The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 03, 1987
Filed:
Oct. 18, 1984
Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd., Nishikasugai, JP;
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Kadoma, JP;
Abstract
Apparatus for heating and cooling a steering wheel includes a skin layer coupled to the outside surface of the steering wheel, a heat conductive plate coupled to an inside surface of the skin layer, a thermal storage core extending along a central portion of the steering wheel, and at least one thermoelectric transducer thermally coupled between the heat conductive plate and the thermal storage core. The thermoelectric transducer either generates heat or absorbs heat in accordance with the direction of a current flowing through the transducer. When the steering wheel is hot, current is caused to flow through the transducer in a first direction so that the transducer absorbs heat. The transducer absorbs the heat from the heat conductive plate and passes it to the thermal storage core. In turn, the heat conductive plate absorbs the heat on the skin layer of the steering wheel, thus cooling the steering wheel. When the steering wheel is too cold, the current is caused to flow in a second direction in the transducer so that the transducer generates heat. This generated heat is provided to the heat conductive plate, which in turn, heats the skin layer of the steering wheel.