JP3111613B2 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner for varying the amount of air sent indoors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-229716, a M-sequence pseudo-random signal is
2. Description of the Related Art An air conditioner for a vehicle has been conventionally known in which an air conditioner is output to a motor, and the air distribution damper connected to the servomotor is repeatedly changed. As a result, the amount of air blown into the vehicle interior is repeatedly changed.

[0003]

When the amount of air blown into the vehicle interior is repeatedly changed by outputting an M-sequence pseudo-random signal as in the above-described conventional apparatus, the amount of air blown may or may not change. A condition occurs. Such a change or no change in the amount of blown air is very effective for a vehicle occupant, for example, in terms of an awakening effect or a resting effect, but on the other hand, the occupant starts to change the amount of blown air. Even if a switch or the like is operated for the purpose, a state in which the amount of blown air does not change for a while may occur. In this case, there is a problem that the occupant feels a sense of discomfort that the air volume fluctuation is desired to be performed but is not performed.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problem, and changes the air flow of the air directly hitting the air-conditioning user immediately after the start of the air flow fluctuation, and thereafter provides the driver with, for example, an awakening effect or a resting effect. It is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner capable of performing a certain air volume fluctuation.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a ventilation path for guiding air into a room, a ventilation means for blowing air into the room through the ventilation path, and A heat exchange means arranged to cool or heat the air;
An air volume adjusting unit that adjusts an air volume of air that is blown by the air blowing unit and directly hits an indoor air conditioning user through the ventilation path, a variation start unit that outputs a variation start signal that repeatedly varies the air volume, A fluctuation start signal is input, and a constant fluctuation signal for causing the fluctuation of the air flow to be regularly performed on a time basis based on the input of the fluctuation start signal is output to the air flow adjusting means. The gist of the present invention is an air conditioner including an air volume changing unit that outputs an irregular fluctuation signal for causing the air volume to fluctuate irregularly in time after a predetermined time has elapsed from the output to the air volume adjusting unit.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the blowing means blows air toward the driver in the room through the ventilation path, and the air is cooled or heated by the heat exchange means. Further, the air volume of the air directly hitting the air conditioning user is adjusted by air volume adjusting means such as a blower motor, a swing louver, a wind distribution damper and the like.

When a variation start signal for repeatedly varying the air volume is output by the variation start device, the variation start signal is input to the air volume variation device, and the air volume variation device adjusts the constant regular variation signal based on the input. Output to the means. As a result, the air flow changes immediately after the fluctuation start signal is output by the fluctuation start means, and the air flow directly hitting the air-conditioning user fluctuates regularly with time. Thus, the driver does not feel discomfort.

Further, after a predetermined time has elapsed after the air volume regularly fluctuates temporally, the air volume fluctuation means outputs an irregular fluctuation signal to the air volume adjustment means. As a result, the air volume fluctuates irregularly with time. In other words, the air-conditioning user becomes refreshed due to, for example, irregular fluctuation with a high awakening effect or a resting effect, and can comfortably perform, for example, vehicle operation, factory machine operation, and the like.

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention, the air volume fluctuation is performed immediately after the air volume fluctuation is started, and the air volume fluctuation having a high awakening effect or a resting effect can be performed after a predetermined time. In addition, the air-conditioning user can experience the air volume fluctuation of the air conditioner of the present invention without feeling uncomfortable, and can obtain a comfortable feeling by the air volume fluctuation.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an automobile will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, an overall configuration of an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, an inside air inlet 8 and an outside air inlet 9 are formed on the upstream side of a ventilation duct 20 as a ventilation path. The inside air inlet 8 and the outside air inlet 9 are opened and closed by an inside / outside air switching damper 6 driven by the inside / outside air servo motor 5.

A blower is provided downstream of the inside / outside air switching damper 6 to introduce air from the inside air inlet 8 or the outside air inlet 9 by rotating itself, and to blow this air into the vehicle interior through a ventilation duct 20. 19 are provided. The blower 19 is driven by a blower motor 11 driven by an externally applied voltage. In addition,
In one embodiment, the blower 19 and the blower motor 11
Constitutes the blowing means.

Downstream of the blower 19, the evaporator 12 as a heat exchange means is provided. This evaporator 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes a heat exchanger that cools and dehumidifies the air by absorbing heat from the surrounding air by the refrigerant flowing therein, and forms a refrigeration cycle together with a compressor, a condenser, and a pressure reducer (not shown). An evaporator outlet temperature sensor 23 for detecting the air temperature immediately after passing through the evaporator 12 is provided immediately downstream of the evaporator 12.

Downstream of the evaporator 12, a heater core 13 as heat exchange means is provided. The heater core 13 is a heat exchanger that heats air using engine cooling water flowing through piping (not shown) as a heat source. The flow of the engine coolant into the heater core 13 is interrupted by opening and closing a water valve (not shown). The piping is provided with a water temperature sensor (not shown) for detecting the temperature of the engine cooling water.

An air mix damper 21 is provided upstream of the heater core 13 for adjusting the rate at which the air cooled and dehumidified by the evaporator 12 passes through the heater core 13 and the rate at which the air bypasses the heater core 13. Also,
The air mix damper 21 is an air mix servo motor 1
4 driven.

The air temperature controlled by the air mix damper 21 is blown out from the face outlet 15 toward the upper body of the occupant in the passenger compartment, from the foot outlet 16 toward the foot of the occupant, or to a defroster (not shown). It is blown out from the outlet toward the windshield. The opening and closing of the face outlet, foot outlet, and defroster outlet are performed by an outlet switching damper 17 disposed downstream of the heater core 13 and the like. Further, the outlet switching damper 17 is driven by an outlet switching servomotor 18.

1 is an inside air temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the air in the vehicle interior, 2 is an outside air temperature sensor for detecting the outside air temperature,
Reference numeral 3 denotes a solar radiation sensor for detecting the amount of solar radiation entering the vehicle interior. And the signals detected by these sensors are EC
Input to U7.

The ECU 7 receives signals from the temperature setter 10 in addition to signals from the sensors 1 to 3. Further, a fluctuation start signal from the fluctuation switch 22 is input to the ECU 7. In one embodiment, the fluctuation start means is constituted by the fluctuation switch 22.

A predetermined calculation is performed based on these signals, and based on the calculation result, an inside / outside air servo motor 5, a blower controller 4, which will be described later, and an air mix server.
A control signal is output to the boom motor 14, the blow-out port changeover bobo motor 18, and a water valve (not shown).

Next, driving of the blower 19 will be described with reference to FIG. The ECU 7 performs feedback control of the voltage applied to the blower 19 according to the above calculation processing.
The terminal 4 detects the blower voltage VM. Also ECU
Reference numeral 7 designates a control input from the terminal 3 to the blower controller 4 to control the output voltage BLW. Terminal 2 is blower motor 1
There is a terminal 1 for driving a bypass relay 4a for short-circuiting an output terminal of the blower controller 4 for driving the blower motor 4 with a battery voltage (+ B). The terminal 1 is a terminal for driving a main relay 4b for supplying power to the blower motor 11. It is. 4c is a power transistor, and 4d is a thermal fuse. In one embodiment, the blower controller 4 constitutes an air volume adjusting unit.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control process of the microcomputer in the ECU 7. First, at step 110, the inside air temperature (T
R), the outside air temperature (TAM) from the outside air temperature sensor 2, the amount of solar radiation (TS) from the solar radiation sensor 3, the evaporator blowing temperature (TE) from the evaporator blowing temperature sensor 23, and the engine cooling water temperature from a water temperature sensor (not shown). TW),
The vehicle interior set temperature (TSET) from the temperature setting device 10 and the fluctuation start signal from the fluctuation switch 22 are read.

Next, at step 120, a target blow-off air temperature (TAO) as a target value of the blow-off air into the vehicle compartment is calculated according to the following equation (1).

[0023]

TAO = KSET × TSET−KR × TR−KAM × TAM−KS × TS + C (where KSET, KR, KAM, and KS are coefficients,
(C is a constant.) Next, at step 130, the target opening (SW) of the air mix damper 21 is calculated according to the following equation 2 so that the temperature of the air blown into the vehicle compartment becomes the TAO obtained at step 120.

[0024]

SW = (TAO-TE) × 100 / (TW-TE) (%) Next, at step 140, the blower voltage determined from the correlation shown in FIG. The reference blower voltage V1 is determined from the blower voltage determined by an air volume setting device (not shown). FIG.
The correlation shown in the above is the ROM in the microcomputer.
Is stored in

Next, in step 150, step 120
The blowout mode corresponding to the TAO obtained in is determined from the correlation shown in FIG. The correlation shown in FIG. 6 is stored in the ROM in the microcomputer.

Next, at step 160, it is determined whether or not the fluctuation switch 22 (FIG. 2) is turned on. That is, it is determined whether the fluctuation start signal is output from the fluctuation switch 22 or not.

If the fluctuation switch 22 is not turned on (NO), that is, if the fluctuation start signal is not output, in step 170, the final blower voltage V to be output to the blower controller 4 is obtained in step 140. The reference blower voltage V1 is determined.

If it is determined in step 160 that the fluctuation switch 22 is turned on (YES), that is, if the fluctuation start signal is output, in step 180, the reference blower voltage V1 obtained in step 140 is determined. Is determined from the correlation shown in FIG.
That is, when the reference blower voltage V1 is low (Lo), a fluctuation width .DELTA.V of 4 volts is applied in the direction in which the blower voltage increases (+ direction). When the reference blower voltage V1 is high (H
In the case of i), the blower voltage decreases in the direction of decreasing (− direction).
The fluctuation width ΔV of the bolt is given. The correlation shown in FIG. 7 is stored in the ROM in the microcomputer.

In the next step 190, the final blower voltage V output to the blower controller 4 is determined to be a value (V1 + .DELTA.V) obtained by adding .DELTA.V to the reference blower voltage V1.

In the next step 200, a signal for operating a timer (not shown) is output. Note that this timer is configured to return to 0 when the output state of the fluctuation start signal from the fluctuation switch 22 is released.

In the next step 210, it is determined whether or not two minutes have elapsed since the timer started to operate. If it is determined that two minutes or more have not elapsed (NO), the process proceeds to step 220, and a constant fluctuation signal is output so that the blower voltage fluctuates regularly with time. That is, a constant fluctuation signal is output so that V (= V1 + .DELTA.V) obtained in step 190 is output to the blower controller 4 in a timely and regular manner.

If the determination in step 210 is YES, an irregular fluctuation signal is output in step 230 so that the blower voltage fluctuates irregularly with time.
That is, V obtained in step 190 (= V1 + ΔV)
Is output to the blower controller 4 irregularly in time.

After the constant fluctuation signal or the irregular fluctuation signal is output in steps 220 and 230, the fluctuation width ΔV applied to the reference blower voltage V1.
Will be described later with reference to FIG. 1.

In step 240, a control signal is output to the air mix servomotor 14 so that the opening of the air mix damper 21 becomes the SW determined in step 130. In step 250, the blower voltage is
Alternatively, a control signal is output to the blower controller 4 so as to be V obtained in step 190.

In step 260, a control signal is output to the air outlet switching servomotor 18 so that the air outlet mode becomes the air outlet mode determined in step 150. Then return.

Next, what signals are output to the blower controller 4 when the fluctuation switch 22 is turned on when the reference blower voltage V1 is medium (Me) will be described with reference to FIG.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, the fluctuation switch 2
Simultaneously with the turning on of 2, the fluctuation width ΔV having the upper limit of +2 volts and the lower limit of −2 volts is continuously output to the blower controller 4. As a result, the blower voltage applied to the blower motor 11 continuously fluctuates with the upper limit being Me + 2 volts and the lower limit being Me-2 volts based on the medium (Me) level.

After two minutes, the fluctuation width ΔV is output to the blower controller 4 irregularly in time. That is, the time t from the output of the fluctuation signal for one cycle to the output of the next fluctuation signal is output irregularly. In other words, the time t is controlled to be output irregularly by the irregular fluctuation signal output in step 230 (FIG. 4).

As in the above embodiment, the fluctuation switch 2
By controlling the blower voltage to fluctuate irregularly with time after 2 minutes have passed since the 2 was turned on,
The rest effect or awakening effect of the vehicle occupant can be enhanced. This can be proved from the data shown in FIG.

The data shown in FIG. 8 shows that humans feel comfortable at first when time-varying fluctuations are given,
It shows that it gradually becomes insensitive over time. This is also true for airflow fluctuations. In other words, when the amount of air blown into the vehicle interior is regularly changed over time, the occupant feels comfortable at first, but becomes less sensible over time. However, as in the embodiment, by controlling the blower voltage to fluctuate irregularly with time, it is possible to continuously provide the occupant with a resting effect or an awakening effect provided by the air flow fluctuation.

As in the above-described embodiment, the blower voltage is controlled so as to fluctuate periodically with time for the first two minutes after the fluctuation switch 22 is turned on.
As soon as the occupant turns on the fluctuation switch 22, the air volume change can be started immediately. As a result, the occupant can obtain the effect of the air volume fluctuation even immediately after turning on the fluctuation switch 22.

In the above embodiment, steps 110, 180, 190, and 2
00, step 210, step 220, step 23
At 0, the air volume variation means was configured.

The embodiment of the present invention applied to an automobile has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to other air conditioners. In one embodiment, the fluctuation start means is constituted by the fluctuation switch 22. However, for example, a means for automatically starting the air flow fluctuation when the difference between the vehicle interior air temperature and the set temperature becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature. It may be constituted by.

In one embodiment, the air volume adjusting means is constituted by the blower controller 4.
A ventilation damper or the like in the ventilation duct may be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a time chart for explaining the operation of an embodiment of the air conditioner of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a drive circuit diagram of a blower used in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control process of the microcomputer used in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a correlation diagram between TAO and a reference blower voltage in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a correlation diagram between TAO and a blowing mode in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a correlation diagram between a reference blower voltage and a fluctuation width in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is data showing a general feeling of human comfort with respect to time-dependent fluctuations.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Blower controller as air volume adjusting means 11 Blower motor as air blowing means 12 Evaporator as heat exchange means 13 Heater core as heat exchange means 19 Blower as air blowing means 20 Ventilation duct as ventilation path 22 Fluctuation switch as variation starting means Step 110 Air volume variation means Step 180 Air volume variation means Step 190 Air volume variation means Step 200 Air volume variation means Step 210 Air volume variation means Step 220 Air volume variation means Step 230 Air volume variation means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Takamasa Kawai 1-1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya-shi, Aichi, Japan Inside Denso Corporation (72) Inventor Yuji Ito 1-1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya-shi, Aichi Japan Nihon Denso Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Katsuhiko Samukawa 1-1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya-shi, Aichi Japan Inside Denso Co., Ltd. (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60H 1/00 101 B60H 1/32 626 F24F 11/04

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A ventilation path that guides air into a room, a ventilation unit that blows air into the room through the ventilation path, and a heat exchange unit that is disposed in the ventilation path and cools or heats the air. An air volume adjusting unit that adjusts an air volume of air that is blown by the air blowing unit and directly hits an indoor air-conditioning user through the ventilation path; a variation start unit that outputs a variation start signal that repeatedly varies the air volume; A variation start signal is input, and a constant regular variation signal for causing the variation of the air volume to be regularly performed based on the input of the variation start signal is output to the air volume adjustment unit.
Air flow rate variation means for outputting an irregular variation signal to the air volume adjustment means for causing the air volume to fluctuate irregularly with time after a predetermined time has elapsed after the output of the constant regular variation signal. An air conditioner characterized by: