JP2020164086A - Vehicular air-conditioning control device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a vehicular air-conditioning control device capable of further reducing energy consumed by heating.SOLUTION: An air-conditioning control device 14 includes: a supply passage 20 capable of supplying vehicle external air or vehicle internal circulation air into a cabin by a blower fan 22; an electric heater 30 provided in an air-conditioning circuit 31 and capable of heating working fluid by receiving supply of electric power from a battery 12; a heater core part 25 capable of exchanging heat between the working fluid and air in the supply passage 20; a temperature control dial 53 acquiring heating request information input to an occupant; a blower dial 52 acquiring air blowing request information by the blower input to the occupant; and a heater control section 42 controlling the electric heater 30 on the basis of the heating request information and air blowing request information. When there is no air blowing request, the heater control section 42 stops an operation of the electric heater 30.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioning controller.

Conventionally, focusing on the viewpoint of reducing the environmental load, the development of electric vehicles such as electric vehicles that use a motor as a driving power source instead of an engine and a hybrid vehicle that uses the internal combustion engine and the motor together has progressed. There is. In particular, in these electric vehicles, a battery for driving is mounted to drive the motor, and by supplying electric power from the battery to the motor, the power required to drive the vehicle can be obtained. .. In recent years, such electric vehicles have been developed in the field of commercial vehicles such as trucks. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an electric truck including a battery pack for driving.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-113063

However, in the electric vehicle as described above, the electric power supplied from the mounted battery is consumed not only as running energy but also as energy related to air conditioning, for example. Therefore, in order to secure the cruising distance, it is related to air conditioning. Energy consumption needs to be reduced. In particular, in vehicle interior heating, when an electric heater such as a PTC heater is used, the energy consumption may increase to a non-negligible degree, and therefore there is a high demand for reducing the energy consumption.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is that the energy consumption in heating can be further reduced even when an electric heater is used for heating the vehicle interior. The purpose is to provide an air conditioning control device for vehicles.

The vehicle air-conditioning control device according to the present invention controls the air-conditioning in the vehicle interior by exchanging heat between the air in the vehicle interior of the electric vehicle driven by the power of the battery and the working fluid of the air-conditioning circuit. In the control device, the working fluid can be heated by supplying power from the battery, which is provided in the air conditioning circuit and the supply path configured so that the air outside the vehicle or the circulating air inside the vehicle can be supplied to the vehicle interior by a blower. The electric heater configured in the above, the heater core portion configured to exchange heat between the working fluid heated by the electric heater and the air inside the supply path, and the occupant of the electric vehicle are input. Based on the heating request information acquisition unit that acquires the heating request information, the ventilation request information acquisition unit that acquires the ventilation request information by the blower input to the occupant of the electric vehicle, and the heating request information and the ventilation request information. A heater control unit for controlling an electric heater is provided, and the heater control unit drives the electric heater when there is a heating request and a blowing request, and stops the operation of the electric heating heater when there is no blowing request. It is an air conditioning control device for vehicles.

The vehicle air-conditioning controller supplies air outside the vehicle or circulating air inside the vehicle to the inside of the vehicle by operating a blower provided in the air supply path for air conditioning based on the ventilation request information input to the occupant. At this time, when the heating request information is input from the occupant, the working fluid heated by the electric heater is supplied to the heater core portion provided in the supply path to heat the air supplied to the vehicle interior. It can function as a vehicle interior heating.

Then, in the vehicle air-conditioning control device according to the present invention, the heater control unit that controls ON / OFF of the heat transfer heater stops the operation of the electric heater regardless of the presence or absence of the heating request when there is no ventilation request. Therefore, it is possible to suppress wasteful energy consumption in which electric power is used by the electric heater without blowing air into the vehicle interior. Therefore, according to the vehicle air-conditioning controller according to the present invention, it is possible to further reduce the energy consumption in the heating even when the electric heater is used for the vehicle interior heating.

It is a system block diagram of the electric vehicle provided with the air-conditioning control device for a vehicle which concerns on this invention. It is a system block diagram which shows the internal structure of the air-conditioning controller for a vehicle which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows ON / OFF control of the electric heating heater in the air-conditioning control device for a vehicle which concerns on this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the contents described below, and can be arbitrarily modified and implemented without changing the gist thereof. In addition, the drawings used for explaining the embodiments are all schematically showing the constituent members, and are partially emphasized, enlarged, reduced, or omitted in order to deepen the understanding of the constituent members. It may not accurately represent the scale or shape.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an electric vehicle 1 including a vehicle air-conditioning controller according to the present invention. The electric vehicle 1 is a truck (that is, an electric truck) of an electric vehicle including a motor 2 as a traveling drive source. The motor 2 is an electric motor that can also operate as a generator, such as a permanent magnet type synchronous motor. A differential device 4 is connected to the output shaft of the motor 2 via a propeller shaft 3, and left and right drive wheels 6 are connected to the differential device 4 via a drive shaft 5. The electric vehicle 1 is not limited to the truck type, and may be a general passenger vehicle, bus, or other vehicle type as long as it includes a motor as a traveling drive source.

A battery 12 is connected to the motor 2 via an inverter 10, a PDU 11, and a charge / discharge circuit (not shown). The DC power stored in the battery 12 is converted into AC power by the inverter 10 and supplied to the motor 2, and the driving force generated by the motor 2 is transmitted to the drive wheels 6 to drive the electric vehicle 1. Further, for example, when the electric vehicle 1 is decelerating or traveling on a downhill road (regenerative traveling), the motor 2 operates as a generator by reverse driving from the drive wheel 6 side (regenerative operation). The negative driving force generated by the motor 2 is transmitted to the driving wheel 6 side as a braking force, and the AC power generated by the motor 2 is converted into DC power by the inverter 10 and sent to the battery 12 via the PDU 11. It will be charged.

The PDU 11 is a power distribution unit (PDU: Power Distribution Unit) that is connected to various electric devices mounted on the electric vehicle 1 and is controlled to distribute power to the electric devices.

The battery 12 is made of, for example, a lithium ion battery, and in addition to the motor 2 for driving the electric vehicle 1, in the present embodiment, power can be supplied to other electric devices such as the electric heater 30 described later via the PDU 11. It is a large-capacity secondary battery.

The VCU 13 includes an input / output device (not shown), a storage device (ROM, RAM, etc.) used for storing control programs, a central processing unit (CPU), a timer counter, and the like, and includes a traveling mechanism, communication equipment, and various electrical components. It is a vehicle control unit (Vehicle Control Unit) that integrally controls the control target in the electric vehicle 1 and the like.

The air conditioning control device 14 operates on the electric power supplied from the battery 12 and controls the air conditioning in the vehicle interior by exchanging heat between the air in the vehicle interior of the electric vehicle 1 and the working fluid of the air conditioning circuit 31 described later. .. Here, the detailed configuration of the air conditioning controller 14 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing an internal configuration of the vehicle air conditioning controller according to the present invention. The air conditioning control device 14 includes a supply path 20, an electric heater 30, an air conditioning management unit 40, and an air conditioning operation unit 50.

The supply path 20 is a hot air or cold air flow path configured to take in the outside air (outside air) or the inside circulating air (inside air), heat or cool the taken-in air, and supply it to the inside of the vehicle. The supply path 20 of the present embodiment is provided with an introduction flap 21, a blower fan 22, an evaporator 23, a temperature control flap 24, a heater core portion 25, a first discharge flap 26, a second discharge flap 27, and a third discharge flap 28. Has been done.

The introduction flap 21 is a movable mechanism that controls the ratio of outside air or inside air as air taken into the supply path 20. The blower fan 22 is an impeller that controls the amount of air taken into the supply path 20 by rotating, and the introduction and discharge of air in the supply path 20 are stopped when the rotation is stopped. The evaporator 23 cools and dries the air taken in by the blower fan 22 by a refrigerant (not shown) that circulates inside.

The temperature control flap 24 is a movable mechanism that controls the ratio of supplying the air that has passed through the evaporator 23 in the direction that passes through the heater core portion 25 and in the direction that bypasses the heater core portion 25 and heads toward the downstream side. The heater core portion 25 is configured to be heat exchangeable with the air in the supply path 20 passing through by heated water as a working fluid circulating inside.

The air that has passed through the heater core portion 25 and / or the air that has bypassed the heater core portion 25 is, for example, in the vehicle interior by the movable mechanisms of the first discharge flap 26, the second discharge flap 27, and the third discharge flap 28. The air blowing direction is switched to the occupant's feet (A and B in FIG. 2), the defroster (C in FIG. 2), and the front of the occupant (D in FIG. 2).

The electric heater 30 is a heat source for heating configured to be able to heat the working fluid by converting the electric power supplied from the battery 12 into heat, and is connected to the air conditioning circuit 31 in which the working fluid circulates with the heater core portion 25. It is provided.

The air conditioning control unit 40 is a control device that controls the supply path 20 and the electric heater 30 based on the operation information input from the air conditioning operation unit 50, which will be described in detail later, and is an output control unit 41, a heater control unit 42, and temperature control. A unit 43 and a blower control unit 44 are included. Although the air conditioning control unit 40 is illustrated as an independent control device in this embodiment, it may be incorporated as a function of the VCU 13, for example.

The output control unit 41 selects an air discharge path from the supply path 20 by controlling each of the first discharge flap 26, the second discharge flap 27, and the third discharge flap 28. The heater control unit 42 switches ON / OFF of the electric heater 30. The temperature control unit 43 adjusts the temperature of the air discharged from the supply path 20 by controlling the temperature control flap 24. The blower control unit 44 adjusts the amount of air introduced into the supply path 20 by controlling the rotation speed of the blower fan 22.

The air conditioning operation unit 50 is an input device for controlling air conditioning in the vehicle interior of the electric vehicle 1 via the air conditioning management unit 40 by being operated by an occupant of the electric vehicle 1, and is an output mode dial in the present embodiment. It includes 51, a blower dial 52 as a "blower request information acquisition unit", and a temperature control dial 53 as a "heating request information acquisition unit". The input form is not limited to the dial type, and various changes such as a button type and a touch panel type can be made.

The output mode dial 51 is a dial for the occupant to select an air discharge path from the supply path 20, and the selection controls the first discharge flap 26, the second discharge flap 27, and the third discharge flap 28. ..

The blower dial 52 acquires the amount of air blown as the blown air request information by being input-operated by the occupant of the electric vehicle 1, and controls the blower fan 22 via the blower control unit 44 in response to the blown air request information. The amount of air blown into the passenger compartment is continuously adjusted.

The temperature control dial 53 acquires the required temperature as the heating request information by input operation by the occupant of the electric vehicle 1, and controls the temperature control flap 24 via the temperature control unit 43 to obtain the heating request information. Adjust the air temperature to the passenger compartment accordingly. In the present embodiment, the temperature control dial 53 is adjusted to have a lower temperature as the dial is turned to the left and a higher temperature as the dial is turned to the right.

Next, ON / OFF control of the electric heater 30 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing ON / OFF control of the electric heater 30 in the air conditioning control device 14 according to the present invention. That is, the heater control unit 42 controls to switch ON / OFF of the electric heater 30 according to the routine shown in the flowchart of FIG.

The heater control unit 42 starts the flowchart of FIG. 3 when the ignition key of the electric vehicle 1 is controlled to be ON. When the flowchart routine starts, the heater control unit 42 determines whether the blower is ON, that is, whether the blower fan 22 is rotating (step S1).

When the blower is OFF (No in step S1), the heater control unit 42 controls the electric heater 30 to OFF even when there is a heating request via the operation of the temperature control dial 53 by the occupant. To end the routine (step S2).

When the blower is ON (Yes in step S1), the heater control unit 42 determines whether or not the temperature of water as the working fluid circulating in the air conditioning circuit 31 is lower than the target temperature (step S3). .. Here, the target temperature is a temperature preset as a water temperature at which the air supplied to the vehicle interior of the electric vehicle 1 can be sufficiently heated by the heater core portion 25.

When the working fluid is above the target temperature (No in step S3), the heater control unit 42 controls the electric heater 30 to OFF regardless of the operation of the temperature control dial 53, and ends the routine (step S2). ).

When the working fluid is below the target temperature (Yes in step S3), the heater control unit 42 determines whether or not there is a heating request via the operation of the temperature control dial 53 by the occupant (step S4).

When there is no heating request (No in step S4), the heater control unit 42 controls the electric heater 30 to OFF even when there is a blower request from the occupant via the blower dial 52 to perform the routine. It ends (step S2).

When there is a heating request (Yes in step S4), the heater control unit 42 controls the electric heater 30 to be ON and returns to the start (step S5).

As described above, the heater control unit 42 controls the electric heater 30 to OFF when No is satisfied under at least one of the conditions of step S1, step S3, and step S4. It should be noted that these condition determinations do not necessarily have to be performed in this order, or may be determined at the same time.

Then, in particular, the heater control unit 42 according to the present embodiment drives the electric heater 30 when there is a heating request and a blowing request, and when there is no blowing request, the electric heating heater 30 is operated regardless of the presence or absence of the heating request. Since the electric heater 30 is stopped, it is possible to suppress wasteful energy consumption in which the electric heater 30 uses electric power without blowing air into the vehicle interior. Therefore, according to the air-conditioning control device 14 according to the present invention, even when the electric heater 30 is used for heating the vehicle interior, the energy consumption in the heating can be further reduced.

1 Electric vehicle 2 Motor 12 Battery 14 Air conditioning control device 20 Supply path 22 Blower fan 25 Heater core part 30 Electric heater 31 Air conditioning circuit 40 Air conditioning control unit 42 Heater control unit 43 Temperature control unit 44 Blower control unit 50 Air conditioning operation unit 51 Output mode dial 52 Blower dial 53 Temperature control dial

Claims (1)

In a vehicle air conditioning control device that controls air conditioning in the vehicle interior by exchanging heat between the air in the vehicle interior of an electric vehicle driven by battery power and the working fluid of the air conditioning circuit.
A supply path configured so that the outside air or the inside circulating air can be supplied to the inside of the vehicle by a blower.
An electric heater provided in the air conditioning circuit and configured to be able to heat the working fluid by being supplied with electric power from the battery, and
A heater core portion configured to exchange heat between the working fluid heated by the electric heater and the air inside the supply path.
A heating request information acquisition unit that acquires heating request information input to the occupant of the electric vehicle, and a heating request information acquisition unit.
A blower request information acquisition unit that acquires blower request information by the blower input to the occupant of the electric vehicle, and a blower request information acquisition unit.
A heater control unit that controls the electric heater based on the heating request information and the ventilation request information is provided.
The heater control unit is a vehicle air-conditioning control device that drives the electric heater when there is a heating request and a blowing request, and stops the operation of the electric heating heater when there is no blowing request.

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