Title

The Study of Fabric Performance for Car Seats.

Authors

Havelka, Antonin; Glombikova, Viera; Komarkova, Petra; Chotebor, Michal

Abstract

This paper deals with the investigation of the performance of car seat fabrics in terms of physiological comfort of sitting, specifically their water vapour resistance and air permeability. The current work presents an alternative approach to increasing the effectiveness of car seat fabrics through a combination of newly designed middle layer with forced convection achieved by a supplementary suction ventilation device. The supplementary device was designed to measure water vapour permeability by means of the sweating guarded hot plate (SGHP) system. It consists of two parts: a frame to grip a tested sample for measurements within the SGHP system and two suction ventilators which are arranged at one end of the mentioned frame in order to provide suction into the tested fabric plane during the SGHP test. The results of this investigation show that water vapour transport is increased by approximately 20% compared to the standard way of measurement by means of SGHP because of forced air flow in the plane of ribbed - channelled structure of the car seat middle layer. The findings of this study have a number of important implications for future practice. The combination of a car seat cover with channelled structure and forced air flow improves physiological comfort of sitting which is a key issue for both drivers and manufacturers. The suggested device for forced air flow convection in the plane of a car seat fabric has not yet been part of an actual car seat, however it is possible to use its principles in a smart car seat prototype.

Subjects

AUTOMOBILE seat design & construction; AUTOMOTIVE fabrics; AXIAL ventilators; WATER vapor transport; AIR flow; TESTING

Publication

Tekstilec, 2017, Vol 60, Issue 3, p235

ISSN

0351-3386

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.14502/Tekstilec2017.60.235-242