JP2010280354A - Vehicle control device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle control device which can adequately set the time from the engine stop to the engine restart when performing the control that the engine is temporarily stopped while the vehicle is stopped. <P>SOLUTION: The vehicle control device includes an engine control means 44 which stops an engine 2 when the predetermined engine stopping condition is established, and then, starts the engine 2 and starts a refrigerating cycle device A when the predetermined engine stop time Ts is elapsed thereafter in a vehicle having the engine 2 and the refrigerating cycle device A operated by the driving force of the engine 2 to dehumidify the inside of a cabin. The vehicle control device further includes an occupant number detection means 46 for detecting the number of occupants of the vehicle, and an engine stop time determination means 43 for determining the engine stop time Ts to be the short value as the number of occupants detected by the occupant number detection means 46 is larger. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle control device that stops an engine when a stop condition is satisfied during operation of an engine mounted on the vehicle and starts the engine when a start condition is satisfied while the engine is stopped.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a vehicle control device that suppresses fuel consumption by idling while the vehicle is stopped by temporarily stopping the engine while the vehicle is stopped (for example, Patent Documents). 1).

In the vehicle control device described in Patent Document 1, the engine is stopped when the vehicle speed is zero, the vehicle is stopped, and the clutch switch is turned off (when the stop condition is satisfied). The engine is restarted when a predetermined time (S ₂ ) elapses (when the start condition is satisfied).

JP-A-4-358729

  In the vehicle control apparatus described in Patent Document 1, there is no description on how to set a predetermined time (elapsed time from engine stop to restart) which is an engine start condition.

  When the predetermined time is constant, the dehumidifier is operated by the driving force of the engine when the vehicle that has been naturally ventilated by traveling stops and stops the engine, or until the engine stops. When the engine is stopped and the dehumidifier is also stopped, depending on the outside air and the condition of the passenger compartment, the window glass may become cloudy due to an increase in the humidity of the passenger compartment before the engine is restarted. is there. If the window glass is fogged in this way, the driver has to remove the fog on the window glass when starting the vehicle next time.

  On the other hand, if the time from engine stop to restart is set short so that the window glass does not fog up, the effect of stopping the engine and stopping fuel consumption while the vehicle is stopped will be insufficient. There is an inconvenience.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a vehicle control device that can more appropriately set the time from engine stop to restart when performing control to temporarily stop the engine while the vehicle is stopped. With the goal.

  The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and predetermined engine stop conditions are established for a vehicle including an engine and a dehumidifier that operates by the driving force of the engine to dehumidify the vehicle interior. The present invention relates to a vehicle control device including engine control means for starting the engine and starting the dehumidifier when a predetermined engine stop time has elapsed after that.

  And an occupant number detection means for detecting the number of occupants of the vehicle, and an engine stop time determination means for determining the engine stop time to be shorter as the number of occupant numbers of the vehicle detected by the occupant number detection means increases. It is provided with.

  In the present invention, the greater the number of passengers in the vehicle, the greater the total amount of exhalation by each passenger. Therefore, the rate of increase in humidity in the vehicle interior of the vehicle while the engine is stopped increases. The window glass in the room tends to become cloudy. Therefore, by detecting the number of occupants of the vehicle by the occupant number detection means and determining the engine stop time as a shorter time as the number of occupants increases by the engine stop time determination means, the rate of increase in humidity in the vehicle interior It is possible to determine an appropriate engine stop time according to the above. As a result, the engine stop time can be set as long as possible while preventing the window glass of the vehicle compartment of the vehicle from being fogged while the engine is stopped, thereby enhancing the fuel consumption suppression effect.

  Further, the vehicle includes a seat belt wearing detection means for detecting whether or not a seat belt for each seat provided in the vehicle interior of the vehicle is installed, and the passenger number detecting means is detected by the seat belt wearing detection means. The number of passengers of the vehicle is detected based on whether or not a seat belt for seating is attached.

  In the present invention, the vehicle occupant is required or recommended to wear a seat belt when sitting on the seat. Therefore, the occupant number detection means can detect the number of occupants of the vehicle based on the presence or absence of the seat belt for each seat detected by the seat belt wearing detection means.

  In addition, the apparatus includes humidity detection means for detecting the humidity in the vehicle interior of the vehicle, wherein the engine stop time determination means is the detected humidity of the humidity detection means when the engine is stopped, and the window glass of the vehicle interior of the vehicle. A humidity difference with a fog determination humidity set in consideration of the humidity at which fogging occurs is calculated, and the engine stop time is determined to be shorter as the humidity difference is smaller.

  According to the present invention, the window glass of the vehicle is less likely to be fogged when the engine is stopped as the difference in humidity between the humidity detected by the humidity detecting means when the engine is stopped and the fogging determination humidity is smaller. Situation. Therefore, the engine stop time determining means can set the engine stop time more appropriately by setting the engine stop time to a shorter time as the humidity difference is smaller. The term “when the engine is stopped” means a timing at which a humidity at a level that can be equated with the humidity in the passenger compartment of the vehicle when the engine is stopped is detected. This corresponds to immediately before and after the engine stops.

The block diagram of the vehicle carrying the vehicle control apparatus of this invention. The flowchart of the process which prevents fogging of a window glass and stops an engine temporarily. Explanatory drawing of the map in which the correspondence of a passenger number and humidity difference, and engine stop time was set.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a vehicle equipped with a vehicle control device of the present invention. The vehicle of the present embodiment is a hybrid vehicle that uses the engine 2 and the motor / generator G as drive sources, and when the vehicle stops waiting for a signal in order to reduce exhaust gas emissions and suppress fuel consumption, An engine stop / restart function (automatic idle stop function) for stopping the engine 2 when the stop condition is satisfied and restarting the engine 2 when the start condition is satisfied when the vehicle is stopped in a traffic jam is provided.

  The vehicle according to the present embodiment includes an air conditioner 1 that heats and cools the passenger compartment. The air conditioner 1 includes a cooling function and a dehumidifying function of the refrigeration cycle apparatus A (including the function of the dehumidifier of the present invention). And a heating function by the heater core H provided in the coolant circulation passage B of the engine 2.

  The operations of the engine 2, the motor / generator G, and the air conditioner 1 are controlled by a control device 4 (corresponding to a vehicle control device of the present invention) that is an electronic unit composed of a microcomputer or the like. The control device 4 executes a predetermined program to thereby execute a vehicle condition detection means 41, a cloudiness determination humidity estimation means 42, an engine stop time determination means 43, an engine control means 44, an air conditioning control means 45, and an occupant number detection means 46. Function as.

  The control device 4 includes a humidity sensor 30 for detecting the humidity in the vehicle interior (corresponding to the humidity detecting means of the present invention), a vehicle interior sensor 31 for detecting the temperature in the vehicle interior, and an outside air temperature sensor 32 for detecting the temperature outside the vehicle. Detection signals from a solar radiation sensor 33 that detects the amount of solar radiation, a vehicle speed sensor 34 that detects a vehicle speed, and an evaporator temperature sensor 122 that detects a temperature in the vicinity of the downstream side of the evaporator 12 described later are input. Further, the control device 4 receives operation signals from an air direction switch 35 that sets an air conditioning direction into the vehicle interior and an air conditioning switch 36 that sets air conditioning conditions (temperature, air volume, etc.).

  Each seat in the passenger compartment is provided with a seat belt, and a seat belt mounting sensor (corresponding to the seat belt mounting detecting means of the present invention) for detecting whether or not each seat belt is mounted is provided. Since the number of passengers in the hybrid vehicle of the present embodiment is four, in order to detect the presence or absence of seat belts in four seats (driver seat, front passenger seat, rear right seat, rear left seat) Four seat belt mounting sensors 37a (for driver's seat), 37b (for passenger seat), 37c (for right seat), 37d (for left seat) for each seat are provided. Then, seat belt wearing presence / absence detection signals from the seat belt wearing sensors 37 a to 37 d are input to the control device 4.

  Further, the operation of the engine 2, the motor / generator G, the air conditioner 1 and the like is controlled by a control signal output from the control device 4.

  The air conditioner 1 includes a compressor 6 driven by the engine 2, a condenser 9, a liquid receiver 10, an expansion valve 11, and an evaporator 12 as a configuration of the refrigeration cycle apparatus A. In addition, the air conditioner 1 includes a heater core H, a water pump P driven by the engine 2, a thermostat Th, and a radiator R that constitute a coolant circulation path B of the engine 2 as a configuration for heating.

  The engine 2 and the motor / generator G are directly connected to each other by a rotating shaft 21. With this configuration, it is possible to generate a driving force by the engine 2 and the motor / generator G and to generate regenerative power by the motor / generator G during deceleration. The rotation of the engine 2 and the motor / generator G is transmitted to the wheels W through the transmission Tr.

  The motor / generator G has a function of a starter motor for starting the engine 2, and the battery 18 of the power storage device 17 is charged by the regenerative power of the motor / generator G.

  Next, the refrigeration cycle apparatus A includes the compressor 6, the condenser 9, the liquid receiver 10, the expansion valve 11, and the evaporator 12, with the compressor 6 as the upstream side and the evaporator 12 as the downstream side. These are sequentially connected to the refrigerant circulation path 3. The refrigeration cycle evaporates, compresses, condenses, and expands refrigerant (made of chlorofluorocarbon, carbon dioxide, etc.).

  The air conditioning control means 45 of the control device 4 calculates the target evaporator temperature based on the temperature set by the air conditioning switch 36, the outside air temperature, the humidity, the amount of solar radiation, etc., and the target evaporator temperature and the evaporator temperature sensor 122. The compressor 6 is controlled so as to reduce the difference from the detected temperature. The compressor 6 is operated by the driving force of the engine 2, and the pulley 82 provided at the tip of the rotating shaft 81 of the engine 2, the pulley 85 provided on the driving shaft 84 of the compressor 6, and the pulleys 82, 85 are interlocked. The driving force of the engine 2 is transmitted to the compressor 6 by the belt 83 to be driven.

  Further, an electromagnetic clutch 86 is provided on the drive shaft 84 of the compressor 6, and the air conditioning control means 45 switches between transmission and interruption of the driving force of the engine 2 to the compressor 6 by the electromagnetic clutch 86.

  The condenser 9 cools and liquefies the refrigerant that has been compressed by the compressor 6 to a high temperature and high pressure by heat exchange. The liquid receiver 10 is a cylinder that temporarily stores the refrigerant liquefied by the condenser 9, and is connected to the expansion valve 11 via a dryer (not shown). Then, the refrigerant from which moisture has been removed by the dryer is supplied to the expansion valve 11.

  The expansion valve 11 is attached to the inlet side of the evaporator 12, and when the high-temperature and high-pressure liquefied refrigerant passes, the refrigerant is changed from a liquid to a mist-like gas and injected. The expansion valve 11 is provided with a throttle valve (not shown), and the air conditioning control means 45 controls the opening of the throttle valve to adjust the flow rate (refrigerant capacity) of the refrigerant injected into the evaporator 12. .

  The evaporator 12 is a heat exchanger that takes the heat of the air in the passenger compartment and cools it by vaporizing the refrigerant, and is accommodated in the air conditioning case 14. A blower fan 121 is provided on the upstream side of the evaporator 12, and the rotational speed of the blower fan 121 is controlled by the air conditioning control means 45. As the blower fan 121 rotates, the air dehumidified and cooled by the evaporator 12 and the air heated by the heater core H are blown into the vehicle interior, and the air or outside air in the vehicle interior is sucked into the air conditioning case 14. Air is sent into the vehicle compartment via the differential door 143, the vent door 144, and the floor door 145.

  Next, the configuration on the heating side will be described. The coolant of the engine 2 is supplied from the thermostat Th to the radiator R by a mechanical water pump P operated by the driving force of the engine 2 and circulates in the water jacket of the engine 2. Further, the coolant of the engine 2 is diverted to be used as a heat source for heating the passenger compartment, and flows through the circulation passage B that returns from the water pump P to the water pump P through the heater core H.

  The pulley 90 provided on the rotating shaft 81 of the engine 2, the pulley 92 provided on the drive shaft 94 of the water pump P, and the belt 91 that interlocks the pulleys 90, 92, drive the engine to the water pump P. Communicated.

  The heater core H performs heat exchange for heating the surrounding air with the heat of the coolant heated by the engine 2 in the radiator R. On the upstream side of the heater core H, an air mix door 142 for guiding the air that has passed through the evaporator 12 to the heater core H side or bypassing it is installed.

  The air mix door 142 is composed of, for example, a rotary plate door that opens and closes the air inlet of the heater core H, and is opened and closed by an air mix servo motor (not shown) installed on the rotation center side. The air mix door 142 prevents air in the air conditioning case 14 from flowing into the heater core H when in the closed position a, and causes half of the air in the air conditioning case 14 to flow into the heater core H when in the intermediate position b. And the air in the air conditioning case 14 flows to the heater core H when in the release position c. The air conditioning control means 45 operates an air mix servo motor (not shown) to change the position of the air mix door 142, thereby controlling the temperature of air blown into the passenger compartment.

  The air conditioning case 14 is provided with an intake door 141 for switching between an inside air inlet and an outside air inlet on the upstream side, and air dehumidified and cooled by the evaporator 12 on the downstream side, or air heated by the heater core H A differential door 143 for discharging the water to the defroster, a vent door 144 for discharging the air to the ventilator, and a floor door 145 for discharging to the foot are installed. The intake door 141, the differential door 143, the vent door 144, and the floor door 145 may be electrically rotated by a servo motor or manually rotated.

  Next, the execution procedure of the stop / restart process of the engine 2 by the engine control means 44 will be described according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

  The engine control unit 44 repeatedly executes the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 to execute stop / restart processing of the engine 2. The engine control means 44 determines whether or not an engine stop condition is satisfied in STEP1.

  Here, “the humidity Hs in the passenger compartment detected by the humidity sensor 30 is lower than the fog determination humidity Hd estimated by the fog determination humidity estimation means 42” is set as the engine stop condition.

  The cloudiness determination humidity estimation means 42 is a vehicle interior temperature detected by the vehicle interior temperature sensor 31, an outside air temperature detected by the outside air temperature sensor 32, an amount of solar radiation detected by the solar radiation sensor 33, and immediately before the vehicle detected by the vehicle speed sensor 34 stops. Based on the vehicle speed, the direction of air flow into the vehicle interior by the blower fan 121 set by the wind direction switch 35, the air conditioning conditions set by the air conditioning switch 36, and the like are detected.

  It should be noted that the detection of the situation where the vehicle is placed is not necessarily performed based on all these elements, and may be performed based only on the outside temperature, for example. Further, the situation where the vehicle is placed may be detected in combination with other factors such as the degree of opening and closing of the window of the vehicle.

  Then, the cloudiness determination humidity estimating means 42 applies the detected situation where the vehicle is placed to a map indicating the correlation between the situation where the preset vehicle is placed and the cloudiness judgment humidity Hd. Estimate Hd. This map is determined by experiments, computer simulations, etc., and the map data is stored in advance in a memory (not shown). Further, the cloudiness determination humidity Hd may be estimated by a correlation equation between the situation where the vehicle is placed and the cloudiness determination humidity Hd, instead of the map.

  When the engine stop condition is satisfied in STEP 1 (detected humidity Hs in vehicle interior <cloudiness determination humidity Hd), the process proceeds to STEP 2. STEP2 is a process based on the engine stop time determination time 43. The engine stop time determination time 43 is a humidity difference ΔH () between the detected humidity Hs of the humidity sensor 30 and the cloudiness determination humidity Hd immediately before the engine 2 is stopped in STEP3. = Detection humidity Hs−clouding determination humidity Hd).

  Note that the detection timing of the humidity Hs used for calculating the humidity difference ΔH may be not just before the engine 2 is stopped, but when the engine 2 is stopped or immediately after the engine 2 is stopped.

  In the next STEP 3, the engine control means 44 stops the engine 2. The following STEP 4 is processing by the occupant number detecting means 46, and the occupant number detecting means 46 detects the number of occupants based on the number of wearing presence signals output from the seat belt wearing sensors 37b, 37c, 37d.

  For example, a wearing presence signal is output from the seat belt mounting sensor 37b for the front passenger seat, and a non-mounting signal is output from the seat belt mounting sensor 37c for the right rear seat and the seat belt mounting sensor 37d for the left rear seat. When the number of passengers is detected, the number of passengers detecting means 46 is two (the driver sitting in the driver's seat and the passenger sitting in the passenger seat. For the driver's seat, the engine 2 is stopped / restarted. When it is determined that the driver is sitting in the driver's seat, the presence or absence of the seat belt is not determined.).

  The subsequent STEP5 is processing by the engine stop time determining means 43. The engine stop time determining means 43 determines the engine stop time Ts using the humidity difference ΔH calculated in STEP2 and the number of passengers detected in STEP4. To do.

  Specifically, the engine stop time determining means 43 determines the engine stop time Ts using the correspondence map between the humidity difference ΔH and the engine stop time Ts shown in FIG. In the correspondence map shown in FIG. 3, the vertical axis is the engine stop time (Ts), the horizontal axis is the humidity difference (ΔH), N1 for one passenger, N2 for two passengers, and three passengers N3 and N4 for four passengers are set.

In the correspondence map of FIG. 3, when the humidity difference ΔH is less than ΔH ₁ , the engine stop time Ts is set to the initial set time Ts ₀ . When the humidity difference ΔH is equal to or greater than ΔH ₁ , the engine stop time Ts is set to a longer time as the humidity difference ΔH increases.

The engine stop time Ts is set to a shorter time as the number of passengers increases when the humidity difference ΔH is the same. For example, as shown in the figure, when the humidity difference ΔH is ΔH ₂ and the number of passengers is 1 (N1), the engine stop time Ts is determined as Ts ₂ and the number of passengers is 4 (N4). In some cases, the engine stop time Ts is determined to be Ts ₁ shorter than Ts ₂ .

  Thus, by determining the engine stop time Ts based on the number of passengers and the humidity difference ΔH, which is an element that determines the ease of fogging of the window glass of the vehicle, while preventing the fogging of the window glass of the vehicle from occurring, By setting the engine stop time Ts as long as possible, the effect of suppressing fuel consumption can be enhanced.

  Note that the correspondence map shown in FIG. 3 is created based on the results of experiments and computer simulations, and the data of the correspondence map is held in a memory (not shown) in advance. Further, the engine stop time Ts may be determined using a correlation formula between the humidity difference ΔH and the number of passengers and the engine stop time Ts instead of the correspondence map.

  Thus, when the engine stop time Ts is determined by the engine stop time determination means 43 in STEP 5, the engine control means 44 sets the timer time of the engine start timer to the engine stop time Ts in the next STEP 6. .

  In subsequent STEP 7, the engine control means 44 starts the engine start timer. When the engine start timer expires in STEP 8, the process proceeds to STEP 9 to start the engine 2. In the next STEP 11, the refrigeration cycle apparatus A is activated via the air conditioning control means 45, and the blower fan 121 is activated, and the process returns to STEP 1. Since the dehumidification in the passenger compartment is started by the activation of the refrigeration cycle apparatus A and the blower fan 121, the vehicle window glass can be prevented from being fogged.

  In the above embodiment, the engine stop time determination time 43 is determined by using the number of passengers in the vehicle and the humidity difference ΔH immediately before the engine 2 is stopped. However, only the number of passengers in the vehicle is determined. The engine stop time Ts may be set to a shorter time as the number of passengers increases.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the occupant number detection means 46 detects the number of occupants based on the presence or absence of the seat belts of each seat detected by the seat belt mounting sensors 37b to 37d. The number of occupants may be detected by other methods such as detecting the number of occupants by detecting the number of occupants using a sensor, or detecting the number of occupants by using a seating sensor that detects the number of occupants seated in each seat.

  In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a hybrid vehicle. However, if the vehicle has an automatic idle stop function that automatically stops and restarts the engine, only the engine is driven. The present invention can also be applied to a vehicle as a source.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Air conditioning apparatus, 2 ... Engine, 4 ... Control apparatus (vehicle control apparatus), 6 ... Compressor, 9 ... Condenser, 12 ... Evaporator, 30 ... Humidity sensor, 31 ... Inside temperature sensor, 32 ... Outside temperature Sensor, 33 ... Solar radiation sensor, 34 ... Vehicle speed sensor, 35 ... Wind direction switch, 36 ... Air conditioning switch, 37a to 37d ... Seat belt wearing sensor, 41 ... Vehicle condition detection device, 42 ... Cloudiness determination humidity estimation means, 43 ... Engine stop Time determining means, 44 ... engine control means, 45 ... air conditioning control means, 46 ... passenger number detection means, 121 ... blower fan, A ... refrigeration cycle apparatus, G ... motor / generator, H ... heater core.

Claims (3)

For a vehicle having an engine and a dehumidifier that operates by the driving force of the engine to dehumidify the vehicle interior, the engine is stopped when a predetermined engine stop condition is satisfied, and then a predetermined engine stop time A control device for a vehicle comprising engine control means for starting the engine and starting the dehumidifier when elapses,
Occupant number detection means for detecting the number of occupants of the vehicle;
A vehicle control apparatus comprising: an engine stop time determination unit that determines the engine stop time to be shorter as the number of passengers detected by the passenger number detection unit increases. The vehicle control device according to claim 1,
A seat belt wearing detection means for detecting whether or not a seat belt for each seat provided in the vehicle interior of the vehicle is worn;
The vehicle occupant number detecting means detects the number of occupants of the vehicle based on the presence or absence of a seat belt for each seat detected by the seat belt wearing detection means. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 or 2,
Humidity detection means for detecting the humidity in the vehicle interior of the vehicle,
The engine stop time determination means is a humidity between a humidity detected by the humidity detection means when the engine is stopped and a fog determination humidity set assuming a humidity at which fogging of the window glass of the vehicle compartment of the vehicle occurs. A vehicle control apparatus characterized in that a difference is calculated and the engine stop time is determined to be shorter as the humidity difference is smaller.

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