Air conditioner for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9950589-B2
Application number	US-201113308862-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 1, 2011
Priority date	Dec 7, 2010
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle air conditioner includes a blower for blowing air into a space of a vehicle compartment, and an air-conditioning mode switching portion for switching between air conditioning modes. The air conditioning modes include a normal air conditioning mode in which air conditioning of a specific region including a driver seat and air conditioning of a non-specific region not including the specific region in the space of the vehicle compartment are performed, and a specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode in which an air conditioning capability for the non-specific region is decreased as compared to the normal air conditioning mode. The air-conditioning mode switching portion adjusts the air conditioning capability for the non-specific region based on a pressure of air drawn into the blower, in the specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising:
a single blower that blows air into a vehicle compartment having a specific region in which an occupant is sitting and a non-specific region in which no occupant is sitting;
a plurality of air outlets that blow the air blown by the single blower into the vehicle compartment;
an air-conditioning mode switching portion that switches between air conditioning modes by opening or closing the plurality of air outlets; and
a controller that controls an operation of the air-conditioning mode switching portion, wherein
the air conditioning modes include:
a normal air conditioning mode in which air conditioning is performed both in the specific region and the non-specific region; and
a specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode in which a volume of air that is blown to the non-specific region is decreased as compared to a volume of air that is blown to the non-specific region in the normal air conditioning mode,

the plurality of air outlets include:
a specific-region side air outlet that blows air to the specific region; and
a non-specific-region side air outlet that blows air to the non-specific region,

the controller starts operating the specific region prioritizing air conditioning mode when an occupant detection sensor detects that an occupant is present only in the specific region, and
when the specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode is performed, the controller controls the air-conditioning mode switching portion to keep the air flow consistent then calculates a blower suction pressure such that if the blower suction pressure increases then the controller increases an opening degree of the non-specific-region side air outlet, so as to decrease the volume of air that is blown to the specific region relatively by increasing the volume of air that is blown to the non-specific region.

2. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the blower suction pressure is a pressure of the air drawn into the single blower, and
the controller calculates the blower suction pressure based on at least one of (i) a vehicle speed, (ii) an operation state of an inside/outside air switching portion, which adjusts a flow ratio of air inside the vehicle compartment to air outside the vehicle compartment, introduced into the single blower, and (iii) an operation state of a ram pressure reducing device which reduces a ram pressure during traveling.

3. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
when the specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode is performed, the controller controls the air-conditioning mode switching portion to adjust the volume of air that is blown to the non-specific region based on an air conditioning load and the blower suction pressure.

4. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
when fogging of a window is determined to be caused in the specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode, the controller increases the volume of air that is blown to the non-specific region, or switches the specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode to the normal air conditioning mode.

5. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising
an air conditioning operation portion that sets an air conditioning for the specific region and an air conditioning for the non-specific region independently, wherein
when the air conditioning operation portion sets the air conditioning for the non-specific region in the specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode, the controller increases the volume of air that is blown to the non-specific region, or switches the specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode to the normal air conditioning mode.

6. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
when the specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode is performed, the air-conditioning mode switching portion changes at least one of the volume of air that is blown to the specific region and the volume of air that is blown to the non-specific region over time.

7. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a defroster air outlet that is included in the plurality of air outlets and blows air to a window;
a specific-region side door that is included in the air-conditioning mode switching portion and adjusts an opening degree of the specific-region side air outlet;
a non-specific region side door that is included in the air-conditioning mode switching portion and adjusts an opening degree of the non-specific region side air outlet;
a defroster door that is included in the air-conditioning mode switching portion and adjusts an opening degree of the defroster air outlet;
a specific-region side link mechanism that drives the specific-region side door and the defroster door in cooperation with each other; and
a non-specific region side link mechanism that drives the non-specific region side door, wherein
the controller controls, in a defroster mode:
the specific-region side link mechanism to drive the defroster door to open the defroster opening and to drive the specific-region side door to completely close the specific-region side air outlet; and
the non-specific region side link mechanism to drive the non-specific region side door to completely close the non-specific region side air outlet,

the controller controls, in a non-defroster mode:
the specific-region side link mechanism to drive the specific-region side door to open the specific-region side air outlet; and
the non-specific region side link mechanism to drive the non-specific region side door to open the non-specific side air outlet,

when the specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode is performed, the controller controls the specific-region side link mechanism to set the non-defroster mode, and controls the non-specific region side link mechanism to set the defroster mode.

8. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller controls the air-conditioning mode switching portion to set the normal air conditioning mode (i) when passengers occupy seats in the specific region or (ii) when a specific-region prioritizing switch for setting the specific region prioritizing air conditioning mode is not operated, and
the controller controls the air-conditioning mode switching portion to set the specific-region prioritizing air conditioning mode (iii) when no passenger occupies a seat in the non-specific region, or (iv) when the specific-region prioritizing switch is operated.

9. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the blower suction pressure is a ram pressure generated by an air flow caused by movement of the vehicle.

10. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
when the specific-region prioritizing mode is performed, the controller increases only the volume of air that is blown to the non-specific region as the blower suction pressure becomes higher.

11. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the specific region includes a driver seat.

12. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising:
a single blower that blows air into a vehicle compartment having a specific region in which an occupant is sitting and a non-specific region in which no occupant is sitting;
a plurality of air outlets that blow the air blown by the single blower to the vehicle compartment;
an air-conditioning mode switching portion that switches between air conditioning modes by opening or closing the plurality of air outlets; and
a controller that controls an operation of the air-

Assignees

• Sagou Yasuhiro
• Maeda Manabu
• Hirai Shinichirou
• Yanagimachi Yoshinori
• Wakabayashi Koji
• Ota Koji
• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Sagou Yasuhiro
• Maeda Manabu
• Hirai Shinichirou
• Yanagimachi Yoshinori
• Wakabayashi Koji
• Ota Koji

Classifications

• B60H1/00764

  the input being a vehicle driving condition, e.g. speed (B60H1/00828, B60H1/00864 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60H1/00742

  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

• B60H1/00735

  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

• B60H1/00842 Primary

  the system comprising a plurality of damper doors; Air distribution between several outlets · CPC title