The study of fabric performance for car seats
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Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Ljubljana
Abstract
This paper deals with the investigation of the performance of car seat fabrics in terms of physiological comfort of sitting, specifi cally their water vapour resistance and air permeability. The current work presents an
alternative approach to increasing the eff ectiveness 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 fl ow in the plane of ribbed – channelled structure
of the car seat middle layer. The fi ndings 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 fl ow improves physiological comfort of sitting which is a key issue for both drivers and manufacturers. The suggested device
for forced air fl ow 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.
Keywords: physiological comfort, air suction, channelled fabric structure
Description
Subject(s)
Air suction, Channelled fabric structure, Physiological comfort
Citation
ISSN
0351-3386