We are all aware of heated and cooled, ventilated seats used by many premium car manufacturers and those living in the colder countries, have also in the past used heated seats and heated handle bar grips to keep themselves warm during colder months of winters. But Honda has recently filed a patent for a technology that is not just a luxury but could prove to be a necessity in warmer more tropical countries like India. The new technology that we are talking about is cooled seats. Yes that is right Honda has developed cooled seats. Now this is a game changer and a must have if you love riding or commute on a motorcycle even on hot days.
It all sounds very complicated but actually it is fairly simple, it uses a system which car manufacturers were using for years. It uses fresh air from the front ram-air system and pipes it through the seat taking away the heat and making it cooler. The rider with the help of a switch on the handlebar can control the volume of air piped through and control the temperature to their desire. The same technique can also be used to heat the seat in colder temperature of the winter by warming the air through the bikes radiator and ducts warm air to the seats.
A bar mounted switch lets you control valves which control the air flow and volume which helps in reaching a comfortable / desired riding temperature.
Honda engineers have already carried out wind tunnel testing and have filled a patent for this design and tested on the Honda Fireblade and may be adopted on its long distance touring motorcycle, the 2020 Honda Goldwing. In warm countries like India this could be a very useful technology especially if it is introduced on daily commute bikes, as the summer temperatures can get fairly hot in some regions.