JP2000127737A - Air-conditioning device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To cope with a difference in a cooling load in a car room differed according to the running direction of a vehicle and a position relation with the sun, thereby air-conditioning almost whole area of the car room comfortably. SOLUTION: This device comprises a pair of cooling ducts 5L and 5R disposed at the left and the right in a car room, and a pair of evaporator units 3L and 3R to feed air-conditioned air to the cooling ducts 5L and 5R, respectively. In this case, a span duct 9 is provided to intercommunicate the cooling ducts 5L and 5R in the vicinity of the air-conditioned air outlets of the evaporator units 5L and 5R, and dampers 10L and 10R are respectively arranged at the two end branch parts of the span duct 9. Air-conditioned air is distributed from the cooling duct on the evaporator unit side where a cooling load is low to the cooling duct on the evaporator side where the cooling load is high.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner for a vehicle which is installed in a vehicle such as a bus and heats and cools the interior of a vehicle, and in particular, has a dedicated evaporator unit and a cooling duct respectively in left and right outlet areas. The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle air conditioner capable of providing a comfortable cabin environment to occupants and passengers by air-conditioning the cabin of a bus or the like can perform a cooling operation and a heating operation. In the cooling operation, the conditioned air cooled and dehumidified by exchanging heat with the refrigerant by passing through the evaporator is blown through a cooling duct installed in the vehicle compartment by the operation of the blower, and each air blower provided in the cooling duct is blown. It is blown out from the exit toward the passenger compartment. A refrigerant system that supplies a low-temperature and low-pressure liquid refrigerant to the evaporator compresses a low-temperature and low-pressure gas refrigerant into a high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant by a compressor, and sends the gas refrigerant to a condenser to be cooled by outside air. The refrigerant condensed in the condenser is separated into gas and liquid by the receiver, and the liquid refrigerant is sent from the receiver to the expansion valve and decompressed and expanded to become a low-temperature and low-pressure liquid refrigerant, which constitutes a refrigeration cycle that is supplied to the evaporator again. I have. In the heating operation, cooling water of a traveling engine (main engine) is introduced into a heater core as a heating source, and air heated through the heater core is blown through a heating duct installed in the vehicle interior by the operation of a blower. Then, the air is blown out from each air outlet provided in the heating duct toward the vehicle interior. Some route buses adopt a system in which a plurality of radiators installed at appropriate places in a vehicle compartment are connected to directly circulate engine cooling water.

[0003] The air conditioner installed in the bus includes:
There are a sub-engine system mainly used for large sightseeing buses and a direct connection system mainly used for route buses and small buses. The sub-engine system is equipped with an engine (sub-engine) dedicated to the air conditioner separately from the driving engine (main engine) of the vehicle.
The compressor of a refrigerant system or the like is operated using the driving force of the sub-engine. In the case of the sub-engine system, main devices such as a sub-engine and a compressor are unitized, and are usually installed in a space below the passenger compartment in the center of the vehicle body. On the other hand, a direct connection type vehicle air conditioner obtains a driving force from a traveling engine of a vehicle to a refrigerant compressor or the like, similarly to a passenger car or the like. In the case of a route bus, the compressor is installed near the engine at the rear of the vehicle body,
Evaporators and condensers are often installed on the roof of a vehicle body. In the case of a small bus, the compressor is installed near the engine at the front of the vehicle, the condenser is installed below the cabin in the center of the vehicle, and the evaporator is installed above the vehicle (the ceiling) at the rear of the vehicle. Often. In the case of a bus, cooling ducts (cooling ducts) are usually installed near the left and right ceilings in the passenger compartment, and heating ducts (heating ducts).
Are located near the left and right floors in the vehicle interior.

FIG. 3 shows a large-sized bus equipped with a direct connection type vehicle air conditioner. Reference numeral 1 in the figure denotes a compressor driven by a running engine installed at the rear of the vehicle body.
Reference numeral 2 denotes a refrigerant pipe serving as a refrigerant flow path, 3 denotes an evaporator unit installed on the roof of the vehicle body, 4 denotes a condenser unit also installed on the roof of the vehicle body, and 5 denotes a cooling duct that blows cool air from an outlet 6 into the vehicle interior. It is. in this case,
The cooling duct 5 is installed near the left and right ceilings in the vehicle compartment, and a left cooling duct 5L and a right cooling duct 5R extend in the front-back direction of the vehicle compartment, respectively. A left evaporator unit 3L and a right evaporator unit 3R are connected to the left and right cooling ducts 5L and 5R, respectively, and independent cold air supply systems are established on the left and right.

[0005]

When a vehicle equipped with the above-described air conditioner travels, the positional relationship with the sun varies depending on the traveling direction and the time zone. Large differences may occur. In other words, when comparing the seat on the side exposed to direct sunlight from the window with the seat on the opposite side, the amount of heat received by the occupants is greatly different, so that in order to provide a comfortable cabin environment, There is a difference in the cooling load between the left and right seats, and the requirements for the operation of the air conditioner naturally differ.

However, in the conventional air conditioner,
If the air conditioning load differs between the left and right sides of the cabin, it is possible to control the operation of the fan installed in the evaporator unit so that the air volumes blown out from the left and right ducts are different from each other. The adjustment is limited to within the capabilities of the units 3L and 3R. That is, since the left and right evaporator units 3L and 3R generally have the same capacity, the upper limit is 50% of the entire cooling capacity.
For this reason, the evaporator unit on the side of the seat, which is exposed to direct sunlight and has a large cooling load, is operated at the maximum capacity and the entire evaporator unit is operated.
Even if cold air is supplied in a percentage, it does not need to be operated at the maximum capacity on the side of the seat where the cooling load is small because it does not receive direct sunlight, and there may be excess capacity in the cooling capacity, and such excess capacity can be used effectively. It is desired to cool the passenger compartment as evenly as possible.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a vehicle air conditioner capable of coping with a difference in cooling load in a vehicle compartment that differs depending on a positional relationship between a traveling direction of the vehicle and the sun, and capable of comfortably cooling substantially the entire vehicle compartment. The task is to provide devices.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following means. Claim 1
The vehicle air conditioner described in 1 above includes a pair of cooling ducts arranged to blow out conditioned air to the left and right sides of the passenger compartment, and a pair of evaporator units that supply conditioned air to the cooling ducts, respectively. In the air conditioner for air conditioning, a transfer duct is provided near the air-conditioning air outlet of the evaporator unit to allow communication between the cooling ducts, and a distribution flow rate control unit for air-conditioning air is provided at each end of the transfer duct to provide a cooling load. The air-conditioning air is distributed from the small evaporator unit side to the cooling duct on the large evaporator unit side.

According to such a vehicle air conditioner,
Since the conditioned air can be distributed from the evaporator side having a small cooling load to the evaporator side having a large cooling load, 50% or more of the conditioned air can be supplied to the cooling duct side having a large cooling load.

The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 2 is
A damper that reciprocates from a fully open position where the cooling duct and the transfer duct are fully opened to a distribution position where the flow path on the cooling duct side is narrowed through a normal position where the transfer duct side is fully closed; When a difference occurs in the cooling load, the damper on the evaporator unit side with a small cooling load is set to the distribution position, and the damper on the side with a large cooling load is set to the fully open position to distribute the conditioned air. Is what you do.

According to such a vehicle air conditioner,
Normally, the damper completely closes the crossover duct to supply left and right independent conditioned air, but when there is a difference in cooling load, the damper is operated to the distribution position and the fully open position, respectively, to start from the side with the smaller cooling load. The conditioned air can be distributed to the larger side.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner for a vehicle.
A means for restricting the operation of the damper so that the cooling duct side is not completely closed at the distribution position is provided.

According to such a vehicle air conditioner,
On the side of the evaporator unit where the cooling load is small, it is possible to prevent the resistance from becoming large and adversely affecting the fan, and preventing the evaporator unit from freezing.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a cold air supply system in a direct connection type vehicle air conditioner. Reference numerals 3L and 3R in the figure denote left and right evaporator units, and low-temperature and low-pressure liquid refrigerant is supplied from a compressor (not shown) through a refrigerant pipe.
The evaporator units 3L and 3R include fans driven by fan motors 7L and 7R, respectively.
After the air sucked from the cabin passes through the evaporator and is cooled and dehumidified, it is blown from the air-conditioned air outlets 8L and 8R to the left cooling duct 5L and the right cooling duct 5R arranged near the left and right ceilings in the cabin. . The left and right cooling ducts 5L, 5R extending in the front-rear direction in the vehicle interior are respectively provided with outlets 6L, 6R for blowing conditioned air (cool air) toward the vehicle interior.

[0015] The left and right cooling ducts 5L, 5R are communicated with each other by crossover ducts 9 connected to the conditioned air outlets 8L, 8R, respectively. Dampers 10L and 10R are provided at both ends where the transfer duct 9 branches from the conditioned air outlets 8L and 8R, respectively, as distribution flow rate control means for controlling the distribution flow rate of the conditioned air. The dampers 10L and 10R are moved from the fully open position (shown by a solid line) where both the cooling ducts 5L and 5R and the transfer duct 9 are fully opened to the normal position (shown by a dashed line) where the transfer duct 9 is fully closed. The electric motors 11L and 11R can be used for reciprocating operation up to a distribution position (indicated by a two-dot chain line) where the flow paths of the cooling ducts 5L and 5R are narrowed (the flow path cross-sectional area is reduced). At the distribution position, the degree of opening can be adjusted in a plurality of predetermined steps or steplessly within a predetermined range, and the operation of the dampers 10L, 10R is restricted so that the cooling ducts 5L, 5R are not fully closed. Appropriate operation limiting means such as a stopper is provided.

Cooling load detection sensors 12L and 12R for detecting cooling loads on the left and right sides are provided at appropriate places in the vehicle cabin. The cooling load detection sensor 12 is preferably, for example, a solar radiation sensor, a temperature sensor, a skin temperature sensor, or the like, and the detection values of these cooling load detection sensors 12L and 12R are input to the control unit 13, respectively. This control unit 13
May be installed in a control unit that controls the operation of the air conditioner. When a difference between the detected values of the left and right cooling load detection sensors 12L and 12R is equal to or more than a predetermined value,
That is, when a difference of a cooling load equal to or more than a predetermined value occurs, the electric motors 11L, 1R are operated to operate the dampers 10L, 10R.
1R is driven. At this time, the damper 10L (or 10R) on the side where the cooling load is large moves from the normal position to the fully open position, and the damper 10R (or 10L) on the side where the cooling load is small.
Moves from the normal position to the dispensing position. The opening of the damper 10 having a smaller cooling load is appropriately adjusted in accordance with a preset difference in cooling load. Therefore, the larger the difference in cooling load is, the smaller the opening is. .

Hereinafter, the above-described transition duct 9 and damper 10 will be described.
The operation of the vehicle air conditioner including the L, 10R, the cooling load detection sensors 12L, 12R, and the control unit 13 will be described. During the cooling operation of the air-conditioning apparatus, when the detection values of the cooling load detection sensors 12L and 12R are normally within a predetermined range, the dampers 10L and 10R are also at the normal positions and the communication with the crossover duct 9 is closed. The left and right cooling ducts 5L and 5R are in a separated state. As a result, the cool air supplied from the evaporator units 3L and 3R is blown into the vehicle interior from the outlets 6L and 6R through the left and right air conditioning ducts 5L and 5R, respectively. In this case, within the respective capacity ranges of the evaporator units 3L and 3R, the control unit 13 adjusts the operation of the fan according to the detection value of the cooling load detection sensor 12 and independently adjusts the supply amount of the cool air to the left and right. it can.

However, when a large difference of a predetermined value or more occurs between the cooling loads on the left and right sides of the vehicle compartment, for example, when the sun is on the left side in the traveling direction and direct sunlight enters from the window, the cooling load on the left side is reduced. To increase. Such an increase in the cooling load can be detected by the cooling load detection sensor 12. When the cooling load detection sensor 12 is a solar radiation sensor, the amount of solar radiation entering through the left and right windows is detected, and the control unit 13
In, the difference in cooling load can be estimated from the difference in solar radiation. Therefore, a part of the cool air is distributed from the right evaporator unit 5R through the cross duct 9 so that the flow rate of the cool air blown out from the cooling duct 5L on the left side of the vehicle compartment under a situation where the cooling load is large under the direct sunlight is increased. . That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the left damper 10L is moved from the normal position to the fully open position, and the right damper 10R is moved from the normal position to the distribution position, so that the left and right cooling ducts 5L and 5R are in a communicating state. As a result, the cool air supplied from the right evaporator unit 3R is supplied to the right damper 10R.
Is distributed to the right cooling duct 5R and the crossover duct 9 in accordance with the opening degree. And the cold air distributed to the cross duct 9
It joins with the cool air blown from the left evaporator unit 3L and is blown out from each blowout port 6L of the left cooling duct 3L. Note that the opening degree of the right damper 10R at the distribution position becomes smaller as the difference between the left and right cooling loads becomes larger and narrows the flow path to the right cooling duct 5R.
The flow rate of the cool air supplied to the left cooling duct 5L decreases by that amount, and the flow rate of the cool air distributed to the left cooling duct 5L increases accordingly.

By performing such a cooling operation, it is possible to supply cool air having a capacity equal to or greater than the capacity of the left evaporator unit 3L to the left cooling duct 5L having a large cooling load. In other words, it is possible to supply 50% or more of the cool air of the air conditioner to the cooling duct 5L having a large cooling load, and it is possible to perform an operation adapted to the difference between the left and right large cooling loads. When the cooling load on the right cooling duct 5R is large, the left damper 10L may be moved to the distribution position and the right damper 10R may be moved to the fully open position, whereby the air conditioner is moved to the right cooling duct 5R. 50% or more of the cold air can be supplied.

When the cooling load detecting sensor 12 is a temperature sensor, the air conditioning load can be determined from different temperatures on the left and right sides of the cabin. That is, in the cooling operation, it is possible to determine that the air conditioning load on the high room temperature side is high by receiving direct sunlight or the like, so that the damper is distributed so that the cool air is distributed to the cooling duct 5 on the high temperature side. 10
L and 10R may be operated.

When the cooling load detecting sensor 12 is a skin temperature sensor, the cooling load can be determined from the skin temperature of the passenger. The skin temperature sensor determines the temperature based on the thermographic detected by the infrared camera, and can distinguish between red and blue, and can determine that the cooling load on the side where red distribution is large is large. That is, in the thermographic, a large red color distribution means that the skin temperature of the occupant passenger is high. Therefore, the dampers 10L and 10R can be operated so as to distribute the cool air to the cooling duct 5 on the side where the red color distribution is large. I just need.

Such a cooling load detecting sensor 12 is provided with at least one cooling air blowing area for each divided cold air blowing area.
The cooling load may be determined by averaging a plurality of detected values. It is also possible to install different types of sensors such as a solar radiation sensor and a temperature sensor, for example, and determine the cooling load from the respective detected values. In this way, it is possible to determine a cooling load that is more realistic than in the case where only the detection values obtained from one type of sensor are used.

The dampers 10L and 10L at the distribution positions
When R completely closes the flow path to the cooling ducts 5L and 5R,
Electric motors 7L, 7R due to excessive fan load
Therefore, a stopper or the like for preventing full closure may be provided since there is a possibility that the air flow passing through the evaporator may be reduced, and that the freezing may be caused.

[0024]

According to the air conditioner for a vehicle of the present invention described above, when the cooling load differs between the left and right sides of the cabin due to direct sunlight or the like, the cooling air is supplied to the cooling duct from the smaller cooling load side to the larger cooling duct. , It is possible to provide a comfortable vehicle interior environment by effectively utilizing the cooling capacity of the air conditioner. That is, during the cooling operation, the amount of the cool air blown out from the cooling duct on the side where the cooling load is large (hot) can be set to 50% or more of the total capacity, so that a large difference occurs in the cooling load. Even in this case, the entire vehicle cabin can be cooled substantially uniformly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the vehicle air conditioner shown in FIG.
It is a system diagram showing a damper position and a flow of cold air when the cooling load on the left cooling duct side is large.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a bus equipped with a direct connection type vehicle air conditioner showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3L, 3R Evaporator unit 5L, 5R Cooling duct 8L, 8R Air-conditioned air outlet 9 Crossover duct 10L, 10R Damper 12L, 12R Cooling load sensor 13 Control unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising: a pair of cooling ducts arranged to blow out conditioned air to left and right sides of a vehicle interior; and a pair of evaporator units for supplying conditioned air to the cooling ducts. A crossover duct for communicating between the cooling ducts near the air conditioning air outlet of the evaporator unit; and a distribution flow rate control unit for the conditioned air at each of both ends of the crossover duct, to provide a cooling load on the evaporator unit side. An air conditioner for a vehicle, characterized in that conditioned air is distributed from a cooling air duct to a cooling duct on the side of a large evaporator unit. 2. The flow control device according to claim 1, wherein the cooling duct and the transfer duct are fully opened from a fully open position where the transfer duct side is completely closed to a distribution position where the flow path on the cooling duct side is narrowed. When a difference in cooling load occurs, the damper on the evaporator unit side with a small cooling load is set to the distribution position, and the damper on the side with a large cooling load is set to the fully open position to distribute the conditioned air. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein 3. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 2, further comprising means for restricting the operation of the damper so that the cooling duct side is not completely closed at the distribution position.