Development of a Seat Heating System with Far-Infrared Radiation

The thermal comfort sensation is assured by the factors that depend on the heat exchange between the human body and the ambient environment. This paper presents the development of a seat heating system for automotive with infrared radiation which offers an improved human thermal comfort. Most of the heating systems for the automotive seats uses electrical resistance and the heat is transmitted to the human body only by conduction. The proposed solution uses a heating kit that includes a few materials and the heat source is a radiant foil based on far-infrared radiant heat which gives a longer heating effect than other heating systems. The infrared radiant heat flux transferred to human body is transmitted by electromagnetic wave and the wave length is between 7- 20 μm. Far-infrared ray and anion are known to effectively suppress odors and growth of germs and boost the metabolism of the human body, not to mention the fact that they provide a healthier environment. The first advantage of the infrared heating system in comparison with classical system is the uniform heat flux transmitted to surface of the human body and the second advantage is that this solution offers different temperatures, especially in the lumbar area resulting a rapid achievement of the thermal comfort. On the other hand, in this solution, one of the heating kits is located on the seat backrest causing an improvement of the thermal comfort for the back passengers, especially in the leg area and abdominal area . Therefore, the heat propagation for this heating system is transmitted mainly by conduction, but also radiation and convection. The electrical command of the system is independent for the backrest zone, to assure energy savings. In this paper will be analyzed the temperatures in different points on the automotive seat measured on the experimental way both for the heating system with infrared radiation, as well as the system using the electrical resistance, knowing that both systems develop the same power.