Thermal management system for a motor vehicle and corresponding thermal management method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018251007-A1
Application number	US-201615758152-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 30, 2016
Priority date	Sep 8, 2015
Publication date	Sep 6, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

The invention relates to a thermal management system ( 1 ) for a motor vehicle, comprising:
at least one sensor ( 13, 113 ) capable of measuring at least one quantity that can be used to determine at least one thermal comfort data item (TS), a predefined number of actuators (A 101, A 102, A 103, A 104 ), configured, respectively, for adjusting at least one parameter of an associated piece of equipment ( 3, 5, 7, 9 ) of said vehicle, and a control device ( 12 ) for controlling the actuators (A 101, A 102, A 103, A 104 ) on the basis of the measurements of said at least one sensor ( 13, 113 ).

According to the invention, the control device ( 12 ) comprises at least one processing means ( 14 ) for:
identifying at least a first and a second piece of equipment for acting on a first and a second part of the occupant's body, respectively, if thermal regulation of the occupant is required, and controlling at least a first and a second actuator configured, respectively, for adjusting at least one parameter of the first and second pieces of equipment identified, so as to act on said parts of the occupant's body.

The invention also relates to a thermal management method implemented by such a system ( 1 ).

First claim

1 . A thermal management system for a motor vehicle, said vehicle comprising at least two pieces of equipment, said thermal management system comprising:
at least one sensor capable of measuring at least one quantity that can be used to determine at least one thermal comfort data item representative of the thermal state of at least one occupant of said vehicle; a predefined number of actuators, configured, respectively, for adjusting at least one parameter of an associated piece of equipment capable of regulating the thermal state of the occupant; and a control device for controlling the actuators, for:
determining at least one thermal comfort data item (TS) on the basis of the measurements of said at least one sensor, and
using said at least one thermal comfort data item for determining whether thermal regulation is required, and for controlling the actuators,
wherein the control device comprises at least one processing means, for performing the following operations on the basis of said at least one thermal comfort data item:
identifying at least a first piece of equipment for acting on a first part of the occupant's body and a second piece of equipment for acting on a second part of the occupant's body if thermal regulation is required, and
controlling at least a first actuator configured for adjusting at least one parameter of the first piece of equipment identified and a second actuator configured for adjusting at least one parameter of the second piece of equipment identified, so as to act on said parts of the occupant's body.

2 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first part of the occupant's body and the second part of the occupant's body are different, the thermal management system being capable of acting in a differentiated way on the different parts of the occupant's body.

3 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 1 , comprising a means of acquiring at least one temporal data item of a usage scenario of said vehicle, said at least one temporal data item being usable for the identification of said pieces of equipment to be controlled for the local regulation of the thermal state of the occupant in the parts of his body.

4 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said at least one sensor comprises at least one thermal state sensor, such as an infrared sensor, capable of measuring at least one thermal quantity relating to the thermal state of at least one occupant of said vehicle.

5 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said at least one sensor comprises a predetermined number of sensors of the thermal environment in the passenger compartment of said vehicle.

6 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the control device comprises at least one processing means for determining said at least one data item, using an algorithm based on a chosen comfort model comprising at least one thermo-physiological model based on the thermal sensations of a panel representative of the population whose body temperature has been measured in different conditions.

7 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first and second pieces of equipment can provide heat exchanges of different kinds, for example by convection, by radiation, or by conduction.

8 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one actuator is configured for adjusting at least one aerothermal parameter of a piece of equipment of a heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning installation of said vehicle, such as the temperature, the flow rate, and the distribution of an air flow directed to the passenger compartment.

9 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one actuator is configured for adjusting at least one thermal parameter of a piece of equipment provided in the passenger compartment of said vehicle, such as a glazing unit, the steering wheel or a seat, so as to adjust the thermal state of the occupant at a given part of the body.

10 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein one of the different parts of the occupant's body is at least one area of the face, the nape of the neck, at least one shoulder, the chest, the back, at least one hand, at least one arm, at least one leg, at least one foot and/or one ankle.

11 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 1 , comprising at least one identification means capable of locating at least one part of the occupant's body in space, using the measurements made by said at least one sensor.

12 . The thermal management system as claimed in claim 11 , wherein
said at least one sensor is capable of capturing at least one image or sequence of images, and the identification means comprises at least one image processing means for locating at least one part of the occupant's body on the basis of the captured image(s), and for determining the position of the occupant.

13 . A thermal management method implemented by a thermal management system for a motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , the thermal management method comprising:
acquiring a measurement or measurements of at least one quantity that can be used to determine at least one thermal comfort data item representative of the thermal state of at least one occupant of said vehicle; determining at least one thermal comfort data item on the basis of said at least one measured quantity; on the basis of said at least one determined thermal comfort data item, identifying the need to regulate the thermal state of the occupant, wherein when regulation of the thermal state of the occupant is necessary, said thermal management method further comprises: determining at least a first and a second part of the occupant's body, which are different from one another, on which to act in order to regulate the occupant's thermal state; for each part of the body determined in step, identifying an associated piece of equipment for acting on one or both of the first and second parts of the body; and controlling at least:
a first actuator configured for adjusting at least one parameter of a first associated piece of equipment capable of acting on the first part of the occupant's body, and
a second actuator configured for adjusting at least one parameter of a second associated piece of equipment capable of acting on the second part of the occupant's body, in a differentiated way relative to the first piece of equipment.

14 . The thermal management method as claimed in claim 13 , further comprising a step of acquiring at least one temporal data item concerning the usage scenario of said vehicle, and wherein the thermal management method takes said at least one temporal data item into account for the determination of the parts of the body on which to act in order to regulate the thermal state of the occupant.

15 . The thermal management method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein control signals are generated for controlling said actuators and comprise at least one data item concerning the power of the associated piece of equipment.

16 . The thermal management method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein control signals are generated for controlling said actuators and comprise at least one predefined timing data item, such as a predefined period or the reaching of a condition of thermal neutrality.

Assignees

• Valeo Systemes Thermiques

Inventors

• Neveu Daniel
• Barat Didier
• Bede Sophie
• Rousseil Xavier

Classifications

• B60N2/5685

  Resistance · CPC title

• B60N2/56

  Heating or ventilating devices · CPC title

• G06V10/143

  Sensing or illuminating at different wavelengths · CPC title

• 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

• B60H1/00292

  for steering wheels · CPC title