GB2564778A

GB2564778A - Heating a vehicle

Info

Publication number: GB2564778A
Application number: GB1811591.5A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Thomas Antony
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-07-16
Filing date: 2018-07-16
Publication date: 2019-01-23
Anticipated expiration: 2038-07-16
Also published as: EP3655270A1; WO2019016498A1; GB201711402D0; GB201811591D0; GB2564778B

Abstract

A method of heating a vehicle interior uses a non-embedded smart heater 1 that has a mobile data connection 2 to the internet. An internet connected smart device 4, such as a smart phone, tablet, computer or virtual assistant, loaded with application software is used to instruct the heater to heat the vehicle interior. After heating, the heater can be removed from the vehicle and placed in a second vehicle or out of sight. The heater may be powered by a solar cell, an auxiliary socket such as a cigar lighter in the vehicle, or a rechargeable internal battery 8. The heater may include a temperature sensor 6 with a thermostat control 5 or a timer to control the temperature and duration of the heater as set by the software application. The application software may be adapted to control a single heater chosen from a plurality of smart heaters from a single remote. A system comprising a plurality of said non-embedded smart heaters and a single remote control device that may instruct selected heaters to heat the interiors of a plurality of vehicles is also claimed.

Description

HEATING A VEHICLE

This disclosure relates to heating of vehicles.

It has long been standard practice for vehicles to be provided with an embedded heating and cooling system. These operate perfectly satisfactorily while the vehicle is in use. However, with the conventional arrangement, when a driver initially enters a vehicle to drive from one place to another, the interior temperature will often not be within the driver’s desired comfort zone, especially when the ambient temperature is low.

Up to now, the owners of vehicles with conventional heating systems have simply had to put up with this, and to overcome this initial problem by turning the embedded heating system to maximum until a comfortable temperature is reached. There is an evident need for a system that is universally applicable to any vehicle a particular driver may wish to drive that enables the driver to adjust the interior temperature of the vehicle prior to the driver entering it.

The present disclosure arises from the present Inventor’s attempts to address this problem.

In accordance with a first aspect of this disclosure, there is provided: a method for heating the interior of a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of: placing a non-embedded smart heater within a selected vehicle, the heater including circuitry allowing a mobile data connection to the Internet; and, at any time subsequent to said placing step, but prior to an intended use of the selected vehicle, using an Internet-connected remote device previously loaded with application software associated with the heater to instruct the heater to heat the interior of the selected vehicle; whereby a person may increase the temperature of the interior of the selected vehicle prior to entering the selected vehicle, and may remove the heater for use in a different vehicle selected on another occasion, or may remove the heater from sight of passers-by for reasons of security when not in use to prevent theft of the heater from the selected vehicle.

Suitable remote devices include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop and a personal computer.

In a second and alternative aspect of this disclosure, there is provided a combination of at least one non-embedded smart vehicle heater and application software, the heater being provided with circuitry allowing a mobile data connection to the Internet; and said application software being downloadable to an Internet-connectable remote device, and being adapted when loaded to said remote device to allow a user of the device to instruct the at least one heater remotely via the Internet for heating of an interior of at least one said vehicle.

Preferred embodiments have one or more of the following features: The smart heater is powered from the cigar-lighter socket, also called an auxiliary socket in some modem vehicles. Alternatively, the smart heater is powered by solar energy, being provided with a solar cell connected to the heater. In yet another alternative arrangement, the smart heater is provided with a rechargeable internal battery to serve as a power source. The smart heater is thermostatically controlled, the thermostat temperature being settable via the application software. The smart heater is coupled to a timer, whereby the operating time period is settable via the application software. Application software downloaded on to the device is adapted to control selected respective smart heaters in a plurality of vehicles. Thus a two-car family can place respective smart heaters in each vehicle and separately control the temperature and timing of the heater operation in each vehicle form a common device using the application software.

According to a third alternative aspect of this disclosure, a system is provided for selectively heating a plurality of vehicles, comprising: a plurality of non-embedded smart heaters, each adapted to be placed within a selected vehicle of said plurality of vehicles, and each being provided with circuitry allowing a mobile data connection to the Internet; and an Internet-connectable remote control device provided with application software allowing a user of the device to instruct selected said heaters to heat the interior of the said vehicle in which they were placed for a selected time period and/or to a selected temperature, which period and/or temperature may be different for different vehicles.

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, by way of example only, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a generally schematic arrangement for an embodiment of heating system employing the teachings of this disclosure; and

Fig. 2 shows a logic flow diagram for the app in one embodiment of heating method in accordance with this disclosure.

A smart heater 1 comprises circuitry 2 allowing a mobile data connection of the heater to the Internet, allowing control of the heater via application software from a remote device 4

Suitable such remote devices include a virtual assistant, a smart phone, tablet, lap-top or personal computer, or an appropriate effective combination of such devices. The heater 1 comprises a central controller 5 coupled to the circuitry 2 and associated with a temperature sensor 6 for sensing the temperature within a vehicle, allowing for thermostatic control of the heater. The controller 5 controls operation of a heat unit 7 which suitably includes heating elements and a driven fan. The smart heater is designed to provide initial heating to a vehicle interior before a user enters the vehicle so that the interior of the vehicle has an initial temperature within the user’s comfort zone when the user first enters the vehicle. The smart heater may then be turned off, suitably being provided with an over-ride switch for this purpose, and the vehicle’s conventional embedded vehicle heater/cooler employed thereafter while the vehicle is being driven. It will be appreciated that thermostatic control, while desirable, is not essential. The heater may be set to operate for a specific time (which thus equates to a specific total heat input), for example, a timer incorporated into the controller 5, or a software set time period selected in the app.

Thus the smart heater serves only an auxiliary purpose and is not embedded in the vehicle. It is preferably non-embeddable; in other words it works entirely independently of any embedded heater, and, in particular, is not simply heater that is capable of being selectively slid into or out of a heater casing embedded in the vehicle. The non-embedded heater is simply placed in the interior of a vehicle without embedding, and so must therefore have its own power supply rather than being wired into the vehicle’s electrical system as in the case of conventional embedded vehicle heaters. In the illustrated embodiment this is provided by a rechargeable direct current battery pack 8 internal to the heater, and suitably of 12 or 24 Volts, which battery pack may be coupled to a charging unit 9 incorporating a suitable transformer for charging the battery pack from an electric supply, such as the standard 240Volt alternating current domestic power supply 10 found in the United Kingdom.

In alternative embodiments, the heat unit 7 may be directly coupled to a solar cell placeable on an internal surface of the vehicle exposed to sunlight or to a plug adapted to be received in a cigar-lighter socket of the vehicle, sometimes termed an auxiliary power socket for the vehicle. Where the vehicle is located within a secure environment, the solar cell may be placed outside the vehicle. Preferably, the heat unit 7 is coupled to battery pack 8 which in turn is coupled to a plug for receipt in the cigar-lighter socket or is coupled to the solar cell, so that the cigar-lighter socket or solar cell charges the battery pack.

Turning now to Fig. 2 which shows a simplified logic flow diagram for one embodiment of app, on opening the app in step 11 on the device on to which it has been downloaded, the user is first invited to enter their User ID in step 12 and a password in step 13. A single app on a single device 4 may control smart heaters 1 in a plurality of vehicles. Accordingly, correct data entry in steps 12 and 13 leads to a request in step 14 to identify the heater to be controlled. In step 15, the User is requested to confirm that the heater is to be used for heating a specified vehicle. In successive steps, the User specifies the date (which may be a specific calendar date or simply today or tomorrow) in step 16, the start time in step 17, and the heating period in step 18. One or more of stepsl5 to 18 may be circumvented or overridden by a “heat now” button. Finally, the User is invited in step 19 to specify the power rating employed, which will typically run from full-power down to zero or may have set values such as lkilowatt and 2 kilowatts.

The entered instructions are transmitted via the Internet 3 to the smart heater 1 in step 20, and the smart heater 1 confirms receipt of the instructions in step 21 by a return signal to the device 4 which then logs out in step 22.

In an alternative arrangement, the User may select a target temperature for a specified time and date, leaving the controller 5 to operate the heat unit 7 in the most efficient (or least battery draining) manner to achieve a temperature within a pre-set range of the target temperature by the set time. The controller may be programmed to maintain the temperature within the target range beyond its set turn-off time, to allow, for example, for the interior temperature of a vehicle parked in a station car-park to be maintained within the pre-set range, should the train be delayed.

In another arrangement, the applications software may be linked to the GPS system of a smart phone 4 to override previously given instructions if it notices from the smart phone GPS system that the smart phone has not changed location (implying that the user is apparently delayed, for example being still in their office or at their home, at the time programmed for heat unit 7 of the smart heater 1 to be turned off).

Claims

1. A method for heating the interior of a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of: placing a non-embedded smart heater within a selected vehicle, the heater including circuitry allowing a mobile data connection to the Internet; and, at any time subsequent to said placing step, but prior to an intended use of the selected vehicle, using an Internet-connected remote device previously loaded with application software associated with the heater to instruct the heater to heat the interior of the selected vehicle; whereby a person may increase the temperature of the interior of the selected vehicle prior to entering the selected vehicle, and may remove the heater for use in a different vehicle selected on another occasion, or may remove the heater from sight of passers-by for reasons of security when not in use to prevent theft of the heater from the selected vehicle.

2. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the remote device comprises one of a virtual assistant, a smart phone, a tablet, a lap-top and a personal computer.

3. A combination of at least one non-embedded smart vehicle heater and application software, the heater being provided with circuitry allowing a mobile data connection to the Internet; and said application software being downloadable to an Internet-connectable remote device, and being adapted when loaded to said remote device to allow a user of the device to instruct the at least one heater remotely via the Internet for heating of an interior of at least one said vehicle.

4. A combination according to Claim 3, wherein the smart heater is powered from a socket termed a cigar-lighter socket or auxiliary socket depending on the vehicle.

5. A combination according to Claim 3, wherein the smart heater is powered by solar energy, being provided with a solar cell connected to the heater.

6. A combination according to Claim 3, wherein the smart heater is provided with a rechargeable internal battery to serve as a power source.

7. A combination according to any of Claims 3 to 6, wherein the smart heater is thermostatically controlled, the thermostat temperature being settable via the application software.

8. A combination according to any of Claims 3 to 7, wherein operation of the smart heater is timeable, the operating time period being settable via the application software.

9. A combination according to any of Claims 3 to 8, wherein the application software is adapted to control selected respective smart heaters in a plurality of vehicles from a single remote device onto which it is downloaded.

10. A system for selectively heating a plurality of vehicles, comprising: a plurality of non-

5 embedded smart heaters, each adapted to be placed within a selected vehicle of said plurality of vehicles, and each being provided with circuitry allowing a mobile data connection to the Internet; and an Internet-connectable remote control device provided with application software allowing a user of the device to instruct selected said heaters to heat the interior of the said vehicle in which they were placed for a selected time period and/or to a selected 10 temperature, which period and/or temperature may be different for different vehicles.