JPH07186687A - Air conditioner for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the reduction of the memory capacity and the over-capacity state by using the outside air temperature estimated from the standstill position of an air mixing damper in the case when an engine is turned OFF, as the outside air temperature for control in the time within a prescribed time from the engine start. CONSTITUTION:The signals of the sensors 46, 42, 44 and 58 for the inside air temperature, outside air temperature, solar radiation, and the position for the opening degree of an air mixing damper 14, and the signals of a temperature setting switch 52 and an ignition switch 56 are inputted into a control unit 50. The control unit 50 judges if an engine stops or not, from the turning-ON/OFF of the ignition switch 56, and in case of the time within a prescribed time from OFF, the opening degree of the air mixing damper 14 is read out by the position sensor 58. Herein, the outside air temperature after the turning-ON of the ignition switch 56 is estimated from each sensor signal, and the control within a prescribed time from the engine start is carried out according to the estimater outside air temperature. Accordingly, the heat influence in an engine room is suppressed, and capacity can be reduced by reducing the use of the memory, and the generation of a capacity over state can be prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner for an automobile, and more particularly to an automobile in which the opening degree of an air mix damper is changed so as to reach a target set temperature based on the output values of an outside air temperature sensor and an inside air temperature sensor. Air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an automobile air conditioner, an actual outside air temperature is detected by an outside air temperature sensor,
Air conditioning in the vehicle compartment is performed by changing the opening of the air mix damper based on the outside air temperature. This outside air temperature sensor is arranged in a place where it is least affected by the heat from the engine, in order to prevent the outside air temperature from being unable to be detected accurately due to the influence of the heat inside the engine room. That is, the outside air temperature sensor is usually arranged in the front part of the radiator, which is the most front part in the engine room. Therefore, when the automobile is running, the outside air is favorably received, whereby the outside air temperature can be accurately detected. However, when the vehicle is stopped or the like, the outside air is not properly received, and the vehicle is easily affected by the heat inside the engine room. As a result, when the engine is stopped while the outside air temperature is low, the temperature inside the engine room remains high for a while after the engine is stopped, and this high temperature inside the engine room affects the outside air temperature sensor. It will be. Therefore, when the engine is restarted, there is a problem that the outside air temperature sensor still detects the high temperature in the engine room and cannot accurately detect the outside air temperature.

[0003]

A technique for solving this problem is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-155111. That is, the input from the outside air temperature sensor when the engine is stopped is stored in the memory, and when the engine is restarted, this stored value is output as the outside air temperature. Therefore, in the device disclosed in this publication, the value corresponding to the outside air temperature is always output as the outside air temperature, and the control based on the output from the outside air temperature sensor is favorably performed. However, in the conventional technique described in this publication, the input from the outside air temperature sensor is stored in the memory when the engine is stopped, and therefore the memory capacity is required accordingly. Current automobiles are becoming more electronically controlled, and as a result, memory capacity tends to increase. Therefore, it is desired to prevent the memory capacity from increasing as much as possible. Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the prior art, and provides an air conditioner for a vehicle that can reduce the memory capacity and prevent the memory capacity from being exceeded. It is intended to be provided.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a target set temperature based on the output values of at least an outside air temperature sensor arranged in the vicinity of an engine and an inside air temperature sensor arranged in a room. In an automobile air conditioner that changes the opening of the air mix damper so that
Position detection means for detecting the position of the air mix damper,
Outside temperature estimating means for estimating the outside air temperature based on the stationary position of the air mix damper detected by the position detecting means when the engine is OFF, and outside air estimated by the outside temperature estimating means for a predetermined time after the engine is started. And a control means for performing a predetermined air conditioning control on the assumption that the temperature is an actual outside air temperature. In the present invention thus configured, the outside air temperature output by the outside air temperature sensor is higher than the actual value under the influence of heat in the engine room from the time the engine is stopped until the engine is restarted. The outside air temperature is estimated from the opening position of the air mix damper when the engine is stopped, and the air conditioning control is performed based on this estimated outside air temperature. Further, since the outside air temperature is estimated by the air mix damper opening and the memory is not used as much as possible, it is possible to reduce the memory capacity and prevent the memory capacity from being exceeded.

Further, in the present invention, when the actual outside air temperature detected by the outside air temperature sensor is lower than the outside air temperature estimated by the outside air temperature estimating means, the control means may estimate the outside air temperature. It is preferable to cancel the control by assuming the temperature to be the actual outside air temperature.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates an air conditioner, and the air conditioner 1 includes an air conditioning passage 2.
In the air conditioning passage 2, from the upstream side, the inside air inlet 4, the outside air inlet 6, the inside air / outside air switching damper 8 for switching between the inside air inlet 4 and the outside air inlet 6, and the blower 10 for adjusting the air volume. , An evaporator 12, an air mix damper 14, a heater 16, and an auxiliary damper 18 are arranged in this order. Further, the vent outlet 2 is provided on the downstream side of the air conditioning passage 2.
0, the defrost outlet 22, the heater outlet 24, and dampers 26, 28, 30 for controlling the air volumes of these outlets 20, 22, 24. The inside / outside air switching damper 8 is switched by the actuator 32, and the air mix damper 14 and the auxiliary damper 18 are used.
Are opened and closed by the actuator 34. Further, the opening of each of the dampers 26, 28, 30 is controlled by the actuator 36.

The evaporator 12 is for cooling the air in the air conditioning passage 2 by the heat of vaporization when the refrigerant evaporates. Further, the heater 16 is for heating the air in the air conditioning passage 2 by utilizing the heat of the cooling water of the engine 38. Further, the air mix damper 14 is for controlling the amount of air introduced into the heater 16 among the air passing through the air conditioning passage 2. That is, in a state where the air mix damper 14 is closed (shown by a solid line in FIG. 1 and this state is 0% opening), the entire amount of cool air after passing through the evaporator 12 does not pass through the heater 16 and enters the vehicle interior. be introduced. As a result, the vehicle interior can be satisfactorily cooled. On the contrary, a state in which the air mix damper 14 is opened (indicated by a chain line in FIG.
%. ), The evaporator 12 (in this case,
(Evaporator 12 is in OFF state) The entire amount of air after passing through is passed through heater 16 and is introduced into the vehicle interior. As a result, the vehicle interior can be heated well. Further, the opening degree of the air mix damper 14 is 0% to 1
By controlling up to 00%, the vehicle interior is adjusted to a predetermined target set temperature, as described later. Here, a radiator 40 is provided in front of the engine 38, and an outside air temperature sensor 42 for detecting an outside air temperature is provided in a front portion of the radiator 40. In addition, a solar radiation sensor 4 for detecting the amount of solar radiation is provided inside the vehicle.
4 and the internal temperature sensor 46 at a position not affected by solar radiation
Is provided.

Reference numeral 50 indicates a control unit, and the following is input to the control unit 50. That is,
A signal indicating the outside air temperature from the outside air temperature sensor 42, a signal indicating the insolation amount from the insolation sensor 44, a signal indicating the vehicle interior temperature from the inside air temperature sensor 46, and a temperature setting provided on an instrument panel (not shown). A signal indicating a target temperature from the switch 52 (target temperature setting means), a mode selection signal from a mode selection switch 54 for selecting a specific air conditioning mode from a plurality of air conditioning modes, a signal indicating ON / OFF of the ignition switch 56, And signals from the position sensor 58 for detecting the open / close position of the air mix damper 14, respectively. In addition, the control unit 5
From 0, a signal indicating the blower voltage for adjusting the blower air volume is output to the blower 10, and a signal for adjusting the open / close position of the air mix damper 14 is output to the actuator 34 that drives the air mix damper 14. Is output. Next, referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, the control unit 50
The control contents executed by will be described. Note that S shown in FIG. 2 indicates each step. In FIG. 2, it is determined in S1 whether the engine is stopped, that is, whether the ignition switch is turned off, and then, in S2, it is determined whether the engine is subsequently restarted, that is, whether the ignition switch is turned on. judge. In S3, it is determined whether or not the time (T1) from when the ignition switch is turned off to when it is turned on is within a predetermined time (P1).

If it is within the predetermined time (P1), the opening position of the air mix damper 14 is read by the position sensor 55 in S4. Next, in S5, the outside temperature, the amount of solar radiation, the inside temperature, the target set temperature, and the air conditioning mode are input. Thereafter, based on the data input in S4 and S5, in S6, the outside air temperature after the ignition switch is turned on is estimated. The estimation of the outside air temperature in S6 is performed using the map shown in FIG. That is, this map shows that the target set temperature is 25 ° C.
Shows the relationship between the air mix damper opening (%) and the outside air temperature Ta (° C.) when the amount of solar radiation is 0 kal / m ² h. Although not shown, similar maps corresponding to different target set temperatures and solar radiation are used. A, B and C in FIG. 3 are lines corresponding to various modes. In the map shown in FIG. 3, the output value of the outside air temperature sensor 42 is used as the outside air temperature Ta (° C.) during normal air conditioning control (S10), and the air mix damper opening (%) is calculated from this value. The air mix damper 14 is driven by the actuator 34 so that the opening is set.
On the other hand, when the ignition switch is turned on, as described above, the outside air temperature sensor 42 is affected by the heat in the engine room and cannot detect an accurate outside air temperature. Therefore, in the present invention, at this time, the output value of the outside air temperature sensor 42 is not used, the map shown in FIG. 3 is used in the direction opposite to the normal air conditioning control, and the position sensor 55 is used.
Thus, the outside air temperature is estimated and the outside air temperature is calculated from the opening position of the air mix damper 14.

Next, in S7, it is determined whether the estimated outside air temperature calculated in S6 is lower than the outside air temperature which is the output value of the outside air temperature sensor 42. If the estimated outside air temperature is lower than the outside air temperature, it means that the outside air temperature sensor 42 is still under the influence of the heat in the engine room and cannot detect the accurate outside air temperature. Then, the air conditioning control is performed based on the estimated outside air temperature. This S
Air-conditioning control based on the estimated outside air temperature in 8 is performed using the map shown in FIG. This map uses as parameters the blower voltage (V) corresponding to the blower air volume, the target setting target setting temperature (T _TRG ) and the solar radiation (SRA) corrected room temperature (Tr). This map corresponds to a certain outside air temperature value, and when the outside air temperature value changes, another similar map is used. Therefore, the blower voltage (V) corresponding to the blower air volume is set by the map shown in FIG. 4, and this value is output to the blower 10 to obtain the desired air volume. Next, S9
At, it is determined whether or not the time (T2) that has elapsed since the ignition switch was turned on is within a predetermined time (P2). If the predetermined time has not passed since the ignition switch was turned on, it means that the outside air temperature sensor 42 is still under the influence of the heat in the engine room and cannot detect the outside air temperature accurately. Therefore, the process returns to S7, and the air conditioning control is continued based on the estimated outside air temperature. On the other hand, if the predetermined time has passed since the ignition switch was turned on, it is considered that the outside air temperature sensor 42 is in a normal state in which it is not affected by the heat in the engine room. Perform air conditioning control.

The normal air conditioning control in S10 is performed using the maps shown in FIGS. That is, the map of FIG. 3 is selected based on the target set temperature and the amount of solar radiation,
This map determines the air mix damper opening degree corresponding to the outside air temperature. In addition, outside temperature, vehicle interior temperature,
A blower voltage corresponding to the blower air volume is set based on the target set temperature and the amount of solar radiation. These values are output from the control unit 50 to control the air mix damper 14 and the blower 10. Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5, (a) shows the actual output of the outside air temperature sensor, (b) shows the blower voltage and the air mix damper opening according to the prior art, and (c).
Indicates the blower voltage and the air mix damper opening degree according to the embodiment of the present invention, t1 indicates the time of engine stop (ignition OFF), and t2 indicates the time of engine restart (ignition ON). As shown in (a), the outside air temperature rises under the influence of heat in the engine room from the time the engine is stopped until the engine is restarted. At this time, according to the conventional technique, as shown in (b), the blower voltage and the air mix damper are controlled based on the output of the outside air temperature sensor that has a higher value than the actual value, so that the set target temperature is set. I can't get it. On the other hand, in the present invention, the outside air temperature is estimated from the opening position of the air mix damper when the engine is stopped, and the air conditioning control is performed based on this estimated outside air temperature. The room is optimally controlled so as to reach the target set temperature. At this time, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the outside air temperature is estimated by the opening degree of the air mix damper and the memory is not used as much as possible. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the memory capacity and the capacity of the memory. It is also possible to prevent overshoot.

[0012]

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the outside air temperature is estimated by the opening degree of the air mix damper when the engine is stopped, and the outside air temperature is used for the air conditioning control. Since the memory is not used, the memory capacity can be reduced and the memory capacity can be prevented from being exceeded.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an automobile air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the control contents executed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 3] Air mix damper opening (%) and outside air temperature Ta
Map showing the relationship with (℃)

FIG. 4 is a map in which a blower voltage (V) corresponding to a blower air volume, a target setting target setting temperature (T _TRG ), and a difference between a solar radiation (SRA) -corrected indoor temperature (Tr) are used as parameters.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the actual output of the outside air temperature sensor, the blower voltage, and the temporal change of the air mix damper opening.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Air Conditioner 2 Air Conditioning Passage 10 Blower 12 Evaporator 14 Air Mix Damper 16 Heater 34 Actuator 38 Engine 42 Outdoor Air Temperature Sensor 44 Solar Radiation Sensor 46 Internal Air Temperature Sensor 50 Control Unit 52 Temperature Setting Switch 56 Ignition Switch 58 Position Sensor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Air for an automobile in which the opening of an air mix damper is changed so as to reach a target set temperature based on output values of at least an outside air temperature sensor arranged near the engine and an inside air temperature sensor arranged indoors. In the harmony device, position detecting means for detecting the position of the air mix damper, outside air temperature estimating means for estimating the outside air temperature based on the stationary position of the air mix damper detected by the position detecting means when the engine is off, and engine start An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising: a control unit that performs predetermined air conditioning control assuming that the outside air temperature estimated by the outside air temperature estimation unit is an actual outside air temperature within a predetermined time period. 2. The control means, when the actual outside air temperature detected by the outside air temperature sensor is lower than the outside air temperature estimated by the outside air temperature estimating means, the estimated outside air temperature is changed to the actual outside air temperature. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the control is canceled on the assumption of temperature.