KR20120135537A - Air conditioning system of clean car and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A cooling system of environment friendly vehicle and a controlling method thereof is provided to minimize power consumption at cooling by reducing the operation amount of an air blower and a compressor. CONSTITUTION: A cooling system of environment friendly vehicle comprises a passenger detection unit, a mode control door(43), and a controller(30). The passenger detection unit detects weather or not the boarding of passengers. The mode control door controls supply direction of a cool air passed through an evaporator. The controller detects the boarding of passengers from signals of the passenger detection unit. The controller controls the operation amount of a compressor(1) and an air blower(44) according to a boarding mode. [Reference numerals] (1) Electric compressor; (10) Passenger detection unit; (20) Sensors; (30) Air conditioning controller; (42) Internal and external air controlling door; (43) Mode controlling door; (44) Air conditioning blower; (6) Flow path switching valve(or electromagnetic expansion valve)

Description

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

The present invention relates to a cooling system for a green vehicle and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to minimize vehicle power consumption when cooling a vehicle in an environmentally friendly vehicle such as a fuel cell vehicle using an electric compressor for cooling the vehicle, thereby improving vehicle fuel economy. It relates to a cooling system that can be made 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 caused by carbon dioxide, and 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.

Eco-friendly vehicles such as pure electric vehicles using electric motors as a driving source, hybrid cars using engines (internal combustion engines) and electric motors as driving sources, and fuel cell cars driven by driving electric motors with generated power generated from fuel cells. Has been developed.

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

In addition, in eco-friendly vehicles, power consumption during driving is directly related to vehicle fuel economy (cruising distance in pure electric vehicles (ie, one-charge driving distance)). For example, in fuel cell vehicles, fuel gas (eg, Since the driving power is generated using hydrogen), it is important to minimize unnecessary power consumption in order to improve fuel efficiency.

However, when operating an air conditioning system in an eco-friendly vehicle, it is necessary to drive an electric heater, a compressor, an air conditioning blower, and thus consumes a lot of power, and in order to improve fuel economy, it is very important to reduce the electric load.

In particular, eco-friendly vehicles driven by electric motors use electric compressors that consume electric power, unlike internal combustion engine vehicles. Therefore, when operating a cooling system, vehicle fuel economy is inevitably reduced.

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

Accordingly, the present invention has been created to solve the above problems, and minimizes unnecessary power consumption when cooling the vehicle in an eco-friendly vehicle (pure electric vehicle, hybrid vehicle, fuel cell vehicle, etc.) using an electric compressor for cooling the vehicle. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a cooling system and a control method thereof that can improve vehicle fuel economy (cruising distance in the case of pure electric vehicles).

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a control method of a cooling system for an environmentally friendly vehicle using an electric compressor, a) by the controller during operation of the cooling system to check whether the passenger seat in the passenger seat from the signal of the passenger detection unit Determining one of a single boarding mode in which only the driver boards and an additional boarding mode in which the passenger additionally boards the passenger seat; b) controlling the position of the mode control door such that the controller reduces the power supply of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower to a preset value in comparison with the additional boarding mode while supplying cool air only to the driver's seat when the boarding mode is 1; It provides a cooling system control method for an environment-friendly vehicle, characterized in that made.

In addition, the present invention provides a cooling system for an eco-friendly vehicle using an electric compressor, comprising: a passenger detecting unit for detecting whether a passenger is in a passenger seat except a driver's seat; A mode control door for controlling a supply direction of cold air passing through the evaporator; And a controller configured to determine whether the passenger boards the passenger from the signal of the passenger detection unit, and determine one of a boarding mode for one passenger and a second boarding mode in which the passenger is additionally boarded. It provides an eco-friendly vehicle cooling system characterized in that it is provided to control 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 of the present invention, the amount of operation of the compressor and the air conditioning blower and the direction of supply of the cool air are controlled according to whether the passenger other than the driver is in the passenger's seat. By reducing the amount of operation of the compressor and the air conditioning blower, it is possible to minimize the power consumption during cooling, and to improve the vehicle fuel economy.

1 is a block diagram showing 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 illustrating 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 configured in an environment-friendly vehicle such as a pure electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle using an electric compressor for cooling the vehicle, and minimizes unnecessary power consumption when cooling the vehicle. The main purpose is to improve the range (in the case of pure electric vehicles).

In the case of an eco-friendly vehicle, an internal combustion engine is used in an eco-friendly vehicle because the electric compressor used for cooling the vehicle can actively control the rotational speed according to the operation of the inverter regardless of the rotational speed (RPM) of the driving motor for driving the vehicle. Compared to a vehicle (using a compressor which uses an engine as a driving source), variable operation of a cooling system is possible.

Therefore, in the present invention, by utilizing the wide control area of the electric compressor to the maximum, by variably controlling the compressor, air conditioning blower, mod control door, etc. of the cooling system according to the number of passengers to minimize unnecessary power consumption when cooling the vehicle, thereby Achieve the objective of improvement.

1 is a block diagram showing a cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is an embodiment of the present invention It is a schematic diagram which shows the installation state of the cooling system.

As shown in the drawing, 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, which is a basic configuration of a conventional vehicle cooling system. 4) and a refrigerant line 5 connecting the refrigerant to circulate therebetween.

In addition, the cooling system according to the present invention, the air-conditioning blower 44 to suck and blow the inside or outside air, and supply the cold air (cooling air passing through the evaporator) to the driver's seat alone, or together with the driver's seat to the passenger seat, such as the passenger seat. And a mode adjustment door 46 which is selectively controlled to.

In addition, the cooling system according to the present invention, the passenger detection unit 10 for detecting the passenger boarding in passenger seats, such as the passenger seat except the driver's seat, and the compressor (1) according to whether the passenger is detected through the passenger detection unit 10 And a controller 30 for controlling the driving of the air conditioning blower 44.

The cooling system of the present invention operates in two modes: a single boarding mode in which only a driver drives and a supplementary boarding mode in which a passenger is additionally boarded in addition to the driver. In single occupant mode, the vehicle's fuel economy is improved by reducing the amount of operation (related to the amount of power supplied and the number of revolutions) of the cooling system (electric compressor and air conditioning blower).

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

3 shows a state in which a configuration of a cooling system is installed in addition to the configuration of a conventional air conditioning system, and includes an internal and external air control door 42, a filter 43, an air conditioning blower 44, and an evaporator 4 in the air conditioning duct 41. ), The heater 45 for heating, and the mode control door 46 is installed.

In the configuration of the heating system according to the present invention, the compressor 1 is a motorized compressor using an electric motor as a drive source, and the drive of the motorized compressor 1 is controlled by the controller 30 (see Fig. 2).

In the case of the motor-driven compressor 1, the operation amount, that is, the rotation speed can be variably controlled according to the power supply amount, and the variable operation is possible with the power supply amount adjusted according to the cooling load.

Accordingly, in the present invention, the controller 30 reduces the amount of power supply and reduces the amount of operation of the motor-driven compressor 1 in a one-person boarding mode in which only the driver alone rides and operates (the capacity of the compressor is reduced, and the mass flow rate of the refrigerant is reduced. In this case, since the power consumed during cooling is reduced, the vehicle fuel efficiency can be improved.

As described above, in the one-person boarding mode, the cooling load and the power consumption of the compressor are reduced. For example, in the one-person boarding mode, the power supplied to the compressor may be reduced by half.

In addition, the variable flow rate of the electric compressor 1 is controlled so that the flow rate of the refrigerant supplied from the compressor, that is, the flow rate of the refrigerant circulating through the coolant line 5, is varied. The refrigerant flow rate is reduced by half.

Accordingly, as the refrigerant expansion means 3 for expanding the refrigerant, it is preferable to adopt a configuration of a variable expansion valve device in which the opening amount can be adjusted according to the riding mode so as to respectively correspond to the refrigerant flow rates in the two modes. In the boarding mode, the opening amount is reduced to a preset value as compared to the additional boarding mode.

Variable expansion valve device is configured in the refrigerant line between the condenser (2) and the evaporator (4) as in the conventional, as an embodiment of the dual system using two expansion valves (TXV: Thermal Expansion Valve (TXV1, TXV2) It can be a configuration.

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

Here, two expansion valves TXV1 and TXV2 installed in each refrigerant line may use two types of expansion valves having different maximum opening amounts so that the opening amount may vary depending on the riding mode. Since the opening amount is determined, two types of expansion valves are used so that the maximum opening amount can be selected corresponding to the refrigerant flow rates of the two modes.

In addition, one of the two expansion valves TXV1 and TXV2 uses a small expansion valve in which the maximum opening amount is relatively small so that the maximum opening amount is selected in response to the refrigerant flow rates of the two modes. Larger expansion valves are used.

The small expansion valve (TXV1) with a small maximum opening is used in the one-person boarding mode in which only the driver rides (compressor capacity reduction mode), and the other expansion valve (TXV2) is used in the additional boarding mode in which the passenger additionally boards. As it is used to serve to expand the refrigerant in the general compressor operating area.

As described above, in the present invention, the refrigerant flow rate is controlled by variably driving the compressor according to the cooling load, that is, the number of passengers, and in particular, the refrigerant flow rate is reduced by reducing the amount of operation of the compressor in the single-person boarding mode. Let's go.

Therefore, if only one expansion valve having a maximum opening amount fixed according to the capacity of the compressor is used, the superheat of the evaporator may be too large when the refrigerant flow rate is reduced in the single-person mode in which only the driver is in the air, which may cause abnormal operation of the cooling system.

Therefore, 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 according to the boarding mode (single boarding mode / additional boarding mode). By controlling the flow of the refrigerant through the drive control of the switching valve (6), one of the two refrigerant lines and expansion valves (TXV1, TXV2) can be selected.

In other words, when one expansion valve is used, it is impossible to control the superheat degree of the evaporator 4 in correspondence with the entire operating region of the compressor 1 which is rapidly changed according to the riding mode since the maximum opening amount is fixed. In the additional single expansion valve (TXV1) that is used only in the single-person boarding mode is further arranged in parallel with the existing expansion valve (TXV2), the flow path switching valve (6) is responsible for switching between the two expansion valves.

In the above-described variable expansion valve device configuration, the flow path switching valve 6 is controlled by the controller 30 (see FIG. 2), and the controller 30 checks the occupants through the passenger detection unit 10 to board the riding mode. After the determination, the drive of the flow path switching valve 6 is controlled so that the refrigerant flows into one selected from two refrigerant lines and expansion valves TXV1 and TXV2.

And, instead of the dual type variable expansion valve device as described above, as shown in Figure 4, the electronic expansion valve that is actively controlled the opening amount according to the riding mode (1 person boarding mode / additional boarding mode) and the driving state of the compressor ( EEV) is also available.

The electronic expansion valve (EEV) is configured so that the opening amount can be adjusted by using a step motor. Since the opening amount is electronically controlled, all operations of the electric compressor 1 when installed in the refrigerant line 5 are performed. The superheat degree of the evaporator 4 can be controlled in correspondence with the region and the refrigerant flow rate.

Referring to FIG. 4, an electronic expansion valve EEV is installed in the refrigerant line between the condenser 2 and the evaporator 4.

On the other hand, the controller 30 may be a conventional air conditioner, the vehicle cooling / operation information of the air conditioning switch, and the indoor temperature, outside air temperature, insolation, evaporator temperature information collected through each sensor 20 of the vehicle, etc. The overall operation of the air conditioning system is controlled based on various information for heating control.

To this end, the controller 30 receives a signal according to a user's operation from the air conditioning switch, an indoor temperature sensor for detecting the vehicle indoor temperature, an outside air temperature sensor for detecting the outside temperature, an insolation sensor for detecting the amount of insolation, and an evaporator Basically, signals of various sensors 20 such as an evaporation temperature sensor for detecting a temperature are input.

In addition, the conventional air conditioning controller controls the operation of the heating system and the cooling system based on various information collected by the sensor, and controls the operation of the electric compressor 1 and the air conditioning blower 44 during operation of the cooling system, To control the operation of the various doors (inside and outside air control door, mode control door, etc.) (42,46) installed in the.

In addition, 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.

In particular, the controller 30 determines the boarding mode by checking the number of passengers through the passenger detecting unit 10, and then, according to the boarding mode, the electric compressor 1, the air conditioning blower 44, and the flow path switching valve 6 of the variable expansion valve device. (Or electronic expansion valve) to control the operation.

In the single-ride mode, the operation amount of the electric compressor 1 is reduced, and at the same time, the amount of power applied to the air-conditioning blower 44 is reduced to reduce the operation amount (speed) of the air-conditioning blower. In this case, the power supply can be reduced by 50% to reduce the operation amount of the air conditioning blower 44 by half.

In addition, in the single-person boarding mode, the actuator of the mode control door 46 is blocked so that cold air is not supplied to the passenger seat such as the passenger seat, thereby blocking the duct to the passenger seat, and at this time, half of all the vents of the vehicle where the cold air is discharged are vents of the passenger seat. Is blocked and only the vent of the driver's seat is opened, the air volume felt by the driver is equivalent to 100% of the operating amount of the air conditioning blower even if the air volume supplied by the air conditioning blower is reduced by half.

In this way, by blocking the supply of cold air to the unnecessary space of the vehicle interior, the cooling performance felt by the driver is equal, but the vehicle fuel economy can be increased.

In addition, the passenger detection unit 10 is used to detect whether or not the passenger seat, a seat belt switch installed in the passenger seat, such as a passenger seat, may be a piezoelectric sensor for outputting an electrical signal when the passenger is seated in the passenger seat, the controller ( 30 determines the boarding mode by receiving the detection signal from the passenger detecting unit 10.

The piezoelectric sensor outputs an electrical signal by the body pressure applied to the seat cushion when the passenger is seated in the passenger seat, and the controller 30 receives the electrical signal to recognize that the passenger is additionally boarded.

On the other hand, Figure 5 is a flow chart showing a control method of the cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention, with reference to this description of the control method of the cooling system according to the present invention.

As shown, when a user such as a driver sets the operation mode of the air conditioning system to the AUTO mode by operating the air conditioning switch, the controller determines the boarding mode by checking whether the passenger seat is in the passenger seat through the passenger detection unit during the operation of the air conditioning system. do.

Here, in the additional boarding mode in which there are additional passengers besides the driver, the normal AUTO mode is performed under the control of the controller, and the indoor temperature of the vehicle is set to the target temperature set by the driver based on information collected through various sensors of the vehicle. Control.

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

In this case, the variable expansion valve device controls the opening amount of the expansion valve as the opening amount of the additional boarding mode.The flow of the flow path switching valve is controlled to allow the refrigerant to pass through the expansion valve in which the opening amount is large. The position of the mode control door is controlled to open both the ducts to the driver's seat and the passenger's seat, so that cool air is discharged to both the driver's seat and the passenger seat.

If the electronic expansion valve is used, in order to control the degree of superheat of the evaporator according to the cooling load, the driving amount of the step motor is controlled to control the opening amount of the electronic expansion valve to the set value of the additional riding mode.

On the other hand, in the one-person boarding mode in which only the driver boards, the indoor temperature detected by the indoor temperature sensor is compared with a preset reference temperature (eg, 35 ° C.), and control of the single-person boarding mode is performed only when the temperature is lower than the reference temperature. do.

That is, when the indoor temperature is lower than the reference temperature, as described above, the power supply of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower is reduced compared to the additional boarding mode (eg, reduced to 50%), thereby reducing the power consumption of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower. Will be reduced.

In addition, since only the driver is on board, the duct to the passenger seat is blocked by controlling the position of the mode control door so that the driver can feel the same level of cooling performance, thereby allowing the cold air to be discharged only to the driver's seat.

In addition, the flow path switching valve is controlled to allow the refrigerant to pass through the expansion valve having a large opening amount, and in the case of using an electronic expansion valve, the opening amount of the electronic expansion valve is reduced compared to the additional boarding mode by controlling the driving of the step motor. It will be reduced to the set value of single boarding mode.

In addition, when the room temperature exceeds the reference temperature, the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower control the value of the additional boarding mode without reducing the power supply amount, and the opening amount of the variable expansion valve device is also controlled to the value of the additional boarding mode, The ducts leading to the passenger seats control the position of the mode adjustment doors to be blocked.

In other words, in order to lower the room temperature quickly, the motorized compressor and the air conditioning blower are controlled without additional reduction in the additional boarding mode with the variable expansion valve device, but the cold air is discharged only to the driver's seat to prevent the supply of cold air to the unnecessary space. At the same time, it maximizes cooling performance.

As such, in the present invention, the amount of operation of the compressor and the air conditioning blower and the supply of cold air can be controlled according to whether the passenger other than the driver is on the board, and in particular, the compressor and the air conditioning blower as compared to the case where there are additional passengers when the driver is on board. Since the amount of operation can be reduced, unnecessary power consumption can be minimized during cooling, and the fuel economy of the vehicle is improved.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are provided. 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: inside and outside air control door 43: filter
44: air conditioning blower 45: heater
46: mode control door TXV1, TXV2: expansion valve
EEV: Electronic Expansion Valve

Claims (10)

In the control method of the cooling system of an environmentally friendly vehicle using an electric compressor,
a) during operation of the air conditioning system, the controller checks whether the passenger seat is in the passenger seat from the signal of the passenger detection unit, and determines one of the single boarding mode in which only the driver boards and the additional boarding mode in which the passenger additionally boards in the passenger seat; ;
b) controlling the position of the mode control door so that the cooler is supplied only to the driver's seat while reducing the power supply of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower to a preset value compared to the additional boarding mode when the boarding mode is 1;
Cooling system control method for an eco-friendly vehicle, characterized in that comprises a.
The method according to claim 1,
The b) step of controlling the cooling system of the eco-friendly vehicle, characterized in that the indoor temperature of the vehicle is performed only below a predetermined reference temperature.
The method according to claim 2,
When the indoor temperature of the vehicle exceeds the reference temperature, the position of the mode control door is controlled so that cold air is supplied only to the driver's seat, and the electric power supply of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower is controlled by the set value of the additional boarding mode. How to control the cooling system of an environmentally friendly vehicle.
The method according to claim 1,
In the step b), the controller controls the opening amount of the refrigerant expansion means according to the riding mode control method of the environmentally friendly vehicle.
The method of claim 4,
The controller is a cooling system control method for an eco-friendly vehicle, characterized in that in the one-person boarding mode, the opening amount of the refrigerant expansion means is reduced to a predetermined value compared to the additional boarding mode.
In the cooling system of an eco-friendly vehicle using an electric compressor,
A passenger detection unit for detecting whether the passenger is in the passenger seat except the driver's seat;
A mode control door for controlling a supply direction of cold air passing through the evaporator;
A controller which checks whether a passenger is boarded from the signal of the passenger detection unit and determines one of a boarding mode for one passenger and a further boarding mode for the passenger;
And the controller is configured 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 riding mode.
The method of claim 6,
The controller reduces the power supply of the electric compressor and the air conditioning blower in a single boarding mode as compared to the additional boarding mode and at the same time controls the position of the mode control door so that the cool air is supplied only to the driver's seat.
The method of claim 6,
As a refrigerant expansion means for expanding the refrigerant, a variable expansion valve device that can be adjusted by the controller according to the riding mode is used, the cooling system of an eco-friendly vehicle, characterized in that used.
The method according to claim 8,
The variable expansion valve device branches the refrigerant line between the condenser and the evaporator into two refrigerant lines, installs each expansion valve in each branched refrigerant line, and selects any one of the expansion valves. The branching point cooling system of an eco-friendly vehicle, characterized in that the flow path switching valve is installed to be driven to selectively switch the refrigerant flow direction under the control of the controller.
The method according to claim 9,
The two expansion valves are provided so that the maximum opening amount is different from each other,
The controller controls the driving of the flow path switching valve, so that the expansion valve set to the relatively small maximum opening amount is used in a single boarding mode, and the expansion valve set to a relatively large maximum opening amount is used in the additional boarding mode. Environmentally friendly vehicle cooling system.

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