Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of external fluid or means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-04
2003-09-23
Norman, Marc (Department: 3743)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of external fluid or means
C062S229000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06622502
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air-conditioner for a vehicle and a method therefor, and more particularly, to an air conditioner control apparatus including a telecommunication cabling system to simplify wiring and reduce the total weight of a vehicle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As vehicles have become more popular, people's mind-set has changed to recognize vehicles not as luxury products, but as a necessity of life. As people spend more time in cars, there has been a greater demand for a notion that cars should play a role as an important space of life.
Particularly, an air conditioner, which cools the inside of a vehicle in summer, is one of key required elements to be taken into account when a vehicle is purchased. Since the air conditioner is essential to improving comfort and convenience in using a vehicle, many technologies have been developed to improve the functions of the air conditioner. As is well known, an air conditioner relieves heat generated by an engine of a vehicle, by riders and external solar radiation so that the riders or passengers can feel more comfortable with less fatigue and maintain pleasantness in driving the vehicle.
In general, an air conditioner has a function of cooling a vehicle by utilizing a 4-step cooling cycle. The air conditioner performs cooling operations by controlling major parts such as condenser, compressor, evaporator, liquid tank and expansion valve.
When a driver manipulates remotely-controlled switches on a panel, the aforementioned parts of the air conditioner can be controlled or driven according to their relevant operational signals. The structure of the air conditioner controlling apparatus in general is illustrated in the schematic diagrams shown in
FIGS. 1 through 3
.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, a conventional air conditioner of a vehicle is constructed with a remotely-controlled switch
10
, a drive module
30
and a hard wire
20
that transmits signals of the switch
10
to the drive module
30
.
When a driver is to turn on the air conditioner, he or she manipulates the switch
10
on a panel, switching on the air conditioner and selecting manual operational steps 1, 2 or 3 or automatic operational phase. When an air conditioner switch
11
of the switch
10
is turned on, battery power (BATT+) is applied to an air conditioner relay
31
as shown in FIG.
2
. When the air conditioner relay is turned on, the battery power (BATT+) is applied to an air conditioner drive unit
41
, having an evaporator fan motor, a condenser fan motor, a compressor fan motor and the like.
At the same time, other switches are also driven by operation of the relevant relays. As shown in
FIG. 3
, the first, second and third operational step switches
12
,
13
,
14
, an auto temperature control switch
15
and a temperature sensor
16
are directly connected to relevant relays and controllers (not shown) through wires
22
,
23
,
24
,
25
,
26
of the hard wire
20
to be turned on or off according to the selected status of switches. Relevant units of the drive unit
40
are driven according to the on/off status of the relays and controllers, so that the air conditioner performs its function.
However, there are disadvantages in the prior art in that the hard wire connects the switch
10
of the driver's manipulating panel through the drive unit
40
, requiring as many individual wires of the hard wire and as many relays and controllers as the number of switches, complicating the wiring layout of the total hard wire
20
and increasing the manufacturing cost. There is at least another problem in the prior art in that a great number of wiring connections and relevant relays increase the total weight of the vehicle and its fuel consumption.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a vehicle air conditioner control apparatus including input means for a driver to manipulate and drive an air conditioner, remote control means for transforming a manipulated signal of the input means to a transmission signal and then sending the signal through a telecommunication cable, drive control means for generating and outputting a relevant signal to drive the air conditioner according to the transmission signal received from the remote control means through the telecommunication cable, and drive means for performing a function to cool off the vehicle according to the drive signal output from the drive control means.
In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for driving the vehicle air conditioner control apparatus. In a preferred embodiment, the method comprises driving an evaporator fan at a predetermined speed according to a degree of the internal temperature of the vehicle if an automatic temperature control signal is selected and remotely sent by a driver, driving a condenser fan and a compressor according to the status of a pressure switch of the compressor, driving an evaporator fan at a corresponding speed if a signal relating to one of manual operational levels 1, 2, 3 is selected and sent remotely, and driving the condenser fan and the compressor according to the status of internal temperature and compressor pressure switch if the remotely sent air conditioner driving signal is received after the evaporator fan is driven.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5289692 (1994-03-01), Campbell et al.
patent: 6145330 (2000-11-01), Goto et al.
patent: 6304803 (2001-10-01), Dao
Hyundai Motor Company
Norman Marc
Pennie & Edmonds LLP
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