JPH06227239A - Car air-conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure a comfortable warming environment by changing over the warm wind blowout direction to the VENT blowout hole when the specified low temp. condition holds, and also adjusting the louver direction so that the warm wind is directed to the knees of the driver/passenger(s), and thereby supplying the blown-out warm wind to the whole lower bodies of them. CONSTITUTION:Sensing signals of a solar irradiation sensor 1, outside air temp. sensor 3, and inside air temp. sensor 5 are fed to a general signal calculating part 7, which calculates a general signal serving as a basic signal for various control signals for air-conditioner device. The sensing signal of the inside air temp. sensor 5 is fed to an inside air temp. change rate calculating part 9, which calculates the time change rate of the inside air temp. The respective output signals of the outside air temp. sensor 3 and the calculating parts 7, 9 are fed to a mode position control part 11, which decides the blowout mode to be selected and the direction of a swing louver. The selection signal of blowout mode is fed to a mode actuator driving part 13. The direction signal of the swing louver is, on the other hand, fed to the control part 15 of the swing louver actuator 17.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner (hereinafter referred to as an air conditioner), and more particularly to a technique for preventing the lower body of an occupant from cooling in the winter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is well known that in a vehicle air conditioner, the warm air blowing direction is set to the FOOT mode in winter so that the lower half of the body can be warmed intensively and the warm air can be smoothly circulated in the passenger compartment. (JP-A-3-167023
issue).

[0003]

However, in a vehicle such as a truck or a one-box car in which the occupant's posture is standing compared to a passenger car, the FO
In the OT mode, there is a problem that even if warm air hits the feet, it does not wrap around the knees and thighs and is cold.

[0004] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to
The purpose of the present invention is to supply the warm air blown from the vehicle air conditioner not only to the occupant's feet but also to the entire lower half of the body to obtain a comfortable heating environment.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a warm air outlet is at least a FOOT outlet or a VENT according to a temperature condition.
In a vehicle air conditioner that can be automatically switched to a blowout port, an automatically driven louver provided at the VENT blowout port for adjusting the blowout direction up and down, and a temperature condition being a predetermined low temperature condition. And a means for adjusting the direction of the louver so that the hot air is directed to the occupant's knees while switching the hot air blowing direction to the VENT air outlet when a predetermined low temperature condition is satisfied. It is a feature.

[0006]

According to the general control rule, when the temperature condition is low, the hot air blowing direction becomes the FOOT outlet,
Focus on heating your feet. In accordance with the present invention, warm air is VEN under very low temperature conditions where knee cold is a problem.
The hot air is blown out from the T air outlet and the warm air is blown downward by the louver provided in the air outlet. As a result, the warm air is blown out from the occupant's knees and thighs toward the feet, thereby heating the entire lower half of the body. In the preferred embodiment, this lower body heating is performed in the B / L mode and is executed only when the temperature control is in the steady state.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a vehicle air conditioner according to the present invention will be described below.

In this air conditioner, the FO is set in the blowing mode.
OT (foot) mode, B / L (bi-level) mode, V
It has four types, ENT (ventilation) mode and DEF (defroster) mode. Here, the B / L mode is a mode in which hot air is blown from the VENT air outlet and air having a relatively low temperature is supplied to the head. Switching of these blowout modes is performed by a group of doors called mode doors provided at each blowout port, and each of these door groups is driven by an actuator such as a step motor. This actuator is referred to as a mode actuator in this specification.

The VENT outlet is provided with a louver called a swing louver for adjusting the vertical angle in the blowing direction. This swing louver is also vertically driven by an actuator such as a step motor. This actuator is referred to as a swing louver actuator in this specification. This air conditioner is also used for adjusting the temperature of blown air. Mix doors, intake doors for selecting the intake mode, compressors that drive the cooling cycle, etc.
It has all the basic structures of a vehicle air conditioner.

As the above-mentioned structure, a known structure can be used, and therefore its illustration and more detailed description are omitted.

FIG. 1 shows a block configuration of a control portion of this air conditioner.

In FIG. 1, a solar radiation sensor 1 detects solar radiation to a vehicle, an outside air sensor 3 detects the temperature outside the vehicle, and an inside air sensor 5 detects the temperature inside the vehicle. These sensors 1,
The detection signals of 3 and 5 are taken in by the total signal calculation unit 7, where the total signal which is the basic signal for various controls in this air conditioner is calculated. Further, the detection signal of the inside air sensor 5 is input to the inside air temperature change rate calculation unit 9, where the inside air temperature T
_INC Time change rate dT _INC / dt is calculated.

The output signal of the total signal calculation unit 7, the detection signal of the outside air sensor 3, and the output signal of the inside air temperature change rate calculation unit 9 are input to the mode position control unit 11. Mode position control unit 1
Based on these three input signals, the 1 selects the blowout mode and determines the direction of the swing louver by the procedure described later.

The blowout mode selection signal is given to the mode actuator drive unit 13, and the mode door (not shown) is driven so as to be in the selected blowout mode. Further, the direction signal of the swing louver is sent to the louver actuator control unit 15, and accordingly the swing louver actuator 17 is controlled to position the swing louver (not shown) in the determined direction. The swing louver has a movable range capable of sending warm air to the occupant's knees and thighs at a predetermined downward position, for example, the lowest position.

FIG. 2 shows an overall flow of control operation by this control unit.

First, the signals of the solar radiation amount, the outside air temperature T _AMB and the inside air temperature T _INC detected by the sensors 1, 3 and 5 are fetched (S1), and the signals of various operation switches on the air conditioner control panel are fetched. (S2). Next, a total signal is calculated based on the sensor signal (S3), and based on the total signal and signals from various operation switches, air mix door control (S4), air flow rate control (S5), mode Door control (S6), intake door control (S
7) and control of the compressor speed (S8). Here, the present invention is directly related to the mode door control in step S6, and controls other parts (S4, S5, S5).
A publicly known method can be adopted for S7 and S8), and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 3 shows in more detail the portion related to the mode door control (S6) extracted from the flow of FIG.

In FIG. 3, first, of the switches on the control panel, the state of the manual switch designating the manual control is checked (S1).
1) If this switch is ON, the selection switch group in the blowing mode is further checked (S12, S14, S1).
6) The position of the mode door is fixedly set so that the blowout mode selected by those switches is set (S1).
3, S15, S17, S18).

On the other hand, when the manual switch is OFF, a total signal is calculated to automatically select the blowing mode (S3), and based on the total signal, the VENT mode according to the map as shown in the figure, One of the B / L mode and the FOOT mode is selected (S20).
In this case, in brief, if the degree of cold is small, the VENT mode is selected, if it is medium, the B / L mode is selected, and if it is large, the FOOT mode is selected. Then, when the VENT mode is automatically selected (S21), the mode door is set at the position to be the VENT mode (S22), and when the B / L mode is automatically selected (S23),
The mode door is set to the position for setting the B / L mode (S28).

Further, in the part where the FOOT mode is automatically selected in step S20, the process proceeds to step S24, and it is checked whether the outside air temperature T _AMB is a predetermined low temperature, for example, 5 ° C or lower. As a result, if the outside air temperature T _AMB is higher than 5 ° C, the FOO is selected according to the selection in step S20.
The mode door position is set so that it becomes the T mode (S
26). On the other hand, when the outside air temperature T _AMB is 5 ° C. or lower, the temperature is so low that the knee cold cannot be eliminated in the FOOT mode. In this case, next, the time change rate dΔT _INC / dt of the inside air temperature T _INC is calculated, and this time change rate dΔT _INC / dt is set to a predetermined change rate, for example, 0.2 ° C /
It is checked whether it is less than or equal to min (S25). As a result, if the time change rate of the inside air temperature exceeds 0.2 ° C / min, the FOOT is selected according to the selection in step S20.
The mode is set (S26).

On the other hand, the outside air temperature T _AMB is 5 ° C or lower,
And the rate of change in internal temperature dΔT _INC / dt is 0.2 ° C / mi
If it is n or less, the swing louver is set to the lowermost position (S27), and the blowout mode is set to the B / L mode (S28).

According to this, since warm air is supplied to the entire lower half of the body from the knees and thighs of the occupant to the feet, relatively low temperature air is supplied to the head, so that the lower half of the body is emphasized. A comfortable heating environment is realized.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing in more detail the broken line portion (S30) which is the characteristic process in FIG.

In FIG. 4, the step (S25) of checking the rate of change of the inside air temperature is shown in more detail. That is, when the outside air temperature T _AMB is determined to be 5 ° C. or less in step 24, the value of the 1-minute timer T ₁ is _first checked (S
31). This 1-minute timer T ₁ are set to "0" in the initial state, is set to "1" in the 1 minute timer T ₁ proceeds step 32 f in that case, and starts the timer T ₁ (S33).

After the timer T ₁ is started, it is checked whether or not one minute has passed (S34), and until one minute has passed, the process proceeds to step S26 and the FOOT mode is set. When 1 minute has passed, the timer T ₁ is reset to “0”, and then the current inside temperature T _INC is read from the inside air sensor 5 and the present inside temperature T _INC is stored (S
36). Then, by calculating the difference between the present inside temperature T _INC and the already stored inside temperature 1 minute before (the initial value is the inside temperature when the ignition is turned off), the inside temperature T _INC Calculate the change rate dΔT _INC / dt for each (S
37).

The rate of change in internal temperature dΔT for each minute
_{If INC} / dt is 0.2 ° C / min or less, this means that the temperature control is in a steady state. In this case, the swing louver is set to the lowermost position as described above (S27). ), The blowing mode is set to the B / L mode (S28).

If the rate of change of the inside air temperature exceeds 0.2 ° C./min, it means that the temperature control is still in the transient state. In this transient state, the air volume is large and the air temperature is high. In the / L mode, there is a high possibility that warm air will wrap around the head even if the louver is directed downward, and in such a state, it is necessary to give priority to heating the feet, so FO
The OT mode is set (S26).

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Under the temperature conditions where the temperature is low and knee cooling may occur only in the FOOT mode, the blowing mode is set to the B / L mode, and the louver provided at the air outlet blows the warm air downward toward the knee. Since the hot air is supplied to the entire lower half of the body from the knees to the feet, the warm air is not sent to the head, so that a comfortable heating environment is realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing functions of a control portion of an embodiment of a vehicle air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the overall flow of control operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing in more detail a part related to mode control in the flow of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing in more detail the process characterizing the present invention in the flow of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Solar radiation sensor 3 Outside air sensor 5 Inside air sensor 7 Comprehensive signal calculation unit 9 Inside air temperature change rate calculation unit 11 Mode position control unit 13 Mode actuator drive unit 15 Louver actuator control unit 17 Swing louver actuator

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vehicular air conditioner capable of automatically switching a hot air outlet to at least a FOOT outlet or a VENT outlet according to temperature conditions.
An automatically driven louver provided at the outlet for adjusting the blowing direction up and down, a means for detecting that the temperature condition is in a predetermined low temperature condition, and when the predetermined low temperature condition is satisfied. , A means for adjusting the direction of the louver so that the warm air is directed to the occupant's knee while switching the hot air blowing direction to the VENT outlet.