Tests Show Ventilated Auto Seats Improve Fuel Economy, Comfort

March 13th, 2006

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has shown that ventilated automotive seats not only improve passenger comfort, but also help consumers get better gas mileage. According to NREL scientists, ventilated seats keep drivers and passengers cooler, so they need less air conditioning to be comfortable.

John Rugh, project leader for NREL’s Vehicle Ancillary Loads Reduction Project says, “If all passenger vehicles had ventilated seats, we estimate that there could be a 7.5 percent reduction in national air-conditioning fuel use. That translates to a savings of 522 million gallons of fuel a year.”

Using its suite of thermal comfort tools and subjective test data, NREL measured improvement in human thermal sensation for the ventilated seats and the potential for a 7 percent reduction in air-conditioning compressor power.

NREL developed its thermal comfort tools to help the automotive industry design smaller and more efficient climate-control systems in vehicles. The tools consist of a one-of-a-kind thermal comfort manikin called ADAM (ADvanced Automotive Manikin)—which actually breathes and sweats—along with a physiological model and psychological model. Linked together, these tools assess comfort in a transient, nonhomogeneous environment, unlike other commonly used models based on steady-state, uniform environmental data.

For more information, visit the NREL website.

Entry Filed under: Simulation, Test Software