Vehicle air conditioner having a seat air conditioning unit
Contents
1. N SEAT BLOWER AIR VOLUME 778130 TIME t HAS ELAPSED YES 10 20 30 40 Patent Application Publication May 6 2004 Sheet 1 of 4 US 2004 0083745 A1 FIG 1 1 12 f 8 y A E e es He ota 7 WA Vit on M S 15 a DA N fs _ g aa LR once Ee De Te 10 46 22 EA m 23 sw oe Tam en 19 sw A C ECU hy a 29 204 two Ts Ges n w SEAT BLOWER SEAT A C SW 18 24 Patent Application Publication May 6 2004 Sheet 2 of 4 US 2004 0083745 A1 FIG 2 17 Patent Application Publication May 6 2004 Sheet 3 of 4 US 2004 0083745 A1 FIG 3 READ DATA SIGNALS S10 CALCULATE TAO S20 S30 NO SEAT A C SWITCH OPERATED YES CORRECT TAO S40 LEARN SEAT BLOWER AIR VOLUME 50 S130 ee a HAS ELAPSED YES Patent Application Publication May 6 2004 Sheet 4 of 4 US 2004 0083745 A1 FIG 4 SEAT BLOWER COOL HI E HOT HI F LO OFF G A B C D TAO FIG 5 US 2004 0083745 Al VEHICLE AIR CONDITIONER HAVING A SEAT AIR CONDITIONING UNIT CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 0001 This application is based on Japanese Patent Appli cation No 2002 315481 filed on Oct 30 2002 the disclo sure of which is incorporated herein by reference FIELD OF THE INVENTION 0002 The present invention relates to a vehicle air con ditioner having a seat air conditioning unit for producing flow of air from a seat and a method of controlling the same BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTI2. ON 0003 With regard to an automatic control of a general vehicle air conditioner a target temperature of air to be blown into a passenger compartment is calculated in relation to a setting temperature and the control is executed based on a control characteristic with respect to the target temperature as a parameter The control characteristic is determined to be accepted by the majority of users Therefore the control condition of the automatic control may not be accepted by some users who have different heat sensations for example 0004 To address this matter in Japanese Patent JP B2 3146573 and JP B2 3111566 for example when the control condition is changed by user s manual switch operation during the automatic control the changed control condition is learned Further it is reflected to the control characteristic of the automatic control thereby providing a desired air conditioning 0005 Incidentally with regard to the air conditioner including a seat air conditioning unit that produces warm air or cold air blowing from a seat for further improving passenger comfort the passenger s heat sensation and com fort are likely to be governed depending on the presence or absence of the air blowing from the seat that is on off condition of the seat air conditioning unit SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0006 The present invention is made in view of the foregoing matter and it is an object of the present invention to provide a v
3. US 20040083745A1 a Patent Application Publication co Pub No US 2004 0083745 A1 as United States Tomita et al 43 Pub Date May 6 2004 54 VEHICLE AIR CONDITIONER HAVING A SEAT AIR CONDITIONING UNIT 76 Inventors Hiroyuki Tomita Nagoya city JP Toshifumi Kamiya Takahama city JP Correspondence Address HARNESS DICKEY amp PIERCE P L C P O BOX 828 BLOOMFIELD HILLS MI 48303 US 21 Appl No 10 695 310 22 Filed Oct 28 2003 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Oct 30 2002 JP eseseessessscseecssesseesseesneene 2002 315481 Publication Classification 61 Int Ann F25D 29 00 B60H 1 32 G2 USC grine 62 161 62 163 62 244 57 ABSTRACT In a vehicle air conditioner a front air conditioning unit and a seat air conditioning unit are automatically controlled by an air conditioner ECU If a seat air conditioner switch is operated by a user during an automatic control the setting e g air volume of a seat blower of the seat air conditioning switch is learned Based on the learning a seat blower characteristic diagram which is stored in a ROM is changed Therefore from this time onward under the same environmental condition the seat blower air volume is determined based on the changed seat blower characteristic diagram Accordingly a seat air conditioning is provided as desired READ DATA SIGNALS CALCULATE TAO SEAT A C SWITCH OPERATED YES CORRECT TAO LEAR
4. blown toward the lower half of the passenger body As the above mentioned air blow mode switching doors a defroster door 8 a face door 9 and a foot door 10 are disposed for opening and closing the defroster opening 14 the face opening 15 and the foot opening 16 respectively 0020 The evaporator 5 is generally included in a refrig erant cycle Arefrigerant of the refrigerant cycle flows inside of the evaporator 5 The refrigerant which has a low temperature evaporates by absorbing latent heat of evapo ration from the air thereby cooling the air That is the evaporator 5 is a cooling heat exchanger for cooling an outside fluid On the other hand the heater core 6 is a heating heat exchanger The heater core 6 performs heat exchange between the air passing outside of the heater core 6 and an engine coolant flowing inside of the heater core 6 The air mixing door 7 controls the volume of the air passing through the heater core 6 and the volume of air bypassing the heater core 6 and thereby adjusts a temperature of the air to be blown into the passenger compartment 0021 Next as shown in FIG 2 the seat air conditioning unit includes a seat blower 18 installed in a seat 17 When the seat blower 18 is driven the air is sucked from the passenger compartment into the seat air conditioning unit and blown into the passenger compartment through open ings formed on the seat surface For example the seat air conditioning unit can be con
5. changed temperature of the seat air conditioner Therefore from this time onward under the same environmental con dition the seat air conditioning operation is performed based on the corrected target temperature TAO Accordingly the comfort seat air conditioning can be provided as desired by the user Here in the case that the seat air mixing door is provided a seat target temperature TAO for the seat air conditioning is calculated separately from the target tem perature TAO of the passenger compartment air condition ing When the seat temperature switch 24b is operated by the user the seat target temperature TAO of the seat air conditioning can be corrected 0042 Further when the seat air conditioner switch 24 is operated by the user and the setting learned as described above the learning result can be applied to an air condi tioning operation of another seat That is when the control condition of the seat air conditioning of a first seat is changed by the manual switch operation the changed con trol condition can be applied to air conditioning operation of a second seat Therefore the control conditions of the plural seats can be changed together by operating the switch 24 of one of the seats 0043 The present invention should not be limited to the disclosed embodiments but may be implemented in other ways without departing from the spirit of the invention What is claimed is 1 An air conditioner for a vehicle compr
6. ehicle air conditioner capable of performing an air conditioning operation as desired even when a seat air conditioning operation is performed 0007 According to the present invention an air condi tioner for a vehicle includes a seat air conditioner means that produces an airflow blowing from a seat of the vehicle A control characteristic of the seat air conditioner means is stored in a storage means The seat air conditioner means is automatically controlled by a control means based on the control characteristic When a manual setting means is operated to change a control condition by a user while the seat air conditioner means is automatically controlled a setting condition of the manual setting means is learned and the control characteristic stored in the storage means is changed based on the learning 0008 Accordingly when the control condition of the seat air conditioner means is changed by the operation of the manual setting means the changed control condition is learned and the learning is reflected to the control charac May 6 2004 teristic stored in the storage means Therefore it is possible to provide the seat air conditioning operation as desired by the user BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0009 Other objects features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like parts are designated b
7. em perature TAO is corrected in accordance with the change degree of the air volume Therefore it is less likely that the air conditioning of the passenger compartment will be affected by the change of the air volume of the seat blower 18 Accordingly it is possible to provide comfortable air conditioned space Modifications 0040 In the above embodiment the seat air conditioner switch 24 includes the seat blower air volume switch that changes the volume level of the air to be blown from the seat 17 Alternatively as shown in FIG 5 the seat air condi tioner switch 24 can include a seat temperature switch 24b in addition to the seat blower air volume switch 24a for example A temperature of the air to be blown from the seat 17 is controlled by the seat temperature switch 24b In this case an air mixing door not shown for the seat air conditioner can be provided in the front air conditioning unit 1 in addition to the air mixing door 7 so that the temperature of the air to be blown from the seat 17 is changed by adjusting the opening degree of the seat air mixing door Here the air the temperature of which is controlled by the May 6 2004 seat air mixing door is supplied to the seat air conditioning unit seat blower 18 through the duct not shown 0041 Further during the automatic control by the ECU 2 if the seat temperature switch 24b is operated by the user the target temperature TAO can be corrected by learning the
8. ger An air volume level of the blower 3 is changed stepwise or continuously by the air volume setting switch 21 An outside air mode for sucking the outside air and an inside air mode for circulating the inside air are switched by the intake port switching switch 22 Air outlet modes are selected by the outlet port switching switch 23 The seat air May 6 2004 conditioner switch 24 includes a seat blower air volume switch that adjusts the level of the air volume which is blown from the seat 17 stepwise or continuously 0025 As shown in FIG 1 an inside air temperature sensor 25 an outside air temperature sensor 26 a solar radiation sensor 27 an evaporator downstream sensor 28 a coolant temperature sensor 29 a potentiometer 30 are included as the sensors The inside air temperature sensor 25 detects a temperature inside air temperature Tr inside of the passenger compartment The outside air temperature sensor 26 detects a temperature outside air temperature Tam outside of the passenger compartment The solar radiation sensor 27 detects the amount Ts of solar radiation The evaporator downstream sensor 28 detects a temperature evaporator downstream temperature Te of the air cooled by the evaporator 5 The coolant temperature sensor 29 detects a temperature coolant temperature Tw of the engine cool ant The potentiometer 30 detects an opening degree of the air mixing door 7 0026 Next a control procedure of the air conditio
9. icle by a seat blower the method comprising calculating a target temperature of air to be blown into the passenger compartment with respect to a setting tem perature of the passenger compartment while the front air conditioner unit is automatically controlled by a control means determining whether a switch of the seat blower for changing an air blow level is operated correcting the target temperature in accordance with a change of the switch when it is determined that the switch is operated calculating a volume of air to be blown by the seat blower based on a seat blower characteristic stored in a storage means with respect to the target temperature and determining a volume of air to be blown by a main blower of the front air conditioner unit based on the target temperature 11 The method according to claim 10 further compris ing determining air outlet modes of the front air conditioner unit and controlling a temperature controlling device of the front air conditioner unit based on the target temperature 12 The method according to claim 10 wherein when the air volume of the seat blower is increased by operation of the switch during a cooing operation the correcting step increases the target temperature in accordance with an increase in the air volume 13 The method according to claim 10 wherein when the air volume of the seat blower is increased by operation of the switch during a heating operation the correc
10. ising a seat air conditioner means for producing air blowing from a seat of the vehicle a storage means for storing a control characteristic of the seat air conditioner means a control means for automatically controlling the seat air conditioner means based on the control characteristic stored in the storage means and a manual setting means for setting a control condition of the seat air conditioner means wherein when the manual setting means is operated during an automatic control of the seat air conditioner means a setting condition of the manual setting means is learned and the control characteristic is changed based on the learning 2 The air conditioner according to claim 1 further comprising a compartment air conditioner means for air conditioning a passenger compartment of the vehicle a target temperature calculating means for calculating a target temperature of air to be blown into the passenger compartment with respect to a setting temperature of the passenger compartment wherein the control means automatically controls the compartment air conditioner means based on the target temperature and a target temperature correcting means for correcting the target temperature in accordance with a change of the US 2004 0083745 Al control condition of the seat air conditioner means when the control condition of the seat air conditioner means is changed by operation of the manual setting means 3 The air conditio
11. nected to the front air condi tioning unit 1 through a duct not shown so that the seat air conditioner unit receives air from the front air conditioner unit 1 and blows it from the seat surface 0022 The air conditioner ECU 2 is an electronic control unit having a microcomputer When an ignition key of the vehicle is turned on the ECU 2 starts a program by receiving power from a battery of the vehicle 0023 The ECU 2 reads operation signals of switches 19 through 23 operated on an air conditioner operating panel not shown and a seat air conditioner switch 24 and other sensor signals or sensor information detected by various sensors described later Based on the signals the ECU 2 performs the air conditioning control such as a temperature control of the air to be blown an air intake mode control an air outlet mode control an air volume control of the main blower 3 an on off control of a compressor and an air volume control of the seat blower 18 0024 On the air conditioner operating panel an auto matic control switch 19 a temperature setting switch 20 an air volume setting switch 21 an intake port switching switch 22 outlet port switching switch 23 and the like are provided An execution of the air conditioning control is ordered to the ECU 20 by the auto control switch 19 A temperature of the passenger compartment setting temperature Tset is set by the temperature setting switch 20 on a level desired by the passen
12. ner ECU 2 will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG 3 The ECU executes the air conditioning control when the automatic control switch 19 is turned on 0027 Atstep 10 the setting temperature Tset and the data or sensor information detected by the sensors such as the inside air temperature Tr the outside air temperature Tam the solar radiation amount Ts the evaporator downstream temperature Te the coolant temperature Tw are read 0028 Next at step 20 a target temperature TAO of the air to be blown into the passenger compartment is calculated based on a following equation 1 The equation 1 is stored in a ROM of the microcomputer which provides a storage means TAO KsetxTset KrxTr Kamx Tam KsxTs C Ex 1 0029 Here Kset denotes a temperature setting gain Kr denotes an inside air temperature gain Kam denotes an outside air temperature gain Ks denotes a solar radiation gain C denotes a correction gain 0030 Next at step 30 it is determined whether the seat air conditioner switch 24 is operated If it is determined that the seat air conditioner switch 24 is operated the control continues to step 40 On the other hand if it is determined that the seat air conditioner switch 24 is not operated the control continues to step 60 0031 At step 40 the target temperature TAO which is calculated at step 20 is corrected in accordance with a change degree of the seat air conditioner switch 24 Fo
13. ner according to claim 1 wherein the manual setting means is provided such that at least one of a temperature and a volume of air to be blown from the seat is changed 4 The air conditioner according to claim 1 further comprising a first seat and a second seat respectively air conditioned by the seat air conditioner means wherein when an air conditioning control of the first seat is changed by operating the manual setting means the learning is applied to an air conditioning control of the second seat 5 The air conditioner according to claim 2 wherein the compartment air conditioner means includes a front air conditioner unit having a main blower a temperature control device and an air outlet through which air is blown into the passenger compartment 6 The air conditioner according to claim 5 further comprising a seat air volume calculating means for calculating a volume of air to be blown from the seat with respect to the target temperature based on the control character istic stored in the storage means a main blower level determining means for determining a volume of air to be blown by the main blower based on the target temperature an air outlet mode determining means for determining a mode of the air outlet of the front air conditioning unit based on the target temperature and a device controlling means for controlling the temperature control device based on the target temperature 7 The air conditioner acc
14. off of the compressor is determined based on a target evaporator downstream temperature which is a target temperature of the air cooled by the evaporator 5 Next at step 120 control signals are sent to respective control devices such as servo motors and driving circuits so that the control target values determined at steps 60 through 110 are achieved Next at step 130 the control is placed into a standby mode until a predetermined time period t elapses After the predetermined time period t the procedure from step 10 to step 130 is repeated 0037 Next advantageous effects of the present invention will be described 0038 While the front air conditioning unit 1 and the seat air conditioning unit e g seat blower 18 are automatically controlled by the ECU 2 if the seat air conditioner switch 24 is operated by the user the setting of the switch 24 e g air volume level of the seat blower 18 is learned Based on the learning the characteristic diagram of the seat blower 18 which is stored in the ROM is changed Therefore from this time onward under the same environmental condition that is under the same target temperature TAO the air volume of the seat blower 18 is determined based on the changed blower characteristic diagram Accordingly the air condi tioning of the seat 17 is provided as desired by the user 0039 Further when the air volume of the seat blower 18 is changed by the users switch operation the target t
15. ording to claim 2 wherein the seat air conditioner means includes a seat blower wherein the target temperature correcting means includes a function of increasing the target temperature in accor dance with an increase in an air volume of the seat blower by operation of the manual setting means during a cooling operation 8 The air conditioner according to claim 2 wherein the seat air conditioner means includes a seat blower wherein the target temperature correcting means includes a function of reducing the target temperature in accor dance with an increase in an air volume of the seat blower by operation of the manual setting means during a heating operation 9 The air conditioner according to claim 2 wherein the seat air conditioner means includes a seat blower May 6 2004 wherein the control characteristic of the seat air condi tioner means is provided by a relationship between the target temperature and the air volume of the seat blower wherein the target temperature correcting means includes a function of correcting constants of the control char acteristic for learning a correlation between the target temperature when the setting means is operated and the changed air volume of the seat blower 10 A method of controlling a vehicle air conditioner having a front air conditioner unit for air conditioning a passenger compartment of a vehicle and a seat air condi tioner unit for air conditioning a seat of the veh
16. r example if the air volume level of the seat blower 18 is increased during a cooling operation the target temperature TAO is increased in accordance with the increase in the air volume level If the air volume level of the seat blower 18 is increased during a heating operation the target tempera ture TAO is reduced in accordance with the increase in the air volume level 0032 Next at step 50 a correlation between the target temperature TAO when the switch 24 is operated and the changed air volume of the seat blower 18 is learned That is values constants A through G of FIG 4 are learned 0033 Then at step 60 the air volume of the seat blower 18 is calculated with respect to the target temperature TAO US 2004 0083745 Al based on a characteristic diagram of the seat blower 18 shown in FIG 4 The characteristic of the seat blower 18 is stored in the ROM e g EEPROM of the microcomputer 0034 Next at step 70 the air volume of the main blower 3 is determined based on the target temperature TAO Then at step 80 the inside outside air mode is determined based on the target temperature TAO At step 90 the air outlet mode is determined based on the target temperature TAO 0035 Next at step 100 a target opening degree Sd of the air mixing door 7 is calculated based on a following equation 2 The equation 2 is stored in the ROM Sd TAO Te Tw Te x100 Ex 2 0036 Next at step 110 a control condition on
17. through which the air blown by the blower 3 is introduced into the passenger compartment The evaporator 5 is disposed in the duct 4 The heater core 6 is disposed downstream from the evapo rator 5 in the duct 4 The air mixing door 7 controls a temperature of air The air blow mode switching doors 8 through 10 switch air blow modes 0018 The blower 3 includes a casing 3a a centrifugal fan 3b a blower motor 3c The casing 3a is integrated with an inside and outside air switching box The centrifugal fan 3b is arranged in the casing 3a The fan 3b is driven by the blower motor 3c The inside and outside air switching box is formed with an inside air port 11 through which an inside air inside the passenger compartment is introduced in the box and an outside air port 12 through which an outside air outside the passenger compartment is introduced in the box The inside air port 11 and the outside air port 12 are opened and closed by an inside and outside air switching door 13 0019 The duct 4 includes a cooler case for housing the evaporator 5 and a heater case for housing the heater core 6 The cooler case is for example integrally formed with the US 2004 0083745 Al heater case The heater case is formed with a defroster opening 14 through which the air is blown toward a wind shield of the vehicle a face opening 15 through which the air is blown toward the upper half of the passenger body and a foot opening 16 through which the air is
18. ting step reduces the target temperature in accordance with an increase in the air volume 14 The method according to claim 10 wherein the correcting step corrects constants of the blower character istic for learning a correlation between the target tempera ture at a time that the switch of the seat blower is operated and the changed air volume of the seat blower
19. y like reference numbers and in which 0010 FIG 1 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention 0011 FIG 2 is a schematic cross sectional view of a seat air conditioning unit according to the embodiment of the present invention 0012 FIG 3 is a flow chart for showing a control procedure of an air conditioner ECU according to the embodiment of the present invention 0013 FIG 4 is a graph for showing a characteristic of a blower of the seat air conditioning unit according to the embodiment of the present invention and 0014 FIG 5 is a plan view of a switch of the seat air conditioning unit according to a modified embodiment of the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT 0015 An embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the drawings 0016 Referring to FIG 1 the vehicle air conditioner includes a front air conditioning unit 1 for air conditioning a passenger compartment a seat air conditioning unit for air conditioning a seat and an air conditioner ECU 2 for controlling a condition of air in the passenger compartment 0017 First the front air conditioning unit 1 is constructed of a blower main blower 3 a duct 4 an evaporator 5 a heater core 6 an air mixing door 7 air blow mode switching doors 8 through 10 and the like The blower 3 creates a flow of air The duct 4 defines an air passage
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