JPS6346916A - Air-conditioning device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent an air-conditioning device provided with a nitrogen absorbing and separating type oxygen enriching device from excessively drying the passenger's compartment, by disposing a humidifier in an oxygen delivery passage. CONSTITUTION:An ultrasonic wave humidifier 29 is disposed in an oxygen enriched air feed passage 74. Further, a humidity sensor 300 disposed in the passenger's compartment detects the humidity of oxygen enriched air fed from a oxygen concentrating device 70 and delivers thus detected humidity to a controller 500 which compares the humidity with a set humidity and delivers a humidifying amount control signal, when it is below the set humidity, to drive the humidifier 79. Further, the controller 500 controls the opening and closing of solenoid shut-off valves 71, 78, 75. With this arrangement, it is possible to prevent the passenger's compartment from being excessively dried.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner.

(Prior Art) In general, vehicles, especially automobiles, provide a comfortable driving environment for passengers regardless of the climate (especially temperature) and driving conditions, and also prevent windows from fogging and frost build-up to provide a comfortable driving environment for the driver. Air conditioning equipment is installed to ensure visibility and ensure safe and comfortable driving.

By the way, recent air conditioners (hereinafter simply referred to as air conditioners) not only have conventional air conditioning functions such as heating and cooling, but also control the amount of oxygen in the conditioned air supplied to the passenger compartment. Products with an oxygen enrichment function have been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-21263
(See Publication No. 2).

This air conditioner equipped with an oxygen enrichment function is equipped with an oxygen enrichment device that separates and removes nitrogen from the air to produce oxygen-enriched air. Enriched air is supplied into the vehicle interior to enrich the interior air with oxygen, helping to relieve occupant fatigue, prevent drowsiness and motion sickness, and create a comfortable riding environment.

As the above-mentioned oxygen enrichment device, for example, a nitrogen adsorption separation type oxygen enrichment device as described below is often used.

In other words, this nitrogen adsorption separation type oxygen concentrator uses a nitrogen adsorption cylinder containing a nitrogen adsorbent made of artificial zeolite called Molecule Lubes (trade name of Union Carbide Company, USA) or a similar substance. First, the air is supplied to the main duct for air intake via the first electromagnetic valve and the air compressor for forming adsorption pressure, and then to the oxygen supply duct and nitrogen-enriched air discharge via the second and third electromagnetic valves. Configure them by connecting them to the ducts.

The above-mentioned molecular sieves are made of hydrated metal salts such as synthetic crystalline alumino-silicates, and are formed by heating and desorbing a large amount of crystal water contained in the metal salts, and are formed by removing the crystal water. Molecules to be adsorbed are adsorbed on the inner walls of a large number of cavities (cages) of a predetermined diameter formed by a crystal lattice. The crystal lattice is made of, for example, polyanine, and in order to electrically neutralize the polyanine, it incorporates a predetermined type of cation to form an electrostatic field with a predetermined polarity that is strongly acidic or basic. It has a high affinity for molecules. Generally, nitrogen has a considerably higher affinity for the polyanine than oxygen.

In order for molecules to be adsorbed to reach the cavity, they must first pass through a plurality of uniform pores connected from the surface into the cavity; Moreover, as mentioned above, only molecules (nitrogen molecules) with high affinity for polyanine are adsorbed (
molecular sieving action).

On the other hand, oxygen is not adsorbed because it has a lower affinity with the polyanine than nitrogen.

Therefore, if the nitrogen adsorbent is purged (desorbed under reduced pressure) at regular intervals, the nitrogen remaining in the adsorbed state will be released to the outside from the outlet side and will not be adsorbed from the oxygen outlet side during the pressurized adsorption process. Only the separated oxygen gas can be continuously extracted and supplied into the vehicle interior.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, as is clear from the points already mentioned, the above-mentioned nitrogen adsorption separation type oxygen enrichment device suffers from the difference in affinity (affinity) between nitrogen and oxygen for the adsorbent. Since a mechanism is adopted that separates nitrogen and oxygen using , the higher the affinity, the more efficiently they are separated. As mentioned above, this affinity arises relative to the molecules to be adsorbed due to the strong polarity of the adsorbent itself; However, it shows a much higher affinity for polar molecules than for polarizable molecules.

Therefore, when nitrogen is separated from the atmosphere to produce oxygen-enriched air as described above, the atmosphere contains a predetermined amount of water (water molecules) along with nitrogen and oxygen. Since water molecules (Hto) are polar molecules, they are adsorbed and separated more efficiently than the nitrogen (Nt) mentioned above (approximately 1
(up to about 00%).

Therefore, the oxygen-enriched air generated through the nitrogen adsorption/separation type oxygen enrichment device as described above has extremely low humidity, causing a problem in that the interior of the vehicle becomes too dry.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention was made for the purpose of solving the above problems. An air supply path is provided on one side of the oxygen enrichment device, and an oxygen outlet path is provided on the other side, and oxygen-enriched air generated through the nitrogen adsorption separation type oxygen enrichment device is supplied into the vehicle interior through the oxygen outlet path. In the air conditioner for a vehicle, a humidifier is interposed in the oxygen outlet path.

(Function) According to the above means, the low-humidity oxygen-enriched air generated through the nitrogen adsorption separation type oxygen enrichment device is supplied into the vehicle interior after being humidified through the humidifier. This prevents the oxygen-enriched air inside the vehicle from becoming too dry.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a vehicle air conditioner according to a first embodiment of the present invention, which is equipped with an oxygen enrichment function.

The air conditioner first includes a cooling system device consisting of a compressor 10, a condenser 11, an evaporator 12, etc., which are interconnected by a refrigerant pipe I4, and a hot water pipe (engine cooling A heating system device consisting of a hot water valve 20, a heater core 21, etc., interconnected by a hot water valve 20 (connected to water piping) 13, a blower unit 30 for outside air intake, a blower motor 400, and outside air for outside air ventilation and inside air circulation lane. Switching motor 31. A ventilation system device consisting of a ventilation duct 32, etc., an air conditioning temperature setting device 4+, 42, and various operation switches 43
~50, an operation system device 40 consisting of a set temperature indicator 51, etc., and an air conditioning control unit 50 having various air conditioning control functions formed by a microcomputer
0, outside temperature sensor 51, inside temperature sensor 52, water temperature sensor 53, duct inside temperature dust sensor 54, vehicle interior humidity sensor 30
0. A control system device consisting of various control motors (mode switching motor 61, air mix damper control motor 62), etc.
The oxygen enrichment device includes an oxygen concentrator 70, a humidifier 79, an air filter 72, a near compressor 73, a duct 74 for supplying oxygen-enriched air into the vehicle interior, a humidification amount regulator 80, and the like.

The evaporator 12 of the cooling system device and the heater core 21 of the heating system device are installed, for example, in an outer cooling/heating unit case 6.7 provided below the dash panel, and are installed in a duct. The respective unit cases 6.7 are connected to each other via the portion 5 in a communicating state. A blower duct 32 of the blower unit 30 of the blower system is also connected to the cooling unit case 6 side. Further, on the heating unit case 7 side, a heat duct I5 for heating and a vent duct I6 for ventilation and cooling are provided, respectively.

Further, reference numeral 17 designates a passage which is rotatably attached to one end of the heater core 21 and is located within the duct portion 5 and extends from the duct side to the heater core 21'a-91, and which bypasses the heater core 21. The air mix damper 17 is provided so as to selectively form a passageway in which the two passages are formed, and a branch passageway in which both passages are formed.The opening degree of the air mix damper 17 is controlled by the control motor 62J. At the same time, its actual opening degree is detected by a potentiometer 63, and the detected value is input to the air conditioning control unit 500.

Further, reference numeral 66 is an opening/closing damper for the heat duct 15, and 67 is an opening/closing damper for the defroster 1g, and the opening/closing states of both opening/closing dampers 66 and 67 are interlocked with each other in an inversely proportional opening degree. Note that the reference numeral 19 is a radiator.

On the other hand, the oxygen concentrator 70 on the oxygen enrichment device side is
An air inlet of a nitrogen adsorption cylinder 90 which is composed of a nitrogen adsorption separation type oxygen enrichment module and which has a built-in nitrogen adsorbent 76 made of, for example, an artificial zeolite called Molecule Lubes (trade name of Union Carbide Company, USA). +0
0 to the first electromagnetic opening/closing valve 71. The near compressor 73 for supplying adsorption pressure, the main duct 95 for air intake via the air filter 72, and the oxygen outlet 200
are connected to the oxygen-enriched air supply duct 74 via a second electromagnetic opening/closing valve 78, respectively. In addition, the air inlet 100 of the nitrogen suction cylinder 90 is
On the other hand, on the downstream side of the air supply, a nitrogen-enriched air discharge duct 77 is provided.
Also connected to the nitrogen T, enriched air exhaust duct 77
A third electromagnetic on-off valve 75 is provided in the middle.

Furthermore, in the middle of the oxygen enriched air supply duct 74,
For example, an ultrasonic humidifier 79 is provided. This humidifier 79 controls the amount of humidification of the oxygen-enriched air supplied into the passenger compartment through the oxygen-5 enriched air supply duct 74 by controlling the amount of oscillation of an ultrasonic oscillator built into the humidifier 79. A humidification amount regulator 80 is attached.

This additional MfiFIAl regulator 80 is connected to the alternator 900.
The air conditioning control unit 50 operates using the supply voltage of the battery B charged by the battery B as a driving source.
It is controlled by a humidification amount control signal from 0.

That is, a humidity sensor 300 made of, for example, a bulk ceramic type humiceram is provided in the vehicle interior, and the humidity sensor 300 detects the humidity of the oxygen-enriched air in the vehicle interior supplied by the oxygen concentrator 70 and controls the air conditioning control unit. It now requires about 500 people. Then, the air conditioning control unit 500 controls the humidity sensor 3.
The input value of 00 is compared with a predetermined set humidity value, and when the input value of the humidity sensor 300 is lower than the set humidity value, the humidification amount control signal is generated to enrich oxygen in the vehicle interior. Controls air humidity.

Further, the opening/closing states (pressurized adsorption-depressurized desorption) of the first to third electromagnetic on-off valves 71, 78[deg.] 75 are also controlled by the opening/closing control signal of the air conditioning control unit 500.

The molecular sieves forming the adsorbent 76 are made of a hydrated metal salt of synthetic crystalline alumino-solicate, and are formed by heating and desorbing a large amount of crystal water contained in the metal salt. A large number of cavities (cages) of a given diameter due to the crystal lattice formed by the removal of water
The molecules to be adsorbed are adsorbed onto the inner wall of the chamber at a predetermined adsorption pressure (positive pressure). That is, the crystal lattice is made of polyanine, and in order to electrically neutralize the polyanine, it incorporates a predetermined type of cation to form an electrostatic field with a predetermined polarity that is strongly acidic or basic. ) and polarizable molecules (N, ). In general, water (HtO) and nitrogen (N, ) have a higher affinity for the polyanine than oxygen (O, ). Then, the first and second electromagnetic on-off valves 71
．． When the valve 78 is opened, molecules to be adsorbed must first pass through a plurality of uniform pores connected from the surface into the cavity in order to reach the cavity due to the pressurized adsorption pressure supplied by the near compressor 73. Therefore, only molecules (water and nitrogen molecules) that can pass through the pores and have a high affinity with polyanine (water and nitrogen molecules) are adsorbed (molecular sieving action). , oxygen is not adsorbed because it has a lower affinity with the polyanine than water and nitrogen.

Then, following the pressurized adsorption process, the first electromagnetic on-off valve 71 is closed, while the third electromagnetic on-off valve 75 is opened to purge (depressurize and desorb) the nitrogen adsorbent 76 at regular intervals. Nitrogen and water that remain in an adsorbed state are discharged to the outside from the nitrogen-enriched air discharge duct 77 side, and only the oxygen gas passed through and separated in the pressurized adsorption process is continuously taken out and humidified from the oxygen extraction port 200 side. It should be possible to humidify the air to the maximum NA of 1 degree through the container 79 and then supply it to the passenger compartment.

Note that the upper third compressor 73 is driven by the engine E.

Next, in FIG. 2, a humidifier 79 similar to that of the first embodiment is connected to the oxygen-enriched air supply duct 74 with a three-way electromagnetic switching valve 8.
2 in a bypass state, the first
Similar to the embodiment, a humidity sensor 300 is provided to detect 41 degrees of oxygen-enriched air in the vehicle interior, and only when the humidity of the oxygen-enriched air in the vehicle interior detected by the humidity sensor 300 falls below a predetermined set value. This figure shows a vehicle air conditioner according to a second embodiment of the present invention, which is configured to supply oxygen-enriched air through a humidifier 79.

Of course, a bypass duct 8 in which a humidifier 79 is installed is connected to the oxygen supply duct 74, and a three-way electromagnetic switching valve 82 is connected to the connection part of the bypass duct 81 with the upstream oxygen supply duct 74. It is provided. The boat of the three-way electromagnetic switching valve 82 normally maintains the flow path of the bypass duct 8I on the side of the humidifier 79 in a closed state.

On the other hand, in the vehicle interior, a humidity sensor 300 made of a bulk ceramic type humiceram is provided as in the first embodiment, and detects the humidity of the oxygen-enriched air in the vehicle interior and inputs the detected humidity to the air conditioning control unit 500. It is supposed to be done. And the air conditioning control unit 5
00 compares the input value of the humidity sensor 300 with a predetermined set humidity value, and when the manual input value of the humidity sensor 300 is lower than the set humidity value, the boat of the three-way electromagnetic switching valve 82 is set. is switched to open the passage on the side of the bypass duct 81, and acts to supply humidified oxygen-enriched air into the vehicle interior via the humidifier 79 in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

Therefore, in the case of this second embodiment, it is possible to realize the humidification function of the oxygen-enriched air in the vehicle interior in the same way as in the case of the first embodiment, and in the case of this embodiment, in particular, the humidifier 79 is normally bypassed, and is inserted into the oxygen-enriched air supply path when necessary, so air resistance due to unnecessary passage through the humidifier 79 is reduced, especially in seasons with high outdoor humidity or during rainy weather. It is possible to avoid an increase in the power consumption of the blower motor, etc., and also to save power consumption of the blower motor, etc.

Furthermore, FIG. 3 shows a vehicle air conditioner according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

In the case of the eleventh and second embodiments described above, the oxygen enrichment device was constructed using a single oxygen concentrator 70, but the oxygen generation effect of the nitrogen adsorption separation type oxygen concentrator 70 was As is clear from the above description, the method includes a pressurized adsorption step for adsorbing nitrogen and a reduced pressure desorption step for burning off the adsorbed nitrogen. Therefore, in principle, oxygen is not produced in the reduced pressure desorption step, and in that sense the oxygen production efficiency is poor.

The present embodiment improves on such drawbacks by arranging two oxygen concentrators 70 similar to those described above in parallel, and controlling the process timings of each in an inverse relationship to constantly generate oxygen. We are making it possible to do so.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, the present invention provides an air supply path on one side of a nitrogen adsorption/separation type oxygen enrichment device that separates nitrogen in the air to produce oxygen-enriched air. In the air conditioner for a vehicle, an oxygen lead-out path is provided on each side, and oxygen-enriched air generated through the nitrogen adsorption separation type oxygen enrichment device is supplied into a vehicle interior through the oxygen lead-out path. This system is characterized by a humidifier installed in the duct.

Therefore, according to the present invention, since the low-humidity oxygen-enriched air generated through the nitrogen adsorption separation type oxygen enrichment device is humidified through the humidifier and then supplied into the vehicle interior, This prevents the oxygen-enriched air inside the vehicle from becoming too dry.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a system schematic diagram of a vehicle air conditioner according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are system diagrams of a vehicle air conditioner according to second and third embodiments of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram. 70...Oxygen concentrator 73...Air conditioner breather 74...Oxygen enriched air supply duct 77...
Nitrogen-enriched air discharge duct 79... Humidifier 81... Bypass duct 95... Air intake main duct 500...
・Air conditioner) ・Roll unit E... engine

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An air supply path is provided on one side of a nitrogen adsorption/separation type oxygen enrichment device that separates nitrogen from the air to produce oxygen-enriched air, and an oxygen outlet path is provided on the other side. A vehicle air conditioner configured to supply oxygen-enriched air generated through a nitrogen adsorption separation type oxygen enrichment device into a vehicle interior, characterized in that a humidifier is interposed in the oxygen outlet path. Device.