Adaptive interior air quality control apparatus and methods for vehicle compartment

• US 9,676,250 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2013
• Issued: 06/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Weast, John C., Gresham, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hilgendorf, Dale W
• Application Number:
  US14/128,558
• Publication Number:
  US 20150032266A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,420 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/008 the input being air quality
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00814 Control systems or circuits characterised by their output, for controlling particular components of the heating, cooling or ventilating installation
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00821 the components being ventilating, air admitting or air distributing devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00828 Ventilators, e.g. speed control B60H1/00864 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00835 Damper doors, e.g. position control construction or arrangement of damper doors B60H1/00664; B60H1/00864 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00842 the system comprising a plurality of damper doors; Air distribution between several outlets
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00849 for selectively commanding the induction of outside or inside air B60H1/00842 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00871 Air directing means, e.g. blades in an air outlet construction of nozzles or air diffusers B60H1/34

Abstract

Embodiments of apparatus and methods for adaptively controlling air quality in a vehicle compartment are described. In embodiments, an apparatus may include a sensor interface configured to interface with one or more sensors, disposed at one or more locations at one or more sides or in an interior space of a vehicle compartment, and configured to measure one or more indicators of air quality at the one or more locations. The apparatus may further include one or more airflow controllers configured to adaptively control a plurality of ventilation components of the vehicle compartment to regulate airflow in the interior space, based at least in part on the measured indicators of air quality. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a sensor interface to interface with a plurality of sensors, wherein the plurality of sensors are disposed at one or more locations at one or more sides or in an interior space of a vehicle compartment and measure one or more indicators of air quality at the one or more locations; and

one or more airflow controllers, operatively coupled with the sensor interface, to adaptively control a plurality of ventilation components of the vehicle compartment to regulate airflow in the interior space using, at least in part, a wind force acting on the vehicle compartment;

wherein

to adaptively control is based at least in part on the measured indicators of air quality, wherein the plurality of ventilation components comprise a window or sunroof, wherein the sensor interface measures a travel pathway of airflow in the vehicle compartment based on a measurement of an air quality indicator occurring at successive sensors of the plurality of sensors, and wherein the airflow controllers control the plurality of ventilation components of the vehicle compartment to regulate airflow in the interior space to affect the air quality indicator along the travel pathway.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more airflow controllers are able to adjust one or more of the plurality of ventilation components to regulate airflow in the interior space, when at least one indicator of air quality is measured by at least one of the sensors to be below a baseline.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the one or more airflow controllers are able to adjust at least one of the ventilation components proximately located to a sensor that first measured the at least one indicator of air quality to be below the baseline.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the one or more airflow controllers are able to establish the baseline for the indicators of air quality based at least in part on a set of previous measurements taken by the plurality of sensors.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more airflow controllers are able to adjust at least one of the ventilation components proximately located to a sensor that measured a greatest change of an indicator of air quality, among the plurality of sensors.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more airflow controllers are able to open or close at least one of the ventilation components to connect or disconnect air space of the interior space with exterior ambient air space.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more airflow controllers adjust the plurality of ventilation components to adjust a pathway of airflow through the interior space using the wind force acting on the vehicle compartment to create a positive pressure on a windward side of the vehicle compartment and a negative pressure on a non-windward side of the vehicle compartment.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more airflow controllers are able to adjust a ventilation component of the plurality of ventilation components to allow airflow out of the interior space.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors are a first plurality of sensors, and the sensor interface is able to interface the first plurality of sensors and with a second plurality of sensors to measure indicators of air quality of ambient air space at a plurality of exterior locations on the one or more sides of the vehicle compartment.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the one or more airflow controllers adjust one or more of the plurality of ventilation components to regulate airflow into the interior space, based at least in part on the measured indicators of air quality of ambient air space at the plurality of exterior locations.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more airflow controllers adjust one or more of the plurality of ventilation components to regulate airflow into the interior space based at least in part on environmental information of ambient air space, wherein the environmental information includes weather information.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more airflow controllers adjust one or more of the plurality of ventilation components to regulate airflow in the interior space based at least in part on a preference setting of a passenger.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors are able to measure levels of a plurality of pollutants, and wherein the plurality of pollutants comprises sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, particulates, persistent free radicals, toxic metals, ammonia, odors, or radioactive pollutants.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle compartment is of a car, a truck, a bus, a train, or a motorhome.

15. A method, comprising:

determining, with one or more airflow controllers, whether an air quality at one or more locations at a plurality of sides or interior space of a vehicle compartment has changed, based at least in part on measurements of air quality indicators taken with a plurality of sensors disposed at the one or more locations;

determining a travel pathway of airflow in the vehicle compartment based on a measurement of an air quality indicator occurring at successive sensors of the plurality of sensors; and

in response to measured changes to the air quality at the one or more locations, adaptively adjusting one or more ventilation components of the vehicle compartment, with the one or more airflow controllers, to regulate airflow along the travel pathway in the interior space using, at least in part, a wind force acting on the vehicle compartment, and based at least in part on the measured changes;

wherein the one or more ventilation components comprise a window or sunroof.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein adjusting comprises adjusting the one or more ventilation components with the one or more airflow controllers, when one or more air quality indicators of at least one of the one or more locations are measured to be below a baseline.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein adjusting comprises adjusting a ventilation component of the one or more ventilation components proximately located to a sensor that first measured air quality to be below the baseline.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

establishing, with the one or more controllers, the baseline, based at least in part on a set of previous measurements taken by the plurality of sensors.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of sensors are a first plurality of sensors, and the method further comprises:

measuring, with a second plurality of sensors, air quality indicators of ambient air space external to the interior space of the vehicle compartment, and wherein adjusting is further based on a result of the measuring of air quality indicators by the second plurality of sensors.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more airflow controllers, environmental information of ambient air space from a service, wherein the environmental information comprises at least one of weather or air quality information, and wherein adjusting is further based on the environmental information.

21. At least one non-transitory storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions to cause an air quality control system, in response to execution of the instructions by the system, to:

determine, with one or more airflow controllers, whether an air quality at one or more locations at a plurality of sides or interior space of a vehicle compartment has changed, based at least in part on a set of measurements of air quality indicators taken with a plurality of sensors disposed at the one or more locations;

determine a travel pathway of airflow in the vehicle compartment based on successive measurements of an air quality indicator in the set of measurements of air quality indicators occurring at successive locations of the plurality of sensors; and

in response to measured changes to the air quality in the travel pathway of airflow, adaptively adjust one or more ventilation components of the vehicle compartment, with the one or more airflow controllers, to regulate airflow in the travel pathway of airflow, based at least in part on the measured changes.

22. The storage medium of claim 21, wherein adjust comprises adjust the one or more ventilation components of the vehicle compartment, with the one or more airflow controllers, to change the travel pathway of airflow using, at least in part, a wind force acting on the vehicle compartment.