JP2982251B2 - Humidifier in the car - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an in-car humidifier, and more particularly to an in-car humidifier that supplies humidified air at the same temperature as the in-car temperature.

[Background Art] When vehicle interior heating is used in cold weather, the humidity may be extremely low, which is not preferable for the occupant's respiratory system. Therefore, it has been proposed to provide a humidifier to appropriately maintain the vehicle interior humidity.For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63-46217 discloses an air conditioning duct facing the mist outlet of the humidifier, and the mist is passed through the duct. A humidifier that vaporizes with flowing hot air has been proposed.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-mentioned conventional humidifier, when the humidifier starts spraying, the heat of vaporization is taken away, and the temperature of the air blown out from the air conditioning duct is reduced, which causes discomfort to the occupant. There was a problem of giving.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an in-car humidifying device that can always maintain the temperature of humidified air at a desired temperature even when a humidifier operates.

[Means for Solving the Problems] To explain the configuration of the present invention, an in-car humidifier is provided with a duct (1) that sucks in-car air and supplies humidified air to the vicinity of the occupant's face from an outlet (12). The heater (2) provided in the duct (1), the humidification amount determining means (3) for determining the humidification amount at least from the temperature and humidity in the vehicle, and the humidification amount determination means (3) Humidifying means (4) for supplying water droplets according to the humidification amount into the duct (1) downstream of the heater (2); and calculating the latent heat of vaporization of the water droplets to obtain a heat value corresponding thereto. Heater energizing means (5) for energizing the heater (2).

In another configuration of the present invention, the air outlet (1
A correcting means (3) for calculating a difference between the temperature of the wind blown from 2) and the temperature inside the vehicle, and correcting the water supply amount of the humidifying means (4) so as to make the difference zero. I have.

Further, in still another configuration of the present invention, there is provided a target blowing temperature setting means (35) for setting a target blowing temperature, and the heater energizing means (5) is configured to control the vaporization latent heat of the water droplet and the target blowing temperature. The amount of heat required to humidify the intake air is calculated, and the heater (2) is energized so as to obtain a heat value corresponding thereto. ) Is calculated so that the difference between the temperature of the wind blown from the above and the target blow-out temperature is calculated, and the supply amount of water droplets of the humidifying means (4) is corrected so as to make this difference zero.

[Operation] In the vehicle humidification device having the above-described configuration, the humidification amount is determined at least from the vehicle interior temperature and the vehicle interior humidity, and the amount of water droplets that realizes the humidification amount is supplied into the duct 1. On the other hand, the air in the duct 1 is previously heated by the heater 2 provided on the upstream side, and the amount of heating corresponds to the latent heat of vaporization of the supplied water droplets, so that the water droplets are transformed into steam. At this time, even if the heat of the air in the duct 1 is removed, the temperature drops to a temperature substantially equal to the temperature inside the vehicle before heating. Moreover, the humidification is performed mainly in the vicinity of the occupant's face, which is efficient.

According to another configuration of the present invention, for example, when the humidifier included in the humidifier 4 undergoes aging, water droplets corresponding to the determined humidification amount are not supplied. In this case, a difference occurs between the duct outlet temperature and the in-vehicle temperature. However, the correction means 3 corrects the water supply amount of the humidifying means 4 to eliminate the temperature difference.

Further, by correcting the water supply amount of the humidifying means 4 so as to eliminate the temperature difference, an appropriate humidity is maintained regardless of aging.

According to still another configuration of the present invention, the heater 2 is energized so as to achieve the target blowing temperature while maintaining a predetermined humidification amount with respect to the set target blowing temperature, and the supply amount of the water droplet is corrected. Therefore, the temperature inside the vehicle can be actively changed.

[First Embodiment] In FIG. 2, a duct 1 disposed at an appropriate position in a vehicle body has an air intake port provided with a filter at one end.
The outlet port 12 at the other end extends, for example, near the column cover S1 of the steering handle S (FIG. 6) or the waist line of the inner panel of the entry / exit door D (FIG. 7). Open to the vicinity.

A blower fan 13 is provided in the duct 1 near the suction port 11, and a heater 2 is provided downstream thereof. The duct 1 bulges downward immediately after the heater 2 to form a humidifier 4.
After falling inward, it rises in a U-shape. A water droplet scattering prevention plate 16 protrudes from the rising channel.

The humidifier 4 is provided with a water storage tank 42, and an ultrasonic vibrator 41 is provided on a bottom wall of the humidifier 4 so as to expose a vibrating portion. Water is supplied to the water storage tank 42 from a removable water tank 43. Further, temperature sensors 31 and 32 are provided in the duct 1 near the inlet 11 and the outlet 12.

A control circuit 3 including a computer whose operation will be described later is provided, and the outputs of the temperature sensors 31 and 32, the temperature sensor 33 of the outside air temperature, and the temperature and humidity sensor 34 in the vehicle are input to the control circuit 3. The control circuit 3 causes the heater 2 to generate heat via the heater energizing circuit 5 and causes the humidifier 4 to operate via the humidifier drive circuit 6.

FIG. 3 shows a circuit example of the heater energizing circuit 5, and FIG.
Is connected to the vehicle-mounted battery 7 via the power transistor 51. The continuity of the power transistor 51 is changed linearly by changing an output voltage applied from a D / A converter (not shown) of the control circuit 3 to the base resistor 52. Adjusted.

As shown in FIG. 4, the humidifier drive circuit 6 has an oscillation circuit for driving the ultrasonic transducer 41 of the humidifier 4, and the oscillation circuit includes a coil 63, capacitors 64, 65, 66, a resistor 67, A known LC oscillation circuit comprising a transistor 68 and a transistor 69, the oscillation voltage of which is linearly changed by changing the output voltage to the base resistor 62 of the transistor 61. Then
When the oscillation voltage applied to the vibrator 41 is changed, the amount of water droplets supplied from the humidifier 4 to the airflow in the duct increases or decreases accordingly.

Hereinafter, the operation of the control circuit will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step 101, data on the temperature inside the vehicle and the temperature outside the vehicle are input from the sensors 33 and 34, respectively, and the amount of humidification is determined based on these data to optimize the humidity near the occupant's face (step 102). Then, a drive voltage is output to the humidifier drive circuit 6 in order to supply the amount of water droplets for realizing the humidification amount (step 103).

Subsequently, in step 104, the vaporization latent heat of the water droplet amount is calculated, the supply power for realizing the heater heat generation amount corresponding to the vaporization latent heat is calculated, and a control signal is output to the heater energizing circuit 6 (step 105). , 106).

Here, since the oscillating element 41 of the humidifier 4 undergoes aging, an appropriate amount of water droplets may not be supplied depending on the driving voltage output in step 103. Therefore, in step 107, the sensors 31 and 32 are used. Each inlet 11
And the air temperature of the air outlet 12 are input, and a correction value of the humidifier drive voltage is calculated and output in order to correct the amount of water droplets so that the temperature difference becomes zero (steps 108 and 109).

As described above, the supply of water droplets when flowing through the humidifier, the air in the duct that causes a temperature drop due to the latent heat of vaporization is heated by the heater in advance to offset this temperature drop, The temperature of the humidified air supplied to the occupant from the outlet matches the temperature inside the vehicle, and does not give any discomfort. Moreover, since the humidified air is mainly supplied to the vicinity of the occupant's face, the amount of humidification can be suppressed, and for example, fogging of the window glass due to humidification can be avoided.

In the above embodiment, if the humidity change due to the aging of the humidifier can be tolerated, the heating value of the heater may be corrected and controlled so that the difference between the inlet temperature and the outlet temperature of the duct becomes zero.

Further, when the temperature difference of the humidified air due to the above-mentioned change with time can be tolerated, the correction control of the humidifier or the heater is unnecessary.

The heater does not need to be an electrothermal type, and the temperature of the intake port is the vehicle interior temperature. Therefore, the temperature sensor 31 can be substituted by another vehicle interior temperature sensor.

The reason for considering the outside temperature in the determination of the humidification amount is to prevent the occurrence of fogging of the window glass, and if the occurrence of fogging can be effectively prevented by the installation position of the outlet, the measurement of the outside temperature is unnecessary. .

[Second embodiment] In the first embodiment, the humidifier is operated so as not to fluctuate the temperature inside the vehicle. However, air conditioning may be actively performed by changing the temperature inside the vehicle with humidified air. FIGS. 8 and 9 show an apparatus configuration and a control flowchart in this case, respectively. Hereinafter, the description will focus on the differences from the first embodiment.

In FIG. 8, a set temperature signal is input to the control circuit 3 from the air conditioner 35, from which a target outlet temperature is determined.

In FIG. 9, the characteristic of the control procedure of the control circuit 3 is that the air-conditioning set temperature is taken in step 104, and in step 105, the vaporization latent heat of the humidification water droplet amount determined in the preceding step 102 and the humidification air Is calculated to calculate the amount of heat required to raise the temperature to the target blowing temperature corresponding to the air-conditioning set temperature, and the supply power for realizing the amount of heat generated by the heater corresponding to the calculated amount of heat is calculated (step 106). Then, a control signal is output to the terminal 5 (step 107).

In step 108, the actual blow-out temperature data is fetched from the temperature sensor 32, and a correction value of the humidifier drive voltage is calculated and output in order to correct the water drop amount so that the data matches the target blow-out temperature (steps 109 and 110). .

In this manner, according to the present embodiment, the temperature inside the vehicle can be actively changed to the predetermined temperature instructed by the air conditioner 35, and the humidity of the conditioned air during this time can be appropriately maintained.

As shown in FIG. 10, the duct outlet 17 may be configured to extend from the headrest of the seat to the vicinity of the occupant.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the in-car humidifying device of the present invention can supply humidified air with appropriate humidity at a desired temperature to an occupant.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to the claims, FIGS. 2 to 7 show a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG.
Fig. 4 is a circuit diagram of a heater energizing circuit, Fig. 4 is a circuit diagram of a humidifier drive circuit, Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing operation of a control circuit, and Figs. 6 and 7 are front views showing installation positions of duct outlets. FIGS. 8 and 9 show the second embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 8 is an overall configuration diagram of the apparatus, Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of a control circuit, and Fig. 10 is a perspective view showing another example of installation of a duct outlet. 1 ... duct 11 ... intake port 12 ... outlet 13 ... blower fan 2 ... heater 3 ... control circuit (humidification amount determination means, correction means) 31, 32, 33 ... temperature sensor 34 ... temperature Humidity sensor 35 Air conditioning device (target outlet temperature setting means) 4 Humidifier (humidifying means) 41 Ultrasonic transducer 5 Heater energizing circuit (Heater energizing means) 6 Humidifier driving circuit

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B60H 3/02 B60H 1/22 611 F24F 6/12 101

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A duct for inhaling air inside a vehicle and supplying humidified air from an air outlet to the vicinity of an occupant's face, a heater provided in the duct, and a humidifier for determining a humidification amount based on at least a vehicle temperature and a vehicle interior humidity. Amount determining means, humidifying means for supplying water droplets according to the humidifying amount determined by the humidifying amount determining means into the duct downstream of the heater, calculating latent heat of vaporization of the water droplets, and generating heat corresponding thereto And a heater energizing means for energizing the heater to obtain an amount. 2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a correction means for calculating a difference between the temperature of the wind blown from said air outlet and the temperature inside the vehicle, and correcting the supply amount of water droplets of said humidifying means so as to make the difference zero. Item 4. An in-car humidifier according to Item 1. 3. A target blowing temperature setting means for setting a target blowing temperature, wherein the heater energizing means calculates a latent heat of vaporization of the water droplet and a heat quantity required to humidify the intake air to the target blowing temperature. The correction means is configured to energize the heater to obtain a heat value corresponding thereto, and the correction means calculates a difference between a temperature of the wind blown out from the outlet and the target blowout temperature, and calculates the difference. The humidifying device according to claim 2, wherein the water supply amount of the humidifying unit is corrected so that the value of the humidifying unit becomes zero.