JP6012827B1 - Vehicle air conditioning control system and vehicle air conditioning control method - Google Patents

Abstract

Switching between an outside air introduction mode and an inside air circulation mode for air conditioning of a vehicle is controlled to more reliably prevent exhaust gas from entering a vehicle interior. An air conditioning control device of a vehicle air conditioning control system obtains preceding vehicle information including at least one of travel mode information, drive source information, and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle via communication. Based on the preceding vehicle information and the inside / outside air information, the unit 11, the inside / outside air information obtaining unit 12 that obtains inside / outside air information indicating whether the air conditioning of the host vehicle is the inside air circulation mode or the outside air introduction mode, An inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 that determines whether to switch between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode is provided. The inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 switches the air conditioning to the inside air circulation mode when the air conditioning is in the outside air introduction mode and the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating, and when the air conditioning is in the inside air circulation mode and the preceding vehicle is stopped. Switches the air conditioning to the outside air introduction mode. [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioning control device for a vehicle.

  In an air conditioning control system for a vehicle, the air conditioning is switched from an outside air introduction mode (a mode for introducing outside air into the vehicle interior) to an inside air circulation mode (a mode for circulating the air inside the vehicle interior) so that exhaust gas in the outside air does not enter the vehicle interior. A vehicle air conditioner that automatically switches to) has been proposed. For example, in Patent Document 1 below, when the distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is smaller than a predetermined value, and the degree of air contamination when the outside air is introduced is larger than a predetermined value. A technique for preventing particulate matter (PM) contained in exhaust gas from entering the vehicle interior by switching the air conditioning to the inside air circulation mode is disclosed.

  Patent Document 2 detects a distance between the host vehicle and a preceding vehicle, an acceleration of the preceding vehicle, the number of preceding vehicles, and a road shape ahead (whether it is an uphill road) using a camera that images the front of the vehicle. When the inter-vehicle distance is smaller than a predetermined value, when the acceleration of the preceding vehicle is larger than a predetermined value, when the number of preceding vehicles is larger than a predetermined value, or when the road shape ahead is an uphill road When it is estimated that the distribution concentration of the exhaust gas is high, a technique for setting the air conditioning to the inside air circulation mode is disclosed.

JP 2005-67531 A JP 2004-331019 A

  However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, since the exhaust gas entering the intake port is detected before switching to the inside air circulation mode, it is inevitable that some exhaust gas flows into the vehicle interior. Moreover, in the technique of Patent Document 2, for example, when sunlight is inserted into the camera or when visibility is poor due to bad weather, the accuracy of each information detected by the camera is reduced. It becomes difficult to prevent the inflow reliably.

  Further, in the techniques of Patent Documents 1 and 2, the output state of the exhaust gas of the preceding vehicle is not detected. Therefore, when the preceding vehicle is an electric vehicle using a motor as a drive source, or when the preceding vehicle is a hybrid vehicle using an engine or a motor as a drive source, and the vehicle is traveling using only the motor, the preceding vehicle is used. Even in a situation where the vehicle is not exhausting exhaust gas, the air conditioning may switch to the internal circulation mode and lose the opportunity to introduce outside air into the vehicle interior.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and controls switching between the outside air introduction mode and the inside air circulation mode of the air conditioning of the vehicle to more reliably prevent the exhaust gas from entering the vehicle interior. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle air-conditioning control device that can be prevented.

  A vehicle air conditioning control system according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a preceding vehicle identifying device that identifies a preceding vehicle that travels immediately before the host vehicle from among a plurality of surrounding vehicles that travel around the host vehicle; An air-conditioning control device that switches between an inside-air circulation mode and an outside-air introduction mode of air-conditioning of the host vehicle, and the air-conditioning control device transmits travel mode information, drive source information, and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle via communication. A preceding vehicle information obtaining unit for obtaining preceding vehicle information including at least one, an inside / outside air information obtaining unit for obtaining inside / outside air information indicating whether the air conditioning is in an inside air circulation mode or an outside air introduction mode, and the preceding An inside / outside air switching judgment unit for judging whether to switch the air conditioning between an inside air circulation mode and an outside air introduction mode based on vehicle information and the inside / outside air information. When the air conditioning is in the outside air introduction mode and the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating, the air conditioning is switched to the inside air circulation mode, and the air conditioning is in the inside air circulation mode and the engine of the preceding vehicle is stopped. If there is, the air conditioning is switched to the outside air introduction mode.

  A vehicle air-conditioning control system according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a preceding vehicle identifying device that identifies a preceding vehicle traveling immediately before the host vehicle from a plurality of surrounding vehicles traveling around the host vehicle; An air-conditioning control device that switches between an inside-air circulation mode and an outside-air introduction mode of air-conditioning of the host vehicle, and the air-conditioning control device transmits travel mode information, drive source information, and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle via communication. A preceding vehicle information obtaining unit for obtaining preceding vehicle information including at least one, an inside / outside air information obtaining unit for obtaining inside / outside air information indicating whether the air conditioning is in an inside air circulation mode or an outside air introduction mode, and the preceding An inside / outside air switching judgment unit for judging whether to switch the air conditioning between an inside air circulation mode and an outside air introduction mode based on vehicle information and the inside / outside air information. The exhaust gas concentration is calculated from the drive source information and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle, and based on the exhaust gas concentration, an allowable distance that is a minimum inter-vehicle distance that can permit the outside air introduction mode is obtained, and the air conditioner When the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is smaller than the allowable distance in the introduction mode, the air conditioning is switched to the inside air circulation mode, and the air conditioning is in the inside air circulation mode. If the inter-vehicle distance is longer than the allowable distance, the air conditioning is switched to the outside air introduction mode.

  According to the vehicle air-conditioning control apparatus of the present invention, since the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode are switched based on the information on the preceding vehicle acquired by communication, before the exhaust gas of the preceding vehicle flows into the vehicle interior. This switching can be performed. Therefore, it can prevent more reliably that the exhaust gas of a preceding vehicle flows into a vehicle interior.

  In addition, unlike the method using a camera, switching between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode can be performed normally even in backlight or when visibility is poor. Furthermore, by detecting the driving state of the engine of the preceding vehicle, appropriate switching is possible even when the preceding vehicle is a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle air conditioning control system according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a preceding vehicle specifying device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the positional relationship of the own vehicle and a surrounding vehicle. It is a figure for demonstrating a vehicle coordinate system. It is a flowchart of a preceding vehicle specific process. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the vehicle air conditioning control system according to the first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle air conditioning control system which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a preceding vehicle specifying device according to Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a figure explaining the positional relationship of the own vehicle and a surrounding vehicle. It is a figure which shows the relationship between an engine speed, the amount of intake air, and exhaust gas concentration. It is a figure which shows the relationship between catalyst temperature and oxygen concentration, and exhaust gas concentration. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the vehicle air conditioning control system according to the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of an air-conditioning control apparatus and a preceding vehicle specific device. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of an air-conditioning control apparatus and a preceding vehicle specific device.

<Embodiment 1>
1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle air conditioning control system according to Embodiment 1. FIG. The system includes a vehicle air-conditioning control device 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as “air-conditioning control device”), a peripheral vehicle communication device 2, a host vehicle position receiver 3, a preceding vehicle specifying device 4, and an inside / outside air switching mechanism 5. Yes.

  In the following description, a vehicle equipped with the air conditioning control device 1 is referred to as “own vehicle”, a vehicle traveling around the own vehicle is referred to as “peripheral vehicle”, and a vehicle traveling immediately before the own vehicle among the surrounding vehicles is referred to. It is called “leading vehicle”. When the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode, the exhaust gas of the preceding vehicle traveling immediately before the host vehicle tends to enter the intake port of the host vehicle.

  The peripheral vehicle communication device 2 is a wireless communication device for acquiring vehicle information (peripheral vehicle information) of the peripheral vehicle. For example, the inter-vehicle communication device mounted on the peripheral vehicle or the vehicle information of the running vehicle is obtained. Infrastructure servers (roadside devices) that collect and distribute. Examples of infrastructure servers include G-BOOK (registered trademark), CARWINGS (registered trademark), and Internavi (registered trademark) provided by automobile manufacturers, as well as highly public VICS (registered trademark). Any vehicle information can be transmitted / received to / from a traveling vehicle, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

  The own vehicle position receiver 3 is a receiver of position information (position information is included in the vehicle information) mounted on the own vehicle. The own vehicle position receiver 3 receives position information of the own vehicle from a satellite positioning system such as a quasi-zenith satellite or a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite.

  The preceding vehicle specifying device 4 acquires the position information of each surrounding vehicle from the surrounding vehicle communication device 2, acquires the position information of the own vehicle from the own vehicle position receiver 3, and based on the position information, the surrounding vehicle A preceding vehicle that travels immediately before the host vehicle is identified. Further, the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 acquires vehicle information (preceding vehicle information) of the specified preceding vehicle from the surrounding vehicle communication device 2 and sends it to the air conditioning control device 1.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4. The preceding vehicle specifying device 4 includes a surrounding vehicle information acquiring unit 41, a relative position calculating unit 42, and a preceding vehicle specifying unit 43.

  The peripheral vehicle information acquisition unit 41 acquires vehicle information (peripheral vehicle information) of a peripheral vehicle that exists in a predetermined area with reference to the host vehicle by short-range wireless communication with the peripheral vehicle communication device 2. The peripheral vehicle information acquired by the peripheral vehicle information acquisition unit 41 includes position information of the peripheral vehicle, travel mode information of the vehicle, and drive source information (engine and motor rotation speed, torque, output, intake air amount to the engine) ) And catalyst information (oxygen concentration, catalyst temperature). In the present embodiment, as an operation mode of the vehicle, an “EV (Electric Vehicle) mode” that travels with the power of the motor without operating the engine, and a “series mode” that travels with the power of the motor while generating power using the engine ”And“ Parallel mode ”that travels with the power of both the engine and the motor.

  The communication method of the short-range wireless communication performed by the surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit 41 may be arbitrary, and for example, Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee (registered trademark), IEEE 802.11, or the like can be considered. For example, when the surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit 41 acquires the surrounding vehicle information by inter-vehicle communication, as shown in FIG. 3, the surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit 41 has its own communicable region CR (centered on the own vehicle MVC). The surrounding vehicle information may be acquired from all the surrounding vehicles OVC existing in the circular area.

  The relative position calculation unit 42 performs calculation processing using the position information of each surrounding vehicle acquired by the surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit 41 and the position information of the own vehicle acquired by the own vehicle position receiver 3. The relative position with respect to the host vehicle is obtained. As a method for expressing the relative position, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the center of gravity of the host vehicle is used as the origin, and the x axis extending from the origin to the left of the host vehicle and the y axis extending from the origin to the front of the host vehicle are defined. A method of expressing in a coordinate system (vehicle coordinate system) is conceivable.

  The preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 specifies a preceding vehicle from among the surrounding vehicles based on the relative position of each surrounding vehicle obtained by the relative position calculating unit 42. Further, the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 sends vehicle information (preceding vehicle information) of the specified preceding vehicle to the air conditioning control device 1. The preceding vehicle information that the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 sends to the air conditioning control device 1 includes at least one of the traveling mode information, drive source information, and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the preceding vehicle specifying process (preceding vehicle specifying process) performed by the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43. In the preceding vehicle specifying process, the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 first sets a detection area for the preceding vehicle (step S001). As shown in FIG. 4, the detection region has a range of an angle θ centered on the traveling direction of the vehicle (y axis of the vehicle coordinate system). That is, in step S001, an initial value of θ is set. Here, the initial value of θ is 15 °.

  Next, the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 confirms whether or not there is a vehicle (peripheral vehicle) in the detection area (step S002). When a vehicle exists in the detection area (YES in step S002), the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 determines (specifies) the vehicle as a preceding vehicle (step S003), and ends the processing flow. If there are a plurality of vehicles in the detection area, a vehicle having a smaller absolute value of θ or a vehicle having a shorter distance from the own vehicle is determined as the preceding vehicle. That's fine.

  If no vehicle is present in the detection area (NO in step S002), the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 increases θ by increasing θ (step S004). Here, in step S004, θ is incremented by 5 ° (θ = θ + 5 °).

  After increasing θ, the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 determines whether or not the detection area exceeds the maximum detection area (step S005). Here, the detection region when θ = 90 ° is set as the maximum detection region so that the target of the preceding vehicle is limited to a vehicle traveling in front of the host vehicle. That is, in step S005, it is determined whether or not the value of θ exceeds 90 °. If the detection region exceeds the maximum detection region (θ> 90 °) (YES in step S005), the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 determines that there is no preceding vehicle, and ends the processing flow. If the detection area does not exceed the maximum detection area (θ ≦ 90 °) (NO in step S005), the process returns to step S002.

  Through the above processing, the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 can specify the preceding vehicle from the surrounding vehicles located in front of the host vehicle. Thus, since the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 needs to perform arithmetic processing for the preceding vehicle specifying process, it is preferably realized by a vehicle control ECU or the like having a high-performance CPU. Therefore, in FIG. 1, the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 is shown as a block different from the air conditioning control device 1, but a CPU that functions as the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 may be mounted in the air conditioning control device 1. In that case, the air conditioning control device 1 and the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 are configured as an integrated device.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the inside / outside air switching mechanism 5 switches between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode for air conditioning of the host vehicle, and is controlled by the air conditioning control device 1.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioning control device 1 includes a preceding vehicle information acquisition unit 11, an inside / outside air information acquisition unit 12, and an inside / outside air switching determination unit 13.

  The preceding vehicle information acquisition unit 11 acquires vehicle information (preceding vehicle information) of the preceding vehicle from the preceding vehicle specifying device 4. As described above, the preceding vehicle information includes at least one of traveling mode information, driving source information, and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle. The inside / outside air information acquisition unit 12 acquires information (inside / outside air information) indicating whether the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the inside air circulation mode or the outside air introduction mode by detecting the state of the inside / outside air switching mechanism 5.

  The inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 controls the air conditioning of the own vehicle based on the preceding vehicle information acquired by the preceding vehicle information acquisition unit 11 and the inside / outside air information acquired by the inside / outside air information acquisition unit 12. It is determined which mode to switch to, and the inside / outside air switching mechanism 5 is controlled. Specifically, when the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode and the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating, the inside / outside air switching mechanism 5 is controlled to switch the air conditioning to the inside air circulation mode. Further, when the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the inside air circulation mode and the engine of the preceding vehicle is stopped (including the case where the preceding vehicle does not exist), the outside air introduction mode is switched.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the vehicle air-conditioning control system according to Embodiment 1 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation. When the operation flow of the vehicle air conditioning control system is started by starting the host vehicle or the like, first, the surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit 41 of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 first detects whether or not the surrounding vehicle is detected by the surrounding vehicle communication device 2. (Step S101). When a surrounding vehicle is detected (YES in step S101), the surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit 41 acquires vehicle information (peripheral vehicle information) of the surrounding vehicle from the surrounding vehicle communication device 2 (step S102). The peripheral vehicle information includes position information of the peripheral vehicle and at least one of travel mode information, drive source information, and catalyst information of the vehicle.

  Next, the relative position calculating unit 42 of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 acquires the position information of the own vehicle from the own vehicle position receiver 3 (step S103), and the position information of the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle information acquiring unit 41 are acquired. Based on the positional information of each surrounding vehicle, the relative position of each surrounding vehicle with respect to the own vehicle is calculated (step S104). Subsequently, the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 performs the preceding vehicle specifying process described in FIG. 5 based on the relative position of each surrounding vehicle, and specifies the preceding vehicle from the surrounding vehicles (step) S105).

  Thereafter, the preceding vehicle information acquisition unit 11 of the air conditioning control device 1 checks whether or not the preceding vehicle has been specified by the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 (step S106). If the preceding vehicle is specified (YES in step S106), the preceding vehicle information acquisition unit 11 acquires the vehicle information (preceding vehicle information) of the specified preceding vehicle (step S107). The preceding vehicle information includes at least one of traveling mode information, driving source information, and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle. If the preceding vehicle is not specified by the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 (NO in step S106), this operation flow ends.

  When the preceding vehicle information acquisition unit 11 acquires the preceding vehicle information, the inside / outside air information acquisition unit 12 confirms the state of the inside / outside air switching mechanism 5 so that the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the inside air circulation mode or in the outside air introduction mode. Inside / outside air information indicating whether or not there is obtained (step S108).

  Next, the inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 determines whether the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode based on the inside / outside air information acquired by the inside / outside air information acquisition unit 12 (step S109). If the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode (YES in step S109), the inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 determines whether the preceding vehicle engine is operating based on the preceding vehicle information acquired by the preceding vehicle information acquisition unit 11. It is determined whether or not (step S110).

  Further, when the air conditioning of the host vehicle is not in the outside air introduction mode, that is, in the inside air circulation mode (NO in step S109), the inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 is based on the preceding vehicle information acquired by the preceding vehicle information acquisition unit 11. Thus, it is determined whether or not the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating (step S111).

  The determination method in steps S110 and S111 is, for example, based on the traveling mode information of the preceding vehicle, when the preceding vehicle is a gasoline vehicle using only the engine as a drive source, or the preceding vehicle is a hybrid vehicle in the series mode or parallel mode. In this case, a method of determining that the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating is conceivable. When the preceding vehicle is an electric vehicle having no engine, or when the preceding vehicle is an EV mode hybrid vehicle, it is determined that the engine of the preceding vehicle is not operating.

  As another determination method, for example, when the engine speed of the preceding vehicle is equal to or higher than a predetermined value (for example, equal to or higher than the minimum idling speed) based on the driving source information of the preceding vehicle, for example, A method of determining that the engine is operating is conceivable. In this determination method, for example, even when the preceding vehicle is a gasoline vehicle using only the engine as a drive source, or when the preceding vehicle is a hybrid vehicle in a series mode or a parallel mode, the engine speed is extremely low. When the idling stop function ("Idling Stop" is a registered trademark) is working, it is determined that the engine is not operating.

  The inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 determines whether the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode (YES in step S109) and the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating (YES in step S110). 5 is switched to the inside air circulation mode (step S112), and the operation flow is ended. If the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode (YES in step S109) and the engine of the preceding vehicle is not operating (NO in step S110), the outside air introduction mode is maintained and the operation flow is ended. To do. If the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the inside air circulation mode (NO in step S109) and the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating (YES in step S111), the inside air circulation mode is maintained and the operation flow is performed. finish. If the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the inside air circulation mode (NO in step S109) and the engine of the preceding vehicle is not operating (NO in step S111), the inside / outside air switching mechanism 5 is controlled to introduce outside air. The mode is switched (step S113), and the operation flow is terminated.

  As described above, in the vehicle air conditioning control system according to Embodiment 1, it is determined whether the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating based on the vehicle information (preceding vehicle information) of the preceding vehicle acquired by communication, When the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating, the air conditioning of the own vehicle is set to the inside air circulation mode, and when the engine of the preceding vehicle is not operating, the air conditioning of the own vehicle is set to the outside air introduction mode. Therefore, before the outside air contaminated with the exhaust gas enters the vehicle interior, it is possible to appropriately switch between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent the exhaust gas from entering the vehicle interior. In addition, since the situation of the preceding vehicle is not determined by using a camera but by information acquired through communication, the accuracy of each information does not decrease even in a backlight or a poor visibility state.

  Furthermore, since switching between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode is performed based on the operating state of the engine determined from the preceding vehicle information, the preceding vehicle is an EV mode hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle, or the like. When the preceding vehicle is not discharging exhaust gas, it can be switched to the outside air introduction mode. Therefore, it is possible to prevent losing an opportunity to introduce outside air into the vehicle by switching to the internal circulation mode unnecessarily.

<Embodiment 2>
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle air conditioning control system according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7, the vehicle air-conditioning control system according to the second embodiment is different from the configuration of the first embodiment (FIG. 1) in that an object (peripheral vehicle) exists in the traveling direction of the own vehicle (hereinafter referred to as “front”). The distance measuring sensor 6 for measuring the distance up to) is added.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 in the vehicle air conditioning control system according to the second embodiment. The measurement result obtained by the distance measuring sensor 6 is input to the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4.

  The distance measuring sensor 6 detects an object (peripheral vehicle) that exists in a certain range in front of the host vehicle, for example, a distance measuring range as shown in FIG. 9, and measures the distance to the object. Examples of the distance measuring sensor 6 include a millimeter wave radar, a laser radar, an ultrasonic sensor, and a monocular / stereo camera. However, the distance measuring sensor 6 is not limited to this as long as the distance to the surrounding vehicle existing in the traveling direction of the own vehicle can be measured. Not.

  In the vehicle air-conditioning control system according to the first embodiment, when a plurality of surrounding vehicles are close to each other in front of the host vehicle, it may be difficult to identify individual surrounding vehicles depending on the accuracy of the position information. Concerned. In this case, the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 is likely to misidentify the preceding vehicle, and the reliability of the operation of the vehicle air conditioning control system is reduced.

  Therefore, in the vehicle air conditioning control system according to the second embodiment, the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 has a distance (an inter-vehicle distance) from the host vehicle detected by the distance measuring sensor 6 to the surrounding vehicle ahead. When the distance from the host vehicle that is known from the relative position calculated by the relative position calculation unit 42 to the surrounding vehicle in front is compared, and the difference between the two is smaller than a predetermined threshold, the surrounding vehicle is determined as the preceding vehicle. Determine (specify). When the surrounding vehicle communication device 2 detects a plurality of surrounding vehicles in front of the own vehicle, the distance between any of the plurality of surrounding vehicles and the own vehicle, the surrounding vehicle detected by the distance measuring sensor 6 and the own vehicle When the difference from the inter-vehicle distance is smaller than a predetermined threshold, the surrounding vehicle detected by the distance measuring sensor 6 is specified as the preceding vehicle.

  As described above, the determination criterion of the preceding vehicle by the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 is made stricter than that of the first embodiment, so that the possibility of misidentifying the preceding vehicle can be further reduced. In addition, it is good to make said threshold value small, so that the distance from the own vehicle to the front peripheral vehicle becomes long.

  Also in the second embodiment, the inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 controls the inside / outside air switching mechanism 5 based on the preceding vehicle information and the inside / outside air information, but a specific algorithm for switching between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode. Is different from the first embodiment. That is, the inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 of Embodiment 2 calculates the exhaust gas concentration of the preceding vehicle from the drive source information and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle, and the exhaust gas concentration and the distance from the host vehicle to the preceding vehicle. And switching between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode.

  For example, when the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode, if the inter-vehicle distance with the preceding vehicle is smaller than the allowable distance, the vehicle is switched to the inside air circulation mode, and the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the inside air circulation mode, When the inter-vehicle distance becomes larger than the allowable distance, the mode is switched to the outside air introduction mode. The above “allowable distance” is the distance between the vehicles that may cause the exhaust gas of the preceding vehicle to flow into the interior of the host vehicle when the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode. It is the inter-vehicle distance, and its value changes according to the exhaust gas concentration of the preceding vehicle. For example, when the preceding vehicle is accelerating or when the preceding vehicle is traveling uphill, the allowable distance becomes longer when the exhaust gas concentration of the preceding vehicle becomes high.

  That is, in this embodiment, even if the exhaust gas concentration of the preceding vehicle is relatively high, if the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle is sufficiently long, the possibility that the exhaust gas of the preceding vehicle will flow into the vehicle interior is low. The air conditioning of the host vehicle is set to the outside air introduction mode. Even when the exhaust gas concentration of the preceding vehicle is relatively low, if the distance between the preceding vehicle and the preceding vehicle is short, there is a high possibility that the exhaust gas of the preceding vehicle will flow into the passenger compartment. Set to mode. Thus, switching between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode can be performed more effectively.

  As a calculation method of the exhaust gas concentration, it may be calculated using a physical equation, or a map showing the relationship between each information and the exhaust gas concentration may be prepared in advance and obtained based on the map.

  As a map used for deriving the exhaust gas concentration, a map as shown in FIG. 10 or FIG. 11 can be considered. FIG. 10 is a map showing the relationship between the engine speed [rpm] and the exhaust gas concentration [ppm] with respect to the intake air quantity [g / hr]. The higher the engine speed, the more the intake air quantity. The characteristic that the exhaust gas concentration becomes higher is shown. FIG. 11 is a map showing the relationship between the catalyst temperature [° C.] and the exhaust gas concentration [ppm] with respect to the oxygen concentration [ppm]. The exhaust gas decreases as the oxygen concentration decreases and the catalyst temperature decreases. The characteristic that the concentration is increased is shown.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the vehicle air-conditioning control system according to Embodiment 2 will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the operation. In FIG. 12, the same reference numerals are given to steps in which processing similar to that shown in FIG. 6 is performed.

  When the operation flow of the vehicle air conditioning control system is started by starting the host vehicle or the like, first, the surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit 41 of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 first detects whether or not the surrounding vehicle is detected by the surrounding vehicle communication device 2. (Step S101). When a surrounding vehicle is detected (YES in step S101), the surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit 41 acquires vehicle information (peripheral vehicle information) of the surrounding vehicle from the surrounding vehicle communication device 2 (step S102). In the present embodiment, in order to calculate the exhaust gas concentration, the surrounding vehicle information includes position information of the surrounding vehicle and at least one of drive source information and catalyst information necessary for calculating the exhaust gas concentration of the vehicle. It is.

  Next, the relative position calculating unit 42 of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 acquires the position information of the own vehicle from the own vehicle position receiver 3 (step S103), and the position information of the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle information acquiring unit 41 are acquired. Based on the positional information of each surrounding vehicle, the relative position of each surrounding vehicle with respect to the own vehicle is calculated (step S104).

  Subsequently, the preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 of the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 acquires the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the front surrounding vehicle from the distance measuring sensor 6 (step S201). The preceding vehicle specifying unit 43 then knows the own vehicle and each surrounding vehicle that are known from the own vehicle measured by the distance measuring sensor 6, the front surrounding vehicle and the inter-vehicle distance, and the relative position of each surrounding vehicle calculated by the relative position calculating unit 42. Is compared with the inter-vehicle distance to confirm whether the difference between the two is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold (step S202). If the difference is less than or equal to the threshold value (YES in step S202), the forward surrounding vehicle detected by the distance measuring sensor 6 is specified as the preceding vehicle (step S203).

  When the preceding vehicle is specified, the preceding vehicle information acquisition unit 11 acquires vehicle information (preceding vehicle information) of the specified preceding vehicle (step S107). The preceding vehicle information includes at least one of drive source information and catalyst information for calculating the exhaust gas concentration of the preceding vehicle. If the preceding vehicle has not been specified by the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 (including the case where no preceding vehicle exists) (NO in step S202), this operation flow ends.

  When the preceding vehicle information acquisition unit 11 acquires the preceding vehicle information, the inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 calculates the exhaust gas concentration of the preceding vehicle from the preceding vehicle information (step S204). Further, the inside / outside air information acquisition unit 12 confirms the state of the inside / outside air switching mechanism 5 to obtain inside / outside air information indicating whether the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the inside air circulation mode or the outside air introduction mode ( Step S108).

  Next, the inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 determines whether the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode based on the inside / outside air information acquired by the inside / outside air information acquisition unit 12 (step S109). If the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode (YES in step S109), the inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 determines whether the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle is shorter than the allowable distance (step S205). Also, when the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode, that is, in the inside air circulation mode (NO in step S109), the inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 determines whether the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle is shorter than the allowable distance. Is determined (step S206).

  The inside / outside air switching determination unit 13 determines whether the air-conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode (YES in step S109) and the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle is shorter than the allowable distance (YES in step S205). The switching mechanism 5 is controlled to switch to the inside air circulation mode (step S112), and the operation flow ends. If the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the outside air introduction mode (YES in step S109) and the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle is equal to or greater than the allowable distance (NO in step S205), the outside air introduction mode is maintained to operate. End the flow. If the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the inside air circulation mode (NO in step S109) and the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle is shorter than the allowable distance (YES in step S206), the inside air circulation mode is maintained to operate. End the flow. When the air conditioning of the host vehicle is in the inside air circulation mode (NO in step S109) and the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle is equal to or larger than the allowable distance (NO in step S206), the inside / outside air switching mechanism 5 is controlled. Then, the mode is switched to the outside air introduction mode (step S113), and the operation flow is ended.

  As described above, in the vehicle air conditioning control system according to Embodiment 2, the exhaust gas concentration of the preceding vehicle is calculated based on the vehicle information (preceding vehicle information) of the preceding vehicle acquired through communication, and the exhaust gas concentration is calculated. Therefore, if the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle is not sufficiently long, the air conditioning of the own vehicle is set to the inside air circulation mode, and if the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle is sufficiently long, the air conditioning of the own vehicle is set to the outside air introduction mode. Therefore, before the outside air contaminated with the exhaust gas enters the vehicle interior, it is possible to appropriately switch between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent the exhaust gas from entering the vehicle interior. In addition, since the situation of the preceding vehicle is not judged using a camera but based on information acquired by communication, the accuracy of each information does not deteriorate even in a poor visibility state.

  Furthermore, since switching between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode is performed based on the exhaust gas concentration calculated from the preceding vehicle information, when the preceding vehicle is an EV mode hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle, etc. When the preceding vehicle is not exhausting exhaust gas, it is possible to prevent the opportunity to switch to the internal circulation mode and introduce outside air into the vehicle unnecessarily.

  Further, as in the second embodiment, the method of switching between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode of the air conditioning based on the exhaust gas concentration of the preceding vehicle and the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is described in the first embodiment. It can also be applied to other vehicle air conditioning control systems.

  FIGS. 13 and 14 are diagrams showing examples of hardware configurations of the air conditioning control device 1 and the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 of the vehicle air conditioning control system according to the present invention, respectively. As described above, the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 is preferably realized by a vehicle control ECU or the like having a high performance CPU because it is necessary to perform arithmetic processing for the preceding vehicle specifying process. Then, the example in which the air-conditioning control apparatus 1 and the preceding vehicle specific device 4 are comprised as the same hardware is shown.

  The air conditioning control device 1 and the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 are realized by, for example, a processing circuit 50 shown in FIG. That is, the processing circuit 50 is based on the preceding vehicle identifying device 4 that identifies a preceding vehicle that travels immediately before the host vehicle from among a plurality of surrounding vehicles that travel around the host vehicle, the preceding vehicle information, and the inside / outside air information. And an air conditioning control device 1 that switches between an inside air circulation mode and an outside air introduction mode for air conditioning of the host vehicle. Dedicated hardware may be applied to the processing circuit 50, or a processor (Central Processing Unit, central processing unit, processing unit, arithmetic unit, microprocessor, microcomputer, Digital, which executes a program stored in the memory Signal Processor) may be applied.

  When the processing circuit 50 is dedicated hardware, the processing circuit 50 corresponds to, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a processor programmed in parallel, an ASIC, an FPGA, or a combination thereof. . Each function of each part of air-conditioning control device 1 and preceding vehicle specific device 4 may be realized by a plurality of processing circuits 50, and the function of each part may be collectively realized by one processing circuit 50.

  FIG. 14 shows a hardware configuration of the vehicle air conditioning control system when the processing circuit 50 is a processor. In this case, the functions of the air conditioning control device 1 and the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 are realized by a combination of software and the like (software, firmware, or software and firmware). Software or the like is described as a program and stored in the memory 52. The processor 51 as the processing circuit 50 implements the functions of the respective units by reading out and executing the program stored in the memory 52. That is, the vehicle air conditioning control system, when executed by the processing circuit 50, specifies a preceding vehicle that travels immediately before the host vehicle from among a plurality of surrounding vehicles that travel around the host vehicle; A step of switching between the inside air circulation mode and the outside air introduction mode of the air conditioning of the host vehicle based on the vehicle information and inside / outside air information is provided with a memory 52 for storing a program to be executed as a result. In other words, it can be said that this program causes the computer to execute the procedures and methods of the air conditioning control device 1 and the preceding vehicle specifying device 4. Here, the memory 52 is a nonvolatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), or an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory). Or a volatile semiconductor memory, HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical disk, a compact disk, a mini disk, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), its drive device, etc. correspond.

  The configuration in which each function of the air conditioning control device 1 and the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 is realized by either hardware or software has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a configuration in which a part of the air conditioning control device 1 and the preceding vehicle specifying device 4 is realized by dedicated hardware and another part is realized by software or the like. For example, the function of the air conditioning control device 1 is realized by a processing circuit as dedicated hardware, and the processing circuit 50 as the processor 51 reads and executes the program stored in the memory 52 for the preceding vehicle specifying device 4. This function can be realized.

  As described above, the processing circuit 50 can realize the above functions by hardware, software, or the like, or a combination thereof.

  It should be noted that the present invention can be freely combined with each other within the scope of the invention, and each embodiment can be appropriately modified or omitted.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air conditioning control apparatus, 2 surrounding vehicle communication apparatus, 3 own vehicle position receiver, 4 preceding vehicle specific device, 5 inside / outside air switching mechanism, 6 ranging sensor, 11 preceding vehicle information acquisition part, 12 inside / outside air information acquisition part, 13 Inside / outside air switching determination unit, 41 peripheral vehicle information acquisition unit, 42 relative position calculation unit, 43 preceding vehicle identification unit.

Claims (6)

A preceding vehicle identifying device that identifies a preceding vehicle that travels immediately before the host vehicle from among a plurality of surrounding vehicles that travel around the host vehicle;
An air conditioning control device that switches between an inside air circulation mode and an outside air introduction mode of air conditioning of the vehicle,
The air conditioning control device
A preceding vehicle information acquisition unit for acquiring preceding vehicle information including at least one of the traveling mode information, drive source information, and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle via communication;
An inside / outside air information acquisition unit for acquiring inside / outside air information indicating whether the air conditioning is in an inside air circulation mode or an outside air introduction mode;
An inside / outside air switching determination unit that determines whether to switch the air conditioning to an inside air circulation mode or an outside air introduction mode based on the preceding vehicle information and the inside / outside air information,
The inside / outside air switching judgment unit
When the air conditioning is in the outside air introduction mode and the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating, the air conditioning is switched to the inside air circulation mode, and when the air conditioning is in the inside air circulation mode and the engine of the preceding vehicle is stopped A vehicle air conditioning control system that switches the air conditioning to an outside air introduction mode. A preceding vehicle identifying device that identifies a preceding vehicle that travels immediately before the host vehicle from among a plurality of surrounding vehicles that travel around the host vehicle;
An air conditioning control device that switches between an inside air circulation mode and an outside air introduction mode of air conditioning of the vehicle,
The air conditioning control device
A preceding vehicle information acquisition unit for acquiring preceding vehicle information including at least one of the traveling mode information, drive source information, and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle via communication;
An inside / outside air information acquisition unit for acquiring inside / outside air information indicating whether the air conditioning is in an inside air circulation mode or an outside air introduction mode;
An inside / outside air switching determination unit that determines whether to switch the air conditioning to an inside air circulation mode or an outside air introduction mode based on the preceding vehicle information and the inside / outside air information,
The inside / outside air switching judgment unit
The exhaust gas concentration is calculated from the drive source information and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle, and based on the exhaust gas concentration, an allowable distance that is the minimum inter-vehicle distance that can allow the outside air introduction mode is obtained.
When the air conditioning is in the outside air introduction mode and the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is smaller than the allowable distance, the air conditioning is switched to the inside air circulation mode, and the air conditioning is in the inside air circulation mode and A vehicle air conditioning control system that switches the air conditioning to an outside air introduction mode when a distance between the preceding vehicle and the preceding vehicle is longer than the allowable distance. The preceding vehicle specifying device is
A peripheral vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires peripheral vehicle information including position information of the plurality of peripheral vehicles via communication,
A relative position calculator that calculates a relative position between the host vehicle and the plurality of surrounding vehicles based on the position information of the host vehicle and the position information of the plurality of surrounding vehicles;
The vehicle air conditioning control system according to claim 1, further comprising: a preceding vehicle specifying unit that specifies the preceding vehicle based on a relative position between the host vehicle and the plurality of surrounding vehicles. A distance measuring sensor for detecting a surrounding vehicle existing in front of the own vehicle and measuring a distance between the surrounding vehicle and the own vehicle;
The preceding vehicle specifying unit is
The difference between the inter-vehicle distance detected by the distance measuring sensor and the inter-vehicle distance determined from the relative position calculated by the relative position calculation unit is less than a predetermined threshold value. In this case, the vehicle air conditioning control system according to claim 3, wherein the surrounding vehicle detected by the distance measuring sensor is specified as the preceding vehicle. A vehicle air-conditioning control method in a vehicle air-conditioning control system,
A step of identifying a preceding vehicle that runs immediately before the host vehicle from a plurality of surrounding vehicles that run around the host vehicle;
Obtaining preceding vehicle information including at least one of travel mode information, drive source information, and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle via communication;
Acquiring inside / outside air information indicating whether the air conditioning is in an inside air circulation mode or an outside air introduction mode;
Determining the air conditioning state of the host vehicle and the engine state of the preceding vehicle based on the preceding vehicle information and the inside / outside air information;
When the air conditioning is in the outside air introduction mode and the engine of the preceding vehicle is operating, the air conditioning is switched to the inside air circulation mode, and when the air conditioning is in the inside air circulation mode and the engine of the preceding vehicle is stopped, And a step of switching the air conditioning to an outside air introduction mode. A vehicle air-conditioning control method in a vehicle air-conditioning control system,
A step of identifying a preceding vehicle that runs immediately before the host vehicle from a plurality of surrounding vehicles that run around the host vehicle;
Obtaining preceding vehicle information including at least one of travel mode information, drive source information, and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle via communication;
Acquiring inside / outside air information indicating whether the air conditioning is in an inside air circulation mode or an outside air introduction mode;
Determining the air conditioning state of the host vehicle based on the inside / outside air information;
Calculating an exhaust gas concentration from the drive source information and catalyst information of the preceding vehicle, and obtaining an allowable distance that is a minimum inter-vehicle distance that allows the outside air introduction mode based on the exhaust gas concentration;
When the air conditioning is in the outside air introduction mode and the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is smaller than the allowable distance, the air conditioning is switched to the inside air circulation mode, and the air conditioning is in the inside air circulation mode. And a step of switching the air conditioning to an outside air introduction mode when a distance between the preceding vehicle and the preceding vehicle is longer than the allowable distance.

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