HEATED AND COOLED CHAIR APPARATUS

摘要

Articles of furniture with a system of heating and cooling that can be integrated into a building environmental control network are provided. The heating/cooling system of the article has surfaces of a porous or non-porous, moisture-permeable material allowing convective and evaporative heat exchange from the body surface to the environment. The material covers a plenum that has reflective surfaces to reduce radiant losses and low-wattage fans to circulate air that convectively cools the occupant. Resistance heating may be incorporated at key occupant contact areas in the seat and backrest. Temperature, occupancy and other sensors can be incorporated. A control interface controls the actions of the heating/cooling system of the article and can interact with a network server to transmit measurements of environmental temperatures and occupant selection of control settings that are useful for control of the building's indoor environment.

主权项

1. A heating and cooling system for a seat, said system comprising:
(a) a seat body with at least one plenum, said plenum having one or more plenum openings; (b) a plurality of fans configured to create an airstream in said plenum; (c) a moisture-permeable material covering said plenum openings; (d) at least one heating source; and (e) a power supply for powering said heating source and said fans; (f) wherein said airstream cools said moisture-permeable material of said seat body by convective and evaporative heat exchange.