Heating apparatus for vehicle, method of controlling heating apparatus for vehicle, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11964540-B2
Application number	US-202016891747-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 3, 2020
Priority date	Jun 13, 2019
Publication date	Apr 23, 2024
Grant date	Apr 23, 2024

Abstract

A heating apparatus for a vehicle includes an air heating unit configured to heat air conditioning air to be sent into a vehicle cabin, a contact heating unit configured to heat a member that is in contact with a body of an occupant in the vehicle cabin, and an electronic control unit. A heat source of the air heating unit and a heat source of the contact heating unit each are supplied with an electric power from one or more batteries. The electronic control unit is configured to decrease an electric power that is supplied to the heat source of the air heating unit when the heat source of the contact heating unit is on as compared to an electric power that is supplied to the heat source of the air heating unit when the heat source of the contact heating unit is off.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heating apparatus for a vehicle, the heating apparatus comprising:
an air heating unit configured to heat air conditioning air to be sent into a vehicle cabin;
a contact heating unit configured to heat a member that is in contact with a body of an occupant in the vehicle cabin; and
an electronic control unit, wherein:
a heater of the air heating unit and a heater of the contact heating unit each are supplied with an electric power from one or more batteries; and
the electronic control unit is configured to:
decrease an electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is on to reduce an electric power consumption from the one or more batteries as compared to an electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is off;
decrease a target water temperature of the air heating unit when the contact heating unit is on;
decrease a total electric power of the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the contact heating unit and the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is on as compared to the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is off and
decrease the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit as an outside air temperature outside the vehicle increases.

2. The heating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to decrease the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit as the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the contact heating unit increases.

3. The heating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the air heating unit is a hot-water heating unit configured to heat the air conditioning air as a result of passage of the air conditioning air around a heater core that is supplied with hot water; and
the hot-water heating unit is a water heater configured to heat water and supply the hot water.

4. The heating apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to adjust an electric power that is supplied to the water heater such that a water temperature of the hot water when the heater of the contact heating unit is on is lower than a water temperature of the hot water when the heater of the contact heating unit is off.

5. The heating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the contact heating unit is a seat heater configured to heat a seat that is in contact with the body of the occupant.

6. The heating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the contact heating unit is a steering wheel heater configured to heat a steering wheel that is in contact with a hand of the occupant.

7. The heating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the contact heating unit is a floor heater configured to heat a floor that is in contact with a foot of the occupant.

8. The heating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is an electric motor vehicle that is driven by using an electric power supplied from the one or more batteries.

9. A method of controlling a heating apparatus for a vehicle, the method comprising:
determining a heater of an air heating unit configured to heat air conditioning air to be sent into a vehicle cabin is on;
determining whether a heater of a contact heating unit configured to heat a member that is in contact with a body of an occupant in the vehicle cabin is on or off;
decreasing an electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is on to reduce an electric power consumption from one or more batteries as compared to an electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is off;
decreasing a target water temperature of the air heating unit when the contact heating unit is on;
decreasing a total electric power of the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the contact heating unit and the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is on as compared to the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is off; and
decreasing the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit as an outside air temperature outside the vehicle increases.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising decreasing the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit as the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the contact heating unit increases.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein:
the air heating unit is a hot-water heating unit configured to heat the air conditioning air as a result of passage of the air conditioning air around a heater core that is supplied with hot water;
the heater of the hot-water heating unit is a water heater configured to heat water and supply the hot water; and
the method further comprises adjusting an electric power that is supplied to the water heater such that a water temperature of the hot water when the heater of the contact heating unit is on is lower than a water temperature of the hot water when the heater of the contact heating unit is off.

12. A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors and that cause the one or more processors to perform functions comprising:
determining a heater of an air heating unit configured to heat air conditioning air to be sent into a vehicle cabin is on;
determining whether a heater of a contact heating unit configured to heat a member that is in contact with a body of an occupant in the vehicle cabin is on or off;
decreasing an electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is on to reduce an electric power consumption from one or more batteries as compared to an electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is off;
decreasing a target water temperature of the air heating unit when the contact heating unit is on;
decreasing a total electric power of the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the contact heating unit and the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is on as compared to the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit when the heater of the contact heating unit is off; and
decreasing the electric power that is supplied to the heater of the air heating unit as an outside air temperature outside the vehicle increases.

13. The heating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the occupant actively turns on the heater of the contact heating unit, the electric power consumption of the one or more batteries is reduced.

14. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising the step of:
reducing the electric power consumption of the one or more batteries when the occupant actively turns on the heater of the contact heating unit.

15. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 12 that further causes the one or more processors to perform functions comprising:
reducing the electric power consumption of the one or more batteries when the occupant actively turns on the heater of the contact heating unit.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd
• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Tsukagishi Kenji
• Kaneko Takahisa
• Nishiyama Masahiro
• Sumiyoshi akihisa

Classifications

• B60H1/2218 Primary

  controlling the operation of electric heaters · CPC title

• B60H1/00285

  for vehicle seats · CPC title

• B60H1/00292 Primary

  for steering wheels · CPC title

• B60H1/00428

  electric · CPC title

• B60H1/00807

  the input being a specific way of measuring or calculating an air or coolant temperature · CPC title