Development of a temperature-controlled car-seat system utilizing thermoelectric device

A thermoelectric device was used to control the temperature of the car-seat surface: the warm temperature in the summer and cold temperature in the winter. The characteristics of the thermoelectric device for the car-seat were analyzed in relation to the input voltage and output temperature of the device. To install the device inside the car-seat, an air conditioning system was designed, consisting of a fan and duct to regulate the warm side of the thermoelectric device. To analyze and control the temperature of the car-seat system, a mathematical model of the car-seat system is proposed, and a robust control algorithm based on the sliding mode control is applied, respectively. A portable control system implementing the sliding mode control algorithm was developed by using a one-chip microprocessor and power driving system. The good performance of the developed control system for the constructed car-seat system was validated by actual tests. The test results are presented. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.