JP2010143468A - Heating device of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heating device of a vehicle that can suppress an increase in opportunities of driving a generator by an internal combustion engine resulted from an increase in power consumption associated with an operation of a seat heater during an operation of an air conditioner, and can suppress an increase in fuel consumption. <P>SOLUTION: A heating device 100 includes an air conditioner 110 for heating the inside of a vehicle cabin by feeding a heated air utilizing power supplied from a battery 400, and seat heaters 150 for heating a person on a seat via the seat by generating heat from a heater embedded in the seat utilizing power supplied from the battery 400. The heating device 100 executes a power consumption suppressing control in which an air feed amount is reduced based on the number of the seat heaters 150 to which power is supplied during an operation of the air conditioner 110 so that the air feed amount by the air conditioner 110 is reduced as the number of the seat heaters 150 to which the power is supplied is increased. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle heating apparatus, and more particularly to a vehicle heating apparatus including a seat heater in addition to an air conditioner that blows warm air into a vehicle interior.

  As a vehicle heating device, in addition to an air conditioner that blows warm air heated by heat exchange between engine cooling water and air into the vehicle interior, a seat heater that warms the passenger through the seat by heating the heater embedded in the seat The one with is known.

  As such a vehicle heating apparatus, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle heating apparatus that controls a seat heater and an air conditioner in conjunction with each other in order to quickly complete warm-up of an internal combustion engine and suppress fuel consumption. Are listed. In this heating device, the seat heater is operated when the air conditioner is operating when the engine is cold, and the air flow rate of the air conditioner is reduced to reduce the heating capacity of the air conditioner, while the seat heater is used to warm the passenger. I am doing so.

As described above, according to the configuration in which the seat heater is operated when the air conditioner is operating when the engine is cold, and the air flow rate of the air conditioner is reduced, the heat of the internal combustion engine is heated as warm air in the passenger compartment without feeling the cold as much as possible. It becomes possible to suppress the heat dissipation, and the warm-up of the internal combustion engine can be completed at an early stage to suppress the fuel consumption.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-18909

  By the way, in a vehicle equipped with an air conditioner and a seat heater as a heating device, if the seat heater is switched on while the air conditioner is operating, the power consumed for driving the air conditioner is consumed by energizing the seat heater. Since power is added, power consumption increases and the amount of charge of the battery decreases rapidly. As a result, the opportunity to drive the generator by the internal combustion engine for charging increases, the engine load increases, and the fuel consumption may increase.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to suppress an increase in the opportunity of driving the generator by the internal combustion engine due to an increase in power consumption accompanying the operation of the seat heater while the air conditioner is operating. Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle heating device that can suppress an increase in fuel consumption.

In the following, means for achieving the above object and its effects are described.
The invention according to claim 1 is mounted on a vehicle including a generator that generates electric power using the driving force of the internal combustion engine, and a battery that is charged by electric power generated by the generator, and is supplied from the battery. An air conditioner that heats the vehicle interior by blowing warm air using electric power, and a seat that heats a passenger through the seat by generating heat from a heater embedded in the seat using electric power supplied from the battery In a vehicle heating apparatus comprising a heater, based on the number of seat heaters that are energized during operation of the air conditioner, such that the amount of air blown by the air conditioner decreases as the number of seat heaters that are energized increases. The gist of the present invention is to execute power consumption suppression control that reduces the air flow rate of the air conditioner.

  According to the above configuration, during the power consumption suppression control, when the power consumption increases due to the energization of the seat heater, the airflow of the air conditioner is reduced and the power consumption required for driving the air conditioner is reduced. It becomes like this. Therefore, it is possible to suppress an increase in power consumption of the entire heating device due to the operation of the seat heater during the operation of the air conditioner, and it is possible to suppress a decrease in the charge amount of the battery. As a result, it is possible to suppress an increase in the opportunity to drive the generator by the internal combustion engine due to an increase in power consumption accompanying the operation of the seat heater during the operation of the air conditioner, and to suppress an increase in fuel consumption. Become.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the heating apparatus for a vehicle according to the first aspect, in the power consumption suppression control, the magnitude of the power consumption for energizing the seat heater and the air flow rate of the air conditioner The gist is that the amount of air flow reduction is determined so as to increase in proportion to the number of energized seat heaters so that the amount of power consumption reduced by reducing To do.

  As the number of energized seat heaters increases, the power consumption for energizing the seat heater increases in proportion to the number. On the other hand, in the above configuration, the air flow rate of the air conditioner is reduced as the number of energized seat heaters is increased so that the number of seat heaters energized is proportional to the number of energized seat heaters. The power consumption that is increased by energization is made equal to the power consumption that is reduced by reducing the air flow. Therefore, according to the structure of the said Claim 2, it is preferable that the increase in the power consumption by electricity supply to a seat heater is offset by reducing the ventilation volume of an air conditioner, and the power consumption of the whole heating apparatus increases. Can be suppressed.

  The invention according to claim 3 is a vehicle heating device mounted on a vehicle having a seat provided with a seat heater and a seat provided with no seat heater, wherein the seat heater is provided. The vehicle heating device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein execution of the power consumption suppression control is prohibited when an occupant is seated in a non-seat.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle heating device according to any one of the first to third aspects, all seat heaters of a seat on which an occupant is seated are energized. The gist is to permit execution of the power consumption suppression control under conditions.

  Even if the airflow of the air conditioner is reduced with the execution of power consumption suppression control, if the seat heater provided in the seat that is seated is energized, the seat heater is warmed, so the occupant is cold. It is hard to feel.

  On the other hand, when there is an occupant seated in a seat that is not provided with a seat heater, and the air flow rate of the air conditioner is reduced due to energization of seat heaters provided in other seats An occupant seated in a seat not provided with a seat heater may feel cold due to a decrease in heating capacity due to a reduction in the airflow of the air conditioner. Therefore, in a heating apparatus mounted on a vehicle having a seat provided with a seat heater and a seat not provided with a seat heater as in the configuration described in claim 3, the seat heater is provided. When an occupant is seated in a seat that is not seated, it is desirable to prohibit execution of power consumption suppression control.

  In addition, even when the seat heater is seated, even if the seat heater provided in the seat is not energized, the seat heater provided in another seat is provided. When the air flow of the air conditioner is reduced along with the energization of the occupant, there is a possibility that a passenger sitting in a seat where the energization of the seat heater is not performed may feel cold. Therefore, it is desirable to permit the execution of the power consumption suppression control on condition that all seat heaters of the seats on which the occupants are seated are energized as in the fourth aspect of the invention. According to such a configuration, it is possible to suppress the occupant from feeling cold as the power consumption suppression control is executed.

  The invention according to claim 5 is based on the fact that the air conditioner is in operation, and the seat heater is energized by interlocking the energization control to the seat heater and the control of the air conditioner. And a changeover switch that switches between an interlocking state in which the power consumption suppression control is executed and a non-interlocking state in which the power consumption suppression control is not executed even when the seat heater is energized during operation of the air conditioner. Item 5. The vehicle heating device according to any one of Items 1 to 4.

  According to the above configuration, when the seat heater is energized, the state in which the airflow of the air conditioner is automatically reduced to execute the power consumption suppression control, and the seat heater is energized. Even so, it is possible to switch between a state in which the airflow of the air conditioner is not reduced. That is, by operating the changeover switch, even if the heating capacity is reduced, the amount of air flow is reduced, so that priority is given to the suppression of fuel consumption, and the amount of air flow is not reduced even if the amount of fuel consumption increases. It becomes possible to arbitrarily switch the state where the heating capacity is prioritized.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the internal combustion engine is operated based on the charge amount of the battery being less than a predetermined level, and the generator is driven using the driving force of the internal combustion engine. The vehicle heating device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which is mounted on a hybrid vehicle that charges a battery.

  If the power consumption suppression control is executed as in the first to fifth aspects of the invention, an increase in power consumption of the entire heating device can be suppressed even when the air conditioner and the seat heater are used in combination. . Therefore, if a vehicle heating device that performs such power consumption suppression control is installed in a hybrid vehicle, a decrease in the amount of charge of the battery can be suppressed even when an air conditioner and a seat heater are used in combination. For this reason, it is possible to suppress an increase in fuel consumption by suppressing frequent operation of the internal combustion engine.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle heating apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the power consumption suppression control is executed on condition that the charge amount of the battery is less than a reference value larger than the predetermined level. The gist is to do.

  According to the above configuration, when the charge amount of the battery is equal to or greater than the reference value set to a value larger than the level at which the internal combustion engine is operated and charged, and the battery charge amount has a margin, the power consumption suppression control is performed. It will not be executed. In other words, power consumption suppression control is executed only when there is a possibility that the internal combustion engine may be operated for charging by using both an air conditioner and a seat heater in combination with a low charge amount of the battery. The power suppression control is executed and the heating capacity is prevented from being restricted more than necessary.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment in which a vehicle heating device according to the present invention is embodied as a hybrid vehicle heating device including an engine and a motor as driving force generation sources will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a hybrid vehicle heating device and a drive system of the hybrid vehicle according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the hybrid vehicle engine 200 according to this embodiment is connected to a differential 350 via a hybrid transmission 300 including a motor 310.

  In addition to the motor 310, the hybrid transmission 300 is provided with a power split mechanism 320 and a generator 330. The driving force of the engine 200 is the driving force for driving the generator 330 via the power split mechanism 320. The driving force transmitted to the differential 350 is divided. Further, the driving force of the motor 310 provided in the hybrid transmission 300 is shifted by the transmission 340 and transmitted to the differential 350. The differential 350 distributes the driving force transmitted from the engine 200 and the motor 310 to the left and right driving wheels 360L and 360R.

  The electric power generated by the generator 330 as shown by the one-dot chain line arrow in the center of FIG. The electric power charged in the battery 400 is used not only to drive the motor 310 but also to drive each part of the air conditioner 110 in the heating apparatus 100 described later and to supply power to the seat heater 150.

  The battery 400 is connected to a battery ECU 410 that monitors the remaining charge and the presence / absence of an abnormality. The battery ECU 410 is connected to a hybrid ECU 370 that controls the entire hybrid system and an air conditioner ECU 120 that controls the air conditioner 110.

  Engine 200 and hybrid transmission 300 are controlled by hybrid ECU 370. Specifically, the hybrid ECU 370 controls the motor 310, the power split mechanism 320, and the transmission 340 according to the driving state of the vehicle, such as the driver's accelerator operation amount and the current vehicle speed, and sends a control command to the engine ECU 210. Output.

Engine ECU 210 controls the intake air amount, fuel injection amount, ignition timing, and the like of engine 200 based on a control command from hybrid ECU 370.
Hybrid ECU 370 needs to operate engine 200 to drive the vehicle when the remaining charge is less than a predetermined level L based on the remaining charge information of battery 400 input from battery ECU 410. Even in the absence, the engine 200 is operated to drive the generator 330.

  As shown in the upper part of FIG. 1, a heating apparatus 100 for a hybrid vehicle according to this embodiment includes an air conditioner 110 that blows warm air or cold air in a vehicle interior, and a heater embedded in the seat, thereby generating heat. And a seat heater 150 that warms the passenger.

  The hybrid vehicle of the present embodiment is a five-seater passenger car, and is provided with two seats, a front right seat (driver's seat) and a front left seat (passenger seat), at a position in front of the vehicle in the passenger compartment. Three seats, a rear right seat, a rear center seat, and a rear left seat, are provided at a position on the vehicle rear side.

  And in the hybrid vehicle of this embodiment, the seat heater 150 is each provided in four seats except a rear center seat among these five seats. In FIG. 1, only one of the seat heaters 150 is shown.

  The seat heater 150 is connected to the seat ECU 160, and the seat heater 150 is controlled by the seat ECU 160. The seat ECU 160 includes a seat heater switch 161 that “ON” and “OFF” energizes the seat heater 150 provided in each seat, and a seating sensor 162 that determines whether an occupant is seated in each seat. Is connected.

Next, the configuration of the air conditioner 110 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the air conditioner 110.
As shown in FIG. 2, the air conditioner 110 is dehumidified and cooled through the blower fan 114 for blowing warm air or cold air into the vehicle interior, the evaporator 111 for dehumidifying and cooling the blown air, and the evaporator 111. A heater core 112 that warms the cold air is provided.

  In the air conditioner 110, the blower fan 114 is rotated by the blower motor 113 driven by the electric power supplied from the battery 400, thereby introducing outside air or inside air in the vehicle interior as indicated by an arrow on the left side of FIG. 2. The air passes through the evaporator 111 and the heater core 112 and is then blown into the vehicle interior. As shown on the left side of FIG. 2, a suction port switching damper 116 is provided at the air inlet of the air conditioner. The suction port switching damper 116 closes one of the air introduction port communicating with the vehicle interior and the air introduction port communicating with the outside of the vehicle, thereby taking in the air in the vehicle interior and blowing it into the vehicle interior again. The inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode for taking outside air and blowing it into the vehicle interior are switched.

  In addition, the evaporator 111 dehumidifies and cools air using a cooling action when the refrigerant is vaporized, and the refrigerant is circulated therein. One heater core 112 circulates in the engine cooling water provided for cooling the engine 200 and warms the air by heat exchange between the air and the engine cooling water.

  As shown in FIG. 2, an air mix damper 115 is provided between the evaporator 111 and the heater core 112 in the housing of the air conditioner 110. The air mix damper 115 has its opening degree controlled as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 2 so as to adjust the amount of air guided to the heater core 112 out of the air dehumidified and cooled through the evaporator 111. As a result, the ratio of the air that is guided to the heater core 112 to be heated among the air that has been dehumidified and cooled through the evaporator 111 can be changed, and the temperature of the air that is blown into the vehicle interior can be adjusted. In addition, by changing the rotational speed of the blower motor 113, the amount of hot or cold air blown into the passenger compartment can be changed.

  The air conditioner ECU 120 performs the opening control of the air mix damper 115, the switching control of the suction port switching damper 116, and the rotational speed control of the blower motor 113. The air conditioner ECU 120 includes an inside air sensor 121 that detects the temperature in the vehicle interior, an outside air sensor 122 that detects the temperature of the outside air, a water temperature sensor 123 that detects the temperature of the engine cooling water supplied to the heater core 112, and solar radiation that enters the vehicle interior. Various sensors such as a solar radiation sensor 124 for detecting the amount are connected.

  In addition, the air conditioner ECU 120 consumes in conjunction with the “ON” operation of the seat heater switch 161 in addition to the air conditioner switch 125 for turning the air conditioner 110 “ON” and “OFF”, the temperature setting switch 126 for setting the target temperature. An interlock switch 127 and the like for switching between “ON” and “OFF” of the interlock mode for executing the power suppression control are connected.

  The air conditioner ECU 120 performs arithmetic processing based on signals input from these various sensors and switches. For example, while adjusting the temperature of the warm air or cold air to be blown into the vehicle interior by controlling the opening of the air mix damper 115 so that the temperature in the vehicle interior matches the target temperature set by the temperature setting switch 126, The rotational speed of the blower motor 113 is controlled to automatically control the amount of hot or cold air blown into the vehicle interior.

  By the way, in the heating device 100, when the seat heater 150 is turned “ON” when the air conditioner 110 is operated, that is, when the seat heater 150 is energized, the air conditioner 110 is turned on. The power consumed by energizing the seat heater 150 is added to the power consumed for driving. Therefore, the power consumption as the whole heating apparatus 100 increases, and the charge amount of the battery 400 decreases rapidly. As a result, the amount of charge of the battery 400 tends to be less than the predetermined level L, and the chance that the engine 200 is operated for charging increases, which may increase the fuel consumption.

  Therefore, in the heating device 100 of the present embodiment, the seat heater switch 161 is turned “ON”, and when the energization of the seat heater 150 is performed, the air flow rate in the air conditioner 110 is reduced, thereby heating the device 100. Power consumption suppression control that suppresses an increase in overall power consumption is executed.

  Hereinafter, this power consumption suppression control will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of an execution condition determination process for determining whether or not an execution condition for power consumption suppression control is satisfied.

  This process is repeatedly executed at a predetermined control cycle in the air conditioner ECU 120 when the hybrid system is operating and the air conditioner switch 125 is turned “ON”.

  When this process is started as shown in FIG. 3, the air conditioner ECU 120 first determines whether the interlock switch 127 is “ON” in step S100, that is, based on the “ON” operation of the seat heater switch 161. It is determined whether or not the interlocking mode for executing the power consumption suppression control in conjunction with “ON” is “ON”.

  If it is determined in step S100 that the interlock switch 127 is “OFF” (step S100: NO), that is, if the interlock mode is “OFF”, the air conditioner ECU 120 performs power consumption suppression control. It is determined that the execution condition is not satisfied, and this process is temporarily terminated without executing the power consumption suppression control.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S100 that the interlock switch 127 is “ON” (step S100: YES), that is, if the interlock mode is “ON”, the process proceeds to step S200. .

  Then, air conditioner ECU 120 reads information on the remaining battery level from battery ECU 410 and determines whether or not the remaining battery level is less than reference value X. The reference value X is set to a value larger than a predetermined level L at which the engine 200 is operated for charging the battery 400, and the remaining battery level is greater than or equal to the reference value X. Thus, the size of the battery 400 is set so that it can be determined that the remaining charge amount of the battery 400 has a sufficient margin.

  When it is determined in step S200 that the remaining charge amount of the battery 400 is greater than or equal to the reference amount X (step S200: NO), that is, when it is determined that the remaining charge amount of the battery 400 has a sufficient margin Therefore, it is determined that the execution condition of the power consumption suppression control is not satisfied, and this process is temporarily terminated without executing the power consumption suppression control.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S200 that the remaining charge of the battery 400 is less than the reference amount X (step S200: YES), the process proceeds to step S300. Then, the information detected by the seating sensor 162 is read from the seat ECU 160, and it is determined whether or not there is an occupant in the seat where the seat heater 150 is not provided, that is, whether or not the occupant is seated in the rear center seat.

  If it is determined in step S300 that an occupant is seated in the rear center seat where the seat heater 150 is not provided (step S300: NO), the execution condition of the power consumption suppression control is established. This process is temporarily terminated without executing the power consumption suppression control.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S300 that no occupant is seated in the rear center seat where the seat heater 150 is not provided (step S300: YES), the process proceeds to step S400. Then, information on “ON” and “OFF” of each seat heater 150 is read from the seat ECU 160, and it is determined whether or not all the seat heaters 150 of the seats where the occupants are seated are “ON”.

  When a negative determination is made in step S400, that is, when it is determined that there is no energized seat heater 150 of the seat on which the occupant is seated (step S400: NO). Determines that the execution condition of the power consumption suppression control is not satisfied, and terminates this process once without executing the power consumption suppression control.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S400 that all the seat heaters 150 of the seats where the occupant is seated are “ON”, that is, they are energized (step S400: YES), power consumption is suppressed. It is determined that the control execution condition is satisfied, and the process proceeds to step S500 to execute power consumption suppression control.

Hereinafter, the contents of the power consumption suppression control will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of power consumption suppression control.
When this process is started as shown in FIG. 4, first, in step 510, the air conditioner ECU 120 reads the number N of seat heaters 150 that are “ON”, as determined by the seat ECU 160.

  In step S520, the air flow rate in the air conditioner 110 is corrected to be reduced so that the air flow rate in the air conditioner 110 is reduced by a predetermined amount α per unit, that is, “predetermined amount α × N”.

  This predetermined amount α is a value set to correspond to the amount of power consumption when only one seat heater 150 is “ON”, and by reducing the blown air amount by the predetermined amount α. The correction amount is set so that the power consumption of the air conditioner 110 can be reduced by an amount equal to the power consumption when only one seat heater 150 is turned “ON”.

  Next, the effect | action of the power consumption suppression control concerning this embodiment is demonstrated with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the number N of seat heaters 150 that are “ON” and the air flow rate in the air conditioner 110 and the number N of seat heaters 150 that are “ON”. It is a graph which shows the relationship with the power consumption of the air conditioner 110 and the seat heater 150. FIG.

  When the power consumption suppression control is executed, as shown in FIG. 5, the number N of seat heaters 150 that are turned “ON”, that is, the number N of seat heaters 150 that are energized increases to the number N. The amount of air blown by the air conditioner 110 is reduced by a proportional amount.

  For example, if the number N of seat heaters 150 that are turned “ON” increases by one from “0” to “1”, and the power consumption of the seat heater 150 increases by A accordingly, the air flow rate of the air conditioner 110 is increased. The power consumption of the air conditioner 110 is reduced by A by a fixed amount α.

  Thus, by reducing the air flow rate of the air conditioner 110 so as to correspond to the number N of the seat heaters 150 that are “ON”, an increase in power consumption accompanying the energization of the seat heater 150 is reduced. It can be offset by a reduction in power.

According to the embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) During the power consumption suppression control, when the power consumption increases due to the energization of the seat heater 150, the air flow of the air conditioner 110 is reduced and the power consumption for driving the air conditioner 110 is reduced. It becomes like this. Therefore, it is possible to suppress an increase in power consumption of the entire heating device 100 due to the operation of the seat heater 150 during the operation of the air conditioner 110, and it is possible to suppress a decrease in the charge amount of the battery 400. As a result, it is possible to suppress an increase in the opportunity to drive the generator 330 by the engine 200 due to an increase in power consumption accompanying the operation of the seat heater 150 during the operation of the air conditioner 110, and to suppress an increase in fuel consumption. it can.

  (2) As the number N of energized seat heaters 150 increases, the power consumption for energizing the seat heater 150 increases in proportion to the number N. On the other hand, in the above embodiment, as the number N of seat heaters 150 that are energized is larger, the amount of air blown by the air conditioner 110 is significantly reduced in proportion to the number N of seat heaters 150 that are energized. The power consumption increased by energizing the seat heater 150 is made equal to the power consumption reduced by reducing the air flow rate.

  Therefore, an increase in power consumption due to energization of the seat heater 150 can be offset by reducing the amount of air blown by the air conditioner 110, and an increase in power consumption of the entire heating device 100 can be suitably suppressed.

  (3) Even if the air volume of the air conditioner 110 is reduced with the execution of the power consumption suppression control, if the seat heater 150 provided in the seating seat is “ON”, the seat heater Since it is warmed by 150, it is hard for an occupant to feel cold.

  On the other hand, when there is an occupant seated in the rear central seat where the seat heater 150 is not provided, the air flow rate of the air conditioner 110 is increased with energization of the seat heater 150 provided in the other seats. If it is reduced, the occupant seated in the rear center seat may feel cold due to a decrease in heating capacity due to a reduction in the airflow of the air conditioner 110. In this regard, in the above embodiment, it is determined whether there is an occupant in a seat where the seat heater 150 is not provided, and when the occupant is seated in a rear central seat where the seat heater 150 is not provided, the power consumption Execution of suppression control is prohibited.

  According to such a configuration, when an occupant is seated in a seat in the rear center where the seat heater 150 is not provided, even if the seat heaters 150 of other seats are turned “ON”, the air flow rate of the air conditioner 110 is reduced. Is not executed. For this reason, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of inconvenience that the passenger sitting in the rear central seat where the seat heater 150 is not provided feels cold.

  (4) Even when seated in a seat where the seat heater 150 is provided, if the seat heater 150 provided in the seat is not energized, other seats When the airflow of the air conditioner 110 is reduced based on the energization of the seat heater 150, the occupant may feel cold. On the other hand, in the above embodiment, the execution of the power consumption suppression control is permitted on the condition that all the seat heaters 150 of the seats where the occupants are seated are “ON”, that is, in the energized state. .

  Therefore, the power consumption suppression control is executed when the seat heater 150 is not energized, and it is possible to suppress the occurrence of inconvenience that the occupant seated in the seat feels cold.

  (5) In the above embodiment, the interlock switch 127 for switching between “ON” and “OFF” of the interlock mode for executing the power consumption suppression control in conjunction with the “ON” operation of the seat heater switch 161 is provided. When other execution conditions are satisfied while power is being supplied, the power consumption suppression control is automatically executed (interlocking mode “ON”), and even if the seat heater 150 is supplied with power A state where the power suppression control is not executed (interlocking mode “OFF”) can be switched. For this reason, by operating the interlock switch 127, the fuel consumption is increased in a state where priority is given to the suppression of the fuel consumption even when the heating capacity is reduced by reducing the air flow rate (the interlock mode “ON”). In addition, it is possible to arbitrarily switch between a state in which the heating capacity is prioritized (interlocking mode “OFF”) without reducing the air flow rate.

  (6) In the configuration of the above-described embodiment, the remaining battery level is less than the reference value X, because the execution condition of the power consumption suppression control is included in the power consumption suppression control. When the charge amount of the battery 400 is sufficient, the power consumption suppression control is not executed. That is, the power consumption suppression control is executed only when the remaining amount of the battery is low and the engine 200 may be operated for charging by using the air conditioner 110 and the seat heater 150 together. It is suppressed that power consumption suppression control is performed and heating capacity is restricted more than necessary.

In addition, the said embodiment can also be implemented with the following forms which changed this suitably.
In the above embodiment, the amount of airflow corresponding to the number N of seat heaters 150 that are “ON” is set to “predetermined amount α × N”, and the consumption increases by energizing the seat heater 150. The power consumption and the power consumption reduced by reducing the amount of blown air were made equal. In contrast, if the number N of seat heaters 150 that are “ON” is increased, the amount of air blown by the air conditioner 110 is reduced, so that a part of the power consumption that is increased by energizing the seat heater 150 is offset. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the amount of air blown is set to be reduced. Further, it is possible to employ a configuration in which the amount of air blown by the air conditioner 110 is set so as to reduce more power consumption than the power consumption increased by energizing the seat heater 150.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the seat heater 150 is provided in four of the five seats is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the present invention can be applied even to a vehicle in which the seat heater 150 is provided only in the seat located on the vehicle front side in the vehicle interior. In addition, the present invention can also be applied to a seven-seater vehicle having seven seats, an eight-seater vehicle having eight seats, and the like.

  -Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the example which applied this invention to the vehicle provided with the seat in which the seat heater 150 is provided, and the seat in which the seat heater 150 is not provided was shown, all seats were shown. The present invention can also be applied to a vehicle in which the seat heater 150 is provided. In this case, the process of step S300 in the execution condition determination process can be omitted.

  -The execution conditions of power consumption suppression control can be changed as appropriate. For example, in the above embodiment, the interlock switch 127 for switching the interlock mode between “ON” and “OFF” is provided, and the power consumption suppression control is executed on condition that the interlock switch 127 is “ON”. However, such a configuration can be omitted.

  Further, in step S200 of the execution condition determination process, it is determined whether or not the remaining charge amount of the battery 400 is less than the reference amount X, and consumption is based on the fact that the remaining power reception amount of the battery 400 is less than the reference amount X. Although the configuration for executing the power suppression control is shown, this condition may be omitted. That is, it is possible to adopt a configuration that executes power consumption suppression control regardless of whether or not the remaining charge amount of the battery 400 is less than the reference value X.

  In addition, the execution condition of step S300 in the execution condition determination process and the execution condition of step S400 can be omitted. However, when these execution conditions are omitted, the effects (3) and (4) cannot be obtained.

  In the above embodiment, the configuration in which the vehicle heating device of the present invention is applied to a hybrid vehicle including the engine 200 and the motor 310 is shown, but the present invention is not limited to such a hybrid vehicle. . In other words, if the vehicle is a vehicle that uses the driving force of the engine to drive the generator and charges the battery when the amount of charge of the battery falls below a predetermined level, the vehicle includes only the engine as a driving force source. Even so, the present invention can be applied. In this case, by applying the present invention, it is possible to reduce the load of the engine by reducing the chance of charging using the driving force of the engine, thereby suppressing fuel consumption. Will be able to.

The schematic diagram which shows schematic structure of the heating apparatus of the vehicle concerning one Embodiment of this invention, and the drive system of the vehicle. The schematic diagram which shows schematic structure of the air conditioner in the heating apparatus of the vehicle concerning the embodiment. The flowchart which shows the flow of the execution condition determination process of the power consumption suppression control in the heating apparatus of the vehicle concerning the embodiment. The flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the power consumption suppression control in the heating apparatus of the vehicle concerning the embodiment. The graph which shows the relationship between the number of the seat heater currently energized, the ventilation volume of an air conditioner, and the number of the seat heater energized, and the power consumption of an air conditioner and a seat heater.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Heating device, 110 ... Air conditioner, 111 ... Evaporator, 112 ... Heater core, 113 ... Blower motor, 114 ... Blower fan, 115 ... Air mix damper, 116 ... Suction switching damper, 120 ... Air conditioner ECU, 121 ... Inside air sensor, 122 ... Outside air sensor, 123 ... Water temperature sensor, 124 ... Solar radiation sensor, 125 ... Air conditioner switch, 126 ... Temperature setting switch, 127 ... Interlocking switch, 150 ... Seat heater, 160 ... Seat ECU, 161 ... Seat heater switch, 162 ... Seat sensor , 200 ... engine, 210 ... engine ECU, 300 ... hybrid transmission, 310 ... motor, 320 ... power split mechanism, 330 ... generator, 340 ... transmission, 350 ... differential, 360L, 360R ... drive wheels, 3 0 ... hybrid ECU, 400 ... battery, 410 ... battery ECU.

Claims (7)

It is mounted on a vehicle including a generator that generates electric power using the driving force of an internal combustion engine, and a battery that is charged by the electric power generated by the generator,
An air conditioner that heats the vehicle interior by blowing warm air using electric power supplied from the battery, and a heater embedded in the seat using electric power supplied from the battery to generate heat through the seat. In a vehicle heating device comprising a seat heater that warms an occupant
Power consumption for reducing the air flow rate of the air conditioner based on the number of seat heaters energized during operation of the air conditioner so that the air flow rate of the air conditioner decreases as the number of seat heaters energized increases. A vehicle heating apparatus characterized by performing suppression control. The vehicle heating device according to claim 1,
In the power consumption suppression control, the energization is performed so that the amount of power consumed for energizing the seat heater is equal to the amount of power consumed by reducing the air flow of the air conditioner. The amount of reduction of the blast volume is determined so as to increase in proportion to the number of seat heaters. A vehicle heating device mounted on a vehicle having a seat provided with a seat heater and a seat provided with no seat heater,
The vehicle heating apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein execution of the power consumption suppression control is prohibited when an occupant is seated in a seat not provided with the seat heater. In the heating apparatus of the vehicle as described in any one of Claims 1-3,
The vehicle heating apparatus, wherein execution of the power consumption suppression control is permitted on condition that all seat heaters of seats where passengers are seated are energized. The power consumption suppression control is executed based on the fact that the air conditioner is operating and the seat heater is energized in conjunction with the energization control of the seat heater and the control of the air conditioner. Linked state,
The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a changeover switch that switches between a non-interlocking state in which the power consumption suppression control is not executed even when the seat heater is energized during operation of the air conditioner. Heating system. A hybrid vehicle that operates the internal combustion engine based on the fact that the amount of charge of the battery is less than a predetermined level, drives the generator using the driving force of the internal combustion engine, and charges the battery The vehicle heating device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The vehicle heating device according to claim 6,
The heating apparatus for a vehicle, wherein the power consumption suppression control is executed on condition that a charge amount of the battery is less than a reference value larger than the predetermined level.

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