JPH07117455A - Automobile air-conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make effective use of the original air-conditioning power of front and rear air-conditioners without waste by preventing air conditioning at the rear of the vehicle from becoming insufficient even with overall extra air- conditioning power when the front and rear air-conditioners are provided independently. CONSTITUTION:A front air-conditioning unit 1 having an evaporator 7, a blower 17 and the like is provided with a blower means 21 consisting of an auxiliary outlet 5 for blowing air toward the rear of the vehicle in addition to a front outlet 4 for blowing air toward the front of the vehicle, and an auxiliary damper 20 for opening and closing the outlet 5. An ECU 25 is for operating the air- conditioning unit according to the computation result of the air-conditioning power required for the front and rear of the vehicle, and operates the air- conditioning unit 1 at its maximum power when air conditioning by a rear air conditioning unit is insufficient and when the front air-conditioning unit 1 has some extra air-conditioning power; and the ECU 24 opens the auxiliary damper 20 to blow conditioned air corresponding to the extra air-conditioning power of the front air-conditioning unit 1 from the auxiliary outlet 5 to the rear of the cabin.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a so-called dual type automotive air conditioner in which the air conditioning control of the front and rear parts of a vehicle compartment is performed by independent air conditioning units.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Air conditioners of this type have been widely used mainly in luxury cars and one-box cars because they have the advantage of good temperature distribution and temperature controllability in the passenger compartment. In such an air conditioner, a front air conditioning unit for blowing out conditioned air to the front part of the vehicle compartment and a rear air conditioning unit for blowing out conditioned air to the rear part of the vehicle compartment are independently provided. The control of the temperature and air volume of the conditioned air by the unit can be performed independently or in conjunction with each other. Also, in fact,
Since the rear air conditioning unit is provided in a form that assists the air conditioning function of the front air conditioning unit, its cooling capacity is usually set to a state smaller than the cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit.

[0003]

As described above, in a dual type automobile air conditioner, the cooling capacity of the rear air conditioning unit is usually lower than the cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit. Therefore, during actual air-conditioning operation, the cooling of the rear part of the vehicle compartment is often insufficient compared to the front part of the vehicle compartment, which tends to occur. However,
In the conventional air conditioner, even when the cooling of the rear part of the vehicle compartment is insufficient, when the front part of the vehicle compartment is sufficiently cooled, the front air conditioning unit cools relatively low. Since it is operated with the capacity, although the total cooling capacity by the front air conditioning unit and the rear air conditioning unit has a margin, the condition of insufficient cooling of the rear part of the passenger compartment may continue. The point that such waste occurs is an unsolved problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to configure a front air conditioner unit and a rear air conditioner unit corresponding to air conditioner control of a front part and a rear part of a vehicle compartment, respectively. In this case, it is possible to effectively prevent the situation in which the rear part of the vehicle compartment is insufficiently cooled despite the fact that there is a room in the overall cooling capacity, and the original cooling capacity can be utilized without waste. To provide.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an air conditioner for an automobile having a structure in which the air conditioning control of the front part and the rear part of the passenger compartment is performed by corresponding front air conditioning units and rear air conditioning units. In the device, when the rear air conditioning unit is performing a cooling operation, when there is a margin in the cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit, the air conditioning wind using the surplus cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit is supplied to the passenger compartment. The configuration is such that a blowing means for blowing air to the rear is provided.

[0006]

When the front air conditioning unit and the rear air conditioning unit are performing the cooling operation for the front and rear portions of the passenger compartment, the front air conditioning unit is being cooled and the front air conditioning unit has a sufficient cooling capacity. In this case, the blower unit blows the conditioned air utilizing the surplus cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit to the rear part of the vehicle compartment. For this reason,
Even though the cooling capacity is sufficient, the phenomenon of insufficient cooling of the rear part of the passenger compartment does not occur.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 schematically show an arrangement example of air conditioning units in an automobile (for example, a one-box car). 3 and 4, the front air conditioning unit 1 is arranged on the back side of an instrument panel (not shown) in the automobile 2.
The rear air conditioning unit 3 is arranged in the center of the ceiling of the automobile 2. In this case, the front air conditioning unit 1 is directed toward the front portion (front seat) of the passenger compartment 2a of the automobile 2 toward the front air outlets 4 for blowing out conditioned air and toward the rear portion (rear seat) of the passenger compartment 2a. An auxiliary air outlet 5 for blowing out conditioned air is provided obliquely upward. The front air outlets 4 are provided in the instrument panel portion in a left-right line, and the auxiliary air outlet 5 is provided in the instrument panel portion. It is provided in the central part of. Further, the rear air conditioning unit 3 is provided with an outlet 6 for blowing out the conditioned air toward the rear.

In this embodiment, a front air conditioning unit 1 having both cooling and heating functions is used, and a rear air conditioning unit 3 having only cooling function is used. Therefore, actually, the front air conditioning unit 1 is provided with a foot air outlet for blowing air toward the front feet of the vehicle interior 2a, and
A defroster outlet for blowing air toward the windshield is also provided, but these are not shown because they are not directly related to the gist of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a basic structure of a refrigerating cycle for driving the air conditioning units 1 and 3. In FIG. 5, the evaporator 7 for the front air conditioning unit 1 and the evaporator 8 for the rear air conditioning unit 3 are connected in parallel to the refrigerant flow path, and the refrigerant inlet side (or the refrigerant flow side) for each evaporator 7 and 8 is connected. At the outlet side, each pair of solenoid valves 9 and 10 and expansion valves 11 and 12 is provided. In each of the evaporators 7 and 8, after the compressed vaporized refrigerant discharged from the compressor 13 is condensed and liquefied through the condenser 14, the liquid tank 15 is selectively passed through the solenoid valves 9 and 10 and the expansion valves 11 and 12. It is configured to be supplied.

Now, in FIG. 1, the front air conditioning unit 1
And the configuration of the parts related thereto. In FIG. 1, the inside / outside air switching damper (not shown) for selecting the inside air intake mode or the outside air intake mode, the inside air or the outside air is drawn into the air duct 16 of the front air conditioning unit 1 from the upstream side to the downstream side. A blower 17 for blowing air to the downstream side, the evaporator 7, and a heater core 18 through which engine cooling water flows are provided, and the front outlet 4 is provided at the most downstream portion of the air duct 16.
And an auxiliary air outlet 5 are provided.

In this case, the auxiliary blow-out port 5 is constructed so as to be opened and closed by an auxiliary damper 20 driven by a servo motor 19, and the auxiliary blow-out port 5 and the auxiliary damper 20 serve as the blowing means 21 in the present invention. It is configured. Although not shown, the above-mentioned foot outlet and defroster outlet and dampers for opening and closing them are actually provided at the most downstream portion of the air duct 16. Further, on the upstream side of the heater core 18 in the air duct 16, an air mix damper 22 for adjusting the ratio of the air volume passing through the heater core 18 and the air volume bypassing the heater core 18 is provided. Is driven by the servo motor 23.

The control of each of the servomotors 19 and 23 and the control of the refrigeration cycle including the compressor 13 described above are performed by an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 24. Control of the blower 17 included therein and the blower (not shown) included in the rear air conditioning unit 3 are also performed through the blower controllers 25a and 25b.

The ECU 24 includes an air conditioner switch 2
ON signal from 6, an ON signal from the auto switch 27 for switching between the manual mode and the auto mode,
Set temperatures TSETF and TSETR from the front temperature setter 28 for the front part of the passenger compartment 2a and the rear temperature setter 29 for the rear part,
Inner air temperatures TRF and TRR from the front room temperature sensor 30 for the front part of the passenger compartment 2a and the rear room temperature sensor 31 for the rear part, the outside air temperature TAM from the outside air temperature sensor 32, the insolation from the insolation sensor 33, and the insolation indicating the insolation direction. In addition to the data TS, a signal (not shown) for setting the outlet mode (however, this signal may be automatically set by calculation in the ECU 24) and the like are input. ECU2
Among the control contents of 4, the outline of the control contents for the cooling operation directly related to the gist of the present invention is shown.

That is, in FIG. 2, the ECU 24 switches the refrigeration cycle to the operating state when the air conditioner switch 26 is in the ON state.
It is determined whether or not the auto mode is selected based on the presence or absence of the ON signal from (step 101) and the control in the manual mode is allowed in the non-input state of the ON signal, but in the input state of the ON signal, the front mode is set. A front blower voltage VF to be applied to the blower 17 for the air conditioning unit 1 and a rear blower voltage VR to be applied to a blower (not shown) for the rear air conditioning unit 3 are calculated (step 102).

Specifically, the front blower voltage VF is
The set temperature TSETF and the inside temperature TRF in the front part of the passenger compartment 2a,
The outside air temperature TAM, the solar radiation data TS, etc. are expressed by a function, and the rear blower voltage VR is expressed by a function using the set temperature TSETR and the inside air temperature TRR, the outside air temperature TAM, the solar radiation data TS, etc. at the rear of the vehicle compartment. The calculation of such a function is performed in step 102. In this case, the maximum value of each blower voltage VF and VR is
A value corresponding to the rated voltage of the on-vehicle battery, for example, 12
The state of V and VF = VR = 12V corresponds to the state in which the front air conditioning unit 1 and the rear air conditioning unit 3 exhibit the maximum cooling capacity.

After performing the voltage calculation step 102 as described above, it is determined whether the front blower voltage VF is less than 12 V, in other words, whether the cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit 1 has a margin (step 103). ), When the cooling capacity has no margin (when VF = 12V), the voltage VF0 actually applied to the blower 3 is controlled so as to be the front blower voltage VF (= 12V), and the auxiliary damper 20 is used. The opening degree ΔS of the switch is switched to “0” (step 1
04), after which the process returns to step 101.

Here, the opening ΔS of the auxiliary damper 20 is
Is expressed as a function of the front blower voltage VF (ΔS = f3 (VF)) as shown in FIG. 6, and when the front blower voltage VF is 12V, ΔS = 0 (%) and the auxiliary outlet 5 is switched to the fully closed state, and ΔS = 100 when the front blower voltage VF is at the predetermined value V0.
(%) And the auxiliary outlet 5 is switched to the fully open state. The predetermined value V0 is the applied voltage VF of the blower 17.
When 0 is 12V, the auxiliary outlet 5 is fully open (ΔS = 1
When the amount of air blown from the front air outlet 4 when it is set to 00 (%) is W, the auxiliary air outlet 5 is in the fully closed state (ΔS
= 0%), it is a value corresponding to the front blower voltage VF required to obtain the blown air amount W.

On the other hand, when it is judged "YES" in step 103, that is, when the cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit 1 has a margin (VF <12V), whether the rear blower voltage VR is 12V or not, in other words, Then, it is determined whether or not the rear air conditioning unit 3 requires the maximum cooling capacity (step 105), and in the state where the maximum cooling capacity is not required, the control from the step 104 onward is executed.

On the other hand, when the rear air conditioning unit 3 requires the maximum cooling capacity ("Y" in step 105).
ES "), the voltage VF0 applied to the blower 3 is set to a maximum value of 12 V, and the opening ΔS of the auxiliary damper 20 is calculated based on the functional expression" ΔS = f3 (VF) ". By calculation, the value is switched to a value according to the front part blower voltage VF at that time (step 106), and thereafter the process returns to step 101.

When the cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit 1 is fixed to the maximum capacity as described above, the ratio of the air flow rate Wf from the front air outlet 4 to the air flow rate Wr from the auxiliary air outlet 5 is determined by the auxiliary damper. It changes as shown in FIG. 7 according to the opening degree ΔS of 20.

As a result of the above control, when the rear air conditioning unit 3 requires the maximum cooling capacity, that is, when the rear part of the passenger compartment 2a is not sufficiently cooled, the front part of the passenger compartment 2a is cooled. When the cooling progresses and there is a margin in the cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit 1, the front air conditioning unit 1 is operated at the maximum capacity, and the auxiliary air outlet 5 becomes the surplus of the front air conditioning unit 1. It is opened at an opening degree according to the degree of the cooling capacity, and the conditioned air according to the surplus cooling capacity is blown toward the rear part of the vehicle compartment 2a. Therefore, although the total cooling capacity of the front air-conditioning unit 1 and the rear air-conditioning unit 3 has a margin, a situation in which the rear part of the vehicle compartment 2a is not sufficiently cooled can be effectively prevented. The air conditioning temperature can be made uniform at the front and rear of 2a.

In the above embodiment, the rear air conditioning unit 3
When the maximum cooling capacity is required, the air conditioning control is performed to cool the rear part of the vehicle compartment 2a by the surplus cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit 1, but the rear air conditioning unit 3 requires a certain level of cooling capacity or more. It is needless to say that the air conditioning control similar to the above may be performed even in the state in which the air conditioner is present.

A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, and only parts different from the first embodiment will be described below. That is, in this embodiment, in place of the auxiliary air outlet 5 in the first embodiment, auxiliary air outlets 34, 34 having ducts 34a, 34a extending left and right in the vehicle interior 2a to the rear portion of the vehicle interior 2a are provided. It has a feature in the point.

FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 show a third embodiment of the present invention, and only the parts different from the first embodiment will be described below. That is, in this embodiment, the auxiliary air outlet 5 in the first embodiment is omitted, and the front air outlet 4 is provided with the wind direction adjusting plate 35 (corresponding to the blowing means in the present invention) which is rotatable in the left-right direction. It is characterized in that a part of the conditioned air from the front air conditioning unit 1 can be blown to the rear part of the vehicle compartment 2a according to the rotational position of the wind direction adjusting plate 35. In this case, the control of the rotational position of the wind direction adjusting plate 35 is performed through the servo motor by the output from the ECU 24, and its control condition is the same as the control of the opening degree ΔS of the auxiliary damper 20 in the first embodiment. Is. The wind direction adjusting plate 35 may be configured to be vertically rotatable.

FIG. 12 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and only the parts different from the first embodiment will be described below. That is, this embodiment is characterized in that the heater control lever 36 and the heater control cable 37 are provided in order to rotate the auxiliary damper 20 by a manual operation, and when the air conditioner is manually controlled. To use.

In each of the above embodiments, the rear air conditioning unit 3 is of the ceiling type, but other types such as the floor type may be used.

[0027]

According to the present invention, as is apparent from the above description, the air conditioning control for the front and rear portions of the passenger compartment can be performed by the corresponding front air conditioning unit and rear air conditioning unit. In the air conditioning system, when the rear air conditioning unit is performing the cooling operation and the cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit has a margin, the surplus cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit is used for cooling the rear part of the vehicle compartment. Since it is configured, it is possible to effectively prevent the situation where the rear part of the vehicle compartment is insufficiently cooled despite the fact that the entire cooling capacity is sufficient, and it is possible to use the original cooling capacity without waste. It has a great effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a front air conditioning unit and related parts showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing control contents.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of an automobile showing an arrangement of air conditioning units.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of an automobile showing an arrangement of air conditioning units.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a refrigeration cycle.

FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the front blower voltage and the opening degree of the auxiliary damper.

FIG. 7 is a characteristic diagram showing the ratio of the amount of air blown from the front outlet and the amount of air blown from the auxiliary outlet.

FIG. 8 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a view corresponding to FIG.

FIG. 10 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view corresponding to FIG.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of a front air conditioning unit showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of reference numerals] In the drawings, 1 is a front air conditioning unit, 2 is an automobile, 2a
Is a vehicle compartment, 3 is a rear air conditioning unit, 4 is a front air outlet, 5 is an auxiliary air outlet, 17 is a blower, 20 is an auxiliary damper, 21 is an air blower, 24 is an ECU, and 35 is an air flow direction adjusting plate (air blower). Show.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle air conditioner in which air conditioning control of a front portion and a rear portion of a vehicle compartment is performed by a corresponding front air conditioning unit and rear air conditioning unit, respectively, wherein the rear air conditioning unit performs a cooling operation. In the state, when there is a margin in the cooling capacity by the front air conditioning unit, there is provided an air blowing means for blowing the air conditioning air utilizing the surplus cooling capacity of the front air conditioning unit to the rear part of the vehicle compartment. Automotive air conditioner.