JP3612816B2 - Air conditioner for vehicles - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner configured to perform de-icing of a vehicle windshield by blowing warm air from a defroster outlet.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the conventional vehicle air conditioner, when the surface of the vehicle windshield freezes, ice is defrosted by blowing a constant amount of warm air from the defroster outlet to the inner surface of the windshield.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, when a constant amount of warm air is blown out as described above, there is a problem that if the constant amount of air is too large, the blowing temperature becomes low and the ice melting time becomes long. On the other hand, if the above-described constant air volume is too small, the hot air reachability to the upper part of the windshield is deteriorated, and there is a problem that it is impossible to de-ice the upper part of the windshield.
[0004]
In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to defrost the entire frozen windshield in as short a time as possible.
[0005]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the above object, in the inventions according to claims 1 to 5,
When an instruction to defrost the windshield is given by the de-icing instruction means, the amount of warm air blown out from the defroster outlet to the inner surface of the windshield is maintained at a predetermined small amount of air for a predetermined time. Thereafter, the defroster air volume adjusting means is controlled so that the hot air blowing air volume is larger than the small air volume.
[0006]
According to this, since the amount of warm air blown out from the defroster outlet becomes a small amount of air for a predetermined time after the above instruction from the ice melting instruction means, the temperature of the warm air becomes high. Here, since the air volume of the warm air at the higher temperature is a small air volume, the warm air with the small air volume is blown mainly to the lower part of the windshield. As a result, the temperature of the lower part rises efficiently and the lower part is efficiently deiced.
[0007]
Then, after the predetermined time has elapsed since the instruction from the deicing instruction means, the amount of warm air blown from the defroster outlet becomes larger than the small amount of air. It reaches from the bottom to the top. Here, the temperature of the warm air is lower than that in the case of the small air volume, but since the warm air is blown out to the windshield, the temperature at the lower part of the windshield is slow. However, it rises to a certain temperature and is defrosted. In addition, the temperature of the upper part of the windshield gradually rises with the increase in the amount of hot air blown out, and the upper part of the windshield is also gradually melted.
[0008]
By performing the control as described above, the entire windshield can be melted in as short a time as possible.
In particular, in the invention according to claim 4,
Upper temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the upper part of the windshield;
A lower temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the lower part of the windshield,
The predetermined time is a time until a temperature difference between the lower temperature detected by the lower temperature detecting means and the upper temperature detected by the upper temperature detecting means becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature.
[0009]
According to this, it can be detected that the lower part of the windshield has been efficiently deiced by detecting that the temperature difference has become equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature. Further, by providing the upper temperature detecting means, it is possible to detect the arrival of hot air to the upper part of the windshield.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, 1st Embodiment which applied this invention as an air-conditioner for electric vehicles is described based on FIGS.
In the present embodiment, each air conditioning means in the air conditioning unit for air conditioning the vehicle interior space is configured to be controlled by the air conditioning control device.
[0011]
First, the configuration of the air conditioning unit will be described.
The air upstream side portion of the air conditioning case 1 is formed with an inside air inlet 2 for inhaling the air inside the vehicle and an outside air inlet 3 for inhaling the outside air, and these inlets 2 and 3 are selected. An inside / outside air switching door 4 that opens and closes is provided. The inside / outside air switching door 4 is driven by a servo motor (not shown).
[0012]
A fan 5 serving as a blowing means is disposed in a downstream portion of the inside / outside air switching door 4. The fan 5 is driven by a blower motor 6 as electrical drive means, and the number of rotations of the fan, that is, the amount of air blown into the passenger compartment is controlled by a blower voltage applied to the blower motor 6. The blower voltage is determined by the air conditioning control device 20 described later.
[0013]
On the air downstream side of the fan 5, a cooling indoor heat exchanger 7 serving as an air cooling means and a heating indoor heat exchanger 8 serving as an air heating means are disposed. Each of these indoor heat exchangers 7 and 8 is a heat exchanger constituting a part of a heat pump refrigeration cycle (not shown), and the cooling indoor heat exchanger 7 functions as an evaporator in the cooling mode, The heat exchanger 8 functions as a condenser during the heating mode. A compressor (not shown) constituting a part of the refrigeration cycle is driven by an electric motor (not shown).
[0014]
Further, a defroster outlet 9 for blowing air toward the inner surface of the windshield 17 (see FIG. 2) of the automobile windshield and air blown toward the upper body of the passenger in the vehicle compartment at the most downstream portion of the air conditioning case 1. The face air outlet 10 and a foot air outlet 11 for blowing air toward the feet of passengers in the passenger compartment are formed.
And the defroster door 12, the face door 13, and the foot door 14 which selectively open and close the channel | path of this site | part are provided in the upstream site | part of each said blower outlets 9-11, respectively. Moreover, the servomotor which drives each door 12-14 is connected to each of these doors 12-14.
[0015]
Further, a passage area changing door 15 for changing the passage area of this portion is provided in a portion between the fan 5 and the cooling indoor heat exchanger 7 in the air conditioning case 1. The passage area changing door 15 is driven by the driving means 16 (specifically, a servo motor).
Next, the configuration of the control system around the air conditioning control device will be described.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 2, an upper temperature sensor 18 and a lower temperature sensor 19 for detecting the temperature of each part are disposed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the windshield 17.
In addition to the signals from the upper temperature sensor 18 and the lower temperature sensor 19, the air conditioning control device 20 shown in FIG. Each signal is input.
[0017]
The air conditioning control device 20 is provided with a well-known microcomputer comprising a CPU, ROM, RAM, etc. (not shown), and signals from the sensors 18 and 19 and the defroster switch 21 are sent to the air conditioning control device 20. After being A / D converted by an input circuit (not shown), the data is input to the microcomputer.
[0018]
In addition, when the defroster switch 21 is turned on, the air-conditioning control device 20 controls the refrigeration cycle to be in the heating mode, and controls each servo so that the positions of the doors 12 to 14 are the positions shown in FIG. Control the motor.
Next, control processing of the microcomputer according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
[0019]
First, when the defroster switch 21 is turned on, the routine of FIG. 3 is started. In step 100, the opening degree of the passage area changing door 15 is set to a position of 3 (%). Note that the position of 3 (%) here is a position of 3 (%) when the position indicated by the broken line in FIG. 1 is 0 (%) and the position indicated by the solid line is 100 (%). .
In the next step 110, the upper temperature T1 and the lower temperature T2 detected by the upper temperature sensor 18 and the lower temperature sensor 19 are read. In the next step 120, a temperature difference (T2-T1) between the lower temperature T2 and the upper temperature T1 is calculated.
[0020]
In the next step 130, the target opening degree of the passage opening / closing door 15 corresponding to the temperature difference (T2−T1) calculated in step 120 is calculated by searching from the map of FIG. 4 stored in the ROM.
Then, in the next step 140, it is determined whether or not the target opening calculated in step 130 is larger than the previously calculated target opening. If it is determined that the target opening is larger, in the next step 150, The servo motor 16 is controlled so that the target opening calculated in step 130 is obtained. If it is determined that the value is smaller, the process returns to step 110.
[0021]
As described above, by performing the above-described series of controls, the windshield surface freezes (the temperature difference (T2−T1) at this time is 0), and when the passenger in the vehicle turns on the defroster switch 21, the passage is opened and closed. The opening degree of the door 15 is forcibly set to 3 (%). As a result, the amount of hot air blown from the defroster outlet 9 is considerably reduced, and the temperature of the hot air is increased accordingly.
[0022]
Therefore, since the warm air blown out from the defroster outlet 9 becomes a small amount at a high temperature, the small amount of warm air at this high temperature does not reach the upper part of the windshield but is mainly blown toward the lower part. As a result, the surface temperature of this lower part rises efficiently, and this lower part is efficiently deiced.
Here, while the windshield 17 is deiced as described above, since the warm air does not reach the upper part, there is a temperature difference (T2−T1) between the lower temperature T2 and the upper temperature T1. Grows with time. When the lower part is deiced to some extent and the temperature difference (T2-T1) reaches 3 (° C.), the opening degree of the passage opening / closing door 15 increases as the temperature difference (T2-T1) increases. Go. As a result, the amount of hot air blown out from the defroster outlet 9 increases and is blown out toward the upper portion of the windshield 17.
[0023]
At this time, the temperature of the warm air decreases as the air volume increases. However, since the warm air is blown out to the windshield 17, the temperature of the lower part of the windshield 17 is increased. Although it slows down, it rises to a certain temperature and is defrosted. In addition, the upper temperature of the windshield 17 gradually increases with the increase in the amount of hot air blown out, and the upper ice is gradually melted.
[0024]
At this time, the temperature difference (T2−T1) does not increase at a certain point due to heat transfer from the lower part to the upper part of the windshield 17 and an increase in the amount of hot air reaching the upper part. Therefore, once the passage opening / closing door 15 is opened, it is not closed.
When the defroster switch 21 is turned off, the routine of FIG. 3 is stopped, and the passage opening / closing door 15 is also in the 100% position (solid line position in FIG. 1).
[0025]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the amount of hot air blown out from the defroster outlet 9 is controlled as described above, so that the amount of hot air blown out is too much and the ice melting time is long as in the prior art. On the contrary, there is no problem that the ice on the upper portion of the windshield 17 cannot be defrosted due to too little, and the entire windshield 17 can be efficiently defrosted in a short time.
[0026]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first embodiment, the opening degree of the passage opening / closing door 15 is controlled in accordance with the temperature difference (T2−T1) between the lower temperature and the upper temperature. However, in the present embodiment, the defroster switch 21 is controlled. The opening degree of the passage opening / closing door 15 is controlled in accordance with the time from turning on. Hereinafter, the control process will be described with reference to FIG.
[0027]
First, in step 100, the opening degree of the passage area changing door 15 is set to a position of 5 (%). Then, in the next step 115, it is determined whether or not the timer for counting the time since the defroster switch 21 is turned on. If it is determined that the timer is not operating, the next step 125 Start the timer. On the other hand, if it is determined that it is already operating, the routine jumps to step 130.
[0028]
In this step 130, the target opening degree of the passage opening / closing door 15 corresponding to the time counted by the timer is calculated by searching from the map of FIG. 6 stored in the ROM. In the map of FIG. 6, the opening degree of the passage opening / closing door 15 is maintained at 5 (%) for a predetermined time (5 minutes in the present embodiment) after the defroster switch 21 is turned on. The door opening is created so as to increase with time.
[0029]
Note that the predetermined time (5 minutes) in the map of FIG. 6 is set as the time when the lower part of the windshield 17 is considered to have been melted to some extent, as in the first embodiment.
Thereafter, the same processing as steps 140 and 150 in the first embodiment is performed.
[0030]
In the present embodiment described above, as in the first embodiment, the entire windshield 17 can be efficiently defrosted in a short time.
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the present embodiment, a means for adjusting the amount of hot air blown from the defroster outlet 9 is constituted by a blower motor 6 in contrast to the first embodiment. Hereinafter, this embodiment will be specifically described.
[0031]
First, in the present embodiment, the passage opening / closing door 15 and the servo motor 16 in the first embodiment are not provided.
As for the control processing of the microcomputer, as shown in FIG. 7, first, in step 101, the input current to the blower motor 6 (hereinafter referred to as blower motor current) is set to 0.8 (A). Then, the same processing as steps 110 and 120 in the first embodiment is performed, and in the next step 131, the target blower motor current corresponding to the temperature difference (T2−T1) calculated in step 120 is stored in the ROM. It is calculated by searching from the map of FIG.
[0032]
Then, in the next step 141, it is determined whether or not the target blower motor current calculated in step 131 is larger than the previously calculated target blower motor current. The blower motor 6 is controlled to be the target blower motor current calculated in step 131 this time. If it is determined that the value is smaller, the process returns to step 110.
[0033]
Also in the present embodiment described above, as in the first embodiment, the entire windshield 17 can be efficiently defrosted in a short time.
Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In this embodiment, a means for adjusting the amount of hot air blown from the defroster outlet 9 is configured by a blower motor 6 in contrast to the second embodiment. Hereinafter, this embodiment will be specifically described.
[0034]
First, in the present embodiment, the passage opening / closing door 15 and the servo motor 16 in the second embodiment are not provided.
As for the control processing of the microcomputer, as shown in FIG. 9, first, in step 101, the input current to the blower motor 6 (hereinafter referred to as blower motor current) is set to 1 (A). Then, the same processing as in steps 115 and 125 in the second embodiment is performed, and in the next step 131, the target blower motor current corresponding to the time measured by the timer operated in step 125 is stored in the ROM. It is calculated by searching from the map of FIG.
[0035]
Then, in the next step 141, it is determined whether or not the target blower motor current calculated in step 131 is larger than the previously calculated target blower motor current. The blower motor 6 is controlled to be the target blower motor current calculated in step 131 this time. If it is determined that the value is smaller, the process returns to step 110.
[0036]
Also in the present embodiment described above, as in the first embodiment, the entire windshield 17 can be efficiently defrosted in a short time.
(Other embodiments)
In the first and second embodiments, the passage area changing means referred to in the invention described in claim 2 is provided with a passage area changing door 15 provided at a portion between the fan 5 and the cooling indoor heat exchanger 7 and Although the servo motor 16 is used, it may be configured by a door for changing the passage area of the portion between the cooling indoor heat exchanger 7 and the heating indoor heat exchanger 8 and its driving means. The defroster door 12 shown in FIG.
[0037]
In the third and fourth embodiments, the input current to the blower motor 6 is controlled. However, the voltage applied to the blower motor 6 may be controlled.
Moreover, in each said embodiment, although it comprised so that vehicle interior heating might be performed in the indoor heat exchanger 8 for heating, the hot water type which performs heat exchange with the hot water which flows through an inside, and the air in the air-conditioning case 1 is carried out. You may make it carry out vehicle interior heating with a heat exchanger.
[0038]
In the first and third embodiments, two sensors for detecting the surface temperature of the windshield 17 are provided. However, three or more sensors may be provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a front view of a windshield 17 in the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing control processing by the microcomputer in the first embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a map showing the relationship of the target opening of the passage opening / closing door 15 with respect to the temperature difference (T2−T1) in the first embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control process by a microcomputer according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a map showing the relationship of the target opening degree of the passage opening / closing door 15 with respect to the time after the defroster switch 21 is turned on in the second embodiment. FIG.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control process by a microcomputer according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a map showing the relationship of the target opening of the passage opening / closing door 15 with respect to the temperature difference (T2−T1) in the third embodiment.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a control process by a microcomputer according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a map showing the relationship of the target opening degree of the passage opening / closing door 15 with respect to the time after the defroster switch 21 is turned on in the fourth embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 ... air conditioning case (air passage), 5 ... fan (air blowing means),
6 ... Blower motor (defroster air volume adjusting means, motor),
8 ... Indoor heat exchanger for heating (heating means), 9 ... Defroster outlet,
15 ... passage area changing door (defroster air volume adjusting means, passage area changing means),
16 servo motors (defroster air volume adjusting means, passage area changing means),
17 ... windshield, 18 ... upper temperature sensor (upper temperature detection means),
19 ... Lower temperature sensor (lower temperature detecting means),
21: Defroster switch (de-icing instruction means).

Claims (5)

A blowing means (5) for generating an air flow;
An air passage (1) for guiding the air generated by the blowing means (5) to at least a defroster outlet (9) for blowing air to the inner surface of the vehicle windshield (17);
Heating means (8) provided in the air passage (1) for heating the air in the air passage (1);
Defroster air volume adjusting means (15, 16, 6) for adjusting the amount of hot air discharged from the defroster outlet (9);
Deicing instruction means (21) for instructing defrosting of the windshield (17);
When the instruction from the deicing instruction means (21) is received, the amount of warm air blown from the defroster outlet (9) is maintained at a predetermined small amount of air for a predetermined time, and after the predetermined time has elapsed, Defroster air volume control means (steps 110 to 150, 115 to 150, 110) for controlling the defroster air volume adjusting means (15, 16, 6) so that the hot air blowing air volume is larger than the small air volume. 151, 115-151). Upper temperature detection means (18) for detecting the temperature of the upper part of the windshield (17);
Lower temperature detection means (19) for detecting the temperature of the lower part of the windshield (17),
The predetermined time is a time until a temperature difference between the lower temperature detected by the lower temperature detecting means (19) and the upper temperature detected by the upper temperature detecting means (18) becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1. A time measuring means (step 125) for measuring the time since the instruction by the deicing instruction means (21) is received;
2. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined time is a time until the time measured by the time measuring means (step 125) becomes the predetermined time. The defroster air volume adjusting means (15, 16, 6) is a passage area changing means (15, 16) for changing a passage area of a portion of the air passage (1) to the defroster outlet (9). The vehicle air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the vehicle air conditioner is provided. 4. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the defroster air volume adjusting means (15, 16, 6) is a motor (6) for electrically driving the air blowing means (5). Air conditioner.

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