AIR CONDITIONER FOR VEHICLE

• US 20120253573A1
• Filed: 03/26/2012
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Shigyo, Masakatsu
• Granted Patent: US 8,688,322 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00421 Driving arrangements for parts of a vehicle air-conditioning B60H1/3222 takes precedence; auxiliary drives per se for vehicles B60K25/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/03 and from a source other than the propulsion plant
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/3213 for increasing the efficiency in a vehicle heat pump

Abstract

An air conditioner for a vehicle in which an operational efficiency of an in-vehicle equipment is controlled, includes a first heating portion which heats air to be blown into a vehicle compartment by using heat medium, a second heating portion which heats the blown air by using heating energy outputted from the in-vehicle equipment, a determination portion which determines a target heat amount ratio that is a target value of a heating amount ratio of a second heat amount used in the second heating portion to a first heat amount used in the first heating portion, and a heating adjustment portion which adjusts at least one of the first and second heat amounts such that the heat amount ratio approaches the target heat amount ratio. The target heat amount ratio is increased in accordance with an increase of the operational efficiency.

Claims

1. An air conditioner for a vehicle having an in-vehicle equipment which outputs heating energy for heating air to be blown into a vehicle compartment of the vehicle, in which a temperature of the in-vehicle equipment is adjusted to be within a predetermined standard range, and an operational efficiency (η

e) of the in-vehicle equipment is controlled such that a fuel consumption of the in-vehicle equipment approaches a smallest amount when the in-vehicle equipment is operated, the air conditioner comprising;

a first heating portion arranged in a circulation circuit through which a heat medium heated by waste heat of the in-vehicle equipment circulates, the first heating portion heating air to be blown into the vehicle compartment by using the heat medium as a heat source;

a second heating portion configured to heat the blown air by using the heating energy outputted from the in-vehicle equipment;

a determination portion configured to determine a target heat amount ratio that is a target value of a heat amount ratio (hm2/hm1), the heat amount ratio (hm2/hm1) being a ratio of a second heat amount (hm2) used for heating the blown air in the second heating portion to a first heat amount (hm1) used for heating the blown air in the first heating portion; and

a heating adjustment portion configured to adjust at least one of the first heat amount (hm1) and the second heat amount (hm2) such that the heat amount ratio (hm2/hm1) approaches the target heat amount ratio, wherein

the determination portion causes the target heat amount ratio to be increased in accordance with an increase of the operational efficiency (η

e).

2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein

the determination portion increases an elevation degree of the target heat amount ratio in accordance with a decrease of a temperature of the heat medium flowing out of the in-vehicle equipment.

3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein

the determination portion determines the target heat amount ratio such that a sum of two products, which are a product of a first fuel cost (f1) and a first heat amount (hm1) and a product of a second fuel cost (f2) and a second heat amount (hm2), approaches the smallest value, when

the first fuel cost (f1) is defined as

f1=Ful1/hw=(egyl/η

e)/hw

in which, Ful1 is a total fuel consumption of the in-vehicle equipment, egyl is an energy amount of the in-vehicle equipment being capable of outputting, η

e is the operational efficiency of the in-vehicle equipment, hm1 is the first heat amount used for heating the blown air in the first heating portion, and hw is an amount of the waste heat transferred from the in-vehicle equipment to the heat medium, and

the second fuel cost (f2) is defined as

f2=Ful2/hm2

in which, Ful2 is a fuel consumption of the in-vehicle equipment for outputting the heating energy, and hm2 is the second heat amount used for heating the blown air in the second heating portion.

4. The air conditioner according to claim 3, further comprising

a storage portion configured to store the first fuel cost (f1), which correlates to the temperature of the heat medium flowing out of the in-vehicle equipment, and the second fuel cost (f2), wherein

the determination portion determines the target heat amount ratio by using the first fuel cost (f1) and the second fuel cost (f2) which are stored in the storage portion.

5. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the second heating portion heats the blown air by using electrical energy transformed from mechanical energy outputted from the in-vehicle equipment.

6. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the second heating portion heats the blown air by using mechanical energy outputted from the in-vehicle equipment.

7. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the in-vehicle equipment is an internal combustion engine which outputs mechanical energy by consuming fuel.

8. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the in-vehicle equipment is a fuel cell which outputs electrical energy by consuming fuel.