Abstract: A thermal conditioning system for a vehicle seat or other surface includes a thermoelectric Peltier device (TED) with a main side and a waste side. A flap adjusts a proportion of an airflow over the main and waste side airflow paths based on one or more operational parameters of the system. The operational parameters can include a power provided to the TED, the flow rate of the airflow, a thermal efficiency between the TED and the airflow, and/or a setpoint temperature of the airflow.

Abstract: A microclimate system for a vehicle occupant includes multiple microclimate thermal effectors. Each of the microclimate communication with the microclimate thermal effectors and includes a plurality of first transfer functions. Each of the first transfer functions models a corresponding microclimate thermal effector in the plurality of microclimate thermal effectors. A system transfer function models the microclimate system. Each of the first transfer functions is nested within the system transfer function.

Abstract: A microclimate system for a vehicle occupant includes a seat that is configured to provide an interface between an occupant and a seating surface, an actuator that is configured to adjust a seat positioning that characterizes the interface, at least one microclimate thermal effector that is in thermal communication with the seat at the interface, and a controller that is in communication with the microclimate thermal effector. The controller is configured to regulate the microclimate thermal effector based upon the interface.

Abstract: A microclimate system for a vehicle occupant includes multiple microclimate thermal effectors. Each of the microclimate thermal effectors has a corresponding thermal effector controller and is configured to at least partially control an occupant thermal comfort. Each of the microclimate thermal effectors includes at least one sensor configured to determine a microclimate parameter corresponding to at least one microclimate thermal effector of the multiple microclimate thermal effectors. A microclimate system controller is in communication with a plurality of thermal effector controllers. An optimizer is configured to apply a corresponding weighting value from a plurality of weighting values to each thermal effector controller in the plurality microclimate thermal effectors.

Abstract: An example method of providing thermal conditioning includes providing a HAL having a plurality of input drivers that obtain input data from temperature sensors, and a plurality of output drivers that control a discrete thermal effectors in discrete OPZs in a vehicle cabin. An EVAL obtains input data from the HAL and estimates a heat flux experienced by an occupant in each OPZ based on a vehicle profile. An OAL determines a first parameter based on a target heat flux for the occupant across all of the OPZs, determines a second parameter based on the estimated heat flux of the occupant from the EVAL, and determines respective temperature setpoints for each of the plurality of OPZs to reduce a difference between the first and second parameters. The thermal effectors are controlled based on the temperature setpoints.