How do ford cooled seats work

A gas in a closed loop is compressed and then condensed to cool into a liquid to refrigerate the air. The liquid then goes through an expansion valve, turning back into a gas and cooling further. Air passes the cold closed loop and is also cooled.

The gas used to be chlorofluorocarbon aka Freon but is now generally hydrofluorocarbon HFCa. In some cars, the cooled seats can be turned on remotely, making getting into the car on a burning-hot day much nicer.

Cooled seats are also easy for drivers and passengers to adjust to their own comfort levels. Plus, it feels nice on a hot day to have cold air blowing directly on you. Ventilated seats also have little fans and ducts inside the seat cushion and backrest. Some systems suck air into the seat, and others have fans to blow air from the seat toward the occupant. Kia Soul: As noted above, ventilated seats are part of a trim and packaging setup that significantly raises the price of the car.

The soon-to-be-tested Kia Niro also offers them. Hyundai Elantra GT: This surprisingly fun little sedan also offers the added bonus of ventilated seats as an option for hot drivers.

Note, though, this doesn't apply to the Elantra, Elantra Sport, or Elantra Eco models, according to Hyundai press information.

Chevrolet Malibu: This pleasing family sedan has grown immensely in size and maturity with the model year. The ventilated seats raise my esteem for it as well. Sweaty Favorites: Most of the best less expensive cars don't offer cooled or ventilated seats, though. And surprisingly, asking about the Mazda3 and MX-5, I learned that Mazda doesn't offer the feature anywhere in its lineup. I guess I could buy an aftermarket system, but I wonder if I'd be any happier than I am with the Sturgis Family Sienna with the Garmin tacked on the windshield.

Skip to content Share Icon. Facebook Logo. Link Icon. Cooled seats are becoming more common — but not common enough. He added that he's noted a great disparity of performance among cooled seats. However, the standard model for air-conditioned seats, developed by scientists at the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory NREL , works like this: The fabric of the car seat is a porous mesh, so air can flow through it.

Multiple fans inside the seat produce air circulation, which blows through a diffusion layer that spreads the cooling effect throughout the seat and outward through the mesh, cooling the surface. This air may or may not be refrigerated. Even unrefrigerated air is important in keeping you cool in your car seat.

A standard car seat blocks your body's built-in cooling system. Ordinarily you eject heat through your pores in the form of water vapor, which carries the heat invisibly into the air. Having a seat pressing against your back and bottom prevents this water vapor from escaping, causing it to condense into sticky sweat.

It's like wearing a jacket in hot weather. But the porous covering of an air-conditioned seat allows your body's natural cooling system to work even when sitting down and keeps you cool by circulating air across your skin.

The moving air carries your body's heat away. But some air-conditioned car seats also use a cooling element. Like most air conditioners, these work on a compression, condensation, expansion cycle.

For more details, see How Air Conditioners Work. The short version is that air conditioning operates on a very simple principle: When a gas in this case referred to as a refrigerant is compressed, it becomes warmer and when it expands it becomes cooler. This principle can be used to remove the heat from a room, a car, or even a car seat and carry it elsewhere. Until recently, the gas most commonly used as a refrigerant in air conditioning systems was Freon , the commercial name for a chlorofluorocarbon CFC manufactured by DuPont.

However, CFCs have been found to be destructive to the Earth 's atmosphere, creating holes in the ozone layer and contributing to global warming, and are now considered too dangerous for general use. So Freon has been largely replaced in automobile air conditioners by the hydrofluorocarbon HFCa.

In an air conditioner, this gas is run through a device called a compressor. Then it passes through a condenser where it cools into a liquid, dissipating its heat in the process. The dissipated heat is released outside the cabin of the car. Finally, the cooled liquid is passed through an expansion valve , where it turns back into a gas.

The expansion of the gas makes it even colder. This process takes place within a closed loop consisting of coiled tubes, so that it can be repeated over and over. Air is forced past the part of the loop containing the cold gas and becomes chilled.