Seat Ventilation Heating and Cooling Module

WARNING: This page does not describe the selected car, but rather 8 other vehicles, including the 2012 GMC Yukon XL, 2012 GMC Yukon, 2012 Chevrolet Tahoe, 2012 Chevrolet Suburban, and 2012 Chevrolet Avalanche. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

Each heated/cool seat has 2 ventilation heating and cooling modules, one located under the seat cushion and one located in the seat back. Each ventilation module contains a thermo-electric device (TED) and a blower motor. The TED is mounted downstream of the blower motor. Each TED consists of a circuit of positive and negative connections sandwiched between 2 ceramic plates. Each ceramic plate is equipped with copper fins for cool exchange. The air flowing past these fins is directed as conditioned air into the seat cushion and seat back or directed into the cabin as waste air.

A TED is essentially a solid state heat pump that is used to cool the air supply to the seat cushion and seat back. When voltage is applied to a TED, one side releases energy as heat, while the opposite side absorbs energy and gets cold.

During the following climate control seat system description and operation, the TEDs and blower motors will be referenced independently even though they are packaged together as a module.