Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Vehicle subsystem or accessory control
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-22
2001-10-16
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Vehicle subsystem or accessory control
C701S001000, C165S009100, C165S091000, C165S042000, C165S043000, C165S140000, C165S202000, C165S203000, C165S205000, C165S211000, C165S265000, C236S09100C, C236S09100C, C236S013000, C236S049100, C237S00200B, C237S01230B, C062S200000, C062S244000, C062S404000, C062S408000, C219S202000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06304803
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed toward heating, ventilation, and air conditioning control systems and, more specifically, toward such control systems used in automobiles.
2. Description of Related Art
Automobile heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (hereafter HVAC systems) have conventionally included controls and vents located in or around the dashboard. However, as is well known to anyone who has been in a car having a conventional HVAC system, there is a significant difference in temperature between the front portion and the rear portion of the passenger compartment, especially on days with extreme conditions (hot, sunny days and cold days). Providing all of the vents at the front of the vehicle usually maintains uncomfortable temperature conditions for passengers in the rear portion of the vehicle. Alternatively, if an effort is made to make the rear passengers comfortable, the front passengers are over-heated or over-cooled.
Accordingly, HVAC controls and vents in a rear portion of the passenger compartment, which are in addition to the conventional HVAC controls and vents provided at the front portion of the passenger compartment, have been developed. Such a conventional automobile HVAC control system
10
including parallel front and rear HVAC control systems
12
,
14
, respectively, is illustrated in FIG.
1
. The front HVAC control system
12
controls operation of a front HVAC system, which includes a heater core, a compressor, an evaporator, dampers, and a blower fan. The rear HVAC control system
14
controls operation of a rear HVAC system, which includes a heater core, an evaporator, dampers, and a blower fan. The front and rear heater cores are on the same fluid circuit. A compressor supplies refrigerant to both the front and rear evaporators.
The front HVAC control system
12
includes a multi-function front control panel
16
, a damper, air conditioning, and blower control panel
18
, a microprocessor
20
, a plurality of actuators
22
,
24
,
26
, sensors
28
, a power transistor
30
, and a blower
32
, which is driven by the power transistor
30
. The actuators include a recirculation/fresh air (R/F) actuator
22
, a mode actuator
24
, and an air mix actuator
26
. The front panel
16
includes an automatic control setting button
34
, recirculation/fresh air button
36
, temperature set-point adjustment buttons
38
, an off button
40
, a front defrost button, a rear defrost button, and a display
42
. The damper, air conditioning, and blower control panel
18
includes air flow direction buttons
44
, blower speed control buttons
46
, and air conditioning on/off buttons
48
.
User-input operational parameters and sensed conditions are transmitted to the microprocessor
20
. The microprocessor
20
controls the actuators
22
,
24
,
26
and power transistor
30
in accordance with the user inputs made via the front control panel
16
and the damper, compressor, and blower control switch panel
18
and, if in automatic mode, in accordance with a predefined control algorithm in response to sensed conditions. The sensed conditions include interior/exterior temperature, solar radiation, evaporator temperature, water temperature, and switch panel settings.
The rear HVAC control system
14
includes a rear manual switch
50
and a rear control panel
52
. The rear manual switch
50
is disposed adjacent the front control panel
18
and alternatively enables or disables manual control over the rear HVAC system, thereby activating/deactivating the rear HVAC control system
14
. The rear manual switch
50
is movable between a plurality of positions, including an off position, a rear manual control enabled position, vent/cold blower speed control positions, and heat/hot blower speed control positions.
Placing the rear manual switch
50
in the off position disables the rear HVAC system. Placing the rear manual switch
50
in the rear manual control enabled position permits manual control of the rear HVAC system via the rear control panel
52
. Placing the rear manual switch
50
in any of the rear vent/cold and heat/hot blower speed control positions directly controls the rear HVAC system (mode and blower speed). Whether rear air conditioning is active (as opposed to vent) depends upon the condition of the auto button
34
on control panel
16
or the air conditioning buttons
48
on the damper, air conditioning, and blower speed control panel
18
.
The rear control panel
52
includes a mode selector switch
54
and a blower speed selector switch
56
. A mode actuator
60
receives signals from the mode selector switch
54
or the rear manual switch
50
to operate the rear HVAC system in the user-selected mode (vent/heat) and blower relays
62
are actuated by the blower speed selector switch
56
or the rear manual switch
50
to operate a blower
64
at the desired speed.
In the conventional HVAC control system, the rear HVAC system is either manually operable by the rear manual switch
50
or manually operable by the control panel
52
, at the discretion of the front passengers. In this arrangement, the front and rear HVAC control systems
12
,
14
are truly parallel, with no communication of operating instructions between the front and rear HVAC control systems
12
,
14
.
The foregoing conventional HVAC control system
10
suffers from a number of disadvantages. Since the front and rear control systems
12
,
14
are in parallel, and there is no communication between the front and rear HVAC control systems
12
,
14
. Also, modern front HVAC control systems
12
, such as the one illustrated in
FIG. 1
, have the automatic control setting wherein compressor activation (A/C), air mix (temperature), mode of operation (vent/heat), recirculation/fresh air, and blower speed are controlled such that cabin temperature matches or tracks a user-defined temperature set point in response to sensed conditions (i.e., interior/exterior temperature, solar radiation, etc.). The automatic control setting operates under a control algorithm based upon predefined experimental models, and is typically tuned or customized to match the physical characteristics (i.e., cabin size, glass area, insulation properties) of the subject automobile. Since the conventional rear HVAC control system
14
is not in communication with the front HVAC control system
12
, automatic operation or control of the rear HVAC system is not possible with the conventional control arrangement.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for an automobile HVAC control system that provides the front passengers with improved control over the rear HVAC system. There also exists a need in the art for a rear HVAC control system that is operable in an automatic mode in response to sensed environmental conditions. Finally, there exists a need in the art for front and rear HVAC control systems that permit better control over cabin temperature while permitting front and rear passengers to manually control the HVAC system to satisfy individual temperature requirements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed toward an HVAC control system for an automobile that provides communication of control instructions between a front HVAC control system and a rear HVAC control system. The present invention is also directed toward a combined front and rear HVAC control system wherein a control setting (manual/automatic) of the rear HVAC control system is controlled by front passengers in the automobile. The present invention is further directed toward a rear HVAC control system which is operable in a manual and an automatic control setting, and toward a rear HVAC control system that uses operating instructions from the front HVAC control system when operating in the automatic control setting.
In accordance with the present invention, a front HVAC control panel includes a rear manual switch that alternatively turns on or off the manual controls of the rear HVAC control panel. A rear HVAC control panel includes temperature, mode, a
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Mancho Ronnie
Rankin, Hill Porter & Clark LLP
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