Unless you dwell inside the Arctic Circle , you probably recall an air conditioner is a necessary accessory for your car , especially on those torrid August days when you find yourself trapped in slow - movingtrafficand evenrolling down the windowsto let the breeze in does n’t allow for relief from the heat . But automobile atmosphere conditioning has some serious drawbacks . Air conditioners practice vim , and unless you ’re drive anelectric machine , that energy ultimately occur from your car’sengine . Refrigerating the interior of your car costs you additionalgasolineand give carbon copy emissions that lead tosmogandclimate variety . A 2005 political science study estimated that strain conditioner use diminish a car ’s fuel efficiency by 21 to 24 pct and could increase automotive carbon emissions by as much as 120 percent over normal degree [ reference : Lustbader ] . So every time you change by reversal on your car ’s air conditioner , you ’re cost yourself more money and eject damaging pollutants into the environment . Yes , there are times when air conditioning is dead essential , but should n’t there be a better agency to keep the interior of your car cool ?
One option now bid by several car manufacturers is aviation - stipulate seats . By confining the cooled air directly to the spot where the hot driver ( or rider ) is sitting , atmosphere - conditioned seats practice vigor more efficiently than aura conditioner that cool the entire inside of the car . They do n’t completely extinguish fuel employment and pollution , but they derogate it . And tune - conditioned seats offer some significant advantages over average air conditioners . In motorcar where the seat air conditioning can be remotely touch off , they do away with the searing sunburn sitting on superheated , sunshine - warmed upholstery when you first climb in the motorcar . They also tolerate both driver and passenger to fine melodic phrase the gentle wind conditioning to their own needs , and can protect your clothes from embarrassing sudor stains . And some citizenry just enjoy having cooled air apply directly to their overheated bodies . It ’s not quite as nice as jumping into aswimming poolon a hot day , but it comes close .
How do air - condition seats work ? Do they still practice a fundamental car air conditioner or is the atmosphere conditioner situate in the seat itself ? How does the air get out of the stern so that it can cool down the person sit in it ? Can you buy air - condition buttocks for cars that do n’t have them build in ? We ’ll suffice those questions and more in the varlet that watch .
How Car Seats Can Keep You Cool
Different auto manufacturer implement air - conditioned seating area in unlike way . However , the received model for strain - qualify seats , developed by scientists at the Department of Energy ’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory ( NREL ) , work like this : The fabric of the motorcar seat is a poriferous web , so air can flow through it . Multiple fans inside the seat bring out air circulation , which blow through a dissemination layer that spreads the cooling effect throughout the seat and outward through the mesh , cooling the aerofoil . This air may or may not be refrigerated . Even unrefrigerated atmosphere is crucial in keeping you cool in your car seat . A received car seat choke up your consistency ’s built - in cooling organization . Ordinarily you eject fire up through your stomate in the pattern of water vapour , which carries the heat invisibly into the air . Having a can pressing against your back and bottom preclude this urine vapor from escape , causing it to digest into embarrassing sweat . It ’s like wear upon a jacket in hot atmospheric condition . But the porous cover of an air - conditioned posterior allows your torso ’s natural cooling system organization to make for even when sitting downandkeeps you nerveless by go around air across your skin . The moving air impart your body ’s heat away .
But some aviation - conditioned car buttocks also use a cooling component . Like most air conditioner , these work on a compressing , condensing , elaboration rhythm . For more inside information , see How Air Conditioners Work . The short version is that air conditioning operates on a very simple principle : When a gas pedal ( in this case refer to as arefrigerant ) is compressed , it becomes warm and when it expands it becomes cooler . This rule can be used to remove the heat from a elbow room , a car , or even a gondola fanny and bear it elsewhere . Until lately , the gas most commonly used as a refrigerant in air conditioning systems wasFreon , the commercial-grade name for achlorofluorocarbon(CFC ) construct by DuPont . However , CFCs have been found to be destructive to the Earth ’s atmosphere , creating holes in the ozone layer and add to global heating , and are now considered too unsafe for general employment . So Freon has been largely replaced in machine air conditioners by thehydrofluorocarbonHFC-134a .
In an air conditioner , this gas is run through a gadget called acompressor . Then it passes through acondenserwhere it cools into a liquid , dissipating its heat in the appendage . ( The dissipated heat is released outside the cabin of the car . ) at last , the cool liquid is pass through anexpansion valve , where it turn back into a gas . The elaboration of the gas makes it even colder . This summons take piazza within a closed loop consist of coiled tubes , so that it can be repeated over and over . Air is forced past the part of the grommet hold back the inhuman gas and becomes chilled . invariant input of energy is require to compress the petrol , which is why air conditioning uses up so much of your fuel .
melodic line - conditioned stern that utilize refrigerate air either contain a small-scale chill element base on this precept , or use air pump from the main temperature reduction chemical element of the cable car ’s air conditioning system of rules . Because the blank space being chill is limit to a single seat , relatively picayune energy is required compare with normal car air conditioning . In the caseful of air - condition seats without a cooling unit of measurement , where the driver or rider is cool by the circulation of unrefrigerated melodic line , the entire cognitive operation demand less energy than is used to range a typical light incandescent lamp .
If your cable car does n’t come with refrigerated seating room , several manufacturer would be happy to sell you air - check derriere cushions . These cushions have built - in rooter and sometimes cool down unit , and plug into the car ’s electrical provision . It ’s a cheap and easygoing way to keep yourself cool while stuck intraffic– and to make unnecessary the Earth ’s ambience in the buy .
