JP3149488B2 - Vehicle 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 a vehicle air conditioner.
This is particularly effective during warm-up.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-33121, when the temperature of engine cooling water is low, the blower is stopped or its applied voltage is reduced to reduce the amount of air blown from the blower. 2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle air conditioner has been conventionally known in which, when the engine cooling water temperature becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, the blowing amount is gradually increased as the engine cooling water temperature increases.

[0003]

For example, in a severe cold region, the temperature in the vehicle compartment in the morning is quite low, and there is a strong demand to blow warm air into the vehicle compartment immediately to warm the vehicle compartment. However, when the warm air is blown into the vehicle interior after the engine cooling water temperature becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature as in the above-described conventional technology, the vehicle interior remains at a low temperature until the engine cooling water temperature reaches the predetermined temperature. Yes, during this time the occupants must feel cold.

[0004] In order to solve the above problem, it has been conventionally considered to heat the vehicle interior using an electric heater even if the engine cooling water does not reach a predetermined temperature. However, conventionally, only a 150 watt electric heater could be mounted in order to use a common alternator. For this reason, the temperature rise by the electric heater was only about 5 ° C. when the blower air volume was Lo, so that the electric heater was controlled independently of the air conditioner.

However, recently, a system for electrically heating a window glass to remove the fogging of the window glass has been put into practical use, and a dedicated alternator or a large-capacity alternator and a booster for this system have been put into practical use. And
Accordingly, the use of high-power electric heaters has become a reality.

[0006] However, in the above-mentioned high-power electric heater, there is a problem that if the interlocking control with the existing air conditioner is not taken into consideration, excessive or insufficient heating may occur. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle air conditioner that can control a high-power electric heater and an air conditioner to be in a favorable interlocking relationship.

[0007]

[MEANS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS] To achieve the above object
According to the first aspect of the present invention, air is passed through a heater core heated by engine cooling water by a blower to generate hot air.
An air conditioner for a vehicle that blows out the warm air from an outlet into a room of a vehicle , wherein the heater is provided in a passage of the warm air and generates heat by electric power in the vehicle.
Excitation command signal generating means for generating a current instruction signal to the coolant temperature sensor detects the engine coolant temperature, and the
The energization instruction signal generating means, the water temperature sensor, and the blower are connected to the blower and the energization instruction signal generating means
The water detected by the water temperature sensor depends on the presence or absence of an instruction signal.
Changing the blowing amount control pattern of the blower for the temperature,
Based on the air volume control pattern, the air volume of the air blower
The gist of the present invention is a vehicle air conditioner including a blower control unit for controlling the air conditioner. According to the second aspect of the present invention,
In the invention as set forth in claim 1, the power supply instruction signal generating means
Even when the energization instruction signal is generated,
When the detected water temperature is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature,
Aircraft vehicles equipped with an energization instruction prohibition unit that prohibits energization instructions
The gist is the gist.

[0008]

[Action] blower control means in the invention of claim 1, wherein, as the conventional feed, based only on the engine coolant temperature
Instead of controlling the air volume of air blower, energizing finger to electric heater
Depending on the presence or absence of the indicator signal, the water temperature detected by the water temperature sensor
Change the air flow control pattern of the blower
By controlling the amount of air blown by the blower based on the control pattern, it is possible to control the temperature of the hot air blown out from the air outlet into the vehicle cabin so that the temperature can be satisfied by the occupant.

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention, the warm air blown into the passenger compartment is controlled to a temperature that can be satisfied by the occupant, so that the occupant can enjoy a comfortable feeling.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the vehicle air conditioner of the present invention in which a PTC heater is provided in a unit.

In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
An inner air intake port 2 and an external air intake port 3 are formed at the most upstream portion of the case 1, and these are opened and closed by an internal / external air switching damper 4. A fan 6 driven by a blower motor 5 is provided downstream of the inside / outside air switching damper 4.
In one embodiment, the blower is constituted by the blower motor 5 and the fan 6.

Downstream of the fan 6, an evaporator 7 for cooling the air blown from the fan 6, a heater core 8 for heating the air, and an amount of air passing through the heater core 8 are adjusted to reduce the amount of air blown into the vehicle interior. An air mix damper 9 for adjusting the temperature is provided.

At the most downstream of the case 1, a defroster outlet 10 for blowing air toward the windshield, a face outlet 11 for blowing air toward the upper body of the occupant,
And a foot outlet 12 for blowing air toward the feet of the occupant. The amount of air blown from each of these outlets is equal to the defroster damper 1.
3, the face damper 14 and the foot damper 15 respectively.

Downstream of the foot damper 15, a PTC heater 16 constituting an electric heater is provided. The PTC heater 16 uses an alternator (not shown) as a power source, and its rated power is 800 watts. And 8 in the PTC heater 16
When power is supplied at 00 watts, the fan 6
, The air can be raised by about 25 ° C.

Next, the control system of the above embodiment is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. A relay 21 short-circuits the fuse 25 and the PTC heater 16 when the relay coil 21a is energized. Then, the voltage (12 V) from the battery 27 is boosted to about 150 V by the booster circuit 26, and the voltage is applied to the PTC heater 16. When the power supply to the relay coil 21a is stopped, the relay contact 21b is connected to the fuse 25 and the PTC heater 16.
And open.

A control circuit 22 serving as a blower control means receives, in addition to the engine cooling water temperature signal from the water temperature sensor 19, an internal air temperature signal from an internal air sensor, an external air temperature signal from an external air sensor, a solar radiation signal from a solar radiation sensor, and the like. input. Further, the control circuit 22 inputs a signal for determining whether all of the max hot switch 20, the PTC heater switch 24, and the blower switch 23 are on, and a signal for simply determining whether the blower switch 23 is on. .
Here, the max hot switch 20 is a switch that is turned on when the air mix damper 9 (FIG. 1) comes into the max hot position when the damper 9 contacts the case 1, and the PTC heater switch 24 is manually turned on and off by the occupant. It is a switch that can be set. In one embodiment, the heat generation state detecting means is constituted by the PTC heater switch 24.

The control circuit 22 to which the above-mentioned signals are inputted is used by the control circuit 22 based on these signals to set a target outlet temperature (hereinafter referred to as T
AO), and based on the calculation result, the opening degree of the inside / outside air switching damper 4, the voltage applied to the blower motor 5, the opening degree of the air mix damper 9, and the dampers 13, 14, 15
And outputs a control signal to each actuator.

Reference numeral 17 denotes an idle-up actuator that adjusts the idle opening of a throttle valve (not shown) by changing the negative pressure supplied to the inside thereof. The negative pressure is the idle-up VSV (vacuum switching valve). 18 is adjusted by opening and closing. Opening / closing of the idle-up VSV 18 is adjusted by a control signal from the control circuit 22 to which the above-described signals are input.

The relay coil 21a has a signal for judging whether the max hot switch 20, the PTC heater switch 24 and the blower switch 23 are all on, and a water temperature for notifying that the engine cooling water temperature is lower than a predetermined temperature. It is energized when a signal from the sensor is input, and is not energized when these signals are not input.

That is, not only is the blower switch 23 turned on, but it is also determined that the warm-up should be performed based on the result of the calculation of the target outlet temperature (TAO), and the air mix damper 9 is at the maximum hot position, and
Only when the C heater switch 24 is turned on and the engine coolant temperature is equal to or lower than the predetermined temperature, the relay coil 21a
Is in an energized state, so that even if the PTC heater switch 24 is on, the blower switch 23 is not on, the warm-up control is not being performed, or the engine cooling water has warmed up to a certain temperature and the temperature has reached a predetermined temperature. In this case, the relay coil 21a is not energized, and the PTC heater switch 24 does not turn on.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described. For example, when the ignition switch is turned on and the automatic air conditioner switch is turned on early in the morning in winter, the engine cooling water temperature is still cold. Further, since the outside air temperature and the inside air temperature are low, it is determined that the warm-up control should be performed based on the calculation result of the target outlet temperature (TAO), the air mix damper 9 moves to the max hot position, and the max hot switch 20 is turned on. I do. Also, it is assumed that the occupant has not turned off the blower switch manually.

In such a case, when the occupant turns on the PTC heater switch 24, that is, when the relay coil 21a
Is satisfied, the blower control is performed with the characteristics as shown by the solid line in FIG. That is, since the PTC heater 16 can immediately warm the air, the voltage is applied to the blower motor 5 from the time the auto air conditioner switch is turned on until the engine cooling water temperature reaches a predetermined temperature (between f and c in the figure). Then, the air is blown into the vehicle interior at the Lo air volume.

When the temperature of the engine cooling water exceeds a predetermined temperature, the control circuit 22 shown in FIG. 1 determines from the signal from the water temperature sensor 19 that the temperature of the engine cooling water has exceeded the predetermined temperature.
Despite the heater switch 24 being on, P
The TC heater 16 turns off. And blower air volume characteristics
As shown by the solid line in FIG.

As described above, the control to turn off the PTC heater 16 when the engine cooling water temperature becomes equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature is performed when the engine cooling water temperature becomes equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature. Since the interior of the vehicle can be sufficiently heated by the heater core 8 as a heat source,
This is to avoid consuming unnecessary power by turning off the PTC heater 16 that consumes large power.

Further, as described above, when the auto air conditioner switch is turned on, the engine cooling water temperature is in a cold state, and it is determined that the warm-up control should be performed based on the calculation result of the target blowing temperature (TAO). When the PTC heater switch 24 is turned off without turning on when the switch 20 is on and the occupant has not turned off the blower switch by manual operation,
Of course, the PTC heater 16 is not turned on, and the blower is controlled according to the characteristics shown by the broken line in FIG. That is, as in the conventional case, when the engine cooling water temperature is low, no voltage is applied to the blower motor 5 and the amount of air blown into the vehicle compartment is set to zero. When the temperature of the engine cooling water has increased to some extent, the applied voltage is gradually increased, and the amount of air blown into the vehicle interior is increased.

As described in detail above, in one embodiment, P
Since the air can be immediately warmed by the TC heater 16, warm air can be blown into the vehicle interior even when the temperature of the engine cooling water is low. In one embodiment, when the engine coolant temperature reaches a predetermined temperature, the PTC heater switch 2
Since the PTC heater 16 is controlled to be turned off even though the switch 4 is turned on, wasteful power consumption can be prevented.

In one embodiment, the PTC heater switch 24 is a manual switch so that the PTC
A person who wants to warm the vehicle interior as soon as possible by using the heater 16 turns on the PTC heater switch 24 to blow out warm air, and a person who does not want to heat the vehicle interior uses the PTC heater switch 24.
Is turned off so that the conventional control is performed, and both can perform satisfactory control.

Further, in one embodiment, a diesel vehicle (particularly a wagon vehicle having a wide cabin) in which the thermal efficiency of the engine is high, the amount of heat released to the engine cooling water is small, and the hot water heater using the cooling water as a heat source is ineffective. ), PT
The C heater 16 is used not only for warm-up control,
It is extremely effective even during steady-state control, and in winter, a comfortable feeling of heating can be obtained during riding.

In the above-described embodiment, the relationship between the engine cooling water temperature and the voltage applied to the blower motor 5 is a characteristic as shown in FIG. 3, but may be a characteristic as shown in FIG. In this case, when the outside air temperature is −20 ° C. and the air flow rate is Hi, and if the engine cooling water temperature at point b in the drawing is 35 ° C., the temperature of the vehicle interior air is about 30 ° C. when the PTC heater 16 is off.
Becomes The engine cooling water temperature at point g in the figure is 10
° C, the cabin air temperature is
When the PTC heater 16 is on, the temperature is about 30 ° C., which is the same as the temperature at the point b in FIG.

That is, if the PTC heater 16 is turned on when the temperature of the engine cooling water reaches the point g in the drawing, it is possible to obtain warm air at a timing earlier than before and at a comfortable temperature from the beginning.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an air conditioner using the one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a characteristic diagram showing a relative relationship between an engine cooling water temperature and a blower voltage in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram showing a relative relationship between an engine cooling water temperature and a blower voltage in another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 5 blower motor as blower 6 fan as blower 8 heater core 12 foot outlet 16 PTC heater as electric heater 19 water temperature sensor 22 control circuit as blower control means 24 PTC heater switch as heat generation state detection means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60H 1/12 641 B60H 1/00 101 B60H 1/03

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An air is passed through a heater core heated by engine cooling water by a blower to generate hot air.
The A vehicle air-conditioning system that blows from the air outlet inside the vehicle, the provided hot air passing in the path, electric heater for generating heat by electric power in the vehicle, generating a current instruction signal to the electric heater Power-on instruction signal issued
Raw means, the engine coolant temperature sensor temperature to detect, and which is connected to the excitation command signal generating means and the coolant temperature sensor and the blower, the communication by the excitation command signal generating means
Depending on the presence or absence of the power indication signal, the water temperature sensor detected
Change the air volume control pattern of the blower for water temperature
Then, based on the blowing amount control pattern,
An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising: a blower control means for controlling an air volume . 2. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein
Even when the power indication signal is being generated, the detection
When the water temperature is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, an instruction to energize the electric heater is issued.
The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising an energization instruction prohibiting unit that prohibits power supply .