Vehicle air conditioner

• US 7,497,251 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2004
• Issued: 03/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Ichishi, Yoshinori, Kumada, Tatsumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Ford, John K
• Application Number:
  US10/989,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20050103488A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,569 Days
• Field of Search: 236/1.C, 236/91.C, 236/91.E, 236/49.3, 165/42, 165/43, 165/202, 165/204, 454/75, 374/121, 702/131, 702/135
• US Class Current: 165/202
• 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 1/00792 Arrangement of detectors B60H1/00742, B60H1/0075, B60H1/00785 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/3428 using a set of pivoting shutters and a pivoting frame
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 2001/3471 Details of actuators
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 2201/02 in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 7/42 Circuits effecting compensation of thermal inertia; Circuits for predicting the stationary value of a temperature

Abstract

In a vehicle air conditioner, a first air-conditioning control value is calculated based on a surface temperature detected by a non-contact temperature sensor in a temperature detection area of a passenger compartment. When it is determined that an obstacle exists between the temperature detection area and the non-contact temperature sensor, a second air-conditioning control value is calculated according to a temperature information that is influenced less by the obstacle than the detected surface temperature. When it is determined that the obstacle does not exist, an air conditioning state of the passenger compartment is controlled based on the first air-conditioning control value. When it is determined that the obstacle exists, the first air-conditioning control value is corrected to approach the second air-conditioning control value to calculate a corrected air-conditioning control value, so that the air conditioning state can be controlled satisfactorily.

Claims

1. An air conditioner for a vehicle comprising:

an air conditioning unit for conditioning air in a passenger compartment of the vehicle;

a non-contact temperature sensor for detecting a surface temperature of a temperature detection area in the passenger compartment in non-contact;

first calculating means for calculating a first air-conditioning control value, which indicates a first target air conditioning state in the passenger compartment, based on the detected surface temperature of the non-contact temperature sensor;

determining means for determining whether an obstacle exists between the temperature detection area and the non-contact temperature sensor;

second calculating means for calculating a second air-conditioning control value indicating a second target air conditioning state in the passenger compartment based on a current inside air temperature of the passenger compartment when the determining means determines that the obstacle exists between the temperature detection area and the non-contact temperature sensor; and

a control unit for controlling the air conditioning unit, wherein;

when the determining means determines that the obstacle does not exist between the temperature detection area and the non-contact temperature sensor, the control unit controls the air conditioning unit based on the first air-conditioning control value; and

when the determining means determines that the obstacle exists between the temperature detection area and the non-contact temperature sensor, the control unit controls the air conditioning unit based on the second air conditioning control value.

2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein

when a difference between the first air-conditioning control value and the second air-conditioning control value is larger than a predetermined value, the determining means determines that the obstacle exists between the temperature detection area and the non-contact temperature sensor.

3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising

a contact temperature sensor for detecting an air temperature of the passenger compartment by contacting, wherein

the second calculating means uses the detected air temperature of the contact temperature sensor as the temperature information for calculating the second air-conditioning control value.

4. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the non-contact temperature sensor includes a skin temperature detection element for detecting a passenger'"'"'s skin temperature as the surface temperature of the temperature detection area.

5. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:

the non-contact temperature sensor includes a plurality of detection elements, which are arranged for detecting in non-contact the surface temperatures of corresponding parts separated in the temperature detection area; and

the determining means determines the obstacle exists between the temperature detection area and the non-contact temperature sensor when the number of the detection elements which have substantially the same detected surface temperature is equal to or larger than a predetermined number.

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

the non-contact temperature sensor includes a plurality of detection elements, which are arranged for detecting in non-contact the surface temperatures of corresponding parts separated in the temperature detection area; and

when the number of the detection elements, which have detected surface temperature changed by equal to or larger than a predetermined temperature at the same time, is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, the determining means determines the obstacle exists between the temperature detection area and the non-contact temperature sensor.

7. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:

the non-contact temperature sensor includes a plurality of detection elements, which are arranged for detecting in non-contact the surface temperatures of corresponding parts separated in the temperature detection area; and

when the detected surface temperature of predetermined detection elements among the plurality of detection elements changes by equal to or larger than a predetermined temperature, the determining means determines the obstacle exists between the temperature detection area and the non-contact temperature sensor.

8. The air conditioner according to claim 7, wherein

the predetermined detection elements of the plurality of detection elements are at least two detection elements separated from each other.

9. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:

the non-contact temperature sensor includes a plurality of detection elements, which are arranged for detecting in non-contact the surface temperatures of corresponding parts separated in the temperature detection area; and

when the detected surface temperature of predetermined detection elements among the plurality of detection elements are substantially same, the determining means determines that the obstacle exists between the temperature detection area and the non-contact temperature sensor.

10. The air conditioner according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined detection elements are upper side detection elements and lower side detection elements among the plurality of detection elements.

11. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:

the air conditioning unit includes a plurality of temperature adjusting units for adjusting the temperature of air to be blown into the passenger compartment; and

the first and second calculating units calculate the first and second target temperatures to be adjusted by the temperature adjusting units, as the first and the second air-conditioning control values, respectively.

12. The air conditioner according to claim 11, wherein:

the temperature adjusting units are arranged to correspond to seats in the passenger compartment, respectively;

the non-contact temperature sensor detects the surface temperature corresponding to each of the seats of the temperature detection area;

the first and the second calculating means respectively calculate the first and the second target temperatures corresponding to each of the seats;

the determining means determines whether the obstacle exists between the non-contact temperature sensor and the temperature detection area in each of the seats;

when the determining means determines that the obstacle does not exist between the non-contact temperature sensor and the temperature detection area, the control unit controls the temperature adjusting units based on the first target temperature; and

when the determining means determines that the obstacle exists between the non-contact temperature sensor and the temperature detection area, the control unit corrects the first target temperature to be the second target temperature so as to calculate a corrected target temperature used as the corrected air-conditioning control value, and the control unit controls the temperature adjusting units based on the corrected target temperature.

13. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the determining means is for determining whether an obstacle having a temperature near the current inside air temperature exists.

14. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the obstacle includes a vanity mirror and a sun visor.

15. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the obstacle is a stationary obstacle.

16. The air conditioner according to claim 15, wherein the current inside air temperature is not used by the first calculating means when calculating the first air-conditioning control value.

17. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the current inside air temperature is not used by the first calculating means when calculating the first air-conditioning control value.