Air conditioning control method for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017136847-A1
Application number	US-201615224852-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 1, 2016
Priority date	Nov 18, 2015
Publication date	May 18, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An air-conditioning control method for calculating an optimum operation amount of an air-conditioning blower in an air-conditioning system of a vehicle includes: determining a heater heat quantity after an engine of the vehicle is started under a maximum heating condition of the air-conditioning system and the air-conditioning system is turned on according to current vehicle state information and air-conditioning information; determining a lost heat quantity discharged outside the vehicle during a current air-conditioning mode; determining an effective heating energy efficiency by calculating a difference between the heater heat quantity and the lost heat quantity; calculating the optimum operation amount of the air-conditioning blower where the effective heating energy is maximized; and controlling operation of the air-conditioning blower according to the determined optimum operation amount.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for optimally controlling an air-conditioning system of a vehicle, the method comprising:
determining a heater heat quantity after an engine of the vehicle is started under a maximum heating condition of the air-conditioning system and the air-conditioning system is turned on according to current vehicle state information and air-conditioning information; determining a lost heat quantity discharged outside the vehicle during a current air-conditioning mode; determining an effective heating energy by calculating a difference between the heater heat quantity and the lost heat quantity; calculating the optimum operation amount of the air-conditioning blower where the effective heating energy is maximized; and controlling operation of the air-conditioning blower according to the determined optimum operation amount.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the heater heat quantity comprises:
determining a through-heater coolant flow rate that is a flow rate of a coolant passing through a heater where the coolant and air exchange heat with each other according to the current vehicle state information; determining a heater inlet air temperature according to the air-conditioning information; determining a through-heater air flow during the current air-conditioning mode; calculating an inlet temperature difference (ITD) that is a difference between an engine coolant temperature and the heater inlet air temperature; and determining the heater heat quantity based on the through-heater coolant flow rate, the through-heater air flow, and the ITD, according to a heater heat discharge performance map that maps the through-heater coolant flow rate, the through-heater air flow, and the ITD against each other.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the current vehicle state information includes an engine revolutions per minute (RPM) and a coolant temperature in a system in which a water pump is operated to pump and circulate a coolant by engine power.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the current vehicle state information includes an engine RPM and a coolant temperature in a system in which a water pump is operated to pump and circulate a coolant by engine power.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the air-conditioning information includes an external air temperature, an interior temperature, and an external/internal air door opening amount.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the air-conditioning information includes an external air temperature, an interior temperature, an external/internal air door opening amount, and a temperature adjustment door opening amount.

7 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of the through-heater air flow comprises:
calculating the through-heater air flow according to a current temperature adjustment door opening amount.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the lost heat quantity comprises:
calculating the lost heat quantity by multiplying an enthalpy difference between internal air and external air of the vehicle by an amount of discharged air that is determined based on a current external/internal air door opening amount.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a reference temperature in accordance with an external air temperature and an amount of time after the engine is started under the maximum heating condition and the air-conditioning system is turned on; comparing an interior temperature of the vehicle to the reference temperature; and calculating the optimum operation amount of the air-conditioning blower when the interior temperature of the vehicle is lower than the reference temperature.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a reference temperature in accordance with an external air temperature and an amount of time after the engine is started under the maximum heating condition and the air-conditioning system is turned on; comparing an interior temperature of the vehicle to the reference temperature; determining whether the engine has been warmed up based on a coolant temperature when the interior temperature of the vehicle is greater than or equal to the reference temperature; and reducing a current air flow from the air-conditioning blower to warm up the engine when it is determined that the engine has not been warmed up based on the coolant temperature.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
calculating the optimum operation amount of the air-conditioning blower when it is determined that the engine has been warmed up.

12 . A system for optimally controlling an air-conditioning system, the system comprising:
a vehicle having an engine and the air-conditioning system equipped therein; an air-conditioning blower disposed in the air-conditioning system; and a controller to control operation of the air-conditioning blower, the controller configured to:
determine a heater heat quantity after the engine of the vehicle is started under a maximum heating condition of the air-conditioning system and the air-conditioning system is turned on according to current vehicle state information and air-conditioning information;
determine a lost heat quantity discharged outside the vehicle during a current air-conditioning mode;
determine an effective heating energy by calculating a difference between the heater heat quantity and the lost heat quantity;
calculate the optimum operation amount of the air-conditioning blower where the effective heating energy is maximized; and
control operation of the air-conditioning blower according to the determined optimum operation amount.

13 . A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for optimally controlling an air-conditioning system of a vehicle, the computer readable medium comprising program instructions that:
determine a heater heat quantity after an engine of the vehicle is started under a maximum heating condition of the air-conditioning system and the air-conditioning system is turned on according to current vehicle state information and air-conditioning information; determine a lost heat quantity discharged outside the vehicle during a current air-conditioning mode; determine an effective heating energy by calculating a difference between the heater heat quantity and the lost heat quantity; calculate the optimum operation amount of the air-conditioning blower where the effective heating energy is maximized; and control operation of the air-conditioning blower according to the determined optimum operation amount.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lim Tae Woong
• Park Jae Hyun
• Kwon Chun Kyu
• Kwon Jung Ho

Classifications

• B60H1/00828

  Ventilators, e.g. speed control (B60H1/00864 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60H1/12

  using an air blower · CPC title

• B60H1/00807

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

• B60H1/00885

  Controlling the flow of heating or cooling liquid, e.g. valves or pumps (B60H1/00899 takes precedence; constructions of valves B60H1/00485) · CPC title

• B60H1/00735 Primary

  Control systems or circuits characterised by their input, i.e. by the detection, measurement or calculation of particular conditions, e.g. signal treatment, dynamic models · CPC title