The Koreans are registering an interesting patent for air vents that will in future also be able to flexibly supply air to the interior of autonomously driving cars. We show patent drawings of the new development.
Today, the interior of our cars is often more than a seat during transport on the road. For people who travel a lot in the car, it is increasingly becoming a living space. That was the motivation of the Koreans for their latest development of vents for air conditioning.
Autonomous cars in particular have completely different requirements for a vehicle interior. In them, not only can the driver's seat be flexibly positioned, the driver himself will not always remain seated in the same position when buckled up. So new ventilation concepts are needed that can flow fresh and cool air for the vehicle occupants in a much more variable way than just through the dashboard. Hyundai therefore considered that openings would have to be made in more places in the interior. Why not also on the side of the headliner, for example, where numerous small outlets open and close again as required? In addition to the freshly cooled or warmed air, light and the right sound can also flow out of diversely positioned outlets. And how is it all supposed to work?
Published Hyundai patent drawings show where the air vents are planned. It can be seen that the dashboard, for example, but also other areas of the interior trim are divided into small square segments. On the drawings, they look like small plates. Obviously, these segments or plates, which stand out from the paneling in different directions, are intended to allow the air to flow out flexibly. However, the patent drawings leave open how exactly the air supply for the many segments on the fairing should work. While with the previous air vents the air reached the various vents in the interior via a duct, with the new technology almost the entire paneling has to be supplied with air. In addition, light and music are apparently also supposed to come from the small segments - have fun wiring! So there is still some "air" to speculate as to how exactly the Korean engineers imagine it.
In any case, Hyundai expects the mixture of fan and musical ambient lighting to create an interior that can adapt to the needs of the occupants. Perhaps the right thing in times when the vehicle cabin is actually taking on more and more living room qualities.
Conclusion
The Korean carmaker Hyundai is applying for a patent for air conditioning technology. Patent drawings show that almost the entire fairing is divided into segments, which then stand out in certain places. This is obviously how the varied flow of air comes about in previously unfamiliar places in the vehicle interior, which should be better achieved by more freely positioned passengers in future autonomously driving cars. However, it remains unclear how exactly the air supply for the widely distributed segments should work.
