Electronic climate control system for automotive vehicles

Claim 2

An electronic climate control system for a car air conditioner comprising: sensor means for detecting environmental conditions including at least an ambient temperature, an in-car temperature and a heat load radiating into a vehicle passenger compartment; control means being responsive to signals from said sensor means for adjusting an in-car temperature condition towards a desired in-car temperature; manual input means for manually setting a system's operating mode; communication means for intercommunicating said control means with said manual input means; communication-line detection means for determining whether a mutual-communication between said control means and said manual input means is made normally; and defogger means for automatically determining said system's operating mode necessary to prevent a windshield from being fogged when said communication-line detection means determines that a failure in mutual communication is present.

Claim 3

An electronic climate control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said defogger means comprises means for automatically shifting said system's operating mode to an automatic air-conditioning mode and for simultaneously setting an air inlet mode at a fresh-air mode, when said communication-line detection means determines that said failure in mutual communication is present.

Claim 4

An electronic climate control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said defogger means comprises operating-state decision means for determining whether an air-conditioning compressor is in an on state and for determining whether the car air conditioner is in an on state, and means for automatically setting an air inlet mode at a fresh-air mode, when said communication-line detection means determines that said failure in mutual communication is present and said operating-state decision means determines that one of the air-conditioning compressor and the car air conditioner is in an off state.

Claim 5

An electronic climate control system for a car air conditioner comprising: sensors for detecting environmental conditions including at least an ambient temperature, an in-car temperature and a heat load radiating into a vehicle passenger compartment; a climate control unit being responsive to signals from said sensors for adjusting an interior environment within the vehicle passenger compartment towards desired in-car temperature and humidity conditions; a manual-input panel for manually setting a system's operating mode; a communications line for intercommunicating said climate control unit with said manual-input panel; communication-line detection means for determining whether a failure in data transmission from said manual-input panel to said climate control unit is present, said communication-line detection means determining that said failure in data transmission is present when said failure in data transmission continues for a predetermined period of time from an initial detection time of said failure in data transmission; and fail-safe means for automatically determining said system's operating mode necessary to prevent a windshield from being fogged when said communication-line detection means determines that said failure in data transmission is present.

Claim 6

An electronic climate control system for a car air conditioner comprising: sensors for detecting environmental conditions including at least an ambient temperature, an in-car temperature and a heat load radiating into a vehicle passenger compartment; a climate control unit being responsive to signals from said sensors for adjusting an interior environment within the vehicle passenger compartment towards desired in-car temperature and humidity conditions; a manual-input panel for manually setting a system's operating mode; a communications line for intercommunicating said climate control unit with said manual-input panel; communication-line detection means for determining whether a failure in data transmission from said manual-input panel to said climate control unit is present, said communication-line detection means determining that said failure in data transmission is present when said failure in data transmission continues for a predetermined period of time from an initial detection time of said failure in data transmission; and fail-safe means for automatically determining said system's operating mode necessary to prevent a windshield from being fogged when said communication-line detection means determines that said failure in data transmission is present.

Claim 7

An electronic climate control system as set forth in claim 4, wherein said fail-safe means comprises means for automatically shifting said system's operating mode to an automatic air-conditioning mode and for simultaneously setting an air inlet mode at a fresh-air mode, when said communication-line detection means determines that said failure in data transmission is present.

Claim 8

An electronic climate control system as set forth in claim 5, wherein said fail-safe means comprises means for fixing an in-car temperature setting to a predetermined temperature value, when said communication-line detection means determines that said failure in data transmission is present.

Claim 9

An electronic climate control system as set forth in claim 4, wherein said fail-safe means comprises operating-state decision means for determining whether an air-conditioning compressor is in an on state and for determining whether the car air conditioner is in an on state, and means for automatically setting an air inlet mode at a fresh-air mode, when said communication-line detection means determines that said failure in data transmission is present and said operating-state decision means determines that one of the air-conditioning compressor and the car air conditioner is in an off state.