JPH0587535U - Solar radiation detection sensor for automotive air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] In the solar radiation amount detection sensor, the detector output of the solar radiation amount when the solar radiation is directly above is relatively attenuated and the number of parts is reduced, while the light receiving element is horizontally arranged. Stabilize optical accuracy and improve appearance. [Structure] In the solar radiation sensor, the outer peripheral edge corner on the inner side of the light-receiving surface of the cover portion that covers the light-receiving element is formed in a convex lens shape over the entire circumference.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a solar radiation amount detection sensor used for temperature control of an air conditioner for an automobile, etc., and particularly to improvement of a cover portion structure through which the solar radiation passes.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Recent air conditioners for automobiles have a temperature control unit that automatically adjusts the temperature inside the passenger compartment to a desired temperature by sensing the amount of solar radiation received by the vehicle in addition to the outside air temperature and the inside air temperature. The sensible temperature of an occupant in the passenger compartment varies not only with the temperature of the air blown out from the automobile air conditioner but also with the amount of solar radiation.Therefore, the amount of solar radiation received by the vehicle is detected by the solar radiation amount detection sensor, and the room temperature is finely adjusted. is doing.

However, in the case of direct sunlight, which is the strongest of sunlight, the amount of solar radiation that enters the passenger compartment is smaller than that of diagonal solar radiation, and since it does not affect the sensible temperature so much, the peak of the detection output of the solar radiation amount detection sensor It is necessary to attenuate it when it is directly above this, and adjust it to the diagonal insolation. As a solar radiation amount detection sensor for correcting the detection output of the solar radiation amount, those shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 have been proposed.

In the solar radiation amount detection sensor shown in FIG. 6, the light receiving element 1 is arranged in an inclined manner so that the solar radiation from an oblique direction has a peak of a detection output, and the inclined light receiving element 1 is transparent or semitransparent. It is covered with a dome-shaped cover portion 2 and installed on a dash board 3 provided in front of a front seat of an automobile. In this way, the solar radiation amount detection sensor has a reduced solar radiation sensitivity because the light receiving element 1 inclined with respect to directly above the solar radiation receives the light in an oblique direction. By directly receiving this, the characteristic that the solar radiation sensitivity is increased can be obtained.

In the one shown in FIG. 7, there is also one in which an inclined portion 3a is formed in a part of the dashboard 3 and a solar radiation amount detection sensor is mounted on this inclined portion 3a, which is also shown in FIG. The same effect as can be expected.

In the solar radiation amount detection sensor shown in FIG. 8, in order to attenuate the detection output of the solar radiation directly above, the arrangement of the light receiving element 1 remains horizontal, and the center of the inner surface of the flat plate cover portion 2 that covers the light receiving element 1 is centered. The light-shielding plate 4 is provided on the. According to this solar radiation amount detection sensor, the light shielding plate 4 blocks the sunlight when the solar radiation is directly above and the solar radiation sensitivity is reduced, and the characteristic that the solar radiation sensitivity is relatively increased when oblique solar radiation is obtained.

In the solar radiation amount detection sensor shown in FIG. 9, a light receiving element 1 is arranged in an inclined manner, a cover portion 2 is provided to cover the inclined light receiving element 1, and the inside of the light receiving surface 5 in the cover portion 2 is formed in a wave shape. The unevenness 6 is formed, and oblique solar radiation is detected by the refraction effect of the unevenness 6. According to this solar radiation amount detection sensor, it is possible to obtain the characteristics that when the solar radiation is directly above, the sunlight is scattered to reduce the solar radiation sensitivity, and when the solar radiation is oblique, the solar radiation sensitivity is relatively increased.

[0008]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, since the solar radiation amount detection sensor is generally provided on the dash board, which is a portion directly exposed to the solar radiation, the dome-shaped cover portion 2 that covers the inclined light receiving element 1 like the solar radiation amount sensor shown in FIG. 6 is provided. If it is provided, the dome-shaped cover portion 2 will project onto the dash board 3, which will be an obstacle when placing an object on the dashboard 3 and is not preferable from the standpoint of appearance. With the tilted arrangement, the amount of solar radiation can be detected effectively for light that is tilted in a predetermined direction, but the accuracy of detecting the amount of solar radiation is greatly reduced for light that enters from the back side of the tilt. Then there is a problem.

The dashboard 3 shown in FIG. 7 has an inclined portion 3a formed on a part thereof, and the solar radiation amount detection sensor is mounted on the inclined portion 3a, which has the same problem. Further, the solar radiation sensor shown in FIG. 8 does not have any one protruding above the dashboard 3 and does not have the above-mentioned inconvenience, but since the light shielding plate 4 is indispensable, not only the number of parts increases and the cost increases, but also The mounting position of the shading plate 4 directly affects the accuracy of detection of the amount of solar radiation, so that there is a drawback that the mounting position of the shading plate 4 is required with high accuracy.

In the solar radiation amount detection sensor shown in FIG. 9, the light receiving element 1 is arranged in an inclined manner like the one shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Therefore, the detection precision of the solar radiation amount is not sufficient depending on the direction of incident light. There is a problem that sometimes.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the solar light sensitivity is directly above with the light receiving element placed horizontally so that the predetermined solar radiation amount detection accuracy can be exhibited regardless of the direction of solar radiation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a solar radiation amount detection sensor capable of attenuating the rays and relatively increasing oblique solar radiation sensitivity.

[0012]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve such an object, the present invention is an automobile including a light receiving element that converts the detected amount of solar radiation into an electric signal and outputs it to a temperature control section, and a transparent or semitransparent cover section that covers the light receiving element. A sensor for detecting the amount of solar radiation in an air conditioner for automobiles, characterized in that a corner of the outer peripheral edge of the light receiving surface of the cover is bulged like a convex lens over the entire circumference. is there. It is preferable that the light receiving surface of the cover portion is formed into a spherical shape.

[0013]

[Action]

 According to the present invention, the incident light passing through the outer peripheral edge corners on the inner side of the light receiving surface of the cover bulging like a convex lens is collected outside the light receiving element by the condensing function of this portion when the solar radiation is directly above. However, only the light that does not pass through this portion reaches the light receiving element. Therefore, the amount of solar radiation detected by the light receiving element is relatively attenuated. On the other hand, at the time of oblique solar radiation, the incident light condensed at the outer edge corner on the inner side of the light receiving surface of the cover is focused on the light receiving element, and the incident light passing through the cover other than this part is also refracted. Since most of them reach the light receiving element, the amount of solar radiation detected by the light receiving element is relatively large, and the detection output reaches a peak. If the upper surface of the light receiving surface of the cover is molded into a spherical surface, the refractive index of the incident light entering the cover by the corners of the outer peripheral edge of the light receiving surface of the cover that bulges like the convex lens and the spherical portion of the upper surface of the cover is Increasing, particularly, the incident light at the time of oblique solar radiation is strongly focused at the outer peripheral edge corners, and even if it passes through the upper surface of the cover portion other than this portion, the proportion of reaching the light receiving element with a strong refractive index becomes high. Therefore, the peak of the detection output of the light receiving element is also improved.

[0014]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are longitudinal sectional views showing an example of a solar radiation amount detection sensor according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the solar radiation amount detection sensor 10 is installed on a flat dashboard 11 provided in front of the front seat, which is a portion directly exposed to the sunlight, and is horizontally arranged so as to face the solar radiation from the vertical direction. It has a light receiving element 12 installed and a cover portion 13 in which the upper surface of a light receiving surface 13a is formed so as to cover the light receiving element 12.

The light receiving element 12 detects the amount of solar radiation on the light detection surface, converts it into an electric signal, and outputs it to a temperature control section (not shown) of the air conditioner for a vehicle. For example, a photodiode is used. It is composed of. Since the light receiving element 12 is installed horizontally, the accuracy of detecting the amount of solar radiation does not decrease with respect to solar radiation from all directions. Further, since the light receiving surface 13a on the upper surface of the cover portion 13 is also formed flat, even if it slightly projects onto the flat dashboard 11, it does not interfere.

The cover portion 13 that covers the light receiving element 12 is formed of a transparent or semi-transparent material such as polycarbonate. In particular, the outer peripheral edge portion on the inner side of the light receiving surface 14 of the cover portion 13 is , Is bulged to form a convex lens over the entire circumference. The convex lens portion 15 has a property of condensing incident light entering the convex lens portion 15.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described. In the solar radiation amount detection sensor 10 of the present invention having the above-described configuration, when the sunlight is incident directly on the vehicle from directly above the vehicle, the directly incident light A passing through the convex lens portion 15 has a condensing function of the convex lens portion 15. Thus, only light that is condensed outside the light receiving element 11 and does not pass through the convex lens portion 15 reaches the light receiving element 11. Therefore, the amount of solar radiation detected by the light receiving element 11 is relatively attenuated.

On the other hand, at the time of oblique solar radiation, the obliquely incident light B is focused on the light receiving element 11 by the light condensed by the convex lens portion 15, and the light passing through the cover portion 12 other than the convex lens portion 15 is also refracted. As a result, most of them reach the light receiving element 11, so that the amount of solar radiation detected by the light receiving element 11 becomes larger than that of the vertically incident light A, and as shown in FIG. 3, the detection output is at a certain angle of oblique solar radiation. Reaches the peak at.

Therefore, in the case of strong solar radiation directly above which the sensible temperature is not so affected, the peak of the detection output of the solar radiation amount detection sensor can be attenuated, and the amount of solar radiation during oblique solar radiation that strongly affects the sensible temperature can be reduced. The detection output of the detection sensor can be peaked. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be variously modified within the scope of the utility model registration claim. For example, the above embodiment uses the cover portion 13 in which the upper surface of the light receiving surface 13a is formed flat, but as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the upper surface side of the light receiving surface 13a is spherical. It may be shaped into a shape.

According to this structure, the convex lens portion 15 and the spherical light receiving surface 13a increase the refractive index of the incident light entering the cover portion 12, and the incident light B particularly at the time of oblique sunlight is collected by the convex lens portion 15. Even if the light is strengthened and passes through the spherical light-receiving surface 13a other than the convex lens portion 15, the ratio of reaching the light-receiving element 11 with a high refractive index becomes high. Therefore, the peak of the detection output of the light receiving element 11 is also improved.

[0021]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the solar radiation amount detection sensor of the present invention, the outer peripheral edge corner portion on the inner side of the light receiving surface of the cover portion bulges like a convex lens over the entire circumference, so that it does not affect the sensible temperature and is strong. In the case of solar radiation directly above, the peak of the detection output of the solar radiation amount detection sensor can be attenuated, and the detection output of the solar radiation amount detection sensor can be peaked at the time of oblique solar radiation that strongly affects the sensible temperature. In addition, the need for a light shield is eliminated, and since it is possible to deal with oblique solar radiation with the light receiving element placed horizontally, the optical accuracy is stable, the cost is reduced by reducing the number of parts, and the appearance is excellent. Become.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention,

2 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 1, showing a state of obliquely incident light,

FIG. 3 is a characteristic diagram showing relative sensitivity of a light receiving element with respect to an incident angle in oblique solar radiation,

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4, showing a state of obliquely incident light,

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a conventional solar radiation amount detection sensor,

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional solar radiation amount detection sensor,

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional solar radiation amount detection sensor,

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional solar radiation amount detection sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 ... Light receiving element, 13 ... Cover part, 13a ... Light receiving surface, 15 ... Convex lens part.

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] May 7, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All drawings

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 1]

[Fig. 2]

[Figure 3]

[Figure 4]

[Figure 5]

[Figure 6]

[Figure 7]

[Figure 8]

[Figure 9]

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A light receiving element (12) for converting the detected amount of solar radiation into an electric signal and outputting it to a temperature control section, and this light receiving element (12).
In a solar radiation amount detection sensor for a vehicle air conditioner that consists of a transparent or semi-transparent cover part (13) that covers the entire periphery of the light receiving surface (13a) of the cover part (13) A solar radiation detection sensor for an automobile air conditioner, which is characterized by bulging like a convex lens. 2. The solar radiation amount detection sensor for an automobile air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the cover portion (13) has a light receiving surface (13a) whose upper surface is formed into a spherical shape.