HEATING and COOLING SYSTEM for TRANSPORT INSTRUMENTS
FIELD of TECHNOLOGIES
The present disclosure relates to heating and cooling system of transportation instrument, especially for electric and hybrid transport instrument. The disclosure also especially relates to a distributed positional/locational heating and cooling system. The cooling device may employ air pressure caused by the moving transport instrument.
BACKGROUND
Heating and cooling device and system are required by almost all transport instruments. The transport can be any one of road transport, air transport instrument, maritime transport and rail transport. To save the heating and cooling energy of the transport instruments is to reduce the greenhouse gas emission, especially when the transport instruments are starting to turn to electric or hybrid transport instruments. Following we uses an electric vehicle as an example for all transport instruments. The ideas devices and system disclosed in this application can be used for all transport instruments.
The energy consumption of air conditioning for an electric vehicle is about 5%-15% of the total energy consumption of the vehicle, depending on the design, local weather and how a driver to use the air conditioning system. To save energy from air conditioning of an electric transportation instrument is not only to save the energy, but also to reduce the battery weigh and cost, to extend the cruise millage of the vehicle. There are some ways to save energy for air conditioning such as to increase energy efficiency and to improve the insulation of the air conditioning system of the vehicle.
This disclosure introduces a new concept and device of air conditioning system for transport instruments, especially for full electric and hybrid transport instrument.
The first idea is to provide a distributed electric heating and cooling system to heat or cool the driver/passenger (occupant) locally and closely instead to heat or cool all cabin space of the transport instrument. The second idea is make the distributed heating system be a locational and positional electric heating system. The system only supplies heating or cooling for the passenger and place where an occupant is available. Therefore the electric heater needs to operate under low voltage, low operation temperature and is soft. The third idea is to transfer the air pressure of a moving vehicle to a power source for generating cooling air. An air channel having a solid and/or soft wall is employed witch has a larger size of air inlet and a smaller size of outlet. The fourth idea is to heat and cool the transport instrument by solar energy through a shade cloth and a controllable slide sunroof. The fifth idea is to preheat the transport instrument by external electric power which is for charging the battery.
SUMMARY
The present disclosure provides a heating and cooling system of transport instrument for energy saving, comprises a distributed locational/positional electric heater connected to battery of said transport instrument and arranged close to an occupant. A
detector detects the local seat condition of the occupant for a control system to turn on or off the heater. A cooling device arranged in said transport instrument for cooling the cabin of said transport instrument.
The transport instrument is selected from a group of road transport instrument, rail transport instrument, maritime transport instrument and air transport instrument. The transport instrument comprises full electric powered transport Instrument or hybrid electric transport Instrument.
The heater of the heating and cooling system comprises a low and safe operation voltage. The heater of the heating and cooling system comprises a low and safe operation temperature. The heater of the heating and cooling system also comprises a soft heating material. The heater of the heating and cooling system comprises an electric heating film. The heater of the heating and cooling system comprises a far infrared heater.
The detector of said heating and cooling system is selected from a group of a light detector, a weight detector and a camera image detector.
The control system of the heating and cooling system comprises a main control system for full transport instrument including the heater; and said main control system comprising a heater sub-control panel for said heater. The heater sub-control panel comprises a local seat condition detector, a thermometer, a temperature setting device for said heater.
The disclosure further provides a shade cloth to the heating and cooling system. The removable shade cloth has first side for reflecting sunlight and second side to absorbing sunlight. The heating and cooling system further comprises a power adapter for said heater to be heated by external AC power source. The heating and cooling System comprises The disclosure further again provides a sun roof to the heating and cooling system. The sun roof for heating and cooling, comprises a controllable sliding door; a climate controller for opening and closing said sun roof automatically or manually. The climate controller comprises a photometer to measure sunlight illumination and a cabin thermometer to measure the temperature in cabin.
The disclosure also provides cooling device of the heating and cooling system.
The cooling device comprises an air channel having a larger air inlet facing toward to moving direction of said transport instrument and a smaller outlet connected to cabin. The air channel of the
2 cooling device comprises a hard wall made of hard material or a soft wall made of a soft material. The cooling device also comprises one selected from a group of air direction guider directs the air flow the occupants, s structure for opening and closing air channel, and a grid and an air filter are arranged at the inlet of the channel to ensure the quality of the cooling air.
Other aspects and features of the present disclosure will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art up review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures. They are included in the claims of this application.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is schematic side view illustrating a heating and cooling system for a vehicle.
Fig. 2 is schematic top view illustrating a sub-control panel for a passenger's heating and cooling In the figures which illustrate exemplary embodiments of this invention:
DETAILE DESCRIPTION
Refer to Fig. 1, a heating and cooling system of an electric vehicle 10 is illustrated in side view.
This is a right side driver vehicle. The vehicle 10 comprises an occupant (driver and passenger) 11, here is a driver. 121, 122, 123 are the distributed batteries to provide power for vehicle operation. The battery is charged by external power through changing cable 161. The vehicle 10 further comprises weal 13, back-up air conditioner 14 and electric motor 15.
The vehicle 10 also comprises front seat 171 and rear seat 172. A main electric controller 18 (also called computer controller) control the operation of all elements of the vehicle. A main control panel 181 arranged at the front of the driver 11. Fig. 1 also shows the window 19, shad cloth 28, temperature sensor 29 and the climate sensor or meter 27. The electric power cable and signal cable 16 connect all electric devices and the devices of control systems to battery to provide operation power and transfer signals. In Fig. 1, there is only one sample 16 is shown and marketed, other did not show or market in Fig. 1. They may comprise the sensors, heaters, detectors, controller and control panel.
When the driver 11 gets into his/her seat 171, a condition detector detects the person. The seat condition detector can be any detector to identify whether or not an occupant is on seat. For example, the detector may be a weight sensor under seat or a light sensor 25.
Here it is a video camera 26. The video camera takes an image of cabin. The computer 18 of the control system identifies the seat condition. The condition detector (here is computer) then sends a signor to a switcher to turn on the power directly from buttery 122 for the build in first heater 21 which is
3 arranged in the seat 171 under the seat cover and over the seat insulation.
When the area temperature surrounded the driver reaches to the setting temperature, the temperature sensor 29 send a signal to the control system. The control system turns off the power. In the backrest of seat 171, a second heater 22 is built in and under the rear cover of the backrest. The second distributed heater 22 is a far infrared heater mainly for the passenger on the rear seat 172. It also helps to warm the driver 11.
Here the heater (21 or 22) is distributed heater for each occupant. The heater is a locational/positional heater that arranged near to each occupant and heats a designed passenger. Therefore, the distributed heater (21 or 22) needs to be operated at a low and safe voltage for safety reason. For example the voltage may be 12V, 24V of battery voltage or lower). Its operation temperature needs to be low and safe temperature too (e.g. 60 degree C
and under). It may be soft (e.g. a film) for safety reason. The heating material may be an electric heating coat coated on a surface of a soft insulation material. The heating material may also be a striped film. It may connect to the buttery directly and supply power by the buttery directly.
The heater can be a directional far infrared heater. The heater can heat the driver/passenger directly instead to heat the surrounding environment. It may be build-in heater. It can be arranged at the front of the occupant, under the cover of a seat, in the backrest of the front seat or at the top of the occupant.
The heating controller of the heater 21 is at the main controller 18. The main controller has a control panel 181. The heater 22 has a sub-control panel 20 arranged at armrest of the rear door of the vehicle for the convenient of the passenger. The buttery supplies the electric power to the main controller 18 and sub-controller 181 including the distributed heater 21. The condition detector 26 is on. The heater 21 starts to provide heat to the driver through default setting or last setting. The identification of the passenger is completed by the control panel through personal biological information detected. When the driver leaves the seat, the detector sends the information to the controller to turn off the power automatically. When the heater 21 heats the driver, the heater may also provide heat according to the passenger's desired setting. This will discuss in Fig.2.
The distributed heating system may comprise a power adaptor (did not show in Fig. 1) for AC to DC. It provides DC electric power to the heater by external AC power supply.
The power adaptor can be connected to a branch of the changing cable 161. The control system controls the switching between buttery DC power supply and the external AC power supply.
Here the control system comprises a main control system 18 for control all elements of the transport instrument including the heating and cooling system. The main control system is controlled automatically or by the driver 11 of the transport instrument. The main control system may comprise a computer 18 and relevant programs. The control system also comprises
4 a heating and cooling sub-control panel 20. The sub-control panel is for control a distributed heater 22 and cooler 35 and the special location of an occupant sited on seat 172. The sub-control panel is mainly controlled by the passenger. Some or all features of the sub-control panel may also be controlled by the driver through main control panel 181. The heating and cooling sub-control panel can be arranged at a backrest (e.g. 171 or 172), an armrest of a door armrest (e.g. 20) of rear seat and dashboard etc. The heating and cooling sub-control panel may comprise an electric power indicating light 206, heating and cooling power switches (201, 202), desired temperature settings temperature increasing or decreasing buttons (203, 204), and current temperature indicators (205). The sub-control panel can be in one panel or separated in several panels. One sample panel surface is shown in Fig.2.
The heating and cooling system of the transport instrument comprises a sun roof 37. The sunroof comprising a sliding window 38 and a sun visor 39. 38 and 39 may be a solar electric generation panel and a transparent plate. They may also a translucent plate and a opaque plate.
The sun roof 37 comprises a built in main climate controller (did not shown).
The climate controller controls the opening and closing of the sun roof and adjusts the size of air gap of the sunroof automatically and manually. The sunroof climate controller also comprises climate sensor(s) or measuring device for temperature, sunlight, air pressure and humidity. Thereis. a photometer 27 to measure Luminosity of sunlight. The sun roof weather controller also comprises thermometers to measure the temperature inside and outside of the cabin. When the vehicle in operation and the temperature in the cabin is higher than the desired temperature, the sunroof may open for cooler air come into the cabin. When the vehicle is packed, the photometer indicates a luminosity of sunlight and the thermometer indicates a temperature in cabin higher than the environment temperature, the sun roof opens an air flow gap for the cabin to release the hot air in cabin and get cooler air from lower place of the cabin to cool the cabin. When the temperature in the cabin is low and the sunlight is available, a transparent sun visor receives extra sunlight into cabin and heat the cabin.
When luminosity is low to a level of raining situation, the sunroof is closed by the sun roof weather controller automatically. When the sunroof is closed, the solar electric generating plate generates electricity.
The heating and cooling system further comprises a cooling device 30. The cooling device transfers the air pressure of the moving car 10 to cooling air in the channel 31. The air channel 31 has a larger air inlet port 34 facing toward to the moving direction of the vehicle 10 and a smaller outlet 34 connected to air vent 34 for proving cool air under the controlling of occupant.
The channel 31 has another air vent 35. Either hard material or soft material, including their combination, can be used to make the channel wall. The channel may be made of hard material, e.g. plastic, metal, wood, and other hard materials. The channel also may be made of soft material, e.g. a dense cloth, a metal foil, a plastic film and other soft materials. The channel may also be a continued and curved channel. It also can be a group of channels to provide cool air for each occupant. An air direction guider directs the air flow for different occupants. (not show in Fig. 1). A structure 32 is for opening and closing the air channel. A
grille/net 34 and an air filter 33 are arranged at the inlet of the channel to ensure the quality of the cooling air. The outlet 35 of the channel 31 may also be a group of uniformly distributed small gaps, e.g. a grid-like cloth. Of cause the inlet 32 of the channel 31 is much larger than the outlet 34 and 35 of the channel 31. When the vehicle 10 is moving, the external air gets into the channel 31 from a larger inlet 32 and through a smaller outlet 34 to go in a large cabin space.
Because the inlet air is forced by the air pressure of the moving vehicle, so the outlet air is cooler than the inlet air.
This is how the cooling device 31 works. As faster the vehicle move, as cooler the outlet air. A
back up air conditioning device 14 is required, in case the vehicle is forced to drive slowly at a heavy traffic period of time. The heating and cooling system of the transport instrument further comprises a fan to circulate the air or pump the air into or out to the cabin.
The heating and cooling system further comprises a heat low-emission (Low-E) material at the window 19. The Low-E material is arranged at outdoor side of a window at a hot area. The Low-E material is arranged at indoor side of a vehicle window at a cool area. The Low-E material also can be arranged in between of two glasses that are laminated.
The heating and cooling system further comprises a shade cloth 28. The first side of the shade cloth has sunlight reflect material to reflect the sunlight and cool the cabin at hot weather. The second side of the shade cloth has a heat absorb material for absorb solar heat at cool weather.
The heat absorb material may be transparent or translucent. The heat reflecting material may be translucent. The shade cloth also protects the heat loss through window by heat emission.
The shade cloth can be fixed to the window or removably attached to the window. In comparing with the low-E glass, the shade cloth can absorb more solar heat and provide much more flexibilities.
Refer to Fig. 2, a sub- control panel 20 of heater 22 is illustrated on top view. The heating and cooling sub-control panel comprise an electric power indicating light 206, heating and cooling power switches (201, 202), desired temperature settings buttons (203, 204), which increasing or decreasing the setting temperature and current temperature indicators (205). In Fig. 2, H
and C means heating and cooling presented the right side buttons are for the heater 22 and cooler 35. 201 and 202 "On/off" buttons mean the buttons are for turning on and off the setting of the heater and cooler. The buttons 203 and 204 with arrow "up" and "down" have following meaning: when puss the upper side of the button is to increase the temperature surround the passenger. When to puss the down side of the button that is to decrease the temperature surround the passenger. The red star 205 is a light signal of the panel power. The last one 206 is a temperature indicator indicating the present temperature setting. When the passenger sit down at seat 172, the detector 25 (or 26, if 25 is not exists) send a signal to control system. The red light turns on. The heater 22 and cooler 35 start work based on the last temperature setting. The temperature indicator 206 shows the current temperature setting. If the passenger is comfortable with the temperature setting, nothing needs to do. If the passenger is not comfortable with the temperature setting, the passenger can push the button and set a desired temperature. The control system will guide the heater or cooler get the proper temperature. When the passenger leaves the seat, the detector sends the information to the controller to turn off the power of the heater 22 and cooler 35. The control panel 20 automatically turn off to save electricity.
Other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and, therefore, the invention is defined in the claims.