JP-2026074819-A - Vehicle air conditioning switching device and vehicle

JP2026074819AJP 2026074819 AJP2026074819 AJP 2026074819AJP-2026074819-A

Abstract

[Challenge] To suppress the rise in carbon dioxide concentration inside the vehicle while entering the tunnel, while also suppressing the introduction of excessive outside air before entering the tunnel. [Solution] A vehicle air conditioning switching device having an internal air circulation mode for circulating air inside the vehicle and an external air intake mode for introducing outside air into the vehicle, comprising: a tunnel information acquisition unit 8A for detecting tunnels in the direction of travel of the vehicle 1; a CO2 concentration estimation unit 8B for estimating the maximum value of carbon dioxide concentration inside the vehicle when the vehicle 1 has traveled through the tunnel before the vehicle 1 enters the tunnel; a first air conditioning switching unit 8Da for setting the vehicle to the external air intake mode before the vehicle 1 enters the tunnel if it is determined that the maximum value exceeds a threshold; and a second air conditioning switching unit 8Db for switching to the internal air circulation mode when it is determined that the vehicle 1 has entered the tunnel. [Selection Diagram] Figure 1

Inventors

上島　宏幸

Assignees

日産自動車株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241021

Claims (10)

The air conditioning system has two operating modes: an internal circulation mode that circulates the air inside the vehicle cabin, and an external air intake mode that introduces outside air into the vehicle cabin. A tunnel information acquisition unit that detects tunnels in the direction of the vehicle's travel, Before a vehicle enters the tunnel detected by the tunnel information acquisition unit, a CO2 concentration estimation unit estimates the maximum value of carbon dioxide concentration inside the vehicle's cabin in the tunnel if the vehicle were to travel through the tunnel. When the CO2 concentration estimation unit determines that the highest carbon dioxide concentration it has estimated exceeds a preset threshold, the first air conditioning switching unit sets the vehicle to the outside air intake mode before the vehicle enters the tunnel. When it is determined that the vehicle has entered the tunnel, if the operating mode at that time is the outside air intake mode, a second air conditioning switching unit switches to the internal air circulation mode, A vehicle air conditioning switching device equipped with the following features.
It comprises a CO2 sensor for measuring the carbon dioxide concentration in the vehicle cabin, an occupant detection unit for detecting information about the occupants inside the vehicle cabin, and a ventilation state detection unit for determining the ventilation state inside the vehicle. The above CO2 concentration estimation unit estimates the maximum value of the carbon dioxide concentration based on the carbon dioxide concentration inside the vehicle, information on the occupants inside the vehicle, and the ventilation status inside the vehicle. A vehicle air conditioning switching device as described in claim 1.
Equipped with a camera capable of imaging the interior of the vehicle, The occupant detection unit acquires the number of occupants in the vehicle and the attributes of each occupant as occupant information based on the images captured by the camera. A vehicle air conditioning switching device as described in claim 2.
A second CO2 concentration estimation unit estimates the highest value of carbon dioxide concentration inside the vehicle cabin while the vehicle is traveling through the tunnel, When the CO2 concentration estimation unit determines that the highest value of carbon dioxide concentration it has estimated exceeds a preset threshold, it notifies the driver that additional ventilation will be performed by introducing outside air into the vehicle cabin while the vehicle is traveling through the tunnel, and also activates an additional ventilation unit to perform the additional ventilation while the vehicle is traveling through the tunnel. A vehicle air conditioning switching device according to claim 1, comprising:
When a vehicle travels through the entire tunnel in internal air circulation mode, the system includes an inlet concentration estimation unit that estimates the inlet concentration, which is the carbon dioxide concentration at the tunnel entrance that is equal to a preset threshold value, where the estimated carbon dioxide concentration inside the vehicle at the tunnel exit is equal to the carbon dioxide concentration at the tunnel entrance. The first air conditioning switching unit described above sets the timing for switching to the outside air intake mode to a position further from the tunnel entrance when the inlet concentration is high compared to when the inlet concentration is low. A vehicle air conditioning switching device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
When a vehicle travels through the entire tunnel in internal air circulation mode, an inlet concentration estimation unit estimates the inlet concentration, which is the carbon dioxide concentration at the tunnel entrance that is such that the estimated carbon dioxide concentration inside the vehicle at the tunnel exit becomes a preset threshold. If the outside air intake mode set by the first air conditioning switching unit is continued until the tunnel entrance, and the estimated carbon dioxide concentration at the tunnel entrance is determined to be lower than the above-mentioned entrance concentration, the third air conditioning switching unit switches the outside air intake mode set by the first air conditioning switching unit to the internal air circulation mode before the vehicle reaches the tunnel entrance. A vehicle air conditioning switching device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising:
When the above-mentioned CO2 concentration estimation unit detects that there are multiple tunnels close to the direction of travel, it estimates the maximum carbon dioxide concentration inside the vehicle when the vehicle travels through the multiple tunnels. When the first air conditioning switching unit determines that the maximum carbon dioxide concentration estimated by the CO2 concentration estimation unit exceeds a preset threshold, it switches the vehicle to outside air intake mode before the vehicle enters the first tunnel among several tunnels. A vehicle air conditioning switching device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
The tunnel information acquisition unit determines that two tunnels are close together if it is estimated that ventilation will not be completed when outside air is introduced between the two tunnels. A vehicle air conditioning switching device as described in claim 7.
It is equipped with an occupant detection unit that detects the number of occupants inside the vehicle, The first air conditioning switching unit described above sets the timing for switching to the outside air intake mode to a position further from the tunnel entrance when there are many occupants compared to when there are few occupants. A vehicle air conditioning switching device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
A vehicle equipped with the vehicle air conditioning switching device described in claim 1.

Description

This invention relates to a vehicle air conditioning switching device that sets between an internal air circulation mode, which circulates the air inside the vehicle's cabin, and an external air intake mode, which introduces external air into the cabin, and to a vehicle equipped with this vehicle air conditioning switching device. One example of a vehicle air conditioning switching device installed in a vehicle is the device described in Patent Document 1. Patent Document 1 describes a system that switches between internal air circulation mode and external air intake mode based on the inclination angle of the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling. Furthermore, Patent Document 1 describes a system that automatically switches the vehicle's air conditioning system from external air intake mode to internal air circulation mode when entering a tunnel. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010-195249 This is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a process in a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.This figure shows an example of the processing flow according to this embodiment.This is an example of a time chart in this embodiment.This is an example of a time chart for variation 2.This is an example of a time chart for variation 3.This is an example of a time chart for modified example 4. Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, "vehicle" refers to a private vehicle, but the vehicle of the present invention is not limited to a private vehicle. The present invention is applicable to any vehicle that has a passenger compartment capable of forming an enclosed space and is capable of traveling on a road. As shown in Figure 1, the vehicle 1 of this embodiment includes a navigation device 2, an air conditioning system 3 for regulating the air quality inside the vehicle, and a vehicle air conditioning switching device 8. Figure 1 also shows the functional parts of a modified example described later. (Navigation device 2) The navigation device 2 has map information 2A of the road surface being traveled. The map information 2A is updated as needed by accessing an external server 10, for example, by wireless communication. The map information 2A is stored in a recording medium of the vehicle 1. The navigation device 2 can, for example, determine the optimal route from the current location to the destination, or perform map matching processing to position the current location on the map, based on the operation of the occupants. In this embodiment, the navigation device 2 acquires information about tunnels in the direction of travel of the vehicle 1 based on the current position and direction of travel of the vehicle 1, in response to a command from the vehicle air conditioning switch 8. The navigation device 2 is configured to supply the acquired tunnel information to the vehicle air conditioning switch 8. The tunnel information may also be acquired from an external device outside the vehicle, such as by wireless communication. (Air conditioner 3) The air conditioning unit 3 has two operating modes for air conditioning: an internal air circulation mode (internal air circulation operation) that circulates the air inside the vehicle cabin, and an external air intake mode (external air intake operation) that introduces outside air into the vehicle cabin. In the outside air intake mode, the air conditioning unit 3 is configured to introduce outside air into the air conditioning duct from an outside air intake port using, for example, a fan device, and to blow the introduced outside air into the vehicle interior through an outlet. Furthermore, in the outside air intake mode, the air conditioning unit 3 of the present invention can also ventilate the vehicle by automatically opening the windows to introduce outside air into the vehicle interior. In the internal air circulation mode, the air conditioning unit 3 is configured to draw in air from the vehicle interior into the air conditioning duct from an intake port using, for example, a fan device, and to blow the drawn-in air into the vehicle interior through an outlet. Furthermore, the air conditioning system 3 includes an air conditioning device that heats or cools the air in the air conditioning duct to a predetermined temperature using known air conditioning control means. In addition, switching between the outside air introduction mode and the internal air circulation mode via the air conditioning duct can be done, for example, by a damper device installed in the air conditioning duct. The air conditioning unit 3 is configured to switch the operating mode between internal air circulation mode and external air intake mode based on the operation of an operator by the occupant or a command from the vehicle's air conditioning switching device 8. Note that the air conditioning unit 3 can employ any known configuration as long as it is capable of switching between inter