Air conditioning control system and method for vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018001736-A1
Application number	US-201615364425-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 30, 2016
Priority date	Jul 1, 2016
Publication date	Jan 4, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

An air conditioning control system and method for a vehicle may include: an alternate control entering temperature difference excess determination step of determining whether a difference in temperature between a side vent temperature sensor and a shower duct temperature sensor exceeds an alternate control entering temperature difference; and an alternate control step of determining that a side vent grill may have been closed, when the difference exceeds the alternate control entering temperature difference, and performing an alternate control operation of regarding the temperature of air measured by the shower duct temperature sensor as the temperature of air discharged from the side vent grill and controlling a temperature of air to be discharged from a center vent grill.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An air conditioning control system for a vehicle, comprising:
side vent grills mounted in respective opposite ends of an upper portion of a dashboard; center vent grills mounted in a central portion of the upper portion of the dashboard at positions spaced apart from each other; shower duct discharge ports mounted in a lower portion of the dashboard at positions spaced apart from each other; a side vent temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of air to be discharged from each of the side vent grills; a shower duct temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of air to be discharged from each of the shower duct discharge ports; and a controller configured to control an operation of an air conditioner using values inputted from the side vent temperature sensor and the shower duct temperature sensor, wherein, when a difference between the temperature measured by the side vent temperature sensor and the temperature measured by the shower duct temperature sensor exceeds a preset alternate control entering temperature difference, the controller performs an alternate control operation of regarding the temperature measured by the shower duct temperature sensor as the temperature outputted from the side vent temperature sensor and controlling the temperature of air to be discharged from the center vent grills.

2 . The air conditioning control system of claim 1 , wherein when a time for which the air conditioner is in a vent mode in which air is discharged toward a face or an upper body of an occupant or a bi-level mode in which air is discharged toward a floor of the vehicle and the face or the upper body of the occupant exceeds a preset alternate control entering time, the controller performs the alternate control operation.

3 . The air conditioning control system of claim 2 , wherein when the alternate control operation is performed, the controller controls a flow rate of air to be discharged from the shower duct discharge ports such that the flow rate is continuously a predetermined value or more.

4 . The air conditioning control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller individually performs the alternate control operation for each of a driver's seat and a passenger seat.

5 . A method of controlling an air conditioning control system for a vehicle, the air conditioning control system comprising: side vent grills mounted in respective opposite ends of an upper portion of a dashboard; center vent grills mounted in a central portion of the upper portion of the dashboard at positions spaced apart from each other; shower duct discharge ports mounted in a lower portion of the dashboard at positions spaced apart from each other; a side vent temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of air to be discharged from each of the side vent grills; and a shower duct temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of air to be discharged from each of the shower duct discharge ports, the method comprising:
an alternate control entering temperature difference excess determination operation of determining whether a difference in temperature between the side vent temperature sensor and the shower duct temperature sensor exceeds an alternate control entering temperature difference preset to enter an alternate control operation; and an alternate control operation of determining that the side vent grills have been closed, when the difference in temperature between the side vent temperature sensor and the shower duct temperature sensor exceeds the alternate control entering temperature difference, and performing the alternate control operation regarding the temperature of air measured by the shower duct temperature sensor as the temperature of air discharged from the side vent grills and controlling a temperature of air to be discharged from the center vent grills.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
an air blowing mode determination operation of determining, before the alternate control entering temperature difference excess determination operation is performed, whether an air blowing mode is one of a vent mode in which air is discharged toward a face or an upper body of an occupant and a bi-level mode in which air is discharged toward a floor of the vehicle and the face or the upper body of the occupant, wherein when the air blowing mode is one of the vent mode and the bi-level mode in the air blowing mode determination operation, the alternate control entering temperature difference excess determination operation is performed.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
an alternate control entering time excess determination operation of determining, between the air blowing mode determination operation and the alternate control entering temperature difference excess determination operation, whether a time for which the air conditioner is in the vent mode or the bi-level mode exceeds an alternate control entering time preset to enter the alternate control operation, wherein when a time for which the air conditioner is in the vent mode or the bi-level mode exceeds the alternate control entering time in the alternate control entering time excess determination operation, the alternate control entering temperature difference excess determination operation is performed.

8 . The method of claim 5 , wherein in the alternate control operation, a flow rate of air to be discharged from the shower duct discharge ports is continuously a predetermined value or more.

9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein when it is determined in the air blowing mode determination operation that the air blowing mode is neither the vent mode nor the bi-level mode, a normal control operation of controlling an air conditioning system is performed.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein when a time for which the air conditioner is in the vent mode or the bi-level mode does not exceed the alternate control entering time in the alternate control entering time excess determination operation, a normal control operation of controlling an air conditioning system is performed.

11 . The method of claim 5 , wherein when the difference in temperature between the side vent temperature sensor and the shower duct temperature sensor does not exceed the alternate control entering temperature difference in the alternate control entering temperature difference excess determination operation, a normal control operation of controlling an air conditioning system is performed.

12 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the alternate control operation is independently applied to each of a driver's seat and a passenger seat.

13 . The method of claim 7 , wherein in the alternate control entering time excess determination operation, the alternate control entering time is set within a range from thirty seconds to two minutes.

14 . The method of claim 5 , wherein in the alternate control entering temperature difference excess determination operation, the alternate control entering temperature difference is set within a range from 15° C. to 20° C.

15 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising, before the alternate control entering temperature difference excess determination operation,
a temperature sensor condition determination operation of determining whether the side vent temperature sensor and the shower duct temperature sensor are normal, wherein when both the side vent temperature sensor and the shower duct temperature sensor are normal, the alternate control entering temperature difference excess determination operation is performed.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wher

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Kim Myung-Hoe
• Jang Byeong-Moo
• Kwon Jong-Hwan
• Kim Seong-Nam

Classifications

• B60H1/00778 Primary

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

• B60H1/0073

  Control systems or circuits characterised by particular algorithms or computational models, e.g. fuzzy logic or dynamic models · CPC title

• B60H1/00064 Primary

  for sending air streams of different temperatures into the passenger compartment · CPC title

• B60H1/00878

  the components being temperature regulating devices · CPC title

• B60H1/00792

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