Gentherm Gmbh

Alan Chewter

Tyler Myers

Jun Yang

Jeremy Swanson

Jeff Arsenault

Vladimir Jovovic

Chad Westerman

Mobashar Ahmad

A method of providing thermal conditioning for a vehicle occupant according to an example of the present disclosure includes determining a respective target temperature for each of a plurality of discrete OPZs. Each OPZ is associated with a different occupant body area. The determining is based on a difference between a first OTS indicative of a target heat flux for the occupant and a second OTS indicative of an estimated heat flux experienced by the occupant, wherein the respective target temperatures differ between the OPZs. The method includes providing thermal conditioning in each OPZ based on the target temperature for the OPZ, which includes utilizing at least one thermal effector in the OPZ. The method also includes receiving a temperature offset value for a particular one of the OPZs from the occupant, and adjusting the target temperature for the particular one of the OPZs based on the temperature offset value.

Vehicle microclimate personalization based on occupant thermophysiology

An example method of providing thermal conditioning includes providing a HAL having a plurality of input drivers that obtain input data from temperature sensors, and a plurality of output drivers that control a discrete thermal effectors in discrete OPZs in a vehicle cabin. An EVAL obtains input data from the HAL and estimates a heat flux experienced by an occupant in each OPZ based on a vehicle profile. An OAL determines a first parameter based on a target heat flux for the occupant across all of the OPZs, determines a second parameter based on the estimated heat flux of the occupant from the EVAL, and determines respective temperature setpoints for each of the plurality of OPZs to reduce a difference between the first and second parameters. The thermal effectors are controlled based on the temperature setpoints.

Thermal conditioning system including segmented architecture

A method of controlling a microclimate system includes identifying a set of multiple microclimate thermal effectors configured to provide multiple occupant zones and determining a differential temperature between a local temperature at one of the microclimate thermal effectors and a preset temperature for the microclimate thermal effectors. The differential temperature is determined for each of the microclimate thermal effectors. A fuzzy set is generated for each of the microclimate thermal effectors based upon the respective differential temperature. A respective temperature set point for each of the microclimate thermal effectors is defined based upon the fuzzy set for the corresponding microclimate thermal effectors. Each microclimate thermal effector is commanded to the corresponding respective temperature set point.

Automotive seat based microclimate system

A microclimate system for a vehicle occupant includes multiple microclimate thermal effectors. Each of the microclimate thermal effectors at least partially controls a climate in at least one of multiple occupant zones. Each of the microclimate thermal effectors includes a sensor configured to determine microclimate temperature data corresponding to the zone. A controller includes an input configured to receive vehicle temperature data including cabin temperature and outside air temperature from a vehicle data bus. The controller fuses the microclimate temperature data with the vehicle temperature data and determines an estimated local equivalent temperature for each of the microclimate thermal effectors. The controller further provides a temperature command to each of the microclimate thermal effectors based upon the estimated local equivalent temperature corresponding to the microclimate thermal effector.

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Ypsilanti, MI, United States of America

Alan Chewter