Sal Collaziano

Is that the case? I would think that in this level of automobile, it would be a standard feature.. Anyway, let me know because I'm really curious.

Thank you...

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i *think* heated and cooling seats are pretty much on all ls460. rear heated seats are on some, and rear cooling seats would require rear seats upgrade (forgot the details already...)

Sal Collaziano

I see there's a "comfort" option available - and maybe that's where the cooled seats come from. Otherwise, I think all LS460s come with standard heated seats with "cooled" as that comfort option.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i was just thinking, again not 100%, but i think rear seats upgrades are only available for the lwb. if so, they maybe no swb ls460 can have rear cooling seats? i remember seeing a touring lwb and it has no rear cooling seats

Sal Collaziano

Thank you for the quick replies.. I'm mainly curious about the front seats since most cars don't have cooled rear seats. It's a relatively inexpensive package so I'm guessing most LS460 buyers opted for it.

kbinfl

Sal,

You are correct. Cooled seats are NOT standard on either the SWB or LWB LS460. It is part of the Comfort Package option.

KB

2007es350

In addition to cooled front seats, I have cooled rear seats in my SWB with the Comfort Plus option. My back seats are also power adjustable as well.

dimapb

Wow! I didn't realize that SWB had the rear seat adjustment option. Impressive.

jlawr

Different parts of the country -- different options available for the same model.

Try different zip codes on a particular model on Lexus.com -- you'll see what I mean. New York is different from California is different from Texas

Patric

For some strange reason SWB rear seat heat/cooling controls are under the center console lid instead of out in the open with the reclining seat controls.

Also, I have never been able to tell if the cooling seats blow air conditioned air or just ambient air. All I know is that they work well.


Pat

Craig B

Yes, they blow cool air...

Craig

Johnny

And they do it with a small thermoelectric "Peltier Effect" cooling unit built into the seat. For more info, search Peltier...

Or... Thermoelectric Cooling

encore888

The cooled seats in the LS 460 use the Amerigon cooling system which actually cools the air in the seat, these are not the ventilated seats found in other models which simply blow air using fans. According to a TMS tech I spoke to, the cooling seat tech is the same used by NASA to cool spacesuits.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

ah, so swb can have rear cooling seats, thanks for clarifying. so confusing

Mike_TX

Yeah, well I was confused by the Peltier Effect until I read this:

Peltier effect

When a current I is made to flow through the circuit, heat is evolved at the upper junction (at T2), and absorbed at the lower junction (at T1). The Peltier heat absorbed by the lower junction per unit time, \dot{Q** is equal to

\dot{Q** = \Pi_\mathrm{AB** I = \left( \Pi_\mathrm{B** - \Pi_\mathrm{A** \right) I

Where Π is the Peltier coefficient ΠAB of the entire thermocouple, and ΠA and ΠB are the coefficients of each material. P-type silicon typically has a positive Peltier coefficient (though not above ~550 K), and n-type silicon is typically negative, as the names suggest.

The Peltier coefficients represent how much heat current is carried per unit charge through a given material. Since charge current must be continuous across a junction, the associated heat flow will develop a discontinuity if ΠA and ΠB are different. This causes a non-zero divergence at the junction and so heat must accumulate or deplete there, depending on the sign of the current. Another way to understand how this effect could cool a junction is to note that when electrons flow from a region of high density to a region of low density, they expand (as with an ideal gas) and cool.

The conductors are attempting to return to the electron equilibrium that existed before the current was applied by absorbing energy at one connector and releasing it at the other. The individual couples can be connected in series to enhance the effect.

An interesting consequence of this effect is that the direction of heat transfer is controlled by the polarity of the current; reversing the polarity will change the direction of transfer and thus the sign of the heat absorbed/evolved.

A Peltier cooler/heater or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other. Peltier cooling is also called thermo-electric cooling (TEC).




That pretty much cleared it up for me.

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