Nippondenso Co., Ltd.

Tomotsugu Terada

Katsuhiko Samukawa

Yuji Honda

Takayoshi Kawai

Yuji Ito

Masaya Nakamura

Manabu Yamada

Makoto Shirai

Tomohisa Yoshimi

Yutaka Maeda

An air-conditioning apparatus for allowing the temperatures of a first air-conditioning zone and a second air-conditioning zone to quickly approach the respective set temperatures by properly controlling the air flow rate and the ratio of fresh/recirculated air, even when the set temperatures differ from one another. The device includes a controller that determines whether the system is in a transitional period or in a steady state based on the deviation of the compartment temperature detected by the compartment temperature sensor from the first and second set temperatures for the first and second zones. If a determination is made that the system is in a transitional period, the controller acts to determine the flow rates of air being supplied to respective blowers as well as making the determination concerning the guidance ratio of the fresh to recirculated air.

Dual zone air-conditioning system for motor vehicles with improved air

An air-conditioning apparatus for a passenger compartment of a vehicle includes an air duct having an inlet for receiving air to be conditioned, an air conditioner, and both face and foot outlets for supplying conditioned air into the passenger compartment. The air conditioner controls temperatures of the conditioned air from the face outlet and the foot outlet independently. The required temperature of the conditioned air from the independently controlled foot and face outlets is computed based on an inside air temperature, an outside air temperature, and the temperature set in the passenger compartment. A target supply air-temperature is computed in a bi-level mode based on an amount of sunlight in the passenger compartment, and is corrected as between the foot and face outlets such that air from the face outlet compensates for temperature differentials as between the passenger's feet and face due to sunlight, etc. In this way, a linear relationship is maintained between the correction amount of the temperature of the conditioned air and the temperature a passenger feels in the bi-level mode.

Air conditioning apparatus for vehicles

Photosensor for detecting the position of incident light in two

Temperatures in a first air-conditioning zone and in a second air-conditioning zone are controlled highly independently of each other irrespective of a difference between the setpoint temperatures in these air-conditioning zones or the state of the external air temperature. An ECU 23 calculates target blow-out temperatures in an air-conditioning system 7 on the driver's seat side and in an air-conditioning system 8 on the driver's seat side based upon temperatures Tset(Dr) and Tset(Pa) set by temperature setters 25 and 26, a difference between the setpoint temperatures Tset(Dr) and Tset(Pa), an internal air temperature Tr, an external air temperature Tam, and the amount of solar radiation Ts, and controls, based on the calculated result, the opening degrees of the air-mixing dampers 9, 10 (temperatures of the blown-out airs), blow-out port modes in the air-conditioning systems 7 and 8, and the air blow rate of the blower 3. The ECU 23 corrects the calculation term corresponding to the difference between the setpoint temperatures Tset(Dr) and Tset(Pa) in the air-conditioning zones on the driver's seat side and on the side of the seat next to the driver depending upon the data of external air temperature Tam detected by an external air temperature sensor at the time of calculating the target blow-out temperatures.

Air-conditioning device

Growing community of inventors

Okazaki, Japan

Tomotsugu Terada