JP2007001367A - Air-conditioner for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase the response of the overall system of an air-conditioner. <P>SOLUTION: An electronic control device 100 transmits target values to electric actuators 170a to 170e in order. The control circuits 700 of the electric actuators 170a to 170e respectively receive the target values from the electronic control device 100, and then, return present values by performing an internal process. The electronic control device 100 receives respective present values from the electric actuators 170a to 170e after transmitting the target values, and the electric actuators 170a to 170e perform respective internal processes in such a manner that the internal processes may be duplicated on the time base with the internal processes of other control circuits. Therefore, compared with a case in which the electric actuators 170a to 170e independently perform respective internal processes on the time base, periods of time required for the communication for the electronic control device 100 and the electric actuators 170a to 170e can be shortened. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner that controls a plurality of electric actuators by an electronic control device.

  Conventionally, in an in-vehicle air conditioner, a plurality of electric actuators that drive a door such as an air mix door and an electronic control device are connected to a network, and the electronic control device performs handshake communication with each of the plurality of electric actuators in a time-sharing manner. The thing is proposed (for example, refer patent document 1).

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 12, the electronic control unit transmits a target value (specifically, a target position of the door) to one electric actuator 1a, and when the electric actuator 1a receives the target value, Process and return the current value (specifically, the current position of the door).

  Next, the electronic control unit transmits a target value to the second electric actuator 1b, and when the electric actuator 1b receives the target value, it performs internal processing and returns the current value. After that, when the electronic control device sequentially transmits the target values to the remaining electric actuators 1c, 1d, and 1e as well as the electric actuators 1a and 1b, after the internal processing by the electric actuators 1c, 1d, and 1e, The current values transmitted from the electric actuators 1c, 1d, and 1e are sequentially received.

As described above, a series of processes such as “transmission of target value”, “internal processing”, and “reply of current value” are repeated for each of the electric actuators 1a. The electric actuators 1a... 1e control corresponding doors as internal processing.
JP-A-10-109525

  However, in the on-vehicle air conditioner described in Patent Document 1 described above, a series of processes such as “transmission of target value”, “internal processing”, and “reply of current value” are repeated for each of the electric actuators 1a. For this reason, the communication time Tc required for communication between all of the five electric actuators 1a... 1e and the electronic control device is Tc = (of the electronic control device even when the time lag on the electronic control device side is zero. Transmission time + Door actuator internal processing time + Electric actuator transmission time) × 5 (units).

  For example, if the communication data used to transmit / receive the target value and the current value is N bytes (1 byte = 8 bits) and the communication rate is 4800 bits / second, the transmission time of the communication data (target value) = N · 8/4800 (seconds), communication data (current value) reception time = N · 8/4800 (seconds). If the internal processing time = X (seconds), the communication time Tc = (N × 8/4800 + X + N × 8/4800) × 5 (seconds).

  In recent years, air conditioners have become more sophisticated, and the number of electric actuators has increased accordingly. On the other hand, since the communication time Tc also increases in proportion to the increase in the number of units, the communication time between the electronic control unit and the electric actuator (that is, handshake) even when the calculation processing of the target value and the like by the electronic control unit is performed at high speed. Time) becomes a bottleneck and the overall response of the system decreases, and high performance as an air conditioner cannot be obtained.

  In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle air conditioner designed to improve performance.

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention described in claim 1,
N electric actuators (170a to 170e) each comprising an electric actuator body (780) and a control circuit (700) for controlling the electric actuator body;
An automotive air conditioner comprising: an electronic control device (100) that communicates with each of the N electric actuators in a time-sharing manner,
The electronic control unit transmits the transmission data to the N electric actuators,
Each of the N control circuits, after receiving transmission data from the electronic control device, performs internal processing and returns reply data.
Further, the electronic control device receives reply data from the N control circuits after transmitting the N transmission data,
As shown in FIG. 6, the N control circuits perform each internal process so as to overlap the internal processes of the other control circuits on the time axis. Air conditioner.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the N control circuits and the electronic control device are compared with the case where the N control circuits perform the internal processing independently on the time axis (see FIG. 12). Since the time required for communication between the two systems can be shortened, the response of the entire system is improved, and high performance as an air conditioner can be obtained.

Specifically, as in the invention described in claim 2, the electronic control device sequentially transmits the transmission data to the N electric actuators,
Furthermore, the electronic control unit may sequentially receive return data from the N control circuits in the order of transmission of the N transmission data.

On the other hand, according to the invention described in claim 3, the N electric actuators are divided into a plurality of systems.
The electronic control unit transmits the transmission data in parallel for each of the systems to the N electric actuators,
Further, the electronic control unit is configured to receive each reply data from the N control circuits in parallel for each of the systems. Therefore, in transmitting the transmission data and receiving the reply data Since the time required can be further shortened compared to the invention described in claim 2, the response of the entire system is further improved, and higher performance as an air conditioner can be obtained.

  In addition, the code | symbol in the bracket | parenthesis of each said means shows the correspondence with the specific means as described in embodiment mentioned later.

(First embodiment)
In FIG. 1, schematic structure of the vehicle-mounted air conditioner which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention is shown.

  The vehicle air conditioner according to the first embodiment includes an air conditioning case 5 housed in an instrument panel (that is, an instrument panel) in a vehicle interior. In the air conditioning case 5, an inside / outside air switching door 1b is An air conditioning case that is rotatably supported by the case 5 and is switched to a first switching position (a position indicated by a solid line in the drawing) under the drive of an electric actuator (that is, a servo motor) 170e for switching between inside and outside air. The outside air is introduced into the interior 5 from the outside air introduction port 5a, and is switched to the second switching position (the position indicated by the broken line in the figure). ).

  The blower 9 blows the outside air from the outside air introduction port 5a or the inside air from the inside air introduction port 5b to the evaporator 4 as an air flow according to the rotation speed of the blower motor 100f, and the evaporator 4 blows out the air blown from the blower 9 The stream is cooled by refrigerant circulated by operation of a known refrigeration cycle. The blower motor 100f rotates the blower 9 based on the drive signal from the communication control unit 200f.

  The air mix door (A / M door) 1a is driven by an electric actuator 170d, and a cooling air flow blown from the evaporator 4 is an air flow that flows into the heater core 3 and an air flow that bypasses the heater core 3 (hereinafter, bypass cooling air flow). And).

  The airflow flowing into the heater core 3 is heated by the engine cooling water (warm water) in the heater core 3, so that warm air is blown out from the heater core 3. Along with this, the warm air blown out from the heater core 3 and the bypass cooling airflow are mixed and flow toward the outlet doors 1c, 1d, and 1e. The mixing ratio SW (%) between the warm air and the bypass cooling air flow is determined by the opening degree of the air mix door 1a.

  The blowout door 1c is switched from a first switching position (a position indicated by a solid line in the figure) to a second switching position (a position indicated by a broken line in the figure) in the differential mode under the drive of the electric actuator 170c. The part 5c is opened and air is blown out mainly from the opening 5c toward the front windshield.

  The blowout door 1e is switched from a first switching position (a position indicated by a solid line in the drawing) to a second switching position (a position indicated by a broken line in the drawing) in the face mode under the drive of the electric actuator 170b. The portion 5e is opened, and air is blown out from the opening 5e toward the upper body of the passenger in the passenger compartment.

  The air outlet door 1d is switched from the first switching position (the position indicated by the solid line in the drawing) to the second switching position (the position indicated by the broken line in the drawing) in the foot mode under the drive of the electric actuator 170a. The opening 5d is opened and air is blown out from the opening 5d toward the passenger's lower half of the passenger compartment.

  Each of the doors 1a to 1e is formed into a plate shape with resin or the like. In addition, hereinafter, in order to distinguish the air outlet doors 1c, 1d, and 1e, they are also referred to as a differential air outlet door 1c, a foot air outlet door 1d, and a face air outlet door 1e, respectively.

  Next, the electric circuit configuration of the vehicle air conditioner will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit configuration of the vehicle air conditioner.

  The vehicle air conditioner includes an electronic control device 100. The electronic control device 100 includes a calculation unit 620, and the calculation unit 620 includes a memory, a microcomputer, and the like. The calculation unit 620 calculates the target blowing temperature TAO according to the detection values of various sensors, the set temperature output from the temperature setter, and the like, and the targets of the electric actuators 170a to 170e based on the target blowing temperature TAO. A value (this corresponds to the target angle of the corresponding door) is calculated. Moreover, the calculating part 620 controls the blower motor 100f via the communication control part 200f based on the target blowing temperature TAO.

  Here, as various sensors, an internal air temperature sensor that detects an air temperature inside the vehicle interior, a solar radiation sensor that detects the solar radiation intensity inside the vehicle interior, an external air temperature sensor that detects the air temperature outside the vehicle interior, and the like are adopted. Yes. Moreover, the target blowing temperature TAO means the blowing air temperature blown out from the blowout doors 1c, 1d, and 1e in order to maintain the air temperature in the passenger compartment at the set temperature of the temperature setting device.

  The electronic control device 100 and the electric actuators 170a to 170e are connected in a bus type by a power line + B, a communication line COM, and a ground line (GND).

  The electronic control device 100 also includes a communication circuit 630 and an oscillating unit 640. The communication circuit 630 communicates with the electric actuators 170a to 170e in a time division manner through the buffer circuits 610a and 610b. The oscillation unit 640 oscillates and outputs a clock signal to the electronic control unit 100 and the communication circuit 630 based on the oscillation.

  On the other hand, since the electric actuators 170a to 170e have substantially the same electric circuit configuration, the electric actuator 170a will be described below as an example with reference to FIG.

  First, FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the electric actuator 170a. The electric actuator 170a includes a control circuit 700, an electric motor (electric actuator main body) 780, and an encoder 790. The control circuit 700 is electronically controlled. While communicating with the apparatus 100, the electric motor 780 is controlled. Moreover, the electric motor 780 rotationally drives the outlet door 1d via a link mechanism (not shown).

  The encoder 790 generates a two-phase pulse signal based on the rotation of the rotating shaft (or the outlet door 1d) of the electric motor 780.

  Specifically, the phases of the two-phase pulse signals are offset from each other, and one two-phase pulse signal is generated each time the electric motor 780 rotates by a certain angle. The two-phase pulse signal is used to detect the rotation angle and direction of the electric motor 780 (or the outlet door 1d). In the present embodiment, an optical encoder or a sliding encoder is used as the encoder 790.

  The control circuit 700 includes buffer circuits 710a and 710b, a communication control unit 730, a motor control unit 740, an oscillation unit 750, buffer circuits 760a and 760b, and an identification code detection unit 770.

  The communication control unit 730 communicates with the electronic control device 100 via the buffer circuits 710a and 710b, and the motor control unit 740 receives a two-phase pulse signal input from the encoder 790 via the buffer circuits 760a and 760b. Is calculated based on the current value of the door 1d (which indicates the current rotation angle of the door 1d), and the electric motor 780 is controlled in accordance with <target value-current value> described later.

  The oscillation unit 750 oscillates and outputs a clock signal to the communication control unit 730 and the motor control unit 740 based on the oscillation. The identification code detection unit 770 detects an identification code included in header information of communication data (see FIG. 4).

  The identification code is used for identifying each electric actuator in communication between the electronic control unit 100 and the electric actuators 170a to 170e.

  Next, operations of the electronic control device 100 and the electric actuators 170a to 170e will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing control processing of the electronic control device 100 and the electric actuators 170a to 170e, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing initial setting processing of the electric actuator in FIG.

  First, when power is supplied, the electronic control unit 100 sets an initial setting flag (step S100), and calculates an internal processing time to be described later based on the number D of electric actuators (step S110). Specifically, assuming that the communication rate is 4800 bits / second and the amount of communication data is N bytes (N × 8 bits), the internal processing time is (N × 8/4800) × (D−1). . Thereafter, the electronic control unit 100 transmits an internal processing time and an initial setting flag to each of the electric actuators 170a to 170e (step S120).

  On the other hand, in the electric actuators 170a to 170e, when the communication calculation unit 730 receives the internal processing time and the initial setting flag, respectively (step S200), the communication calculation unit 730 performs processing as follows.

  First, it is determined whether or not the initial setting flag is set (step S210). Here, when the initial setting flag is in the set state, it is determined as YES and the initial setting process is performed (step S220). When the initial setting flag is in the reset state, it is determined as NO and the normal operation process is performed. (Step S230).

  Next, normal operation processing will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing normal operation processing, and FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing normal operation processing.

  First, the electronic control unit 100 sequentially transmits the target value to each of the electric actuators 170a to 170e (steps S300 to S304 in FIG. 6). The target value is data indicating the target angle of each of the electric actuators 170a to 170e.

  Then, the electric actuators 170a to 170e sequentially receive the target values (steps S320 to S324 in FIG. 6). Accordingly, each of the electric actuators 170a to 170e performs internal processing (details will be described later) (steps S330 to S334 in FIG. 6). Here, each internal process of the electric actuators 170a to 170e is performed so as to overlap on the time axis with the internal process of other electric actuators, as shown in FIGS.

  Thereafter, each of the electric actuators 170a to 170e returns the current value to the electronic control device 100 (steps S340 to S344 in FIG. 6). Accordingly, the electronic control unit 100 receives current values from the electric actuators 170a to 170e in the order of transmission of the target values (steps S305 to S309 in FIG. 6).

  A series of processes such as “transmission of target value”, “internal processing”, and “return of current value” as described above are repeated, and communication between the electronic control device 100 and the electric actuators 170a to 170e is performed. Become.

  Next, internal processing of each of the electric actuators 170a to 170e will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a control process of the communication calculation unit 730, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a control process of the communication calculation unit 730 and the motor control unit.

  First, the communication calculation unit 730 sets the internal processing time in the built-in timer and starts measuring the built-in timer (step S221 in FIG. 8). Thereafter, the difference <target value-current value> between the above-described target value and the current value (which is calculated by the motor control unit 740 as described later) is calculated, and the difference <target value-current value> is calculated as the motor. It transmits to the control part 740 (step S224). Accordingly, the motor control unit 740 supplies power to the electric motor 780 to drive the electric motor 780 to rotate.

  After that, when <target value-current value> = 0, the motor control unit 740 determines that the rotation shaft (or the outlet door 1d) of the electric motor 780 has rotated to the target position, and The power supply is stopped (step S226 in FIG. 9B).

  Further, when the built-in timer counts the above-described internal processing time, the communication calculation unit 730 returns the current value to the electronic control device 100 (step S225). As a result, even if the internal processing is completed after receiving the target value, the system waits until the time corresponding to the internal processing time elapses.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment is demonstrated.

  That is, the electronic control device 100 sequentially transmits target values (transmission data) to the electric actuators 170a to 170e, and the control circuits 700 of the electric actuators 170a to 170e receive the target values from the electronic control device 100, respectively. Later, internal processing is performed and the current value (reply data) is returned. Furthermore, the electronic control unit 100 receives the current values from the electric actuators 170a to 170e after the transmission of the target value, and the electric actuators 170a to 170e perform the respective internal processes as the internal processes of other control circuits. It is designed to be duplicated on the time axis.

  Specifically, the execution times of the internal processes of the electric actuators 170a and 170b overlap on the time axis, and the execution times of the internal processes of the electric actuators 170b and 170c overlap on the time axis. . The execution times of the internal processes of the electric actuators 170c and 170d overlap on the time axis, and the execution times of the internal processes of the electric actuators 170d and 170e overlap on the time axis.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the communication between the electronic control device 100 and the electric actuators 170a to 170e is compared with the case where the electric actuators 170a to 170e perform internal processing independently on the time axis (see FIG. 12). Since the time required for the air conditioning system can be shortened, the response of the entire system of the air conditioner is improved and high performance can be obtained.

  Here, as described above, since the internal processing time is (N × 8/4800) × (D−1) (D = 5 in this embodiment), in this embodiment, the internal processing time is 4 units. This corresponds to the communication time required to transmit the target value to the electric actuator.

  For this reason, for example, the electric actuator 170a waits for the target values to be transmitted from the electronic control device 100 to the electric actuators 170b to 170e, and returns the current value. Also in the electric actuators 170b to 170e, the internal processing time is set to (N × 8/4800) × (D−1). For this reason, the communication time Tc required for communication between the electronic control unit 100 and the electric actuators 170a to 170e is (N × 8/4800 + N × 8/4800) × 5, which is higher than that in the case of the prior art shown in FIG. In the communication between the electronic control unit 100 and the electric actuators 170b to 170e, the target value and the current value do not collide on the communication line COM.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment described above, the electronic control device 100 sequentially transmits target values to the electric actuators 170a to 170e, and the electronic control device 100 transmits the target values from the electric actuators 170a to 170e after transmitting the target values. Although an example in which the current values are received in the order of transmission has been described, instead of this, in the second embodiment, the following is performed.

  That is, in the second embodiment, the electronic control device 100 employs two communication circuits 630a and 630b. The electric actuators 170a to 170e are divided into two systems, the electric actuators 170a to 170c are a first system, and the electric actuators 170d and 170e are a second system.

  Similar to the communication circuit 630 described in the first embodiment, the communication circuits 630a and 630b communicate with the corresponding electric actuators in a time-sharing manner, just like the communication circuit 630 described in the first embodiment.

  Here, the communication circuit 630a communicates with the first electric actuators 170a to 170c, and the communication circuit 630b communicates with the second electric actuators 170d and 170e. The communication circuit 630a and the communication circuit 630b communicate with each other in parallel.

  With the above configuration, the time Ta (= (N × 8/4800) × (2)) required for communication between the communication circuit 630a and the first system electric actuators 170a to 170c, the communication circuit 630b and the first circuit Assuming that the time Tb (= (N × 8/4800) × (1)) required for communication between the two systems of electric actuators 170d and 170e, the longer communication time of the times Ta and Tb is the electric actuator 170a. ~ 170e and the time required for communication between the electronic control unit 100. Therefore, the communication time can be shortened compared to the first embodiment described above. Therefore, the response of the entire system is further improved, and higher performance as an air conditioner can be obtained.

(Other embodiments)
In each of the above-described embodiments, an example in which 5 (= N) electric actuators are used has been described. Instead, if there are a plurality of electric actuators, the number of electric actuators other than five (≠ 5) is adopted. May be.

It is a mimetic diagram showing a schematic structure of an air-conditioner for vehicles concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the connection relation of the electronic controller in FIG. 1, and an electric actuator. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure of the electric actuator in FIG. It is a figure which shows the format of communication data. It is a flowchart which shows the control processing of the electronic controller and electric actuator in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the control processing of the electronic controller and electric actuator in FIG. It is a timing chart which shows the control processing of the electronic controller and electric actuator in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the control processing of the electric actuator in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the control processing of the electric actuator in FIG. It is a figure which shows the connection relation of the electronic controller which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention, and an electric actuator. It is a flowchart which shows the control processing of the electronic controller of FIG. 10, and an electric actuator. It is a flowchart which shows the action | operation of the conventional electronic control apparatus and an electric actuator.

Explanation of symbols

100 ... Electronic control unit, 170a to 170e ... Electric actuator,
700: Control circuit.

Claims (3)

N electric actuators (170a to 170e) each comprising an electric actuator body (780) and a control circuit (700) for controlling the electric actuator body;
An automotive air conditioner comprising: an electronic control device (100) that communicates with each of the N electric actuators in a time-sharing manner,
The electronic control unit transmits the transmission data to the N electric actuators,
Each of the N control circuits, after receiving transmission data from the electronic control device, performs internal processing and returns reply data.
Further, the electronic control device receives reply data from the N control circuits after transmitting the N transmission data,
The vehicle air conditioner is characterized in that each of the N control circuits performs an internal process so as to overlap with an internal process of the other control circuit on a time axis. The electronic control device sequentially transmits the transmission data to the N electric actuators,
2. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control device sequentially receives return data from the N control circuits in the order of transmission of the N pieces of transmission data. . The N electric actuators are divided into a plurality of systems,
The electronic control unit transmits the transmission data in parallel for each of the systems to the N electric actuators,
The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit receives each return data from the N control circuits in parallel for each of the systems.

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