Seats Hot and Cold
Imagine a car seat that can warm you up in winter or cool you down in summer using electricity instead of hot water or fans. This patent describes a self-contained module with a Peltier element (a special chip that moves heat around) that sits inside your seat and pumps air through tiny holes to make you comfortable.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a self-contained temperature conditioning module for vehicle seats that uses a Peltier element paired with a heat exchanger. What's protected here is the specific combination of housing the Peltier element and heat exchanger together in a flexible case that connects to air intake and discharge pipes, allowing the module to condition air flowing through the seat cushion.
Why it matters
This patent represents an early approach to active climate control in vehicle seating, a feature that enhances passenger comfort on long drives. By packaging the temperature control system as an independent module rather than integrating it directly into the seat structure, Honda created a design that could be more easily manufactured, serviced, and adapted to different seat models, potentially reducing costs and improving reliability.
Real-world use
When you sit in a luxury car with heated and cooled seats, some of the technology enabling that comfort traces back to designs like this one, where electronics hidden beneath the seat cushion adjust the temperature of air flowing through tiny perforations.
Original USPTO abstract
A vehicle seat temperature conditioner includes a Peltier element, a heat exchanger for performing a heat exchange between heat generated or absorbed by the Peltier element and air transferred from a blower, and a case housing the Peltier element and heat exchanger together so as to provide the temperature conditioner as an independent self-contained unit or module. The housing case is made of a resilient and flexible material and functions also as a connector for coupling with an air intake pipe to introduce air from a blower into the vehicle seat temperature conditioner and with an air discharge pipe to discharge temperature-conditioned air from the temperature conditioner to air holes formed in the vehicle seat.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,924,766
- Filing date
- 1998-04-22
- Grant date
- 1999-07-20
- Assignee
- Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventor(s)
- ESAKI; HIDENORI, KUDO; TOMOHIDE, SHIBA; TAKESHI
- CPC class
- B60N2/5635
Want to file your own patent?
If you're designing a new comfort feature for furniture or vehicles, check IsItPatented to see what climate-control innovations are already locked down in the patent system.
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