Air conditioning control apparatus for an electric vehicle having a pre-air conditioning function

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9340090-B2
Application number	US-201113215337-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2011
Priority date	Aug 24, 2010
Publication date	May 17, 2016
Grant date	May 17, 2016

Abstract

An air conditioning control apparatus mounted on an electric vehicle having a travel battery that supplies an electric power to a travel driving source, a battery charger that charges the travel battery with a power supply, and an air conditioner that conducts air conditioning in a vehicle interior, controls the air conditioner. When pre-air conditioning is implemented in a state where the battery charger is connected to the power supply, an inrush current generated in a short time when an operation of the air conditioner starts is absorbed by both of power feeding from the power supply and power feeding from the travel battery, and after the inrush current has been absorbed, the air conditioner operates by only the power feeding from the power supply.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An air conditioning control apparatus mounted on an electric vehicle having a travel battery that supplies an electric power to a travel driving source, a battery charger that charges the travel battery with an external power supply, and an air conditioner that conducts air conditioning in a vehicle interior, the air conditioning control apparatus operable to control the air conditioner, the air conditioning control apparatus, comprising:
a processor; and
a storage unit that stores a program, that implements pre air conditioning, executed by the processor,
the program causes the processor to:
(a) determine that the battery charger is connected to the external the power supply;
(b) determine whether a charge amount condition in which an amount of charge stored in the travel battery is equal to or larger than a predetermined minimum charge amount, process (b) including, when an amount of power feed required for absorbing the inrush current is a maximum power feed amount, obtaining the predetermined minimum charge amount required to compensate for a deficit by subtracting an amount of power feed obtained by the power supply from the maximum power feed amount;
(c) when (a) and (b) are satisfied, power feed, to the air conditioner, simultaneously from the power supply and from the travel battery only for a time period during which an inrush current is generated to absorb the inrush current; and
(d) after the inrush current has been absorbed, cause the power to be fed to the air conditioner only from the power supply.

2. The air conditioning control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a communication part that receives a pre-air conditioning instruction transmitted from a mobile device for ordering implementation of the pre-air conditioning in the vehicle interior.

3. The air conditioning control apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the program causes the processor to determine whether a control termination condition required for terminating the operation of the air conditioner is satisfied, during the operation of the air conditioner, and terminate the operation of the air conditioner when determining that the control termination condition is satisfied.

4. The air conditioning control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the power supply is supplied from an outlet disposed in a housing.

5. The air conditioning control apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the power supply is supplied from an outlet disposed in a housing.

6. The air conditioning control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the power supply is supplied from an outlet disposed in a housing.

7. The air conditioning control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a defogger control unit that operates a defogger disposed on a glass window of the electric vehicle during implementation of the pre-air conditioning.

8. The air conditioning control apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a defogger control unit that operates a defogger disposed on a glass window of the electric vehicle during implementation of the pre-air conditioning.

9. The air conditioning control apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a defogger control unit that operates a defogger disposed on a glass window of the electric vehicle during implementation of the pre-air conditioning.

10. The air conditioning control apparatus according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a defogger control unit that operates a defogger disposed on a glass window of the electric vehicle during implementation of the pre-air conditioning.

11. An air conditioning control apparatus mounted on an electric vehicle having a travel battery that supplies an electric power to a travel driving source, a battery charger that charges the travel battery with an external power supply, and an air conditioner that conducts air conditioning in a vehicle interior, the air conditioning control apparatus operable to control the air conditioner, the air conditioning control apparatus, comprising:
a processor; and
a storage unit that stores a program, that implements pre-air conditioning, executed by the processor,
the program causes the processor to:
(a) determine whether pre-air conditioning is implemented in a state where the battery charger is connected to the external power supply;
(b) determine whether a charge amount condition in which an amount of charge stored in the travel battery is equal to or larger than a predetermined minimum charge amount, process (b) including, when an amount of power feed required for absorbing the inrush current is a maximum power feed amount, obtaining the predetermined minimum charge amount required to compensate for a deficit by subtracting an amount of power feed obtained by the power supply from the maximum power feed amount;
(c) determine whether an operation enable condition including a condition that the electric vehicle has been parked is satisfied;
(d) when (a)-(c) are satisfied, power feed to the air conditioner, simultaneously from the power supply and from the travel battery only for a time period during which an inrush current is generated to absorb the inrush current, and
(e) after the inrush current has been absorbed, cause the power to be fed to the air conditioner only from the power supply, wherein
the operation enable condition includes at least one of,
determining that an ignition switch is at an OFF position,
determining that a shift position of a transmission is in a parking position,
a condition of determining that a hood of the electric vehicle is closed, and
a condition of determining that all doors of the electric vehicle are closed.

Assignees

• Fukatsu Hiroki
• Mitsubishi Motors Corp

Inventors

• Fukatsu Hiroki

Classifications

• B60H1/00428

  electric · CPC title

• B60L1/02

  to electric heating circuits · CPC title

• B60L53/68

  Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control · CPC title

• B60L53/62

  in response to charging parameters, e.g. current, voltage or electrical charge · CPC title

• B60L1/003

  to auxiliary motors, e.g. for pumps, compressors · CPC title