A ventilation system for a vehicle includes a duct with an outlet. A housing is in fluid communication with the outlet. A vane is disposed within the housing. The vane has a first pivot axis and a second pivot axis. A first electric motor is configured to pivot the vane relative to the first pivot axis, and a second electric motor is configured to pivot the vane relative to the second pivot axis. A controller is configured to control the first electric motor to pivot the vane relative to the first pivot axis and to control the second electric motor to pivot the vane relative to the second pivot axis.

A method for driving an actuator of an HVAC system having a region of mechanical play is provided, and which comprises the steps of: a] monitoring a position of a movable member of the HVAC system or at least one rotatable element of the actuator to determine when the region of mechanical play has been entered or exited; and b] ramping a drive power to the actuator between a zero-velocity drive power and a steady-state-velocity drive power during the region of mechanical play. The HVAC system implementing the above method is not only capable of reducing the noise produced by an HVAC system, but is also capable of reducing an over-powering of the actuator when there is a low load on the system.

A vehicle air vent system may include a vehicle air vent having an airflow mechanism configured to control the direction of airflow therefrom, a user interface positioned around a periphery of the vent; and a controller programmed to, based on a received touch point signal from the interface, instruct the mechanism to direct airflow from the vent in a direction corresponding to a location of the received touch point signal.

A moveable graphical user interface object is provided. The moveable graphical user interface object is moveable within a bounded graphical region. A current location of the moveable graphical user interface object in the bounded graphical region corresponds to an indicated direction of concentrated airflow. For example, the moveable graphical user interface object is used to control airflow direction of a HVAC air vent.

An environmental equipment control apparatus controls environmental equipment. The environmental equipment control apparatus includes a grasping unit that grasps physical-and-mental-state information about a physical and mental state of a user, a control unit that changes a control state of the environmental equipment in a case in which the physical-and-mental-state information satisfies a predetermined state condition, and a storage unit that stores correspondence information in which changes in the control state of the environmental equipment are associated with changes in the physical-and-mental-state information of the user grasped by the grasping unit in accordance with the changes in the control state of the environmental equipment.

A ventilation register control system is provided for a motor vehicle. That ventilation register control system includes four ventilation registers and a control module configured to independently open and close each ventilation register.

A method for driving an actuator of an HVAC system is provided, and which comprises the steps of: a] determining an actuation command to the actuator; and b] ramping a drive power to the actuator between a steady-state-velocity drive power and a zero-velocity drive power to effect a required acceleration or deceleration to a movable member of the HAVC system without or substantially without over-powering of the actuator. An HVAC system is also provided. The HVAC system implementing the above method is not only capable of reducing the noise produced by an HVAC system, but is also capable of reducing an over-powering of the actuator when there is a low load on the system.

A method of maintaining a position of an airflow-direction control element 16 of a HVAC system, comprising the steps of, a] determining a position of at least one movable member of an airflow-direction control mechanism of the HVAC system; and b] calculating whether the movable member is at a target position associated with a required position of the airflow-direction control element, and if not, activating an airflow-direction-controller actuator of the HVAC system to effect a change in the position of the movable member thereby bringing the airflow-direction control element to or towards the said required position. A HVAC system suitable for implementing such a method is also provided and capable of improving the overall efficiency of operation.

Described herein is a heating and/or air-conditioning device for a motor vehicle, the device including an inlet duct for the supply of fresh air, an air transmission branch, and an air heating branch, both supplied by the inlet duct and communicating with each other via a mixing zone. A butterfly flap is mounted pivotably around a rotation axis located at the mixing zone. The butterfly flap comprises a first wing associated with a first branch and a second wing associated with a second branch, as well as a wing extension elastically hinged to the first wing according to a hinge axis parallel to the rotation axis of the butterfly flap. Within the first branch are arranged abutment formations suitable to be engaged by the wing extension and to induce, during a rotation of the butterfly flap, a rotation of the wing extension with respect to the first wing.

Methods and apparatus relating to optimization of vehicular systems for occupant presence and condition are described. In one embodiment, logic circuitry detects presence and/or condition of one or more occupants of a vehicle based on sensor data. Memory (e.g., non-volatile memory) stores information corresponding to one or more functions of the vehicle. The logic circuitry transmits a request to the vehicle to cause an adjustment to the one or more functions of the vehicle. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.