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The thermoelectric Variable Temperature Seat, (VTS), offers automotive OEMs a new approach to occupant comfort enhancement in both hot and cold weather. The VTS is capable of both cooling and warming the vehicle occupant relatively efficiently and relatively quietly through the use of conditioned air flow through the seat pad structure. The subject of this paper, the Stirling Variable Temperature Seat, (SVTS), is the latest advancement in seat cooling and heating technology, and significantly improves upon the thermoelectric, (Peltier), VTS in several significant ways.

Concerns about air pollution have prompted legislation which mandates electric vehicle availability in California. It is quite possible that other states, as well as other countries, will be implementing similar legislation in the not too distant future, in order to reduce air pollution and reduce depletion of petroleum resources. The subject of this paper, the Variable Temperature Seat, (VTS), is a potentially significant new solution to the problem of vehicle occupant thermal comfort, as well as vehicle fuel/energy efficiency, and environmental concerns such as the ozone layer and green house gas/global warming. By removing heat from the occupants' body directly, instead of by relying entirely on vehicle interior space cooling or heating, occupant thermal comfort is greatly enhanced with minimum expenditure of energy. Being that the VTS is based upon Peltier thermoelectric heat pumping, no refrigerants are used, and the only moving parts are blower and fan motors.