Sunshine sensor and air conditioner for vehicle
First Claim
1. A sunshine sensor for use with a car comprising:
- a first light receiving element having a light receiving surface facing upward;
a second light receiving element and a third light receiving element which each have a light receiving surface inclined toward a front side by an identical angle along an advancing direction of the car, said light receiving surfaces being symmetrically inclined with respect the car advancing direction along a horizontal direction vertical to the car advancing direction; and
adder means for adding to each other outputs respectively produced from said light receiving elements,each of said light receiving surfaces respectively of said second and third light receiving elements having an inclination angle such that a vector obtained by adding normal vectors respectively of said light receiving surfaces of said respective light receiving elements has a direction substantially identical to a direction of sunshine which maximizes a quantity of heat supplied from the sunshine to the car.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An air conditioner for use with a car employing a sunshine sensor having three light receiving elements. A first light receiving element faces upward and a second light receiving element and a third light receiving element are inclined toward a front side by an identical angle along an advancing direction of the car and are symmetrically inclined with respect the car advancing direction along a horizontal direction vertical to the car advancing direction. The inclination is determined such that a vector obtained by adding normal vectors respectively of light receiving surfaces of the light receiving elements has a direction substantially identical to a direction of sunshine which maximizes a quantity of heat supplied from the sunshine to the car. Outputs from the first, second, and third light receiving elements are added to each other to obtain a sunshine intensity.
37 Citations
11 Claims
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1. A sunshine sensor for use with a car comprising:
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a first light receiving element having a light receiving surface facing upward; a second light receiving element and a third light receiving element which each have a light receiving surface inclined toward a front side by an identical angle along an advancing direction of the car, said light receiving surfaces being symmetrically inclined with respect the car advancing direction along a horizontal direction vertical to the car advancing direction; and adder means for adding to each other outputs respectively produced from said light receiving elements, each of said light receiving surfaces respectively of said second and third light receiving elements having an inclination angle such that a vector obtained by adding normal vectors respectively of said light receiving surfaces of said respective light receiving elements has a direction substantially identical to a direction of sunshine which maximizes a quantity of heat supplied from the sunshine to the car. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A sunshine sensor for use with a car comprising:
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a first light receiving element facing upward and producing an output ic; a second light receiving element generating an output ia and a third light receiving element creating an output ib, each of said second and third light receiving elements having a light receiving surface inclined toward a front side by an identical angle along an advancing direction of the car, said light receiving surfaces being symmetrically inclined with respect the car advancing direction along a horizontal direction vertical to the car advancing direction; and computating means for computing based on the outputs respectively from said first, second, and third light receiving elements a relative sunshine intensity I, a sunshine elevation angle θ
, and a sunshine azimuth angle φ
,said computing means computing the sunshine intensity I, the sunshine elevation angle θ
, and the sunshine azimuth angle φ
based on the following equations. ##EQU5##
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6. An air conditioner for use with a car comprising:
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a sunshine sensor including a first light receiving element facing upward, and a second light receiving element and a third light receiving element which each are inclined toward a front side by an identical angle along an advancing direction of the car and which are symmetrically inclined with respect the car advancing direction along a horizontal direction vertical to the car advancing direction, each of said second and third light receiving elements having a light receiving surface possessing an inclination angle such that a vector obtained by adding to each other normal vectors respectively of said light receiving surfaces of said respective light receiving elements has a direction substantially identical to a direction of sunshine which maximizes a quantity of heat supplied from the sunshine to the car; air conditioning means for regulating a temperature and an amount of air to be supplied to an interior room of the car; and a control means for computing sunshine components from outputs respectively created from said first, second, and third light receiving elements and controlling said air conditioning means based on a result of the computation. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A method of controlling an air conditioner for use with a car comprising the following steps of:
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obtaining an output ic generated from a first light receiving element facing upward, an output ia produced from a second light receiving element, and an output ib generated from a third light receiving element, each of said second and third light receiving elements being inclined toward a front side by an identical angle along an advancing direction of the car, said second and third light receiving elements being symmetrically inclined with respect the car advancing direction along a horizontal direction vertical to the car advancing direction; computing based on the outputs respectively from said first, second, and third light receiving elements a sunshine intensity I, a sunshine elevation angle θ
, and a sunshine azimuth angle φ
based on the following equations;
##EQU6## computing a control target value of the air conditioner depending on the computed values respectively of the relative sunshine intensity I, the sunshine elevation angle θ
, and the sunshine azimuth angle φ
; andcontrolling the air conditioner depending on the control target value. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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Specification