Vehicle, cooling apparatus, and cooling method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9623724-B2
Application number	US-201213618155-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2012
Priority date	Sep 29, 2011
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

There are provided a vehicle, a cooling apparatus, and a cooling method. The vehicle includes passenger space that accommodates a user, a tank that is capable of storing compressed air, and a control unit to release the compressed air stored in the tank into the passenger space. The control unit controls releasing so as to release part or the whole volume of the compressed air stored in the tank into the passenger space.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a passenger space to accommodate a user;
a tank to store compressed air; and
a control unit to control release of the compressed air stored in the tank into the passenger space, wherein
the control unit computes a release volume according to a temperature in the passenger space, and takes the smaller of the computed release volume and a predetermined maximum release volume as a release volume to be released from the tank, and
the control unit determines that a vent opening to the passenger space, for releasing air from the passenger space to an environment outside the passenger space, is in an open state as a condition for starting release of the compressed air.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit stores the compressed air in the tank so as to have fixed pressure.

3. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined maximum release volume is equivalent to a part or the whole volume of the compressed air stored in the tank.

4. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit ends releasing when the pressure in the tank becomes the same as the ambient atmospheric pressure.

5. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit has a detector to detect at least one of the pressure in the tank and the pressure in the passenger space, and ends releasing in the event that a pressure difference between the pressure in the tank and the pressure in the passenger space has reached equal to or smaller than a predetermined value.

6. The vehicle according to claim 4 , wherein the control unit has a detector to detect at least one of the pressure in the tank and the pressure in the passenger space, and ends releasing in the event that pressure difference between the pressure in the tank and the pressure in the passenger space has reached equal to or smaller than a predetermined value.

7. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit ends releasing in the event that a releasing period based on a period until the pressure in the tank becomes the same as the ambient atmospheric pressure, or a releasing period based on a period until there is no pressure difference between the pressure in the tank and the pressure in the passenger space, has elapsed.

8. The vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a reservoir tank to supply compressed air to the tank.

9. The vehicle according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a reservoir tank to supply compressed air to the tank.

10. The vehicle according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a reservoir tank to supply compressed air to the tank.

11. The vehicle according to claim 7 , further comprising:
a reservoir tank to supply compressed air to the tank.

12. A cooling apparatus to cool a passenger space of a vehicle that accommodates a user, comprising:
a tank to store compressed air; and
a control unit to control release of the compressed air stored in the tank for delivery to the passenger space, wherein
the control unit receives a signal indicating that a vent opening to the passenger space, for releasing air from the passenger space to an environment outside the passenger space, is in an open state as a condition for starting release of the compressed air.

13. The cooling apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the control unit controls releasing so as to release less than all of the compressed air stored in the tank.

14. The cooling apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the control unit controls releasing so as to release the whole volume of the compressed air stored in the tank.

15. The cooling apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the control unit outputs a signal to create a vent opening by opening a window to the passenger space.

16. The cooling apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the control unit outputs a signal to create a vent opening by controlling an air conditioning apparatus.

17. The cooling apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the control unit receives a signal indicating that a user is about to get into the vehicle as a condition for starting release of the compressed air.

18. The vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a compressor to receive an intake air, compress the received intake air, and output the compressed air for storage in the tank,
wherein the compressor comprises an intake vent that is open to the passenger space for receiving an inner air from the passenger space as the intake air.

19. The vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a flow rate sensor to measure a flow volume of compressed air released from the tank,
wherein the control unit determines an end timing for the release of compressed air from the tank based on the flow volume measured by the flow rate sensor.

Assignees

• Morishita Hideaki
• Kamei Kentaro
• Furuse Kenji
• Ikeo Masahiko
• Fuji Heavy Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Morishita Hideaki
• Kamei Kentaro
• Furuse Kenji
• Ikeo Masahiko

Classifications

• B60H1/3204

  using compression (B60H1/3233 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60H1/32 Primary

  Cooling devices {(B60H1/00478, B60H1/005 take precedence)} · CPC title