Air Conditioned Seats Project

I was just reading this article as well and what I am finding is that cooled seats work 1 of 2 ways:
Either they have small fans (like a computer) embedded into the fabric similar to the method I describes above which then pushes air (not chilled) through some type of "diffusion layer" to disperse the air throughout the seat surface OR
If they are actually "chilled" then they either need their own compressor/condenser (which is not reasonable to have a self contained AC unit mounted under each seat, besides it would be really loud and needs a place to dump heat outside the cabin) or they just use the cars AC pump and route the already cooled air in a similar fashion to what I have designed (except way better and more efficient since its OEM)

As far as not getting enough air from the vent... its not about trying to create a breeze that needs to be felt through the seat, but rather just enough cool air under the fabric to considerably cool the seat down. It should not take much to make this happen. As long as a little bit of chilled air is being piped into the seat this will work fine. Its not suppossed to feel like your sitting on an ice pack, simply disperse heat and keep your body slightly cooler.

With fabric, this may be pointless. But with leather.... It will work wonders!!

 

The whole point is to make this appear as an OEM integration, not a seat cover.

 

That would be easy... there is already AC duct directly behind the glove box. If your serious then this can be done for about $5 and half an hour of work.

 

Well this is just an idea. Thats why I made this thread is to get better more efficient ideas. My OP was obviously more complicated that it needed to be and is inefficient, but it was just to serve as a basic starting point to get some ideas rolling.

Is this really what they are called? If so, then perfect! Now to find some I can use

OK, so I researched Peltier and Thermoelectric plates and it seems as though this will not work. A 2"x2" Peltier would need over 400watts and over 50amps to run, and even though one side is extremely cold, the other side of the plate becomes burning hot. Without a method of heat dispersion as well as an entire electrical system overhaul/upgrade, this seems to be not practical to use.

 

This is how most cars do it... they have their own individual blower assemblies under each seat with piping throughout the cushion. Basically what I did in the OP, but with more dedicated air pressure

 

Well this thermoelectric thing looks to be not practical, and an actual condenser with cooled lines would create condensation under the fabric and thats bad news too. Looks like the AC idea is still most ideal. Although my OP was slightly complicated, if I can clean up the concept I think this is still my best best. Add perforated leather seats and Ill be set. Just enough air to cool off the leather a bit.

 

My Kia Optima has both heated and 'cooled' seats and is one of the hundreds of reasons I bought that car. It really is amazing car for the price tag and I don't miss my 2007 A4 at all. I digress. From what I've read it appears as though 'ventilated' would be a better term for describing these seats as with most that's basically what it does. I've seen 'kits' that basically have larger PC fans that you cut into the foam of your seat and then cover with the heating element as pictured in the OP and then it basically does double duty. Now, to me this seems that it would be quite difficult to add as an aftermarket afterthought and have it be efficient. This seems something that is better applied at the factory level where R&D can make the entire design optimal for this application. That being said, I think the best (probably not easiest or least expensive) way may be to find seats from a vehicle that has both of these functions at a junk yard and then disassemble and reassemble splicing electrical connections and what not. The easiest and least expensive method (not best) would be to just do the cooling fan cut into seat cushion as a solution. You don't need leather and I think that the cloth of our seats might actually work better with this method as airflow would be maximized over perforated leather. I may still give this option a run as I've seen kits that have both heating and venting as one kit and it's not terribly expensive to try and anything would be better than nothing really. Whenever I'm in my truck in the summer I miss my Optima's cooled seats dearly. They really do make that much of a difference and anyone who goes for a ride with me is amazed at how nice it is.

 

I bet you could take one of these apart and put the air part under the seat cover to do what you want to do.

Amazing SummerSeat Self-Cooling Car Seat Cushion (Beige) (40"H x 18.5"W x 1.5"D)

http://www.amazon.com/Amazing-SummerSeat-Self-Cooling-Cushion-Beige/dp/B000Q6TAKY

 

"Water Carbon" Seat Cooling
http://www.amazon.com/Water-Carbon-..._7?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1438720545&sr=1-7
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0CXS2CXBDXJPVKAM0MR5
"Champion" Seat Cooling
http://www.amazon.com/Champion-Seat-Ventilation-System/dp/B00CSZ4HGS

I'm not sure what's better, getting an electrically cooled pad or cutting into your seats to add actual fans. I have been wanting to do the TRD Seat Swap so maybe I could find some and cut them, problem is junkyards are nearly void of Tacomas.

If you put fans it, what is left to cushion your seat? Wouldn't it no longer be comfortable?

 

My Lexus had "ventilated seats" which were just that. Ventilated. Not "cooled". I was kinda bummed when I figured out the difference. Living in AZ I'd pay big money to have 50* seats in my truck.

 

I rented a Caddy Deville in Hawaii one year that had actual air conditioned seats and it was AWESOME. I would take that feature over navigation and probably other things as well.

I agree with you on the Lexus. I had an 05 ES330 with "Cooled" seats and it was pathetic compared to the Caddy

 

I rode in a new Ford Explorer sport twin turbo v6 that had actual "cooled" seats and yes, it was AWESOME. You could feel cold surges every once in a while, like little waves of heaven.

 

Bump Anybody ever do cooled seats In their taco?

 

Nah get some ice packs and sit on em, itll cool sticky balls and prevent monkey butt quickly.

In all seriousness, cooled seats work by the a/c cooling down the cabin and a few sets of seat mounted fans making airflow through the seat covers too cool them down. The Tacoma seats are not designed for this. If you can retrofit some Lexus es350 seats with this system into a Tacoma, it could work but I myself think my money's are spent better else where then worrying about a fan cooled cloth seat.

 

I was just curious cause my buddy just did this in his 2001 ford for about 60 bucks. But I can't see how I could make it work with our cloth seats, especially in a case like mine where I have heated clazzio covers

 

The reason why I quoted the Lexus es350 in my last post is because my youngest sister has one with the cooled seats. The seats are perforated similar to a leather motorcycle jacket. The seats are also heated. (All Factory) They just have a few fans in them to keep the air going. Your seat covers make it a bit more difficult but anything is possible my man, you just gotta open the wallet a little wider. I do not know much about the aftermarket cooled seats, but for all I know there might be an all in one heated and cooled kit out there. I feel your pain on the leather seating tho... never again without the "cooled seating"

 

There is a difference between "ventilated" seats and "cooled" seats.

Ventilated seats help and you can definitely tell a difference, but actual COOLED seats are where it's at.

These would sell like hot cakes in Arizona.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002...ooling+pad&dpPl=1&dpID=31cGfbjeNUL&ref=plSrch

Canaiblize this and use it's parts??
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01K5AYTGU/ref=mp_s_a_1_9_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1500698825&sr=8-9&keywords=electric+cooling+pad