Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Joseph Pierre Heremans

Dale Lee Partin

Thaddeus Schroeder

Donald T Morelli

Christopher Mark Thrush

Gary L Doll

Prasad Shripad Kadle

Jeffrey A Sell

Edward Wolfe, Iv

Su-Chee Simon Wang

Louis Green

Thomas W Nehl

Yingjie Lin

Avoki M Omekanda

Louis Leonard Nagy

John Robert Bradley

Warren Baxter Nicholson

Malakondaiah Naidu

John Robert Smith

Larry Max Oberdier

Charles Robert Harrington

Bruno P B Lequesne

Brian K Fuller

Charles H Olk

Jose Alberto Guerra

Jihui Yang

A thermo-electric device has a seat side and a cabin side for delivering heating and cooling air from a HVAC module to seat passages of a vehicle seat assembly. A selector is included for setting a desired or control temperature Tof the seat assembly. A comparator is included for determining the temperature difference &#x394;T between the actual temperature of the seat assembly Tand the desired or selected temperature T. A controller simultaneously adjusts a proportioning valve and adjusts the electrical current to the thermoelectric device in relationship to one another in response to the temperature difference &#x394;T.

Thermoelectrically heated/cooled seat with improved transient response using a proportioning valve

A thermo-electric device is disposed in series with the HVAC module for heating and cooling air Tfrom the HVAC module for delivery to seat passages of a seat assembly and/or to a thermal container. The thermoelectric device includes a thermoelectric module, a heat exchanger having cold and hot sides, ductwork, a divider that sends variable air flow to the cold or hot sides of the thermoelectric module, and thermal insulation between the cold and hot sides downstream of the heat exchanger. The fan of the HVAC module is the sole motivation for moving the conditioned air Toriginating from the central HVAC module through the thermoelectric device and to the seat assembly and/or to a thermal container.

Thermally conditioned container for a vehicle

A thermoelectric material having enhanced Seebeck coefficient is characterized by a microstructure comprising nanoscale Pb inclusions dispersed in matrix substantially composed of PbTe. The excess Pb is obtained either by adding Pb in an amount greater than the stoichiometric amount needed to form PbTe, or by adding an additive effective to getter Te so as to produce the desired excess. The method is generally applicable to enhance thermoelectric properties of compounds of Pb, Sn or Ge, and Te, Se, or S.

Thermoelectric materials comprising nanoscale inclusions to enhance seebeck coefficient

A thermoelectric device is disposed in series with the HVAC module for heating and cooling air Tfrom the HVAC module for delivery to seat passages of a seat assembly. The thermoelectric device includes a thermoelectric module, a heat exchanger having cold and hot sides, ductwork, a divider that sends variable air flow to the cold or hot sides of the thermoelectric module, and thermal insulation between the cold and hot sides downstream of the heat exchanger. The fan of the HVAC module is the sole motivation for moving the conditioned air Toriginating from the central HVAC module through the thermoelectric device and to the seat assembly.

Thermally conditioned vehicle seat

A sensor apparatus and method that can measure either a linear position or an angular position of a device. A linear array of galvanomagnetic sensing elements is fixedly mountable adjacent the device. A target is connectable to the device such that the target moves adjacent a surface of the linear array in response to movement of the device and is shaped so that a magnetic flux density curve resulting from excitation of the sensing elements includes a peak and/or a valley. A first circuit excites each of the sensing elements, and a second circuit measures a magnetic flux density value at each of the sensing elements. A maximum and/or a minimum of the flux density curve indicates the position of the device.

Magnetic array position sensor

A target wheel sensor assembly includes a target wheel, a magnet, and two or more sensing elements placed therebetween. The magnet and the sensing elements are configured so that as the target wheel rotates each of the sensing elements outputs a respective asymmetric signal relative to the direction of rotation of the target wheel or an object mechanically connected to the wheel. Each of these asymmetric signals is differentially combined with one another to determine the direction of motion of the target wheel, and, if optionally desired, the position of the target wheel.

Sensor assembly combining signals with enhanced asymmetry for detecting direction of rotation of an object

A controlled electron mobility galvanomagnetic device comprising a layer of indium antimonide alloyed with a Group 13 isoelectronic element antimonide and doped n-type, the layer disposed on an insulating substrate.

Controlled electron mobility galvanomagnetic devices

A method by which contaminant (soot) content in Diesel engine oil is determined using electrical conductivity measurements of the Diesel oil at a high frequency, or by which contaminant (soot and/or water and/or anitfreeze) content is determined using the ratio of electrical conductivity measurements of the Diesel oil at a high frequency to the electrical conductivity measurements of the Diesel oil at a low frequency. Both the conductivity ratio and the high frequency conductivity are essentially independent of the brand of oil. High frequency is defined to be above 2 MHz whereas low frequency is defined to be D.C. to about 1 kHz.

Diesel engine lubricating oil contaminant sensor method

A torque sensing apparatus for picking up a magnetic field of a magnetostrictive material disposed on a shaft, the torque sensing apparatus having: a first integrating ring; a second integrating ring; a first fluxgate return strip and a second fluxgate return strip each being connected to the first integrating ring at one end and the second integrating ring at the other end; an excitation coil; and a feedback coil; wherein the first integrating ring and the second integrating ring are configured to be positioned to pick up flux signals along the entire periphery of the ends of the magnetostrictive material.

Integrating fluxgate for magnetostrictive torque sensors

Soot content in Diesel engine lubrication oil is determined using electrical resistance measurements of the oil at high frequency. A sensor in the form of a capacitor is immersed in the oil, wherein the oil serves as a dielectric between the plates. The capacitance and resistance between the plates change as a function of engine oil condition. An inductor is placed in series with the sensor, and high frequencies are sweeped over a range to find resonance where the capacitive and inductive reactances cancel. At this frequency, the resistance of the oil is measured and the condition of the oil thereby determined.

Method for measuring high frequency resistance in diesel engine lubrication oil

Activation energy, W, is determined from oil conductivity measurements to thereby provide engine oil condition from a known relationship between viscosity and W. Changes of W at a given temperature as the oil ages are reflective of changes in viscosity of the oil at the same given temperature, wherein changes in W at different temperatures are reflective of changes of viscosity at those respective temperatures as the oil ages. To determine viscosity, the temperature dependence of the oil's conductivity is measured to deduce the value of W at a given temperature. W is monitored as the oil ages. W may also be determined through the ratio of the oil conductivities at two different temperatures by techniques well known in the art by which the viscosity may be determined as the oil ages.

Method for determining engine lubricating oil condition

A thermoelectric material that exhibits enhanced thermoelectric power, and thus an improvement in the thermoelectric figure of merit. Bismuth, as elemental bismuth, a bismuth alloy, a bismuth intermetallic compound, a mixture of these, or any of these including a dopant, is embedded in the pores of a host material having an average pore size in the range of about 5-15 nm. A method of making a composite thermoelectric material is also provided in which a porous host material is provided having an average pore size of about 5-15 nm, and a vapor of a bismuth-based material is caused to flow into the pores from a vapor inlet side of the host material to a vapor outlet side. The host material is then cooled from the vapor outlet side to progressively condense the vapor in the holes in the direction from the outlet side to the inlet side to progressively form nanowires of the bismuth-based material in the pores.

Enhanced thermoelectric power in bismuth nanocomposites

Composite galvanomagnetic devices having a desired combination of properties in specific temperature ranges and magnetic field ranges and so combined that desired properties are provided over an extended temperature and magnetic field range. In practice this can be accomplished with a single die with layers of different properties. Particularly, the present invention addresses this method as related to magnetoresitors and Hall plates.

Composite magnetic sensor

A magnetoresistor voltage divider includes a bottom layer disposed on a substrate. A middle layer is disposed on the bottom layer. A top layer is disposed on the middle layer. The bottom and top layer are resistive layers and the middle layer is an insulating layer. A common terminal is connected to the bottom layer and the top layer. A reference resistor terminal is connected to the bottom layer only. Moreover, a sensing MR terminal is connected to the top layer only. Accordingly, a sensing MR is established between the common terminal and the sensing MR terminal and a reference resistor is established between the common terminal and the reference resistor terminal. Thus, the sensing MR is stacked on top of the reference resistor.

Temperature compensated voltage divider with a magnetoresistor and a reference resistor

An adaptive driver circuit which uses a modified conventional current mirror circuit to provide a current source employing an automatically adjustable current to compensate for decreased SMR device sensitivity at higher temperatures and large air gaps without the need for an active feedback circuit. The adaptive driver circuit according to the present invention is a unique modification of a current mirror circuit in that an SMR device is used as the reference resistor and a fixed resistor in the mirrored circuit to generate an output voltage. A modification is also possible whereby two adaptive driver circuits are used in a differential mode.

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Troy, MI, United States of America

Joseph Pierre Heremans