Air-conditioning control apparatus for automotive vehicles

Claim 2

In an automobile air-conditioning control apparatus including compartment temperature sensor means for sensing the temperature of a vehicle compartment of an automobile, means for supplying temperature-adjusted air into said vehicle compartment to adjust said compartment temperature sensed by said temperature sensor means to a desired temperature for compartment air-conditioning, and shifting means for changing the direction of flow of said temperature-adjusted air blown into said vehicle compartment thereby controlling the air-conditioning of said vehicle compartment, the improvement comprising: actuating means for actuating said shifting means to effect change-over from a partial blowing operation for blowing said temperature-adjusted air toward at least one selected occupant to an overall blowing operation for blowing said temperature-adjusted air into the entire interior of said vehicle compartment, and vice versa; and control means for controlling said acuating means to change the blowing of said temperature-adjusted air to said partial blowing operation when said compartment temperature sensed by said temperature sensor means is out of a range of stable air-conditioning temperatures.

Claim 3

An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes a microcomputer including: a read-only memory (ROM) storing a control program determining the sequence of operations; a central processing unit (CPU) for sequentially reading said control program from said ROM to perform corresponding computational operations; a read/write memory (RAM) for temporarily storing various data associated with said computational operations of said CPU in a manner that said data may be read by said CPU; a clock generator including a quartz crystal unit for generating reference clock pulses required for said computational operations; and input/output (I/O) circuit means for controlling input and output operations of signals.

Claim 4

An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said actuating means includes a plurality of actuator means each thereof including: a selector circuit for selecting a shifting actuator select signal from said microcomputer to generate a latch signal; a latch circuit for latching a digital signal representing a shifting signal in synchronism with a clock signal from said microcomputer when said latch signal is generated from said selector circuit; a logical operation circuit responsive to said digital signal latched by said latch circuit and another digital signal indicative of a position of flow direction changing plate means for generating a control signal to control the position of said flow direction changing plate means; a pulse generator for generating a pulse train of a predetermined period when said control signal from said logical operation circuit is at a high level; a motor drive circuit responsive to said pulse train from said pulse generator for generating drive pulses; a pulse motor responsive to said drive pulses for rotating a rotary shaft of said flow direction changing plate means; and a position sensing board rotatable in response to the rotation of said rotary shaft of said flow direction changing plate means, said position sensing board including a plurality of copper foils arranged thereon and a plurality of contacts respectively associated with said copper foils whereby a high level signal is generated when each of said contacts coincides with corresponding one of said copper foils.

Claim 5

An automobile air-conditioning control apparatus comprising: compartment temperature sensor means for sensing the temperature of a vehicle compartment of an automobile; temperature setting means or presetting a desired temperature to be controlled; analog-to-digital converter means for converting each of a compartment temperature indicative signal from said compartment temperature sensor means and a preset temperature indicative signal from said temperature presetting means to a digital signal; microcomputer means responsive to said digital signals from said analog-to-digital converter means for performing corresponding computational operations; a plurality of shifting actuator means each responsive to a command signal from said microcomputer means for controlling the position of flow direction changing plate means to effect change-over from a partial blowing operating for blowing said temperature-preset air toward at least one selected occupant to an overall blowing operation for blowing said temperature-preset air into the entire interior of said vehicle compartment, and vice versa; and motor drive circuit means responsive to another command signal from said microcomputer means for generating a control signal to control the rotational speed of blower motor means, said microcomputer means being provided to control said actuator to change the blowing of said temperature-preset air to said partial blowing operating when said compartment temperature sensed by said temperature sensor means is out of a range of stable air-conditioning temperatures.

Claim 6

An automobile air-conditioning control apparatus comprising: compartment temperature sensor means for sensing the temperature of a vehicle compartment of an automobile; temperature setting means or presetting a desired temperature to be controlled; analog-to-digital converter means for converting each of a compartment temperature indicative signal from said compartment temperature sensor means and a preset temperature indicative signal from said temperature presetting means to a digital signal; microcomputer means responsive to said digital signals from said analog-to-digital converter means for performing corresponding computational operations; a plurality of shifting actuator means each responsive to a command signal from said microcomputer means for controlling the position of flow direction changing plate means to effect change-over from a partial blowing operating for blowing said temperature-preset air toward at least one selected occupant to an overall blowing operation for blowing said temperature-preset air into the entire interior of said vehicle compartment, and vice versa; and motor drive circuit means responsive to another command signal from said microcomputer means for generating a control signal to control the rotational speed of blower motor means, said microcomputer means being provided to control said actuator to change the blowing of said temperature-preset air to said partial blowing operating when said compartment temperature sensed by said temperature sensor means is out of a range of stable air-conditioning temperatures.