Preemptive Vehicle Temperature Control System

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016207374-A1
Application number	US-201514600081-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 20, 2015
Priority date	Jan 20, 2015
Publication date	Jul 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system for thermally pre-conditioning a vehicle's passenger cabin prior to vehicle departure is provided. The system, after determining that the vehicle is off and/or the driver has left the car, monitors a variety of conditions corresponding to both the vehicle and the driver in order to determine the probability of the driver requiring near-term use of the car. Typical monitored conditions may include driver and vehicle location, driver proximity, time of day, day of week, driver's upcoming appointments, and a historical data base that tracks driver behavior. Once the probability that the car will be needed within a preset time period exceeds a preset level, the system determines whether the passenger cabin should be heated or cooled based on the current passenger cabin temperature, and then activates an appropriate thermal management system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A thermal management system coupled to a passenger cabin of a vehicle, wherein the thermal management system is controlled by an on-board control system, said on-board control system comprising:
a clock, wherein said clock provides current time and current date information to said on-board control system; a driver proximity detection system coupled to said on-board control system, wherein said driver proximity detection system is configured to determine a separation distance between the vehicle and a driver; a global positioning system (GPS) coupled to said on-board control system, wherein said GPS provides a current vehicle location to said on-board control system; a memory coupled to said on-board control system, wherein said memory contains a historical data base; and a vehicle state monitor, wherein said vehicle state monitor provides a first control signal to said on-board control system when said vehicle is on and provides a second control signal to said on-board control system when said vehicle is off, wherein after receiving said second control signal said on-board control system is configured to (i) determine a probability of the vehicle departing from said current location within a preset number of minutes relative to said current time, said probability based on at least two of said current time, said current date, said separation distance, said current vehicle location and said historical data base, (ii) compare said probability to a preset probability, and (iii) activate said thermal management system if said probability exceeds said preset probability.

2 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further comprising a data port coupled to said on-board control system, wherein said on-board control system is configured to acquire a driver appointment schedule from a remote system when said remote system is plugged into said data port, wherein said remote system is selected from the group consisting of a cellular phone, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a computer system, and a network-based computing system, and wherein said probability is based in part on said driver appointment schedule.

3 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless communication link coupled to said on-board control system, wherein said on-board control system is configured to acquire a driver appointment schedule from a remote system when said remote system is wirelessly connected to said on-board control system via said wireless communication link, wherein said remote system is selected from the group consisting of a cellular phone, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a computer system, and a network-based computing system, and wherein said probability is based in part on said driver appointment schedule.

4 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless communication link coupled to said on-board control system, wherein said on-board control system is configured to acquire an alarm setting from an alarm clock wirelessly connected to said on-board control system via said wireless communication link, and wherein said probability is based in part on said alarm setting.

5 . The thermal management system of claim 4 , wherein said alarm clock is comprised of a software application contained on a remote system, wherein said remote system is selected from the group consisting of a cellular phone, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a computer system, and a network-based computing system.

6 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein said driver proximity detection system monitors a cellular phone location and determines a driver location from said cellular phone location and determines said separation distance based on said driver location and said current vehicle location.

7 . The thermal management system of claim 6 , wherein said vehicle state monitor provides said second control signal to said on-board control system when said separation distance is greater than a preset distance.

8 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein said vehicle state monitor is comprised of a vehicle on/off switch.

9 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless communication link, wherein when a user device is in close proximity to said vehicle a short range link is established via said wireless communication link between said user device and said on-board control system, and wherein said vehicle state monitor provides said first control signal when said short range link is established, and wherein said vehicle state monitor provides said second control signal when said short range link is disrupted.

10 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , said historical data base comprising a plurality of departure times and a plurality of time durations, wherein said plurality of departure times corresponds to a first plurality of locations, and wherein each of said plurality of time durations corresponds to a duration period of the vehicle residing at one of a second plurality of locations.

11 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , said on-board control system configured to track and accumulate a plurality of driver behavior episodes and store said plurality of driver behavior episodes in said historical data base, said plurality of driver behavior episodes comprising a plurality of departure times and a plurality of time durations, wherein said plurality of departure times corresponds to a first plurality of locations, and wherein each of said plurality of time durations corresponds to a duration period of the vehicle residing at one of a second plurality of locations.

12 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein after said probability exceeds said preset probability and said on-board control system activates said thermal management system, said on-board control system is further configured to (i) monitor an elapsed time corresponding to a length of time that said thermal management system is active, (ii) compare said elapsed time to a preset time interval, and (iii) terminate operation of said thermal management system when said elapsed time exceeds said preset time interval.

13 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a heater configured to heat the passenger cabin; a temperature sensor for monitoring a current passenger cabin temperature; and a temperature comparator for comparing said current passenger cabin temperature to a preset temperature, wherein said on-board control system is configured to activate said heater if said vehicle is off and said probability exceeds said preset probability and said current passenger cabin temperature is lower than said preset temperature.

14 . The thermal management system of claim 13 , wherein said heater is selected from the group consisting of a heating, ventilation and air-condition (HVAC) heater, a seat heater, and a steering wheel heater.

15 . The thermal management system of claim 13 , wherein said on-board control system is configured to activate a cabin air circulation system if said vehicle is off and said probability exceeds said preset probability and said current passenger cabin temperature is lower than said preset temperature.

16 . The thermal management system of claim 13 , further comprising a cabin air circulation system, wherein after said on-board control system activates said heater, said on-board control system is further configured to (i) monitor an elapsed time corresponding to a length of time

Assignees

• Atieva Inc

Inventors

• Gauthier Jean-Philippe
• Tse David
• Hao Jieliang
• Rawlinson Peter Dore

Classifications

• B60H1/00742 Primary

  by detection of the vehicle occupants' presence; by detection of conditions relating to the body of occupants, e.g. using radiant heat detectors · CPC title

• B60H1/00971

  Control systems or circuits characterised by including features for locking or memorising of control modes · CPC title

• B60H1/00792

  Arrangement of detectors (B60H1/00742, B60H1/0075, B60H1/00785 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60H1/00007

  Combined heating, ventilating, or cooling devices (control systems or mechanisms B60H1/00642) · CPC title

• B60H1/00778

  the input being a stationary vehicle position, e.g. parking or stopping · CPC title