KR101724723B1 - Air conditioning system of clean car and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cooling system for an environmentally friendly vehicle and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a cooling system that can minimize unnecessary electric power consumption in an environmentally friendly vehicle using an electric compressor for cooling the vehicle, The purpose is to provide. In order to achieve the above object, there is provided a control method of an air-conditioning system for an environmentally friendly vehicle using an electric compressor, comprising the steps of: a) checking whether a passenger of a passenger seat is boarded from a signal of a passenger detection unit, 1 < / RTI > and an additional boarding mode in which passengers are additionally occupied on the passenger seat; b) controlling the position of the mode control door so that when the mode is the single passenger mode, the controller reduces the electric power supply amount of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower to a predetermined value as compared with the additional boarding mode and simultaneously the cold air is supplied only to the driver's seat A cooling system control method for an environmentally friendly vehicle is disclosed.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to an air conditioning system and a control method thereof,

The present invention relates to a cooling system for an environmentally friendly vehicle and a control method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to an environmentally friendly vehicle such as a fuel cell vehicle using an electric compressor for cooling the vehicle, And a control method thereof.

Today, internal combustion engine vehicles (general engine vehicles) using fossil fuels have many problems such as environmental pollution caused by exhaust gas, global warming due to carbon dioxide, and generation of respiratory diseases caused by ozone generation. Also, because of the limited fossil fuels that exist on the earth, they are in danger of exhaustion someday.

Accordingly, a pure electric vehicle using an electric motor as a driving source, a hybrid vehicle using an engine (internal combustion engine) and an electric motor as driving sources, and an environmentally friendly vehicle such as a fuel cell vehicle driving an electric motor by generating electric power generated from a fuel cell Has been developed.

In an eco-friendly vehicle, an electric motor (drive motor) is mounted as a drive source for driving the vehicle, and a power source for supplying electric power to the electric motor, that is, a battery or a fuel cell is mounted.

In the case of an eco-friendly vehicle, power consumption during driving is directly related to vehicle mileage (in the case of a pure electric vehicle, the range of travel Hydrogen) is used to generate driving power, so it is important to minimize unnecessary power consumption to improve fuel economy.

However, when an air-conditioning system is operated in an environmentally-friendly vehicle, it is necessary to drive an electric heater, a compressor, and an air conditioning blower, so that a large amount of electric power is consumed.

In particular, in an eco-friendly vehicle that drives an electric motor, an electric compressor consuming electric power is used unlike an internal combustion engine vehicle. Therefore, when the cooling system is operated, the fuel efficiency of the vehicle is inevitably reduced.

However, in the conventional case, since the temperature of the entire room is adjusted irrespective of the number of passengers, unnecessary air conditioning power consumption is generated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an eco-friendly vehicle (pure electric vehicle / hybrid vehicle / fuel cell vehicle) using an electric compressor for cooling the vehicle, Thereby improving the fuel efficiency of the vehicle (i.e., the cruising distance in the case of a pure electric vehicle), and a control method thereof.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a control method of a cooling system of an environmentally friendly vehicle using an electric compressor, comprising the steps of: a) checking whether a passenger of a passenger seat is boarded from a signal of a passenger detection unit, Determining one of a one-person boarding mode in which only a driver is boarded and an additional boarding mode in which a passenger is additionally boarded on a passenger seat; b) controlling the position of the mode control door so that when the mode is the single passenger mode, the controller reduces the electric power supply amount of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower to a predetermined value as compared with the additional boarding mode and simultaneously the cold air is supplied only to the driver's seat The present invention also provides a method of controlling a cooling system of an environmentally friendly vehicle.

The present invention also provides a cooling system for an environmentally friendly vehicle using an electric compressor, comprising: a passenger detecting unit for detecting whether or not a passenger is boarding in a passenger seat excluding a driver's seat; A mode control door for controlling a direction of supply of cold air passing through the evaporator; And a controller for determining one of a one-person boarding mode in which a passenger is boarded and a passenger is boarded only on the basis of a signal of the passenger detecting portion, and an additional boarding mode in which the passenger is additionally boarded, Wherein the control unit controls the operation amount of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower and the position of the mode control door.

Accordingly, in the cooling system and the control method thereof according to the present invention, the operation amount of the compressor and the air conditioning blower and the supply direction of the cool air are controlled according to the presence or absence of the passengers other than the driver, and in particular, The operating amount of the compressor and air conditioning blower is reduced, so that the power consumption during cooling can be minimized and the fuel economy of the vehicle can be improved.

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of a cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a schematic view showing an installation state of a cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment using an electronic expansion valve as another embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart showing a control method of a cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains.

The present invention relates to a cooling system and a control method thereof for an environmentally friendly vehicle such as a pure electric vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle, and a fuel cell automobile using an electric compressor for cooling the vehicle. The present invention minimizes unnecessary electric power consumption when cooling the vehicle, (In the case of pure electric vehicles).

An electric compressor used for cooling a vehicle in an environmentally friendly vehicle is capable of actively controlling the number of revolutions thereof in accordance with the operation of the inverter irrespective of the number of revolutions (RPM) of the driving motor for driving the vehicle. The variable operation of the cooling system is possible compared with the vehicle (using the compressor using the engine as the driving source).

Therefore, in the present invention, the compressor, the air-conditioning blower, the modulating door, etc. of the cooling system are variably controlled according to the number of passengers by making maximum use of the wide control area of the electric compressor, thereby minimizing unnecessary power consumption in cooling the vehicle, Thereby achieving the object of improvement.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of a cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention. And Fig.

As shown in the figure, the cooling system according to the present invention includes a compressor 1, a condenser 2, a refrigerant expansion means 3 (corresponding to a conventional expansion valve), an evaporator 4), and a refrigerant line (5) for circulating the refrigerant therebetween.

In addition, the cooling system according to the present invention includes an air conditioning blower 44 for sucking indoor air or outdoor air and blowing air, cool air (cooling air having passed through an evaporator) is supplied alone to the driver's seat or supplied together with the driver's seat to passenger seats And a mode control door 46 which is selectively controlled so as to be controlled.

The cooling system according to the present invention includes a passenger detection unit 10 for detecting whether or not a passenger is boarding passenger seats such as a passenger seat except for a driver's seat and a passenger detection unit 10 for detecting the presence or absence of passengers And a controller 30 for controlling the driving of the air conditioning blower 44.

The cooling system according to the present invention is operated in two modes of a one-person boarding mode in which only a driver is boarded and operated and an additional boarding mode in which passengers are additionally boarded besides the driver. In particular, 1, the vehicle fuel economy is improved by reducing the operation amount of the cooling system (electric compressor and air conditioning blower) (related to the power supply amount and the rotation speed).

At this time, since the driving of the mode control door 46 is controlled to discharge cool air only to the driver's seat as described later, the cooling performance felt by the driver is the same.

3 shows a state in which the configuration of a cooling system is installed in addition to the configuration of a conventional air conditioning system and is provided with an internal / external control door 42, a filter 43, an air conditioning blower 44, an evaporator 4 ), A heater 45 for heating, and a mode control door 46 are provided.

In the construction of the heating system according to the present invention, an electric compressor using an electric motor as a driving source is used as the compressor 1, and the controller 30 controls the driving of the electric compressor 1 (see Fig. 2).

In the case of the electric compressor 1, the operation amount, that is, the rotational speed can be variably controlled in accordance with the electric power supply amount, and variable operation can be performed with the electric power supply amount adjusted according to the cooling load.

Accordingly, in the present invention, the controller 30 reduces the amount of electric power supplied to the electric compressor 1 in a single passenger mode in which only the driver is boarded and operated, thereby reducing the operation amount of the electric compressor 1 In this case, since the power consumed in cooling is reduced, the fuel efficiency of the vehicle can be improved.

In this way, the one-passenger mode reduces the cooling load and the power consumption of the compressor. For example, in the case of the one-passenger mode, the power supplied to the compressor can be set to be reduced by half.

Further, as the operation amount of the electric compressor 1 is variably controlled, the refrigerant flow rate supplied from the compressor, that is, the refrigerant flow rate circulating in the refrigerant line 5 is varied. For example, in the one-passenger mode, The refrigerant flow rate is reduced to half.

As the refrigerant expansion means 3 for expanding the refrigerant, it is preferable to employ a configuration of the variable expansion valve device capable of adjusting the amount of opening according to the mode of travel so as to correspond to the refrigerant flow rates of the two modes, In boarding mode, the amount of opening is reduced to a preset value compared to the additional boarding mode.

The variable expansion valve apparatus is configured in the refrigerant line between the condenser 2 and the evaporator 4 in the same manner as in the prior art. In one embodiment, the dual expansion valve (TXV1, TXV2) . ≪ / RTI >

That is, in the variable expansion valve device according to the embodiment, the refrigerant line between the condenser 2 and the evaporator 4 is branched into two refrigerant lines, and the respective expansion valves (TXV1, TXV2) And a flow path switching valve 6 for selectively switching the flow direction of the refrigerant is provided at a branch point of the two refrigerant lines so that any one of the two expansion valves TXV1 and TXV2 can be selected.

Two expansion valves (TXV1, TXV2) installed in each refrigerant line are different from each other in the maximum opening amount so that the opening amount can be changed according to the mode of travel. In general, the expansion valve Two kinds of expansion valves are used so that the maximum opening amount can be selected corresponding to the refrigerant flow rate of the above two modes.

In order to select the maximum opening amount corresponding to the refrigerant flow rate of the two modes, one of the two expansion valves TXV1 and TXV2 uses a small expansion valve whose maximum opening amount is relatively small, and the other one uses the maximum opening amount A largely set expansion valve is used.

The small expansion valve TXV1 having the smallest opening amount is used in a one-passenger mode (compressor capacity reduction mode) occupied only by the driver and the other expansion valve TXV2 is used in an additional passenger mode And serves to expand the refrigerant in a general compressor operating region.

As described above, in the present invention, the refrigerant flow rate is controlled by varying the operation of the compressor according to the cooling load, that is, the number of passengers. In particular, in the single occupant mode in which only the driver is occupied, .

Therefore, if only one expansion valve is used, which is fixed according to the capacity of the compressor, if the refrigerant flow rate is reduced in the one-passenger mode on which only the driver is occupied, the degree of superheat of the evaporator becomes very large, and the cooling system may operate abnormally.

Accordingly, in order to control the degree of superheat of the evaporator, a parallel refrigerant line and a dual expansion valve are used so that the maximum opening amount of the expansion valve is selected in accordance with the boarding mode (one-person boarding mode / additional boarding mode) The refrigerant flow direction is controlled through the drive control of the switching valve 6 so that one of the two refrigerant lines and the expansion valves TXV1 and TXV2 can be selected.

In other words, when one expansion valve is used, it is impossible to control the degree of superheat of the evaporator 4 in correspondence with the entire operation region of the compressor 1 that varies abruptly according to the mode of travel because the maximum opening amount is fixed. A separate small expansion valve TXV1 used only in the one-passenger mode is additionally arranged in parallel with the existing expansion valve TXV2 so that the flow path switching valve 6 can switch between the two expansion valves.

2), the controller 30 confirms the passengers via the passenger detection unit 10 and controls the passenger detection unit 10 so that the passenger mode is switched to the passenger mode And controls the driving of the flow path switching valve 6 so that the refrigerant can flow through the selected one of the two refrigerant lines and the expansion valves TXV1 and TXV2.

As shown in FIG. 4, instead of the dual-type variable expansion valve device, an electronic expansion valve (hereinafter referred to as " one passenger mode " EEV) can also be used.

The electronic expansion valve (EEV) is configured so that the amount of opening can be adjusted using a stepping motor. This is because the amount of opening is electronically controlled. Therefore, when the electronic expansion valve is installed in the refrigerant line 5, It is possible to control the degree of superheat of the evaporator 4 corresponding to the region and the refrigerant flow rate.

Referring to FIG. 4, one electronic expansion valve (EEV) is provided in the refrigerant line between the condenser 2 and the evaporator 4.

The controller 30 may be a conventional air conditioner controller and may be provided with operation information of the air conditioning switch and information on the temperature of the vehicle such as room temperature, outdoor temperature, solar radiation amount, and evaporator temperature information collected through the sensors 20 of the vehicle, The entire operation of the air conditioning system is controlled based on various information for heating control.

To this end, the controller 30 receives an input signal from the air conditioning switch in response to a user's operation, and is provided with an indoor temperature sensor for detecting the vehicle interior temperature, an ambient temperature sensor for detecting the ambient temperature, a solar radiation sensor for detecting the solar radiation amount, And signals of various sensors 20 such as an evaporation temperature sensor for detecting temperature are basically inputted.

In addition, the conventional air conditioner controller controls the operation of the heating system and the cooling system based on various information collected by the sensors. In the operation of the cooling system, the operation of the electric compressor 1 and the air conditioning blower 44 is controlled, (External and internal control doors, mode control doors, etc.) 42 and 46 provided in the main body of the vehicle.

Further, the controller 30 controls the driving of the flow path switching valve 6 for controlling the refrigerant flow direction in the variable expansion valve device using the dual expansion valves TXV1 and TXV2.

Particularly, the controller 30 determines the boarding mode through the passenger detecting unit 10 and determines the boarding mode. Then, the controller 30 controls the electric compressor 1 and the air conditioning blower 44, the flow path switching valve 6 of the variable expansion valve device, (Or an electronic expansion valve).

1, the operation amount of the electric compressor 1 is reduced and the operation amount (rotation number) of the air conditioning blower is reduced by reducing the power supply amount applied to the air conditioning blower 44. For example, The power supply amount may be set to be reduced by 50% so as to reduce the operation amount of the air conditioning blower 44 by half.

In addition, in the one passenger mode, the actuator of the mode control door 46 is controlled so as not to supply the cold air to the passenger seat such as the passenger seat and the duct directed to the passenger seat is blocked. At this time, Even if the amount of air supplied by the air conditioning blower 44 is reduced to half, the amount of air felt by the driver becomes equal to the operating amount of the air conditioning blower 100%.

By blocking the supply of cold air to an unnecessary space in the vehicle interior, the cooling performance felt by the driver is equal, but the fuel efficiency of the vehicle is increased.

The passenger detecting unit 10 is for detecting whether or not the passenger seat is occupied. The passenger detecting unit 10 may be a seat belt switch installed in a passenger seat such as a passenger seat, a piezoelectric sensor for outputting an electric signal when a passenger seats in the passenger seat, 30 receives the detection signal of the passenger detection unit 10 and determines the boarding mode.

When the passenger sits in the passenger seat, the piezoelectric sensor outputs an electrical signal based on the body pressure applied to the seat cushion, and the controller 30 receives the electrical signal and recognizes that the passenger has further carried the vehicle.

Meanwhile, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control method of a cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a control method of a cooling system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in the figure, when a user such as a driver operates the air conditioning switch to set the operation mode of the air conditioning system to the AUTO mode, at the time of operation of the cooling system, the controller confirms whether or not the passenger seat is boarded through the passenger detection unit, do.

Here, in the case of the additional boarding mode in which there is an additional passenger other than the driver, the normal AUTO mode is performed under the control of the controller. Based on the information collected through various sensors of the vehicle, the indoor temperature of the vehicle is set to a target temperature Respectively.

At this time, the electric power supply amount and operation amount (revolution number) of the electric compressor, the electric power supply amount of the air conditioning blower, and the operation amount (revolution number) can be controlled to a predetermined value based on the collected information.

In this case, the amount of opening of the expansion valve is controlled by the amount of opening of the additional occupant mode in the variable expansion valve device, so that the refrigerant passes through the expansion valve whose opening amount is set large by controlling the driving of the flow path switching valve. The position of the mode control door is controlled so as to open both the driver's seat and the duct to the passenger seat, so that the cool air is discharged to both the driver's seat and the passenger's seat.

In the case of using an electronic expansion valve, the opening degree of the electronic expansion valve is controlled to a value set in the additional boarding mode by controlling the driving of the step motor to control the degree of superheat of the evaporator according to the cooling load.

On the other hand, in the case of a one-person boarding mode occupied only by the driver, the indoor temperature detected by the indoor temperature sensor is compared with a predetermined reference temperature (for example, 35 DEG C) do.

That is, when the room temperature is lower than the reference temperature, the power supply amount of the electric compressor and the air-conditioning blower is reduced as compared with the additional boarding mode (for example, reduced to 50%) as described above to reduce the driving amount of the electric compressor and air- .

Also, since only the driver is boarded, the position of the mode control door is controlled so that the driver can feel the same level of cooling performance so that the duct directed to the passenger seat is blocked, thereby releasing cool air only to the driver's seat.

In addition, when the electronic expansion valve is used, the driving of the stepping motor is controlled so that the amount of opening of the electronic expansion valve is reduced This is reduced to the set value of the single-person boarding mode.

When the indoor temperature exceeds the reference temperature, the power supply amount of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower is controlled to a value of the additional occupant mode, and the opening amount of the variable expansion valve device is controlled to the value of the additional occupant mode, The position of the mode control door is controlled so that the ducts directed to the passenger seat are blocked.

That is, in order to rapidly lower the room temperature, the operation mode of the electric compressor and the air-conditioning blower is not reduced but the variable expansion valve device is controlled in addition to the mode of the additional boarding mode. However, the cooling air is discharged only to the driver's seat, At the same time, maximize cooling performance.

In this way, according to the present invention, it is possible to control the operation amount of the compressor and the air conditioning blower and the supply of the cool air according to whether or not the passenger of the driver boarding the passenger is present. Especially, So that unnecessary power consumption can be minimized during cooling and the fuel economy of the vehicle can be improved.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. And are also included in the scope of the present invention.

1: compressor 2: condenser
3: Variable expansion valve device 4: Evaporator
5: Refrigerant line 6: Flow path switching valve
10: passenger detection unit 20: sensor
30: Controller 41: Air conditioning duct
42: Internal / external control door 43: Filter
44: air conditioning blower 45: heater
46: Mode control door TXV1, TXV2: Expansion valve
EEV: Electronic expansion valve

Claims (10)

A method of controlling a cooling system of an environmentally friendly vehicle using an electric compressor,
a) determining whether one of the one-person boarding mode in which the controller confirms whether or not the passenger of the passenger seat is boarded on the basis of the signal of the passenger detecting unit and the additional boarding mode in which the passenger is additionally boarded on the passenger seat, ;
b) controlling the position of the mode control door so that the controller supplies power to the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower at a predetermined value compared with the additional mode, and at the same time, the cool air is supplied only to the driver's seat;
, ≪ / RTI >
Wherein the controller adjusts the opening amount of the refrigerant expansion means according to the boarding mode in the step b).
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step b) is performed only when a room temperature of the vehicle is lower than a predetermined reference temperature.
The method of claim 2,
And controls the position of the mode control door so that cool air is supplied only to the driver's seat when the indoor temperature of the vehicle exceeds the reference temperature, and controls the power supply amount of the electric compressor and the air- Wherein the air conditioning system is controlled by the air conditioning system.
delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the controller reduces the opening amount of the refrigerant expansion means to a preset value in comparison with the additional boarding mode in the case of the one-person boarding mode.
In a cooling system of an environmentally friendly vehicle using an electric compressor,
A passenger detecting unit for detecting whether or not a passenger is boarding in the passenger seat excluding the driver's seat;
A mode control door for controlling a direction of supply of cold air passing through the evaporator;
A controller for determining whether the passenger is boarding passengers from the signal of the passenger detecting unit and determining one of the passengers' boarding mode in which only the driver is boarded and the additional boarding mode in which the passenger is additionally boarded;
Wherein the controller is arranged to control the operation amount of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower and the position of the mode control door according to the boarding mode,
A cooling system for an eco-friendly vehicle, characterized in that a variable expansion valve device capable of adjusting the amount of opening by the controller is used according to a mode of travel as refrigerant expansion means for refrigerant expansion.
The method of claim 6,
Wherein the controller controls the position of the mode control door so that the electric power supply amount of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower in the one-passenger mode is reduced as compared with the additional boarding mode while the cool air is supplied only to the driver's seat.
delete The method of claim 6,
The variable expansion valve device is characterized in that the refrigerant line between the condenser and the evaporator is branched into two refrigerant lines, each expansion valve is provided in each branched refrigerant line, and one of the expansion valves is selectively used. Wherein the branch point is provided with a flow path switching valve which is driven to selectively switch the refrigerant flow direction under the control of the controller.
The method of claim 9,
The two expansion valves are provided so that the maximum opening amounts are different from each other,
The controller controls the drive of the flow path switching valve so that the expansion valve having the maximum opening amount set to a relatively small value is used in the single passenger mode and the expansion valve having the maximum opening amount set to a relatively large value in the additional passenger mode is used Cooling system of an environmentally friendly vehicle.

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