Air conditioning apparatus and air conditioning method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10024476-B2
Application number	US-201213665180-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2012
Priority date	Nov 1, 2011
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

An air conditioning apparatus and an air conditioning method for cooling a passenger space of a vehicle that accommodates a user include a tank that is capable of storing compressed air, and a control unit to release the compressed air stored in the tank into the passenger space. Energy that is generated without putting a workload on the power source or electric power of the vehicle is used for at least one process of compressing air in the tank, cooling the compressed air stored in the tank, and heating the compressed air stored in the tank.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An air conditioning apparatus comprising:
a tank to store compressed air; and
a control unit configured to release the compressed air stored in the tank and to determine a heat amount of air stored in the tank, wherein
the air conditioning apparatus is configured to use at least one of: energy that is sourced from other than a vehicle power source, energy that is a by-product of a separate process, and energy that is excessive from a separate process, for at least processes of:
compressing air in the tank,
cooling compressed air that is stored in the tank, when the controller determines that a heat amount of the air stored in the tank is above a predetermined heat amount, and
heating compressed air that is stored in the tank, when the controller determines that a heat amount of the air stored in the tank is below a predetermined heat amount.

2. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein compressed air stored in the tank is compressed by one of:
rotational force transmitted from wheels during a deceleration period of the vehicle,
discharge pressure of air brakes, and
a compression device operated by air brakes.

3. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein compressed air that is stored in the tank is cooled by one of:
air taken into the vehicle,
air that is cooled by an air conditioning apparatus,
breeze from running,
coolant of the air conditioning apparatus,
coolant generated using driving force of at least one of an engine and a transmission of the vehicle, and
coolant obtained by electric power from at least one of a battery and generator.

4. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein compressed air that is stored in the tank is heated by one of:
air taken into the vehicle,
air that is heated by an air conditioning apparatus,
heat from the vehicle body,
a heat carrier of the air conditioning apparatus,
a heat carrier generated using driving force of at least one of an engine and a transmission of the vehicle,
a heat carrier obtained by electric power of at least one of a battery and generator,
at least one of engine heat and exhaust heat, and
heat from at least one of brakes and the transmission.

5. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein compressed air that is stored in the tank is heated by one of:
air taken into the vehicle,
air that is cooled by an air conditioning apparatus,
heat from the vehicle body,
a heat carrier of the air conditioning apparatus,
a heat carrier generated using driving force of at least one of an engine and a transmission of the vehicle,
a heat carrier obtained by electric power of at least one of a battery and generator,
at least one of engine heat and exhaust heat, and
heat from at least one of brakes and the transmission.

6. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein compressed air that is stored in the tank is cooled by one of:
air taken into the vehicle,
air that is cooled by an air conditioning apparatus,
breeze from running,
coolant of the air conditioning apparatus,
coolant generated using driving force of at least one of an engine and a transmission of the vehicle, and
coolant obtained by electric power from at least one of a battery and generator.

7. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein compressed air that is stored in the tank is heated by one of:
air taken into the vehicle,
air that is heated by an air conditioning apparatus,
heat from the vehicle body,
a heat carrier of the air conditioning apparatus,
a heat carrier generated using driving force of at least one of an engine and a transmission of the vehicle,
a heat carrier obtained by electric power of at least one of a battery and generator,
at least one of engine heat and exhaust heat, and
heat from at least one of brakes and the transmission.

8. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein compressed air that is stored in the tank is heated by one of:
air taken into the vehicle,
air that is heated by an air conditioning apparatus,
heat from the vehicle body,
a heat carrier of the air conditioning apparatus,
a heat carrier generated using driving force of at least one of an engine and a transmission of the vehicle,
a heat carrier obtained by electric power of at least one of a battery and generator,
at least one of engine heat and exhaust heat, and
heat from at least one of brakes and the transmission.

9. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein air is compressed in the tank by rotational force transmitted from wheels during a deceleration period of the vehicle,
and wherein, in the event of cooling compressed air that is stored in the tank, the compressed air that is stored in the tank is cooled by air taken into the vehicle or air that is cooled by an air conditioning apparatus,
and wherein, in the event of heating compressed air that is stored in the tank, the compressed air stored in the tank is heated by at least one of engine heat and exhaust heat.

10. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein compressed air stored in the tank is compressed by rotational force transmitted from wheels during a deceleration period of the vehicle.

11. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein compressed air that is stored in the tank is cooled by air taken into the vehicle or air that is cooled by an air conditioning apparatus.

12. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein compressed air that is stored in the tank is heated by air taken into the vehicle or air that is heated by an air conditioning apparatus.

13. An air conditioning method of an air conditioning apparatus for cooling a passenger space of a vehicle that accommodates a user, the method comprising the steps of:
compressing air into a tank using at least one of: energy that is sourced from other than a vehicle power source, energy that is a by-product of a separate process, and energy that is excessive from a separate process;
cooling compressed air that is stored in the tank when a controller determines that a heat amount of the compressed air that is stored in the tank is above a predetermined heat amount, and heating compressed air that is stored in the tank when a controller determines that a heat amount of the compressed air that is stored in the tank is below a predetermined heat amount,
wherein cooling and heating of the compressed air are performed using at least one of: energy that is sourced from other than the vehicle power source, energy that is a by-product of a separate process, and energy that is excessive from a separate process; and
discharging compressed air stored in the tank into the passenger space.

Assignees

• Fuji Heavy Ind Ltd
• Subaru Corp

Inventors

• Morishita Hideaki
• Kamei Kentaro
• Furuse Kenji
• Ikeo Masahiko

Classifications

• Y10T137/0318

  Processes · CPC title

• F16L53/30 Primary

  Heating of pipes or pipe systems · CPC title

• B60H1/32 Primary

  Cooling devices {(B60H1/00478, B60H1/005 take precedence)} · CPC title

• Y10T137/6416

  With heating or cooling of the system · CPC title

• F16L53/001 Primary

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic