Supplemental automotive vehicular heater system and method of providing same

摘要

A supplementary heating system particularly suitable for an automotive vehicle comprises a step down transformer coupled to the stator windings of the vehicle's alternator and a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) of resistivity heater electrically connected intermediate the stator windings and the transformer in parallel with the transformer. Due to the presence of the transformer the voltage regulator causes the alternator to operate at a higher than customary voltage to provide the conventional 14.4 volts for the vehicle's normal electrical loads with the high voltage used to energize the heater. The heater can be in the form of a so-called "honeycomb" having a plurality of parallely extending passages or cells disposed in the air stream going from the main heater into the passenger compartment and can be either a multiphase, single phase or direct current type. In one embodiment the transformer is switched into and out of electrical the transformer is alternator dependent on the energization of the heater, while in another embodiment the transformer is always electrically coupled to the alternator with the heater switched into and out of the circuit as desired.