Patent ID: 8678492

Claim:
Seat chilling system for cooling a driver's racing seat mounted in a cabin of a racing motor vehicle, said motor vehicle having a dc electrical system with positive and negative power terminals, the system comprising a racing seat for the driver of the racing motor vehicle, the seat being molded or cast of a rigid heat conductive material, a refrigerant circuit that includes an evaporator coil, an electrically powered compressor, a condenser coil connected to a pressure side of said compressor, an expansion valve, and refrigerant conduit connecting the expansion valve to said evaporator coil and connecting the evaporator coil to a suction side of said compressor, wherein the refrigerant circuit is of sufficient capacity to provide sufficient cooling to the racing seat to chill the latter to said temperature below freezing, wherein said condenser coil has a heat exchange capacity of at least 4000 BTU/hr at an ambient of 120° F.; wherein said evaporator coil is in the form of a grid attached directly onto the rigid heat conductive racing seat and directly chilling the driver's racing seat to a temperature below freezing, and wherein said condenser coil comprises a plurality of condenser passes followed by a plurality of subcooler passes to achieve a heat exchange capacity sufficient so that condensed refrigerant supplied to the evaporator chills the evaporator and associated racing seat to a temperature below freezing; an enclosure positioned within the cabin of said vehicle behind the driver's seat, the enclosure containing within it said compressor, said condenser coil, a dc-powered condenser fan adapted to induce a flow of air through said condenser coil, and a control circuit coupled to said positive and negative power terminals, and providing dc power to said compressor and to said condenser fan; an intake air duct bringing outside air into said enclosure; and an outlet air duct conducting exhaust air from said enclosure to outside the vehicle; wherein said expansion valve is a thermostatic expansion valve having an aperture size that changes with thermal load to maintain a fill of refrigerant in said evaporator coil grid as the thermal load on the driver's seat changes; and is coupled to a remote sensing bulb that is in thermal contact with said grid that is attached directly onto the driver's racing seat, and which is sensitive to the coil temperature of the evaporator grid, so that the evaporator grid is kept properly filled with liquid refrigerant when the heat load changes so as to achieve sufficient cooling to keep the racing seat chilled to said temperature below freezing.