WO2020025876A1

WO2020025876A1 - Radiant panel

Info

Publication number: WO2020025876A1
Application number: PCT/FR2019/051816
Authority: WO
Inventors: Georges De Pelsemaeker; Harry TSHILOLO
Original assignee: Valeo Systemes Thermiques
Priority date: 2018-07-30
Filing date: 2019-07-19
Publication date: 2020-02-06
Also published as: FR3084293A1; FR3084293B1

Abstract

The invention concerns a radiant panel (7) intended, in particular, to be installed inside a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the radiant panel (7) comprising: - a contact surface (50), surface on which a person installed close to the panel can come into contact with this contact surface by a part of the body, for example the palm of the hand, the back of the hand, the forearm, the finger on the fingerprint side, or the finger on the nail side, said body part that is able to come into contact being associated with at least one reference surface value, - a plurality of heating zones (51) designed to release heat, in particular when an electric current passes through these zones, the heat released by these zones being perceptible by the person who puts said body part in contact with the contact surface, these zones releasing heat which spreads heterogeneously over the contact surface.

Description

RADIANT PANEL

The field of the present invention relates to a radiant panel intended in particular to be installed inside a passenger compartment of a vehicle.

Generally, a radiant panel includes a plurality of electrodes configured to deliver heat by the Joule effect by supplying a conductive coating with electric current. We can for example refer to document US 2016/0059669 which describes such a radiant panel.

It is important, for the comfort of the people in the vehicle interior, that when these people come to touch a surface of the radiant panel, these people feel a heat uniformly distributed on this surface.

The invention aims in particular to meet this need.

The invention thus relates to a radiant panel intended in particular to be installed inside a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the radiant panel comprising: a contact face, face on which a person installed near the panel can come in contact with this contact face by a part of his body, for example the palm of his hand, the back of his hand, the forearm, the finger on the fingerprint side, or the finger on the nail side, said part of the body likely to come into contact being associated with at least one reference surface value, a plurality of heating zones arranged to give off heat in particular when these zones are crossed by an electric current, the heat given off by these zones being perceptible by the person who puts said part of his body in contact with the contact face, these zones giving off heat which is distributed in a heterogeneous manner on the contact face, radiant panel in which the he heating zones have dimensions and spacing chosen according to the reference surface value (s) so that the person who puts said part of his body in contact with the contact surface feels uniform heat despite the heterogeneous distribution of heat on the contact face. Thanks to the invention, the person who touches the hot radiant panel perceives a heat distributed uniformly on its surface due to the distribution of the hot and cold zones. The invention allows a sort of pixelation of the heat generated by the radiant panel, a pixelation sufficiently fine for the person to feel a uniformly distributed heat.

According to one aspect of the invention, the heating zones are arranged so that the heat heterogeneities given off on the contact face extend over an area less than the reference surface value.

According to one aspect of the invention, the reference surface value is a function of the type of surface considered, namely a hot surface or a cold surface.

According to one aspect of the invention, the heterogeneities of heat released remain, in surface area, less than a value of hot reference surface for the hot zones and less than a value of cold reference surface for the cold zones.

The hot zone is heated and the cold zone is not heated, so it will have a surface temperature several degrees lower than the hot zone.

Hot receivers measure temperature variations in the following range: 30 to 46 ° C. For cold receivers, the range is between 10 to 35 ° C. According to one aspect of the invention, the reference surface values are defined, in cm2 unit, as follows:

These values come from medical studies, in particular from doctor Kapitaniak. According to one aspect of the invention, the heating zones are arranged so that the heterogeneities remain less than 0.59 cm2 for the cold zones and 0.125 cm2 for the hot zones or, when the heating zones are separated by a space in strip form, this strip (D) does not exceed a predetermined value.

The invention can advantageously make it possible to have a single type of radiant panel whatever the location for which the panel is intended in the passenger compartment of the car, since the heterogeneities are chosen as small as possible taking into account the surface values of reference. This panel is suitable for being placed indifferently in a location capable of being brought into contact with hands, fingers or the arm. The person will always feel a uniform warmth.

According to one aspect of the invention, the radiant panel comprises an array of electrodes inserted into a resistive layer of the panel and the array of electrodes is arranged to generate said heating zones which are zones of the resistive layer which can be traversed by an electric current flowing between two electrodes of the network.

According to one aspect of the invention, the resistive layer deposited on a polyamide film is composed of an acrylic paint loaded with conductive or semi-conductive particles. The conductive filler is for example in the form of carbon and graphite flakes.

According to one aspect of the invention, the electrode array has a mesh of electrodes, a mesh chosen so as to have only spacings of area less than one or more chosen values of reference area.

According to one aspect of the invention, the radiant panel comprises a pattern of resistive coatings and this pattern of resistive coatings is arranged to generate said heating zones which are these coatings arranged in a pattern and which can be traversed by an electric current. in order to generate heat.

According to one aspect of the invention, the panel has electrodes which are electrically connected to these pattern elements.

These electrodes are for example electric wires. According to one aspect of the invention, the coating pattern comprises elements of patterns repeated in a symmetry.

According to one aspect of the invention, these pattern elements are geometric shapes, for example rectangles or any other type of polygon, curvilinear shapes for example partly circular, lines.

According to one aspect of the invention, the lines are arranged parallel to each other, for example in a straight or oblique manner with respect to electrodes which are electrically connected to these pattern elements.

According to one aspect of the invention, the spacing between these pattern elements, for example lines, is less than the reference surface value.

The present invention also relates to a motor vehicle comprising a radiant panel as defined above. According to one embodiment, this motor vehicle further comprises a heating, ventilation and / or air conditioning system in which the control unit as defined above is located. Other characteristics, details and advantages of the invention will emerge on reading the description given below by way of indication in relation to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an exemplary embodiment of a radiant panel according to the present invention,

- Figures 2 to 4 schematically represent a radiant panel according to other embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a radiant panel 7 comprising a support 8 covered with an electrically conductive coating 9 and in which a network 10 of electrodes 11, 12 is integrated. Advantageously, the support 8 is in a rectangular shape having a small side 81 and a large side 82. Of course, depending on the requirements of integration of the radiant panel 7, the support 8 could take any other form, such as a square or a trapezoidal shape, or any other polygonal shape such as a rectangle, a rhombus etc.

The network of electrodes 10 of the radiant panel 7 is organized as follows: a first supply line 21 is in electrical contact with a first group of electrodes, comprising electrodes 11 called first electrodes 11, and a second supply line 22 is in electrical contact with a second group of electrodes, comprising electrodes 12 distinct from the first electrodes and called second electrodes 12. Thus, the radiant panel 7 comprises a plurality of electrodes 11, 12 configured to provide heat, by the Joule effect. The electrodes 11, 12 are for example obtained by screen printing on the support 8.

Preferably, the first electrodes 11 extend along their length, that is to say according to their largest dimension, parallel to a transverse axis A1 which is perpendicular to a longitudinal axis A2 along which the first line of supply 21 extends. Likewise, the second electrodes 12 preferably extend along their length parallel to the transverse axis A1 which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis A2 along which the second supply line 22 extends. It should be noted that according to the embodiment, the transverse axis A1 is parallel to the short side 81 of the support 8, while the longitudinal axis A2 is parallel to the long side 82 of the support 8. In other words, the first electrodes 11 and the second electrodes 12 are mutually parallel and parallel to the short side 81 of the support 8, while the first supply line 21 and the second supply line 22 are parallel to each other and to the large side 82 of the support 8.

The invention is not limited to the fact that the electrodes 11 and 12 are parallel to the short side 81. In fact, the electrodes can be arranged according to a pivoting of the assembly by 90 °, that is to say by having the electrodes 21 and 22 parallel to the short side 81 and the electrodes 11 and 12 parallel to the long side 82. Furthermore, if the panel has a trapezoidal shape, each of the electrodes 11 and 12 can have a variable length to adapt to the evolution of panel dimensions.

According to this exemplary embodiment, the first electrodes 11 are arranged perpendicular to the first supply line 21. In the same way, the second electrodes 12 are arranged perpendicular to the second supply line 22.

The first electrodes 11 and the second electrodes 12 are arranged parallel to each other and are arranged in a comb. By comb arrangement, it is meant that the first electrodes 11 and the second electrodes 12 are arranged in alternating from each other. Thus, in the direction of the arrow F1 illustrated in FIG. 1, a first electrode 11 is followed by a second electrode 12 and conversely, a second electrode 12 is followed by a first electrode 11. In other words, a first electrode 11 is interposed between two second electrodes 12 and a second electrode 12 is interposed between two first electrodes 11. It is then possible to define a pair of electrodes 11, 12 formed by a first electrode 11 and a second electrode 12, or vice versa. Such a pair of electrodes 11, 12 comprises two electrodes adjacent to each other, that is to say a first electrode 11 and a second electrode 12 located closest to each other according to the longitudinal axis A2. Preferably, the network 10 of electrodes 11, 12 comprises a plurality of pairs of first electrode 11 and second electrode 12. According to the example illustrated, the network 10 comprises eight couples each formed by a first electrode 11 followed by a second electrode 12 and eight couples each formed by a second electrode 12 followed by a first electrode 11. Thus, according to the example illustrated, the network 10 comprises sixteen pairs of electrodes 11, 12.

The distance D, measured along the long side 82 of the support 8 or along the longitudinal axis A2, separating a first electrode 11 and a second electrode 12, both of which are adjacent, forms an electrical dipole of resistance R.

The supply lines 21, 22 are in electrical relation with an electrical supply source which is capable of delivering an electric current of an intensity I which flows through the supply lines 21, 22, and of an applied voltage U between the first supply line 21 and the second supply line 22.

According to the present invention, the radiant panel 7, and more precisely the network 10 of electrodes 11, 12, comprises at least one selective member 14 allowing activation or deactivation of at least one electrode 11, 12. More precisely, the 'selective member 14 is a member which is able to let or not pass the electric current inside the electrode 11, 12 to which the selective member 14 is assigned. In other words, the selective member 14 is configured to either let the electric current pass, or prohibit such passage of electric current through the electrode or electrodes 11, 12 to which it is assigned. The selective member 14 is, for example, a switch 14a or a diode 14b, as will be described later. Of course, the selective member 14 can correspond to any other element making it possible selectively to let the electric current pass or to block it in a particular branch of the electric circuit formed by the network 10 of electrodes 11, 12, such as a component semiconductor like a transistor.

The selective member 14 is indifferently assigned to a first electrode 11 or to a second electrode 12. The selective member 14 is assigned to at least one first electrode 11. According to an alternative embodiment, the selective member 14 is assigned to the minus a second electrode 12.

The network 10 comprises a plurality of selective members 14. The selective members 14 are here three in number, but their number could be equal to the number of electrodes 11, 12 of the first group or of the second group, ie here, respectively nine or eight. The number of selective members 14 could also be equal to the number of electrodes 11, 12 present on the network 10, ie seventeen, the invention not being limited to the number of selective members.

The selective members 14 comprise a switch l4a, of the electric type, shown in the closed position in FIGS. 1 and 2, and in the open position in FIG. 3. This electric switch l4a is supplied by a power source 13 to ensure its tilting between the closed position and the open position. The switch l4a, in the closed position, allows the passage of electric current between the supply line and the electrode 11, 12 between which it is installed. Here, the switch 14a is installed between the first supply line 21 and the first electrode 11 located in the middle of the radiant panel 7.

In the example described, the radiant panel 7 which is intended in particular to be installed inside a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprises: a contact face 50, face on which a person installed near the panel can come in contact with this contact face 50 by a part of his body, for example the palm of his hand, the back of his hand, the forearm, the finger fingerprint side, or finger side fingernail, said part of the body capable of coming into contact being associated with at least one reference surface value, a plurality of heating zones 51 which are the electrodes 11 and 12, arranged to release from the heat when these zones 50, and therefore the electrodes 11 and 12, are crossed by an electric current, the heat given off by these zones 51 being perceptible by the person who puts said part of his body in contact with the contact face, these zones giving off heat which is distributed in a heterogeneous manner on the contact face 50, radiant panel 7 in which the heating zones 51 have dimensions and spacing chosen according to the reference surface value (s) so that the person who puts said part of his body in contact with the contact surface feels uniform heat despite the heterogeneous distribution of heat on the contact face .

Thus the person who touches the hot radiant panel 7 perceives a heat distributed uniformly on its surface due to the distribution of the hot and cold zones.

The heating zones 51 are arranged so that the heterogeneities of heat released on the contact face extend over an area less than the reference surface value. The heterogeneities of heat released remain, in surface area, less than a value of hot reference surface for hot zones and less than a value of cold reference surface for cold zones.

According to one aspect of the invention, the reference surface values are defined, in cm2 unit, as follows:

In the example described, the heating zones are arranged so that the heterogeneities remain less than 0.59 cm2 for the cold zones and 0.125 cm2 for the hot zones or, when the heating zones are separated by a strip-shaped space, this band (D) does not exceed a predetermined value.

The distance D between the electrodes 11 and 12 is chosen so that the hot zones 51 are not distant from one another so as to exceed the reference surface values.

This panel 7 is adapted to be placed indifferently in a location capable of being brought into contact with hands, fingers or the arm. The person will always feel a uniform warmth.

The array of electrodes 11 and 12 is, in the example described, inserted into a resistive layer 52 of the panel and the array of electrodes is arranged to generate said heating zones which are the electrodes 11 and 12.

The electrodes could be produced differently, for example by conducting wires or by depositing a coating, for example by screen printing.

In the example described, the network of electrodes 11 and 12 has a mesh of the electrodes, a mesh chosen so as to have only spacings of area less than one or more chosen values of reference surface, or a spacing which is less than less to one or more chosen reference surface values.

As a variant, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4, the radiant panel 7 comprises a pattern of resistive coatings 63 and this pattern of resistive coatings is arranged to generate said heating zones 51 which are these coatings 65 arranged in pattern and which can be traversed by an electric current in order to generate heat.

The panel has electrodes or power lines, electrical 60 and 61 which are electrically connected to these pattern elements.

These electrodes 60 and 61 are for example electrical wires. The cover pattern 63 includes pattern elements repeated in symmetry.

These pattern elements 65 are geometric shapes, for example rectangles or any other type of polygon, curvilinear shapes, for example partly circular, lines.

The patterns in Figures 3 and 4 have lines 65.

The lines are arranged parallel to each other, for example straight (as illustrated in FIG. 3) or oblique (as illustrated in FIG. 4) relative to the electrodes 60 and 61 which are electrically connected to these pattern elements 65. L the spacing D between these pattern elements, for example lines, is less than the reference surface value.

In the example of FIG. 2, the pattern elements 65 comprise cross shapes spaced slightly apart by a distance D.

The installation of the radiant panel 7 on the bodywork element and / or the passenger compartment element of the vehicle is ensured by at least one fixing element. Such a fixing element is chosen from known fixing elements, such as glue or one or more screws.

The contact face can be a decorative layer, for example imitating wood or fabric, which is part of the radiant panel 7.

Claims

1. Radiant panel (7) intended in particular to be installed inside a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the radiant panel (7) comprising:

a contact face (50), face on which a person installed near the panel can come into contact with this contact face by a part of his body, for example the palm of his hand, the back of his hand, the forearm, finger on fingerprint side, or finger on nail side, said part of the body capable of coming into contact being associated with at least one reference surface value, a plurality of heating zones (51) arranged to release the heat in particular when these zones are crossed by an electric current, the heat released by these zones being perceptible by the person who puts said part of his body in contact with the contact face, these zones releasing heat which is distributed in a manner heterogeneous on the contact face, radiant panel in which the heating zones (51) have dimensions and spacing chosen as a function of the reference surface value (s) so that the per sounds which puts said part of his body in contact with the contact surface feels uniform heat despite the heterogeneous distribution of heat on the contact face.

2. Panel according to the preceding claim, wherein the heating zones (51) are arranged so that the heterogeneities of heat released on the contact face extend over an area less than the reference area value.

3. Panel according to one of the preceding claims, in which the reference surface value depends on the type of surface considered, namely a hot surface or a cold surface.

4. Panel according to one of the preceding claims, in which the heterogeneities of heat released remain, in area, less than a surface value of hot reference for hot zones and less than a cold reference surface value for cold zones.

5. Panel according to one of the preceding claims, in which the reference surface values are defined, in cm2 unit, as follows:

6. Panel according to one of the preceding claims, in which the heating zones are arranged so that the heterogeneities remain less than 0.59 cm2 for the cold zones and 0.125 cm2 for the hot zones, or when the heating zones are distanced by a strip-shaped space, this strip (D) does not exceed a predetermined value.

7. Panel according to one of the preceding claims, in which the radiant panel comprises an array of electrodes inserted in a resistive layer of the panel and the array of electrodes is arranged to generate said heating zones which are zones of the layer. resistive which can be traversed by an electric current flowing between two electrodes of the network.

8. Panel according to the preceding claim, wherein the electrode array (11, 12) has a mesh of the electrodes, a mesh chosen so as to have only spacings of area less than one or more chosen reference surface area values.

9. Panel according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the radiant panel comprises a pattern of resistive coatings (65) and this pattern of resistive coatings is arranged to generate said heating zones which are these coatings arranged in pattern and which can be traversed by an electric current in order to generate heat.

10. Panel according to the preceding claim, wherein the coating pattern comprises elements of patterns repeated in a symmetry.

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