W.e.t. Automotive Systems Ag

Markus Hugenschmidt

Michael Weiss

Ferdinand Schuller

Ralf Carle

J&uuml;rgen Kraetzl

A heating element comprises a heating film having an electrically nonconductive support layer and a conductive layer. The conductive layer of the present invention comprises a metallic layer or material that is deposited onto the support layer. The heating element system is suitable for integration into the seating surface or backrest surface of an automotive vehicle which may also comprise additional components such as upholstered units and sensors to facilitate the comfort of the occupant of the vehicle.

Heating element

The present invention relates to a pressure sensor comprising a capacitor with a first capacitor pole element ( ) and at least one additional capacitor pole element ( ) arranged at a distance from one another. In accordance with the invention, at least one capacitor pole element ( ) has at least one textured region ( &prime; and/or &prime;) on the surface of its conductive components facing toward the other capacitor pole element ( ), and the distance between the two capacitor pole elements ( ) is different in the textured region ( &prime; and/or &prime;) than in an adjacent region ( &prime; and/or &prime;) to the textured region ( &prime; and/or &prime;). The difference between these two different distances can be changed&mdash;more particularly, reduced&mdash;by deformation of at least one capacitor pole element ( ) when the capacitor is subjected to pressure.

Pressure sensor

The seat heater includes at least one electric sheet-type heating element (10) made of flexible high-resistivity material to which the main electrodes (13A, 13B) are connected. In order to minimize the time during which the seat is perceived as being cold without any notable increase in overall power requirements, the seat heater is equipped with an additional feature (18A, 18B) for heating basically at least a partial area (SH) of the sheet-type heating element (10) with increased heating density, and a switch device for changing from heating the partial area (SH) with the additional feature (18A, 18B) to overall homogeneous heating of the sheet-type heating element (10) with regular heating density through the main electrodes (13A, 13) or the main electrodes (13A, 13B) and the additional feature (18A, 18B).

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Munich, Germany

Markus Hugenschmidt