JPH1199826A - Air conditioner for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner capable of achieving the deodorization after the engine is stopped, being manufactured at a low cost, and suppressing the power consumption during the deodorization. SOLUTION: A filter 5 is arranged in an air-conditioning unit to purify the air passing therethrough. A control means applies the voltage corresponding to the temperature of the working atmosphere to a motor 4a based on generation of the residual odor after the engine is stopped to drive a fan 4. The air can be purified by a filter 5 while the power consumption at the motor 4a is suppressed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner,
In particular, the present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner capable of removing an odor generated in a vehicle after the engine is stopped.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to prevent the odor adsorbed on interior materials and the like from being released again after stopping the engine and feeling uncomfortable when re-entering the vehicle, there is an air purifying deodorizer for automobiles. (For example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-253030). This air purifier uses a battery power supply to drive a fan for a certain period of time after the engine is stopped, circulates inside air, and passes through a filter to remove an odor.

[0003]

However, the air purifying and deodorizing device for automobiles needs to be newly provided separately from the existing equipment, so that there is a problem of an installation place and the like, and a design change is required, which leads to an increase in cost. I do.

The voltage applied to the motor for driving the fan is a constant value. This value is set to a relatively high value that can be driven even at a low temperature in order to guarantee the driving of the motor. For this reason, there is a problem that power consumption is large and sufficient deodorizing treatment cannot be performed. In particular, this problem cannot be ignored in low-priced vehicles due to the small capacity of the battery.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle air conditioner which can perform deodorization processing after the engine is stopped, can be manufactured at low cost, and can suppress power consumption during the deodorization processing.

[0006]

According to the present invention, as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, a fan is rotated by driving a motor, and inside air or outside air is introduced into an air conditioning unit. In a vehicle air conditioner which is air-conditioned to a predetermined temperature and blown into a vehicle, based on a filter disposed in the air-conditioning unit for purifying passing air and a residual odor after the engine is stopped. A control means for applying a voltage corresponding to the operating atmosphere temperature to the motor to rotate a fan, thereby performing an air cleaning process by the filter.

With this configuration, the voltage applied to the motor for driving the fan does not become unnecessarily large.
Power consumption can be minimized.

[0008] An auxiliary battery that is charged while the engine is running, and a remaining power detection sensor that detects the remaining power of a main battery for driving the motor and the like are provided. Preferably, when the remaining power of the main battery detected by the remaining power detection sensor is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the power supply source for the motor is switched to an auxiliary battery.

With this configuration, the auxiliary battery can be charged while the vehicle is running, and the power of the auxiliary battery can be used for the deodorizing process even when the remaining power of the main battery is low after the engine is stopped.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention drives a motor to rotate a fan, takes in inside air or outside air into an air conditioning unit, and air-conditions the inside air to a predetermined temperature in the vehicle. In the vehicle air conditioner, the filter is disposed in the air conditioning unit and cleans the passing air. After the engine is stopped, the temperature is set based on a change in the inside air temperature expected from the date and time. Control means for starting the air purifying process by the filter at a time expected to be as described above.

With this configuration, the start time of the deodorizing process can be determined without requiring an inside air temperature sensor, a gas sensor, a solar radiation sensor, and the like.

It is preferable that the control means be more practical if the change in the inside air temperature expected from the date and time is corrected according to the difference in the area.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First Embodiment) A vehicle air conditioner 1 shown in FIG. 1 has an intake door 3, a blower fan 4, a filter 5, an evaporator 6, a mix damper 7, and a heater core in a blower unit 2 in order from the upstream side. 8 is provided.

The intake door 3 enables introduction of outside air or circulation of inside air depending on the rotation position. The blower fan 4 is rotated by driving a motor 4 a with electric power supplied from an alternator 9, a main battery 10, and an auxiliary battery 11. Which power supply source supplies power is selected by switching the relay 12a as shown by the solid and broken lines in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. The blower fan 4 is driven or stopped by turning on or off the relay 12b, and the applied voltage at the time of driving is set to 3.3V or 2.5V by switching the relay 12c as shown by a solid line and a broken line. Is done. The filter 5 includes a coarse filter and a high-performance filter,
Removal of bad smell from passing air, adsorption of acid gas, sterilization,
Enables ozone control and dust collection. The evaporator 6 cools and dehumidifies the inside air or the outside air that passes through the inside of the evaporator 6 and passes through the outside. The mix damper 7 divides the air cooled and dehumidified by the evaporator 6. The heater core 8 circulates engine cooling water inside, and heats one of the air divided by the evaporator 6.

The most downstream side of the blower unit 2 is the air distribution chamber 1
It is 3. The air distribution room 13 has a vent outlet 13
a, HEAT outlet 13b and DEF outlet 13c. The VENT outlet 13a opens rearward from the front inside the vehicle, and the HEAT outlet 13b
Is opened at the foot of the front part inside the vehicle, and the DEF outlet 13c is opened at the front part inside the vehicle so that air can be blown along the window glass. In the air distribution chamber 13, the air that is diverted by the mix damper 7 and passes as it is, and the air that is heated by the heater core 8 are mixed and set to a predetermined temperature.
Air is blown into the vehicle from 3a, 13b, 13c.

At the front of the vehicle, as shown in FIG. 3, an outside air temperature sensor 14 for detecting the outside air temperature, an outside air gas sensor 15 for detecting the pollution level of the outside air, and whether the engine is running. Engine sensor 1 for detecting whether or not
6, a main battery sensor 17a for detecting the capacity of the main battery 10, and an auxiliary battery sensor 17b for detecting the capacity of the auxiliary battery 11.

Further, inside-air gas sensors 18 for detecting the level of inside-air contamination are provided at the feet at the front and the center of the vehicle and at the ceiling above the front and rear seats, respectively. However, the inside air gas sensor 18 may be provided at only one place. Each gas sensor 1
For example, gas sensors and the like manufactured by FIGARO can be used as 5 and 18. Further, an inside air temperature sensor 19 for detecting the inside air temperature is provided in a front part in the vehicle. The detection signals from the sensors 14 to 19 are input to the control device 20. Note that an exhaust hole 21 is formed in the rear part of the vehicle.

Next, the air cleaning process by the control device 20 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

First, it is determined whether or not the engine has been stopped based on the detection signal of the engine sensor 16 (step S1).

If the engine is not stopped, the relay 12a is switched as shown by the solid line in FIG.
a, and the auxiliary battery 11 is charged (step S2).

When the engine is stopped, the detection signal of the main battery sensor 17, that is, the remaining power V of the main battery 10 is read (step S3). Then, it is determined whether or not the read remaining power V is larger than the set power value VL (step S4).

If the remaining power V is larger than the set value VL, the main battery 10 supplies power to the blower fan 4 as it is (step S5). On the other hand, when the remaining power V is equal to or less than the set value VL, the relay 12a is switched, and power is supplied to the blower fan 4 from the auxiliary battery 11 as shown by a broken line in FIG. 2 (step S6).

Subsequently, the contamination levels Pin and Pout of the inside air and the outside air are read based on the detection signals from the inside air gas sensor 18 and the outside air gas sensor 15 (step S).
7). Then, it is determined whether or not the inside air pollution level Pin exceeds the first set level Pa1 (Step S).
8).

The pollution level Pin of the inside air is the first set level P
If it does not exceed a1, the inside air is not contaminated and there is no need to perform air cleaning, so the process returns to step S1 and repeats the above processing. On the other hand, the indoor air pollution level Pin is the first.
If it exceeds the set level Pa1, the inside air pollution level Pi
It is determined whether or not n is equal to or lower than the outside air pollution level Pout (step S9).

When the inside air pollution level Pin is lower than the outside air pollution level Pout, the intake door 3 is switched to circulate the inside air (step S10), and the inside air temperature Tin is read from the inside air temperature sensor 19 (step S1).
1). On the other hand, when the inside air pollution level Pin exceeds the outside air pollution level Pout, the intake door 3 is switched to introduce outside air (step S12), and the outside air temperature Tout is read from the outside air temperature sensor 14 (step S1).
3). Normally, the cleaning process of the inside air is started when the inside air pollution level Pin is high, so that outside air is initially introduced, and thereafter, the operation is switched to the inside air circulation. In the filter 5, the air with the lower contamination level passes, and the filter 5 is less likely to be contaminated. In addition, in the case of introducing outside air, opening the exhaust hole 21 allows the inside air to be cleaned more quickly.

Next, the inside air temperature Tin read by the detection signal from the inside air temperature sensor 19 or the outside air temperature sensor 14.
Alternatively, it is determined whether or not the outside air temperature Tout is higher than the first set temperature T1 (step S14) and whether or not it is higher than the second set temperature T2 (step S15).
In the present embodiment, the temperature detected by the existing outside air temperature sensor 14 or the inside air temperature sensor 19 is used.
A dedicated temperature sensor for directly detecting the operating atmosphere temperature of a may be provided. Further, the first set temperature T1 is set to -20 ° C, and the second set temperature T2 is set to 0 ° C. However, a different set temperature may be used according to a difference in the characteristics of the motor 4a.

If the inside air temperature Tin or the outside air temperature Tout is equal to or lower than the first set temperature T1, the voltage applied to the motor 4a is set to 0.
V (step S16), if it is between the first set temperature T1 and the second set temperature T2, it is set to a high voltage (step S17), and if it is higher than the first set temperature T1, it is set to a low voltage. (Step S18). In the present embodiment, the high voltage is set to 3.3V and the low voltage is set to 2.5V. When the temperature is equal to or lower than the first set temperature Pa1 (−20 ° C.), the voltage applied to the motor 4 is set to 0 V because operation at or below this temperature is not guaranteed. However, a predetermined applied voltage can be set as needed.

Then, the driving of the blower fan 4 is started based on the voltage values set in steps S16 to S18 (step S19).

As described above, the voltage applied to the motor 4a for rotating the blower fan 4 is determined by the ambient temperature (the outside air temperature or the inside air temperature is used here, but only one of them is used). However, it is preferable to adopt the outside air temperature, in particular, since a lower temperature can be used as a reference.) It can be set to a low value according to the difference.
This makes it possible to reduce the power consumption of the motor 4a. Specifically, the outside air temperature or the inside air temperature is 0 ° C.
If it exceeds, the applied voltage could be set to a low voltage of 2.5V. In the case of high voltage, the current value of the motor 4a is 3.0 A, the power consumption is 9.9 W, and the operating air flow is 10
It was 0 m ³ / h. In the case of low voltage, the current value of the motor was 2.0 A, the power consumption was 5.0 W, and the working air volume was 60 m ³ / h.

As shown in the graph of FIG. 7, between the air cleaning ability of the filter 5 and the amount of air passing therethrough,
There is a relationship that the deodorizing efficiency decreases as the blowing amount increases. Therefore, as described above, it is possible not only to suppress the power consumption by applying a low voltage to the motor 4a, but also to perform the air cleaning in the filter 5 effectively by suppressing the amount of air to be blown.

Thereafter, it is determined based on the detection signal from the inside air gas sensor 18 whether or not the inside air pollution level Pin exceeds a second set level Pa2 which is smaller than the first set level Pa1 (step S20).

The air pollution level Pin is equal to the second set level P
If it is a2 or less, it is determined that the inside air has been cleaned,
The driving of the blower fan 4 is stopped (step S21). On the other hand, if the inside air pollution level Pin exceeds the second set level Pa2, the main battery 10 (or the auxiliary battery 1
The remaining power V of 1) is read (step S22), and it is determined whether or not the remaining power V is larger than the set power VL (this value may be 0V for the auxiliary battery 11) (step S23). ). If the remaining power V is larger than the set power VL, the air purifying process is continued until the inside air pollution level Pin becomes equal to or lower than the second set level Pa2. on the other hand,
When the remaining power V becomes equal to or less than the set power VL, the driving of the blower fan 4 is forcibly stopped (step S21).

(Second Embodiment) In the second embodiment, various sensors such as the outside air temperature sensor 14 and the inside air temperature sensor 19 are unnecessary. Then, instead of the detection signals from these sensors, a change in the average temperature stored in advance in accordance with the date and time data counted by the clock is used. In the present embodiment, a built-in clock of the control device 20 is used for the clock.

The controller 20 performs an air cleaning process based on the date and time data according to the flowchart of FIG.

First, when the engine is stopped (step S31), month data is read from the internal clock (step S32). Then, the change of the average temperature (one day) stored in advance corresponding to the read month data is corrected by the correction data (step S33). The correction data is the difference between the change of the average temperature of each month (1 day) and the change of the average temperature of one year (1 day). Of course, the change of the average temperature of one day may be stored for each month.

Next, the time data is read (step S).
34) The current temperature is predicted based on the read time data and the change in the average temperature of one year (one day) (step S35). Then, it is determined whether or not the predicted temperature T exceeds the first set temperature T1 (−20 ° C.) (step S36), and whether or not the predicted temperature T exceeds the second set temperature T2 (0 ° C.). (Step S37). Thereby, it is determined to which region the predicted temperature belongs.

If the predicted temperature is -20 ° C. or lower, the voltage applied to the motor 4a is set to 0 V because the operation is out of the range where the operation of the motor 4a is required to be guaranteed (step S3).
8). When the predicted temperature is between -20 ° C and 0 ° C, the applied voltage is set to a high voltage of 3.3 V so that the motor 4a is driven even at -20 ° C (step S39).
Further, if the expected temperature exceeds 0 ° C., the motor 4a
Since it is sufficient that the motor can be driven at least at 0 ° C., the voltage applied to the motor 4a is set to a low voltage of 2.5 V (step S40).

Then, the motor 4a is driven by the applied voltage set based on the expected temperature to start air cleaning by the blower fan 4 (step S41).

As described above, even without the outside air temperature sensor 14, the inside air temperature sensor 19, etc., the air purifying process can be appropriately performed based on the date and time data and the expected temperature, so that the present invention can be applied to a low-cost vehicle. .

Further, since the voltage applied to the motor 4a is changed in accordance with the expected temperature, power consumption can be suppressed. In addition, although the working air volume decreased, as described above, the air cleaning ability of the filter 5 has a relationship shown in the graph of FIG. 7 with the passing air volume. It became possible to improve.

In the second embodiment, 1 is set on a monthly basis.
Although the temperature change of the day is determined and the temperature is predicted from the time, the temperature change of the day may be determined for each season (spring, summer, autumn and winter). Further, the daily temperature change may be corrected depending on the difference in the region (including not only Japan but also overseas).

In each of the above embodiments, the blower fan 4
Although the voltage applied to the motor 4a for driving the motor 4a is changed in two steps according to the difference in the ambient temperature of the motor 4a, the voltage may be changed in three or more steps or steplessly.

[0044]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the vehicular air conditioner of the present invention, the start-up voltage corresponding to the operating ambient temperature is applied to the motor to rotate the fan, whereby the air is filtered by the filter. Since the cleaning process is performed, power consumption in the motor can be suppressed.

Since the auxiliary battery which is charged while the engine is running is provided, it is possible to perform a desired air cleaning process while maintaining the remaining power of the main battery.

Further, the time at which the air cleaning process is started is determined at least based on the change in the inside air temperature expected from the time, so that other sensors such as an inside air temperature sensor and a gas sensor are not required, so that appropriate Air cleaning treatment.

In particular, since the data corrected at least for the inside air temperature expected from the time depending on the region is used, a more practical air cleaning process can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a blower unit of a vehicle air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram for supplying power to the motor of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle to which the vehicle air conditioner is applied;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an air cleaning process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an air cleaning process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an air cleaning process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of air passing through a filter and the air cleaning ability.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an air cleaning process according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 fan 4a motor 5 filter 20 controller

Claims (4)

[Claims] An air conditioner for a vehicle, wherein a fan is rotated by driving a motor to take in inside air or outside air into an air conditioning unit, and the air conditioning unit air-conditions the air to a predetermined temperature and blows air into the vehicle. A filter disposed in the air conditioning unit for purifying passing air; and, after the engine stops, applying a voltage corresponding to the operating atmosphere temperature to the motor based on the generation of residual odor to rotate the fan. A control unit for performing an air cleaning process by the filter. An auxiliary battery charged in a driving state of the engine; and a remaining power detection sensor for detecting a remaining power of a main battery for driving the motor and the like. The power supply source for the motor is switched to an auxiliary battery when the remaining power of the main battery detected by the remaining power detection sensor is equal to or less than a predetermined value during processing. Vehicle air conditioners. 3. A vehicle air conditioner in which a fan is rotated by driving a motor to take in inside air or outside air into an air-conditioning unit, and air-conditions the air to a predetermined temperature in the air-conditioning unit and blows air into the vehicle. A filter provided in the air conditioning unit for purifying passing air; and after the engine is stopped, the filter is used based on a change in inside air temperature expected from the date and time and expected to be equal to or higher than a set temperature. A vehicle air conditioner comprising: a control unit that starts an air cleaning process. 4. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein the control unit corrects a change in the inside air temperature expected from the date and time according to a difference in a region.