Ford Expedition Air Conditioned Seat Replacement Exhaust ducting

For reasons known to absolutely no one, Ford removed the hot air exhaust ducting from the air conditioned seats in the 2015-2017 Ford Expedition. The air conditioned seats in the Expedition uses a thermoelectric device (TED) to actively chill cabin air which is blown through the seats to cool them. The by-product of this process is that energy removed from the chilled air is added to waste air as a way to get rid of the excess energy. This waste air can be up to 30F above ambient air temp, so roughly 100F. In previous generations, this waste air was ducted outside of the seat to mix with cabin air. In the 2015-2017 models, they removed this ducting and exhausted the very hot air directly into the enclosed seat back. Of course, the obvious result is that within a few minutes, the TED device stops cooling air because it's sucking in its own heated exhaust instead of cabin temp air. Additionally, the entire seat gets very hot as the excess heat soaks through the seat. 

These adapters recreate (and enhance) the original exhaust ducting. They solve the problem of getting the hot exhaust outside of the enclosed seat back. Even with the ducting in place, heat will eventually build up because the fan, TED, and ducting all radiate heat into the enclosed space. A second duct is added to solve this problem. The second duct has one end connected to the lower exhaust adapter, and one end open at the top of the seat cavity. The lower adapter is designed using a combination of Venturi and Conda effects to create an area of low pressure at the exhaust side of the duct. This low pressure pulls additional air through the second duct. This effectively adds active ventilation to pull out the hot air trapped in the seat back cavity.

Numerous flow simulations were run with various designs to balance flow restrictions and maximize the venturi effect as much as possible with the small amount of exhaust airflow available.

In 2015, Ford did the same stupid ducting removal to all TED actively cooled seats including F-150s, Mustangs, Explorers, Edges. They all have the same problem as the Expedition. This fix will also work for those models with some modification to the TED adapter. Ford used a few different TED designs and the TED adapter posted here may not fit the other designs. However, the lower Venturi exhaust adapter will work for all models.

Notes:

Must be printed in a high temperature filament (ASA, ABS, PETG, etc.) PLA will not work and will warp/deform under the heat.

9/12/2023 - Update 1

Needed to widen the acceleration ports to reduce backpressure to allow more air to flow through the TED.

9/23/2023 - Update 2

Redesigned acceleration ports (wider and different angle) to increase venturi effect. Added vanes on the exit port to reduce turbulence. Smoothed interior surfaces.