Energy saving automatic air conditioning control system and method

• US 9,623,721 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2014
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Inventors: Kim, Dae Sik
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Len
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROJOHN III, CLAIRE E
• Application Number:
  US14/493,703
• Publication Number:
  US 20150183293A1
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• Field of Search: 165202, 165203, 165204
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00764 the input being a vehicle driving condition, e.g. speed B60H1/00828, B60H1/00864 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00771 the input being a vehicle position or surrounding, e.g. GPS-based position or tunnel
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00807 the input being a specific way of measuring or calculating an air or coolant temperature
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00971 Control systems or circuits characterised by including features for locking or memorising of control modes
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00985 Control systems or circuits characterised by display or indicating devices, e.g. voice simulators characterised by the input of sound using a voice synthesizer B60H1/00757; B60H1/00978 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 2001/00733 Computational models modifying user-set values
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/88 Optimized components or subsystems, e.g. lighting, actively controlled glasses

Abstract

An energy saving automatic air conditioning control system and an energy saving automatic air conditioning control method enable consumption of a fuel or a battery (referred to as energy) to be minimized and a possible travel distance to be improved by processing data including road environment information such as road loss information, including altitude and traffic information, vehicle information such as a current acceleration/deceleration of a vehicle, and driver tendency information for manipulation of an air conditioner such as control of an air conditioning temperature and stages, automatically determining an air conditioning control time point, and displaying the determined automatic manipulation and control form on a map path of a navigation system.

Claims

1. An energy saving automatic air conditioning control system, comprising:

an air conditioning control time point generating control unit for generating an air conditioning operation profile based on vehicle state information from vehicle controllers and travel path information from a navigation system, and determining an air conditioning control value and a time point;

a driving tendency determining control unit for analyzing a driver travel tendency and an air conditioning manipulation tendency as other information for generating the air conditioning profile, and bringing air conditioning driving tendency information into a database;

a display/voice control unit for visually displaying for visually displaying information on the air conditioning control value and the time point determined by the air conditioning control time point generating control unit on a navigation map and vocally guiding the information at the same time; and

a control result transmitting and monitoring unit for transferring the information on the air conditioning control value and the time point to the air conditioner controller, and monitoring arbitrary air conditioning manipulation information to transmit the monitored air conditioning manipulation information to the driving tendency determining control unit, wherein the air conditioning control time point generating control unit comprises;

a vehicle state monitoring unit for monitoring vehicle information provided from controllers of the vehicle;

a travel path information generating unit for generating travel path information based on information provided by the navigation system;

an air conditioning operation profile generating unit for generating an air conditioning operation profile representing a change in a temperature value according to an operation time of the air conditioner based on vehicle state information from the vehicle state monitoring unit, travel path information from the travel path information generating unit, and air conditioning driving tendency information from the driving tendency determining control unit; and

an air conditioning control value/time point determining unit for mapping an air conditioning operation profile to an energy consumption according to a change in a travel path, and determining an air conditioning operation parameter value and a maintenance time for control of switching on and off of an air conditioner, control of blow stages, and control of selection of an air conditioning operation.

2. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control system of claim 1, wherein the driving tendency determining control unit comprises:

a rule database storing unit for converting dynamic input information including vehicle travel information and air conditioning manipulation information to a rule set for learning and storing the rule set in a table;

a learning factor calculating unit for calculating learning factor data representing learned dynamic input information by using a representative extraction rule on repeated driving information and air conditioning maintenance/change section information, among dynamic input information stored in the rule database storing unit;

a learning driver tendency generating unit for normalizing dynamic input information of the learning factor data according to static input information representing road information data and calculating finally modified information through a step of identifying a change of learning data, a step of identifying deviation from a learning data range, and a step of giving a frequently adopted road type learning value added value; and

a driving tendency database constructing unit for constructing a driving tendency for roads, times, and distances by extracting driving tendency parameters from finally modified information, and constructing a table for conversion of energy consumption per unit for driving tendency databases for roads, times, and distances.

3. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control system of claim 1, wherein the display/voice control unit comprises:

a display cycle calculating unit for calculating a display cycle based on energy consumption change information and driving tendency information, including the determined air conditioning control value;

a visual display control unit for bringing a popup window up at the calculated cycle and displaying automatic control on/off and automatic control section information of the air conditioner on the navigation map; and

a vocal guide unit for vocally informing the visually displayed information.

4. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control system of claim 1, wherein the control result transmitting and monitoring unit comprises:

an automatic control result transmitting unit for transferring information on the air conditioning control value and the time point to an air conditioning controller;

a driver air conditioning operation result reflecting unit for monitoring driver air conditioning operation information; and

a driver tendency information updating unit for transmitting periodic information from the driver air conditioning operation result reflecting unit.

5. An energy saving automatic air conditioning control method, comprising:

an air conditioning control time point generating control step of generating an air conditioning operation profile to determine an air conditioning control value and a time point based on vehicle state information and travel path information;

a driving tendency determining control step of analyzing driver travel tendency and air conditioning operation tendency as other information for generating the air conditioning operation profile, and banging driver air conditioning operation tendency information into a database;

a display/voice control step of visually displaying information on the determined air conditioning control value and the time point and vocally guiding the information; and

a control result transmitting and monitoring step of transferring information on the determined air conditioning control value and time point to an air conditioning controller and monitoring arbitrary air conditioning operation information at the same time, wherein the air conditioning control time point generating control step comprises;

a vehicle state monitoring step of monitoring vehicle information;

a travel path information generating step of generating travel path information;

an air conditioning operation profile generating step of representing a change in a temperature value according to an operation time of an air conditioner based on vehicle state information, travel path information, and driver air conditioning operation tendency information; and

an air conditioning control value and time point determining step of mapping an air conditioning profile to consumption energy according to a change in a travel path.

6. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control method of claim 5, wherein the vehicle state monitoring step comprises:

acquiring various ECU data of a vehicle; and

classifying and formatting the acquired data and filtering only effective data.

7. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control method of claim 5, wherein the travel path information generating step comprises:

a travel path information input step of inputting map topology data, real time traffic information, and loss information;

a step of mapping information for link paths linked in a travel path to the input travel path information data;

a step of calculating an energy minimization point for link paths linked in a current travel path, including the current travel path; and

a step of calculating an energy minimization point for link paths within a predetermined radius deviating the current travel path.

8. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control method of claim 5, wherein the air conditioning operation profile generating step comprises:

a data integrating step of normalizing vehicle state information, travel path information, and driver air conditioning operation tendency information into physical units, and listing up the normalized information according to an accumulated time (minutes);

a step of calculating a current available energy of a vehicle;

a step of calculating driving tendency adjusting energy reflecting driver air conditioning operation tendency information;

a step of converting path costs according to a change in a travel distance of a travel path into an energy unit (kW/h) by reflecting current available energy and driving tendency adjusting energy; and

a step of generating an air conditioning operation profile representing a change in a temperature value according an operation time of an air conditioner from a change in energy for a travel distance.

9. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control method of claim 5, wherein the air conditioning control value and time point determining step comprises:

a step of mapping an air conditioning operation profile to consumption energy according to a change in a travel path; and

a step of determining an air conditioning control time point according to the mapped data, and determining an air conditioning operation parameter value and a maintenance time for an air conditioner on/off control, a control of a blow stage, and a control of selection of an operation of front and rear air conditioner.

10. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control method of claim 5, wherein the driving tendency determining control step comprises:

a rule database storing step of converting dynamic input information including vehicle travel information and air conditioning manipulation information to a rule set for learning and storing the rule set in a table;

a learning factor calculating step of calculating learning factor data representing learned dynamic input information by using a representative extraction rule on repeated driving information and air conditioning maintenance/change section information, among dynamic input information stored in the rule database storing unit;

a learning driver tendency generating step of normalizing dynamic input information of the learning factor data according to static input information representing road information data and calculating finally modified information through a step of identifying a change of learning data, a step of identifying deviation from a learning data range, and a step of giving a frequently adopted road type learning value added value; and

a driving tendency database constructing step of constructing a driving tendency for roads, times, and distances by extracting driving tendency parameters from finally modified information, and constructing a table for conversion of energy consumption per unit for driving tendency databases for roads, times, and distances.

11. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control method of claim 10, wherein the learned driver tendency generating step comprises:

a step of normalizing dynamic input information of the learning factor data according to static input information representing road information data and identifying a change of data according to an addition and a deletion of the learned data;

a learning data range deviation identifying step of checking and initializing static input information at a point where there is a possibility of generating deviation of a learning data range; and

calculating finally modified information through a step of providing an added value to a frequently adopted road type learning value.

12. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control method of claim 5, wherein the display/voice control step comprises:

a display cycle calculating step of calculating a display cycle based on energy consumption change information and driving tendency information, including the determined air conditioning control value;

a visual display control step of bringing a popup window up at the calculated cycle and displaying automatic control on/off and automatic control section information of the air conditioner on the navigation map; and

a vocal guide step of vocally informing the visually displayed information.

13. The energy saving automatic air conditioning control method of claim 5, wherein the control result transmitting and monitoring step comprises:

an automatic control result transmitting step of transferring information on the air conditioning control value and the time point to an air conditioning controller;

a driver air conditioning operation result reflecting step of monitoring driver air conditioning operation information; and

a driver tendency information updating step of transmitting periodic information from the driver air conditioning operation result reflecting unit.