A composite roof panel of a vehicle disposed vertically above a passenger cabin of the vehicle includes: a first one or more layers of carbon fiber; a second one or more layers of carbon fiber; a binder material configured to bind the first and second one or more layers of carbon fiber; first and second electrical conductors that are: disposed between the first one or more layers of carbon fiber and the second one or more layers of carbon fiber; configured to be selectively electrically connected to a battery of the vehicle; and electrically connected to at least one of the first and second one or more layers of carbon fiber.

A method for manufacturing a heating mat for a motor vehicle. The method includes the following steps: providing a heating ply having a deformable structure and two heating elements inserted into the structure, said two heating elements being separated by a deformation area of the structure; stacking the heating ply between an upper layer and a lower layer, wherein at least one of the heating ply and the upper and lower layers includes a thermoformable material; assembling the stack by at least one fastening rod; and thermoforming the stack thus assembled, so as to secure the heating ply and the upper and lower layers into a single piece; and stretching the deformation area in the stacking direction.

A composite light weight, flexible and energy efficient, thermal source energy transfer assembly for the transfer of thermal energy in articles of warmth or cold and its method of construction is described. The assembly comprises a thermal energy generating membrane having opposed top and bottom surfaces. A first thermally insulating flexible down material sheet is secured to the top surface. A second thermally insulating flexible down material sheet is secured to the bottom surface and wherein the first thermally insulating flexible down material sheet has a thermal insulating value superior to the second thermally insulating flexible down sheet to thermally insulate the thermal energy generating membrane from an ambient temperature side of the thermal source energy transfer assembly when retained adjacent a surface area of a user person to be heated or cooled by heat or cold released by the thermal energy generating membrane. The second thermally insulating flexible down material sheet absorbs and distributes thermal energy transferred thereto by the thermal energy generating membrane. Several assembly examples and applications are described.

A method for regulating comfort in a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the passenger compartment including a seat, a radiant panel, and a heating device for the seat; the method being implemented by a controller having a memory containing a pre-established map. The method includes the following steps: acquiring a data item that is characteristic of the state of the passenger compartment, the characteristic data item including the temperature of the passenger compartment; determining, from the map, an optimal comfort level as a function of the characteristic data item; reading, in the map, regulation values associated with the optimal comfort level, the regulation values including values representative of the operating power of the radiant panel and of the heating device for the seat; and transmitting the read regulation values to the radiant panel and to the heating device.

The invention relates to a heating structure (30) intended in particular for installation inside a passenger compartment of a vehicle, this structure being in particular a radiant panel, the heating structure (30) comprising at least one resistive layer arranged to give off heat when an electric current flows through this layer (31), this structure further comprising an array of electrodes (32) comprising a plurality of contact electrodes (33) that are arranged so as to be in electrical contact with the resistive layer in order to make electric current flow through this resistive layer, at least two of these contact electrodes being in contact with a region of the resistive layer (31), these two contact electrodes facing one another such that electric current can flow from one of these electrodes to the other of the contact electrodes by passing through this region of the resistive layer, these two contact electrodes (33) on either side of said region taking a shape chosen such that the two electrodes get closer to one another over a portion (38) of the electrodes and stay further away at the ends (39) of these electrodes.

A method of controlling a microclimate system includes identifying a set of multiple microclimate thermal effectors configured to provide multiple occupant zones and determining a differential temperature between a local temperature at one of the microclimate thermal effectors and a preset temperature for the microclimate thermal effectors. The differential temperature is determined for each of the microclimate thermal effectors. A fuzzy set is generated for each of the microclimate thermal effectors based upon the respective differential temperature. A respective temperature set point for each of the microclimate thermal effectors is defined based upon the fuzzy set for the corresponding microclimate thermal effectors. Each microclimate thermal effector is commanded to the corresponding respective temperature set point.

A vehicle cockpit component (10, 12, 14, 16, 18) with a heating device that comprises a polyurethane-based foam charged and/or impregnated with an electrically conductive filler (1) which is directly connected to means for generating a potential difference (7a, 7b; 11a, 11b; 13a, 13b) for generating heat by Joule effect is provided. The polyurethane-based foam charged and/or impregnated with an electrically conductive filler (1) is used for manufacturing the padding or the upholstery of the vehicle cockpit component (10, 12, 14, 16, 18) or one or more portions of the padding or upholstery. The heating device is intrinsic to the vehicle cockpit component and does not require the provision of additional, separate components.

An electrode carrier of a vehicle heating device applying a CNT composite material includes a first electrode part and a second electrode part having different polarities from each other and formed in a straight line along a length direction of a vehicle; a fixing member configured to fix the first electrode part and the second electrode part to the vehicle; and the CNT composite material formed between the first electrode part and the second electrode part, configured to generate heat when being electrified, and fixed to the vehicle.

A heater device includes a heat generation layer that has a heat generation portion configured to generate heat when energized, a pair of electrodes disposed on one side of the heat generation layer and being spaced from each other, a detection portion configured to generate an electric field between the pair of electrodes and detect an object around the pair of electrodes, and a controller configured to control the amount of electric power supplied to the heat generation portion based on a detection result by the detection portion.

A heating apparatus is provided. The heating apparatus includes a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heating element and a power controller configured to generate and apply a pulse width modified signal to the PTC heating element. The power controller is configured to vary a current of the pulse width modified signal linearly with respect to a temperature of a space being heated by the PTC heating element.