USER BODY TEMPERATURE ASSISTANCE SYSTEM ASSOCIATED WITH VEHICLE AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM

• US 20200130461A1
• Filed: 06/04/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Inventors: SEO, Sang Ki, Kim, Yong Chul, Park, June Kyu, Choi, Ju Ho, Kim, Doo Ri, Kim, Hyeong Jun, Park, Sung Hae
• Granted Patent: US 11,446,982 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00285 for vehicle seats vehicle seats with heating or ventilation means independent from the HVAC system of the vehicle B60N2/56
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00292 for steering wheels steering wheels with heating or ventilation means independent from the HVAC system of the vehicle B62D1/065
• 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: B60N 2/5678 characterised by electrical systems

Abstract

A user body temperature assistance system associated with an air conditioning device, may include air conditioning controller configured to control an operation of an air conditioning device configured for adjusting an interior air temperature of a vehicle and determine an operation stage of a temperature adjustment unit in the vehicle according to an operation-based signal of the air conditioning device; and a temperature adjustment controller, which is configured to control an operation of the temperature adjustment unit for assisting a user body temperature according to the operation stage determined by the air conditioning controller.

Claims

1. A user body temperature assistance system associated with an air conditioning device, the user body temperature assistance system comprising:

an air conditioning controller configured to control an operation of the air conditioning device for adjusting an interior air temperature of a vehicle and to determine an operation stage of a temperature adjustment unit in the vehicle according to an operation-based signal of the air conditioning device; and

a temperature adjustment controller configured to control an operation of the temperature adjustment unit for assisting a user body temperature according to the operation stage determined by the air conditioning controller.

2. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 1, wherein the air conditioning controller is configured to determine a required calorie index of the air conditioning device on a basis of the operation-based signal and is configured to determine the operation stage of the temperature adjustment unit according to a determined required calorie index.

3. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 1,

wherein the temperature adjustment unit includes a seat temperature adjustment unit, and

wherein the temperature adjustment controller includes a seat controller configured to control an operation of the seat temperature adjustment unit for adjusting a temperature of a seat in the vehicle according to the operation stage determined by the air conditioning controller.

4. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 1,

wherein the temperature adjustment unit includes a steering wheel temperature adjustment unit, and

wherein the temperature adjustment controller includes a steering wheel controller configured to control an operation of the steering wheel temperature adjustment unit for adjusting a temperature of a steering wheel of the vehicle according to the operation stage determined by the air conditioning controller.

5. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 1,

wherein the temperature adjustment unit includes a seat temperature adjustment unit and a steering wheel temperature adjustment unit, and

wherein the seat temperature adjustment unit and the steering wheel temperature adjustment unit are controlled in either an interlocked control mode in which the seat temperature adjustment unit and the steering wheel temperature adjustment unit are controlled according to the operation stage determined by the air conditioning controller or a manual control mode in which the seat temperature adjustment unit and the steering wheel temperature adjustment unit are separately controlled according to a user input signal manually.

6. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 1, wherein the temperature adjustment unit is controlled in either an interlocked control mode in which the temperature adjustment unit is controlled according to the operation stage determined based on a required calorie index of the air conditioning device or a manual control mode in which the temperature adjustment unit is manually controlled according to a user input signal.

7. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 6, wherein the manual control mode of the temperature adjustment unit is set through a user interface unit in the vehicle.

8. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 7, wherein the user interface unit includes an air conditioning interlocking manipulation module configured to set or release an interlocking operation between the air conditioning device and the temperature adjustment unit.

9. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 8,

wherein the user input signal includes a first user input signal and a second user input signal, and

wherein the user interface unit further includes a seat manipulation module configured to receive the first user input signal for manual control of a seat temperature adjustment unit and a steering wheel manipulation module configured to receive the second user input signal for manual control of a steering wheel temperature adjustment unit.

10. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 1, wherein, when a control mode of the temperature adjustment unit is an interlocked control mode in which the temperature adjustment unit is controlled by being interlocked with operation of the air conditioning device, the temperature adjustment controller is configured to control the operation stage of the temperature adjustment unit according to a request of the air conditioning controller.

11. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 10, wherein the temperature adjustment unit includes a seat temperature adjustment unit and a steering wheel temperature adjustment unit.

12. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 10, wherein, when the control mode of the temperature adjustment unit is the interlocked control mode and a user input signal for controlling the operation of the temperature adjustment unit is generated, the temperature adjustment controller switches the control mode of the temperature adjustment unit to a manual control mode in which the temperature adjustment unit is manually controlled according to the user input signal.

13. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 12, wherein, when the control mode of the temperature adjustment unit is switched from the interlocked control mode to the manual control mode, the temperature adjustment controller maintains the operation stage of the temperature adjustment unit in the interlocked control mode.

14. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 1, wherein, when a control mode of the temperature adjustment unit before a starting of the vehicle is a manual control mode and the starting of the vehicle is turned on again, the temperature adjustment unit is controlled to be operated at an operation stage in the manual control mode.

15. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 10, wherein, when the temperature adjustment unit is operated in the interlocked control mode at a determined operation stage for a predetermined reference time or more, the temperature adjustment controller automatically descends the determined operation stage of the temperature adjustment unit by a predetermined stage.

16. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 1, further including:

an integrated controller configured for determining, when the air conditioning controller is turned off, the operation stage of the temperature adjustment unit on a basis of the operation-based signal of the air conditioning device.

17. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 1, wherein the operation-based signal of the air conditioning device includes a vehicle internal temperature, a vehicle outdoor air temperature, a temperature of an evaporator of the air conditioning device, a value of solar radiation, vehicle internal humidity, a pollution concentration of vehicle outdoor air, and a user input.

18. The user body temperature assistance system of claim 3, wherein the seat temperature adjustment unit includes a seat heating unit configured to heat the seat and a seat ventilation unit configured to ventilate the seat.