VEHICLE AIR CONDITIONER

• US 20150114016A1
• Filed: 04/01/2013
• Published: 04/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Ota, Koji, Sagou, Yasuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,827,826 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 62/133
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00742 by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00778 the input being a stationary vehicle position, e.g. parking or stopping
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00821 the components being ventilating, air admitting or air distributing devices

Abstract

When an air conditioning ECU determines that it is immediately before idling stop, the air conditioning ECU implements a front seat air conditioning mode even if the air conditioning ECU determines that an occupant intensive air-conditioning mode can be implemented. Accordingly, the air conditioning ECU controls opening and closing mechanisms so as to blow a conditioned air from driver'"'"'s seat side outlet ports, and also blow the conditioned air from a passenger'"'"'s seat side foot outlet port. Hence, in cooling operation, since a temperature increase of air drawn into an inside air inlet port is limited when the idling stop is carried out, temperature increase of air blown into the vehicle interior from the outlet port can be restricted. In other words, a temperature change in the vehicle interior can be limited when a travel engine stops due to the idling stop.

Claims

1. A vehicle air conditioner, comprising:

a heat exchanger in which heat is exchanged between a heat medium that changes in temperature due to an energy output from a travel engine of an automobile and an inside air drawn through an inside air inlet port;

a plurality of outlet ports at least one of which is disposed for each of seats of the automobile, the plurality of outlet ports being ports through which a conditioned air that has passed through the heat exchanger is blown out;

a blowing control mechanism that permits or stops the blowing out of the conditioned air from the outlet port provided for each of the seats;

an idling stop determination unit that determines whether it is immediately before idling stop in which the travel engine stops;

an air-conditioning-mode determination unit that determines whether an occupant intensive air-conditioning mode, in which the conditioned air is blown intensively to an occupant, can be performed;

a first air conditioning control unit that controls the blowing control mechanism to blow the conditioned air from at least one of the plurality of outlet ports, wherein the at least one of the plurality of outlet ports corresponds to a seated seat in which an occupant is seated; and

a second air conditioning control unit that controls the blowing control mechanism to blow the conditioned air from at least one of the plurality of outlet ports, wherein the at least one of the plurality of outlet ports corresponds to an unseated seat in which an occupant is not seated, wherein

the first air conditioning control unit operates when the idling stop determination unit determines that it is not immediately before the idling stop, and when the air-conditioning-mode determination unit determines that the occupant intensive air-conditioning mode can be implemented, and

the second air conditioning control unit operates when the idling stop determination unit determines that it is immediately before the idling stop, and when the air-conditioning-mode determination unit determines that the occupant intensive air-conditioning mode can be implemented.

2. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising

a vapor compression refrigeration cycle device including a compressor that compresses a refrigerant as the heat medium by a kinetic energy output from the travel engine, a cooler that cools the refrigerant which is discharged from the compressor and has a high temperature and a high pressure, a decompressor that decompresses the refrigerant cooled by the cooler to a low temperature and a low pressure and discharges the refrigerant, and a cooling heat exchanger in that the inside air is cooled via heat exchange with the refrigerant which is output from the decompressor and has the low temperature and low pressure, wherein

the heat exchanger includes the cooling heat exchanger of the vapor compression refrigeration cycle device.

3. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein

the heat exchanger includes a heating heat exchanger that heats the inside air via heat exchange with the heat medium having the temperature raised by a thermal energy output from the travel engine.

4. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising an intensive-air-conditioning setting switch operated by the occupant to set the occupant intensive air-conditioning mode, wherein

the air-conditioning-mode determination unit determines whether the occupant intensive air-conditioning mode can be implemented, by determining whether the intensive-air-conditioning switch is set to the occupant intensive air-conditioning mode.

5. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising a seating sensor that detects whether the occupant is seated in each of the seats separately, wherein

the air-conditioning-mode determination unit determines that the occupant intensive air-conditioning mode can be implemented, when the air-conditioning-mode determination unit determines based on detection of the seating senor that an occupant is seated only in a driver'"'"'s seat of the seats in the automobile.

6. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein

the number of outlet ports provided for each of the seats is plural, and

the second air conditioning control unit controls the blowing control mechanism to blow the conditioned air from an outlet port disposed at a position closer to the inside air inlet port in the plurality of outlet ports corresponding to the unseated seats.

7. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 6, wherein the outlet port disposed at the position closer to the inside air inlet port is a foot outlet port through which the conditioned air is blown toward a foot area of the occupant.

8. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein

the plurality of outlet ports includes a rear seat outlet port corresponding to a seat located rearward of a driver'"'"'s seat and a passenger'"'"'s seat of the seats, and

the second air conditioning control unit controls the blowing control mechanism to stop blowing of the conditioned air from the rear seat outlet port, and to blow the conditioned air from the outlet port corresponding to the unseated seat.

9. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the idling stop determination unit determines whether it is immediately before the idling stop, by determining whether an operation rate of the travel engine per time is lower than a threshold.

10. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the idling stop determination unit determines whether it is immediately before the idling stop, by determining whether a continuous operation time of the travel engine is lower than a threshold.

11. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the idling stop determination unit determines whether it is immediately before the idling stop, by determining whether a speed of the automobile is lower than a threshold.

12. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the idling stop determination unit determines whether it is immediately before the idling stop, by determining whether a change rate of the speed of the automobile is equal to or higher than a threshold.

13. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising an information acquisition device that acquires information on a road on which the automobile travels, wherein

the idling stop determination unit determines whether it is immediately before the idling stop, by determining whether the number of traffic lights located within a predetermined distance in a vehicle travel direction on a road, on which the automobile travels, is larger than or equal to a predetermined number on the basis of the information acquired by the information acquisition device.

14. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising a load determination unit that determines whether a load of air conditioning of a vehicle interior is equal to or higher than a threshold, wherein

the second air conditioning control unit controls the blowing control mechanism to blow the conditioned air from the outlet port corresponding to the unseated seat when the load determination unit determines that the load of air conditioning of the vehicle interior is equal to or higher than the threshold, and when the idling stop determination unit determines that it is immediately before the idling stop.

15. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 14, further comprising:

an inside air sensor that detects an air temperature of the vehicle interior;

a temperature setting device that sets a set temperature of the air temperature of the vehicle interior; and

a temperature control unit that controls the air temperature blown from the outlet port provided for each of the seats such that the detection temperature of the inside air sensor approaches the set temperature, wherein

the load determination unit determines whether the load of air conditioning of the vehicle interior is equal to or higher than the threshold, by determining whether an absolute value of a temperature difference between the detection temperature of the inside air sensor and the set temperature is equal to or higher than a threshold value.

16. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 14, further comprising:

an inside air sensor that detects an air temperature of the vehicle interior;

a temperature setting device that sets a set temperature of the air temperature of the vehicle interior;

a temperature calculation unit that calculates a target blowing temperature of the conditioned air blown from the outlet port for making the detection temperature of the inside air sensor approach the set temperature; and

a temperature control unit that controls the air temperature blown from the outlet port provided for each of the seats such that the temperature of the conditioned air blown from the outlet port approaches the target blowing temperature, wherein

the load determination unit determines whether the load of air conditioning of the vehicle interior is equal to or higher than the threshold, by determining whether the target blowing temperature falls outside a predetermined range.

17. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the blowing control mechanism adjusts an air volume blown from each of the outlet ports separately.

18. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 17, wherein the second air conditioning control unit controls the blowing control mechanism to increase the air volume of the conditioned air blown from the outlet port corresponding to the unseated seat with increase of the load of air conditioning of the vehicle interior.

19. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 17, wherein the second air conditioning control unit controls the blowing control mechanisms to make an air volume blown from the outlet port corresponding to the unseated seat become smaller than an air volume output from the outlet port corresponding to the seated seat.

20. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising a traffic jam information acquisition device that acquires traffic jam information on a road on which the automobile travels, wherein

the idling stop determination unit determines whether it is immediately before the idling stop, by determining whether a distance of a traffic jam generated in a travel direction on a road on which the automobile travels is longer than or equal to a predetermined distance, on the basis of the traffic jam information acquired by the traffic jam information acquisition device.

21. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 20, wherein

the blowing control mechanism adjusts an air volume blown from each of the outlet ports separately, and

the second air conditioning control unit controls the blowing control mechanism to increase the air volume of the conditioned air blown from the outlet port corresponding to the unseated seat with increase of the traffic jam distance on the road based on the traffic jam information.