JPH028805Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an air conditioner for an automobile that allows selection between automatic control and manual control.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, so-called automatic air conditioners, which automatically control blower air volume, etc. based on signals from various sensors such as a vehicle interior temperature sensor, have come into widespread use in automobiles with the advent of microcomputers. “Auto Air Conditioner Daysioner (for Routier)” issued in November 1978
reference).

However, in this type of air conditioner, it is difficult to respond appropriately to the demands of the occupants using automatic control alone, so normally a manual control mode is used with three levels, for example, "high,""medium," and "low." It is possible to select the blower air volume.

By the way, in models that employ a manual operation method in which the air volume levels are cyclically switched between three levels of "high,""medium," and "low" by operating a single manual switch, it is possible to switch from auto to manual. When switching to , the level next to the level selected in the previous manual mode will be selected, so for example, if "High" was selected in the previous manual operation, the current manual operation will first select " In order to select "High", a total of three operations are required. There was some operational complexity involved in having to do this.

[Purpose of the invention] The purpose of the invention is to provide an air conditioner for an automobile that can eliminate the complexity of manual switch operation as much as possible and select a desired air volume level with as few operations as possible. be.

[Structure of the idea]

Therefore, when switching from auto control to manual control, the present invention determines the priority of the air volume level to be selected based on the air volume level during auto control before switching, and then The basic feature is that the air volume level can be set.

That is, as shown in the overall configuration diagram in FIG. 1, the present invention includes an auto switch 17a that selects auto control, and a manual switch 17b that selects manual control and controls the air volume level step by step with one switch. In the air conditioner 31 for an automobile, which is configured to control the air volume level in stages by operating the manual switch 17b, when the manual switch 17b is operated to switch from auto control to manual control, Deviation calculation means for calculating the deviation ΔV(i)=|V _A −V(i)| between the air volume level V _A during auto control before switching and the air volume level V (i) at each stage specified in manual control. 32, a priority determining means 33 for determining the priority of the air volume level to be selected from the deviation ΔV(i) and, if necessary, other control factors such as outside temperature and the presence or absence of solar radiation; It is constructed by providing a level switching means 34 for switching the air volume level in the order of priority according to the number of times the switch 17b is operated.

That is, in the present invention, when the manual switch 17b is operated to switch from auto to manual, the air volume level with the first priority is automatically selected. The selection criteria for this priority order can be set in various ways. The simplest method is to select the air volume level that gives the smallest deviation value, but it is also possible to select the air volume level that gives the smallest deviation value, but it is also possible to select the air volume level that gives the smallest deviation value, but it is also possible to select the air volume level that gives the smallest deviation value, but it is also possible to select the air volume level that gives the smallest deviation value, but it is also possible to select the air volume level that gives the smallest deviation value.In addition, by combining the height of the outside temperature, the presence or absence of solar radiation, and the magnitude of the deviation, for example, when there is solar radiation, It is also possible to adopt a selection criterion such as prioritizing solar radiation and selecting an air volume level higher than the air volume level during auto, and when there is no solar radiation, selecting the air volume level with the smallest deviation.

[Effect of idea]

According to the present invention, a desired air volume level can be selected early with a small number of operations, and operability and responsiveness can be improved.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An automobile air conditioner, whose overall system is shown in Figure 3, basically consists of a ventilation system, a cooling system, a heating system,
It consists of an operation system and a control system.

The ventilation system basically consists of a ventilation duct 1 and a blower 2 installed at the air intake of the ventilation duct 1, and supplies outside air or air inside the vehicle to the ventilation duct 1 according to the operation of the inside/outside air selection motor 3. to pump. Note that the drive motor 4 of the blower 2 is driven in accordance with the voltage generated by the power transistor 5.

The cooling system basically consists of a compressor 6 driven by an engine E, a condenser 7, and an evaporator 9 in a blower duct 1 connected to the condenser 7 via an expansion valve 8. to cool down.

The heating system includes a heater core 10 arranged downstream of the evaporator 9 in the ventilation duct 1;
mixer door 11 that controls the ratio of the air volume that passes through the heater core 10 and the air volume that bypasses the heater core 10;
It basically consists of:

The heater core 10 warms the wind passing through the core by the cooling water of the engine E guided into the core by a cooling water passage 12. A water valve 13 is provided which opens and closes the passage 12 in conjunction with the water valve 13 . The mixer door 11 is driven to open and close by the mixer motor 14, and during full cold when the mixer door 11 almost completely closes the upstream side of the heater core 10, the water valve 13 is interlocked to close the cooling water passage 12. Relationship is set.

Next, the operation system is composed of a temperature setting device 16 built into the operation panel 15 and various operation switches such as an auto switch 17a and a manual switch 17b. , “Auto” if necessary
on/off, differential duct 18 and heat duct 1
mode motor 2 that controls the supply of conditioned air to 9;
0 is selectively driven.

The control system includes a control unit 21 configured by a microcomputer, an outside air sensor 22, an indoor sensor 23, and a duct sensor 2.
4. It is composed of a potentiometer 25 that detects the opening degree of the mixer door 11 and various sensors such as a temperature sensor 26 installed near the heater core 10. This temperature sensor 26 is installed outside the attachment portion of the heater core 10 of the air duct 1, and detects a composite temperature that reflects the engine coolant temperature (heater core temperature) and the room temperature.

When the auto switch 17a is selected, the control unit 21 controls the blower drive motor via the power transistor 5 according to the difference between the set room temperature (for example, 25°C) and the actual room temperature, as shown in FIG. 4 is automatically controlled according to control line C.

Further, when the manual switch 17b is selectively operated, the control unit 21 executes air volume control on the blower 2 according to a control flow as described below.

FIG. 2 shows an example of air volume control performed by the control unit 21.

When the control is started, it is determined in step 101 whether or not the auto switch 17a is on, and if the auto switch 17a is on, the air volume level is automatically controlled in step 102 as shown in FIG. It is executed according to the control pattern.

On the other hand, when the auto switch 17a is off and the manual switch 17b is turned on to switch from auto to manual, this is determined in step 103, and the deviation is calculated in the next step 104. The calculation of this deviation is based on the air volume level immediately before the auto switch 17a is turned off.
V _A (applied voltage applied to blower drive motor 4)
and the air volume level V(i) selected during manual control (however, if i is 3 levels, L
(low), M (medium), or H (high). ) by calculating the deviation ΔV(i)=|V(i)−V _A |.

Next, in step 105, priorities are determined based on the deviation calculation results. The simplest criterion for determining this priority can be a criterion that ranks the air volume level V _A in the order of proximity to the air volume level V A during auto control. That is, for example,
If ΔV(M)<ΔV(H)<ΔV(L),
The priority order is determined in the order of "M", "H", and "L".
In step 106, the manual switch 17b
It is determined whether or not the manual switch 17b has been operated anew, and if the manual switch 17b has not been operated again, the air volume level with the first priority ("M" in the above example) is set in step 107.
The drive motor 4 of the blower 2 is supplied with an applied voltage V(i) corresponding to the above set level from the power transistor 5.
(in the above example, i=“M”) will be applied.

As described above, when switching from auto to manual, the air volume level is automatically set based on the priority calculation results as described above.

If the set air volume level is unsatisfactory, the occupant operates the manual switch 17b again. If you perform this operation again, Step 1
The process moves from step 06 to step 108, and the number of operations I
is updated (I←I+1), and the next priority (second priority) is updated (I←I+1).
) is selected. In other words, in the above example, “H”
A level is selected. If you are still unsatisfied, you can operate the manual switch 17b again, but it is thought that such a probability will definitely decrease.

Based on my experience, switching to manual is
There are many cases where it is desired to slightly adjust the air volume level during auto control, and as described above, if the air volume level is set based on the air volume level during auto control, the probability that the initial operation will meet the requirements will increase.

In the above control flow, step 104
constitutes the deviation calculating means 32, step 105 constitutes the priority determining means 33, and step 10
6, 107, and 108 constitute the level switching means 34.

However, the occupant's demands may be influenced by external factors such as the presence or absence of sunlight and the season. Such a case may occur at the beginning of cooling or heating during summer or winter.

An example is shown in FIG.

When the manual switch 17b is turned on in step 201, the blowing mode is first determined in step 202.
The blowout mode is determined by reading outside air temperature, blowout temperature, etc. For example, when the heating mode is selected, blowing to the feet is selected. In addition, during the summer, the air conditioner is selected, and the mode that blows air toward the passenger's face is selected.
If neither of these is the case, a mode for blowing air toward both the feet and the face is selected. In the configuration shown in FIG. 3, such setting of the blowout mode can be performed by driving the mode motor 20.

After the balloon mode is determined, the priority order is determined according to the priority order determination criteria depending on the presence or absence of solar radiation.

There are two priority determination criteria, first and second, and the first determination criterion is as follows.

The air volume level higher than the auto air volume level V _A is given top priority.

Excluding the air volume level selected in , select the air volume level closest to the auto air volume level V _A.

Next, select an air volume level other than .

Further, the second determination criterion is as follows.

The air volume level lower than the air volume level V _A during auto is given top priority.

Next, select the air volume level closest to the auto air volume level V _A , excluding the one selected in .

, select an air volume level other than .

As shown in FIG. 4, the first and second determination criteria are selected as follows depending on the presence or absence of solar radiation, heating time (winter season), and cooling time.

During cooling, there is solar radiation; during heating, there is no solar radiation → first decision criterion (step 205) During cooling, there is no solar radiation; during heating, there is solar radiation → second determination criterion (step 206) In the figure, step 20
3 and 204.

FIG. 6a shows the priority order when the air volume level V _A during auto mode is between V(M) and V(H) during cooling. In addition, Fig. 6b shows that the air volume level V _A in auto mode during cooling is V(L) and V
The priority order is shown in the middle of (M).

Taking the example of FIG. 6a to explain, when there is solar radiation, V(H) higher than the air volume level V _A during auto is first selected according to the first determination criterion. In other words, when there is sunlight, there is a high probability that higher cooling capacity will be required. Next, "M" and "L" are selected, and when the air conditioner is too effective, it is gradually relaxed.

On the other hand, in the case of no solar radiation, the priority order is determined according to the second determination criterion. In other words, in this case, V(M), which is one level lower than the auto air volume level V _A , is first selected to further reduce the cooling effect, and if not, V(H), which is close to V _A , is selected. V(L) if and only if
is selected, significantly reducing the effectiveness of the air conditioner.

As described above, if you set the priority of the air volume level in manual mode by combining the deviation from the air volume level V _A in automatic mode and other control factors (outside temperature, presence or absence of sunlight, etc.) , it becomes possible to select an air volume level that is more likely to meet the requirements for heating and cooling.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the case was explained using software built into the control unit 21, but
Needless to say, it can also be incorporated as a hardware circuit.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the present invention, Figure 2 is a flowchart showing the control flow of air volume control, Figure 3 is a system configuration diagram of an automobile air conditioner, and Figure 4 is a flow chart of the control flow of air volume control. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing another example, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a control pattern during automatic control, and FIGS. 6a and 6b are diagrams showing how to determine priorities during cooling, respectively. 17a...Auto switch, 17b...Manual switch, 21...Control unit,
32... Deviation calculating means, 33... Priority determining means, 34... Level switching means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] In an air conditioner for a car that is equipped with an auto switch that selects auto control and a manual switch that selects manual control and controls the air volume level step by step with one switch, at least a deviation calculation means for calculating the deviation between the air volume level during the auto control before switching and the air volume level at each stage specified in the manual control when the switch is operated to switch from the auto control to the manual control; It is characterized by being provided with a priority determining means for determining the priority of each air volume level to be selected based on the deviation, and a level switching means for switching the air volume level in the priority order according to the number of times the manual switch is operated. air conditioner for automobiles.