Vehicle Interior Ventilation System and Vehicle

Abstract

A vehicle interior ventilation system has air outlet slots in a dashboard or a different panel of the vehicle. A display is provided in the dashboard or the different panel, on which display the air flow direction of an airflow resulting from the airflows coming from the air outlet slots can be displayed.

Claims

1.-11. (canceled)

12. A vehicle interior ventilation system, comprising: at least one fan which is provided in an air guide housing; at least two air guide ducts fluidically connected to the air guide housing; air vents, each being fluidically connected to a respective one of the air guide ducts, wherein at least some of the air vents form at least one upper air outlet slot and at least one lower air outlet slot in a dashboard or a console of the vehicle, from which respective air flows emerge in an air outlet direction predefined by respective issue duct sections of each air vent, wherein the air flows impinge on one another and form a resulting air flow with a resulting air flow direction; an upper air sensor provided for capturing the air flow velocity or the volumetric air flow in the upper air guide duct or issue duct section leading to the upper air outlet slot; a lower air sensor provided for capturing the air flow velocity or the volumetric air flow in the lower air guide duct or issue duct section leading to the lower air outlet slot; and a control unit, of a control device, connected to the upper air sensor and the lower air sensor for transmitting signals, a display connected to the control unit, the display apparatus being provided in the dashboard or the console, wherein the control unit is designed to determine the resulting air flow direction of the resulting air flow from the captured air flow velocities or volumetric air flows based on the respective air outlet direction and to form at least one control signal therefrom for application to the display.

13. The vehicle interior ventilation system according to claim 12, wherein the display comprises light signal elements.

14. The vehicle interior ventilation system according to claim 13, wherein the display has a two-dimensional arrangement of the light signal elements as a display panel, on which at least one active signal area is displayable.

15. The vehicle interior ventilation system according to claim 14, wherein the control unit is designed such that a resulting air flow velocity or a resulting volumetric air flow is determined from a magnitude of the air flow velocity or volumetric air flow captured by the respective air sensor, and an area extent control signal is formed therefrom and is applied to the display such that the area extent of the active signal area displayed on the display panel is dependent on the determined magnitude of the resulting air flow velocity or the resulting volumetric air flow.

16. The vehicle interior ventilation system according to claim 14, wherein the control unit is designed to control the display by way of a region control signal in such a manner that: an upper region of the display panel has the active signal area when the resulting air flow direction is directed upward, a lower region of the display panel has the active signal area when the resulting air flow direction is directed downward, and a central region of the display panel has the active signal area when the resulting air flow direction is directed in a substantially horizontal manner.

17. The vehicle interior ventilation system according to claim 13, wherein the light signal elements are designed to reproduce different colors depending on a color control signal.

18. The vehicle interior ventilation system according to claim 17, wherein the control unit is designed such that a resulting air flow velocity or a resulting volumetric air flow is determined from the magnitude of the air flow velocity or the volumetric air flow captured by the respective air sensor, and the color control signal is dependent on the magnitude of the resulting air flow velocity or the resulting volumetric air flow.

19. The vehicle interior ventilation system according to claim 17, wherein at least one temperature sensor is provided in the air guide housing, in the upper air guide duct or issue duct section, and/or in the lower air guide duct or issue duct section, the control unit is designed to determine a resulting mixing temperature from values of the air temperature captured by the respective temperature sensor based on the respective air flow velocity or the respective volumetric air flow, and the color control signal is dependent on the determined mixing temperature.

20. The vehicle interior ventilation system according to claim 12, wherein the display is arranged in the dashboard or the console between the upper air outlet slot and the lower air outlet slot assigned to the latter.

21. The vehicle interior ventilation system according to claim 12, wherein the control unit applies a warning signal to the display provided in the dashboard, which warning signal causes a priority warning display of the display.

22. A vehicle, comprising: a dashboard or console; and at least one vehicle interior ventilation system according to claim 12.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a vehicle interior ventilation system according to an embodiment of the invention as a vertical section through a dashboard of a motor vehicle;

[0025] FIGS. 2A to 2C show different operating states of the vehicle interior ventilation system;

[0026] FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of the control of the display apparatus;

[0027] FIG. 4 shows a front view of the dashboard having a display apparatus from the point of view of a vehicle passenger in the direction of the arrow IV in FIG. 1 in a first operating state; and

[0028] FIG. 5 shows a front view of the dashboard according to FIG. 4 in a second operating state.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0029] FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a vehicle interior ventilation system 1 as a vertical section through a dashboard 20 of a motor vehicle 2. The front windshield 22 of the motor vehicle 2 is partially illustrated for better consideration and for orientation with respect to the direction of travel F of the motor vehicle 2. An upper air vent 10 and a lower air vent 12, which are both in the form of air outlet slots 11, 13 in the dashboard 20, are shown in the dashboard 20.

[0030] The ventilation system 1 has an air guide housing 14 in which a heating, ventilation and cooling unit 3 having a fan 30, a cooling system heat exchanger 32 and a heating heat exchanger 34 downstream of the latter in the direction of air flow R is arranged in a known manner. At its end on the inflow side which leads to an air inlet (not shown), the air guide housing 14 is connected to an air supply duct 15. On the outflow side of the heating, ventilation and cooling unit 3, the air guide housing 14 is connected to an upper air guide duct 16 and a lower air guide duct 18. It goes without saying that yet further air guide ducts may be connected here.

[0031] At its end issuing into the vehicle interior 24, the upper air guide duct 16 forms the upper air vent 10 which is in the form of an upper air outlet slot 11, wherein the last section of the upper air guide duct 16 forms an upper issue duct section 17 upstream of the upper air outlet slot 11. At its end issuing into the vehicle interior 24, the lower air guide duct 18 forms the lower air vent 12 which is in the form of a lower air outlet slot 13, wherein the last section of the lower air guide duct 18 forms a lower issue duct section 19 upstream of the lower air outlet slot 13. The respective issue duct sections 17, 19 guide the air flowing in the respective air guide duct 16, 18 to the respective air vent 10, 12 and orient the emerging air flow according to the profile of the respective issue duct section 17, 19, with the result that the issue duct sections 17, 19 determine the air outlet direction R.sub.o and R.sub.u.

[0032] The upper air outlet direction R.sub.o of the air flow L.sub.o emerging from the upper air outlet slot 11 is directed slightly obliquely downward (in the negative Z direction) according to the profile of the upper issue duct section 17. The lower air outlet direction R.sub.u to of the air flow L.sub.u emerging from the lower air outlet slot 13 is directed obliquely upward (in the positive Z direction) according to the profile of the lower issue duct section 19. Consequently, the two air flows L.sub.o and L.sub.u impinge on one another at a distance from the dashboard 20, are mixed and form a resulting air flow L.sub.r which moves into the vehicle interior 24 in a resulting air flow direction Rr.

[0033] An upper additional fan 36 is provided in the upper air guide duct 16 and can be used to accelerate the air flow in the upper air guide duct 16 to the upper air vent 10. In a corresponding manner, a lower additional fan 38 is provided in the lower air guide duct 18 and can be used to accelerate the air flow in the lower air guide duct 18 to the lower air vent 12. The fan 30, the upper additional fan 36 and the lower additional fan 38 can be individually controlled, as a result of which the flow velocity in the upper air guide duct 16 and the flow velocity in the lower air guide duct 18 can be set differently from one another.

[0034] Between the upper air vent 10 and the lower air vent 12, the dashboard 20 is provided with a display apparatus 4 which is formed by a two-dimensional display panel 40 in the example shown. This two-dimensional display panel 40, which is in the form of a matrix screen, for example, has a multiplicity of light signal elements which emit light into the vehicle interior 24 when activated.

[0035] An upper air sensor 50 of a control device 5 is provided in the upper air guide duct 16 or in the upper issue duct section 17 and captures the air flow velocity or the volumetric air flow in the upper air guide duct 16. This upper air sensor 50 may be an independent air flow sensor, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, or may be formed by a speed sensor of the upper additional fan 36. In a similar manner, a lower air sensor 52 is provided in the lower air guide duct 18 and may likewise be in the form of an independent sensor for capturing the flow or may be in the form of a speed sensor of the lower additional fan 38. Both air sensors 50, 52 are connected to a control unit 54 of the control device 5.

[0036] In addition to the respective air sensor 50, 52, an upper temperature sensor 51 and a lower temperature sensor 53 may also be respectively provided in the air guide ducts 16, 18 and are likewise illustrated only schematically in FIG. 1.

[0037] FIGS. 2A to 2C show different operating states of the vehicle interior ventilation system according to the invention. FIG. 2A illustrates a state in which the upper additional fan 36 runs at a lower speed than the lower additional fan 38, with the result that the flow velocity, and therefore the volumetric air flow, in the lower air guide duct 18 is considerably greater than in the upper ventilation duct 16. The lower air flow L.sub.u therefore dominates the resulting air flow L.sub.r which is formed when the lower air flow meets the upper air flow L.sub.o, which resulting air flow is directed obliquely upward in the resulting air flow direction R.sub.r′, that is to say is directed at the passenger's head, as symbolically illustrated by the ventilation symbol on the right-hand side of FIG. 2A.

[0038] In the state shown in FIG. 2B, the speeds of the upper additional fan 36 and of the lower additional fan 38 are substantially the same, with the result that the same flow velocities also result in the upper air guide duct 16 and in the lower air guide duct 18. The upper air flow L.sub.o and the lower air flow L.sub.u are combined in a substantially equivalent manner to form the resulting air flow L.sub.r which is directed at the vehicle occupant substantially in a horizontal direction and therefore provides the vehicle occupant with an approximately uniform air flow in the resulting air flow direction R.sub.r′″, as symbolically illustrated by the ventilation symbol on the right-hand side of FIG. 2B.

[0039] FIG. 2C shows a state in which the speed of the upper additional fan 36 is greater than the speed of the lower additional fan 38, with the result that the flow velocity, and therefore the volumetric air flow, in the upper air guide duct 16 is greater than in the lower air guide duct 18. The emerging upper air flow L.sub.o therefore dominates the emerging lower air flow L.sub.u, with the result that the resulting air flow L.sub.r is directed obliquely downward in the resulting air flow direction R.sub.r″, as is symbolically illustrated by the symbol on the right-hand side of FIG. 2C.

[0040] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the control of the display apparatus 4. A signal proportional to the air flow velocity is respectively transmitted from the upper air sensor 50 and from the lower air sensor 52 to the control unit 54 of the control device 5 in a wireless or wired manner. A temperature signal proportional to the air temperature in the respective air guide duct is likewise transmitted from the upper temperature sensor 51 and from the lower temperature sensor 53 to the control unit 54 in a wireless or wired manner. The control unit 54 also receives other operating signals for the vehicle from vehicle electronics 56 which are illustrated only symbolically in FIG. 3. These signals may comprise, for example, the current driving speed of the vehicle 1 or warning signals. The control unit 54 may also receive a speed signal from a speed sensor 31 of the fan 30.

[0041] The control unit 54 processes the received signals by means of a control computer 55 provided in the control unit 54 and then transmits control signals S to the display apparatus 4. These control signals may comprise an area extent control signal S.sub.A, a region control signal S.sub.B, a color control signal S.sub.C and/or a warning signal S.sub.W or other suitable signals for controlling the display apparatus 4. Different possible ways of controlling the display apparatus 4 are described below on the basis of FIGS. 4 and 5.

[0042] FIG. 4 shows a front view of the dashboard 20 from the point of view of a vehicle passenger in the direction of the arrow IV in FIG. 1. The dashboard 20 is only partially illustrated here. The upper air vent 10, which forms an upper air outlet slot 11, and the lower air vent 12, which forms a lower air outlet slot 13, can be seen. The two air vents 10, 12 are arranged at a vertical distance from one another above and below a smart bar 21 in the dashboard 20. The smart bar 21 has a transparent or translucent casing element 23 substantially transversely over the width of the dashboard 20 (Y direction). Different information devices are provided behind the casing element 23 and make visual information visible to the vehicle occupants through the transparent or translucent casing element 23. Such an information device is the display apparatus 4 which is arranged between the two air vents 10 and 12, as illustrated by dashed lines in FIG. 4. This display apparatus 4 has a display panel 40 which is directed at the vehicle occupant and comprises a multiplicity of light signal elements (not shown) and is in the form of an LCD or TFT screen, for example.

[0043] The display panel 40 can be divided virtually into three regions, an upper region 40′, a lower region 40″ and a central region 40′″, as is illustrated by way of example using dash-dotted lines in FIG. 4. This division is not a physical division of the display panel 40 but rather is effected merely on the control side, as is explained below.

[0044] If the vehicle interior ventilation system is in the operating state shown in FIG. 2A in which the resulting air flow L.sub.r is directed obliquely upward in the resulting air flow direction R.sub.r′, that is to say at the occupant's head, the upper region 40′ of the display panel 40 is illuminated. If the vehicle interior ventilation system 1 assumes the operating state shown in FIG. 2B in which the resulting air flow L.sub.r is directed at the occupant's body in a substantially horizontal manner in the resulting air flow direction R.sub.r′″, the central region 40′″ of the display panel 40 is illuminated. In contrast, if the vehicle interior ventilation system 1 assumes the operating state shown in FIG. 2C in which the resulting air flow L.sub.r is directed obliquely downward into the foot region and at the legs of the occupant in the resulting air flow direction R.sub.r“, the lower region 40” of the display panel 40 is illuminated. In this manner, the vehicle occupant can discern the direction in which the resulting air flow is directed on the basis of the position of the illuminated region of the display panel in the vertical direction.

[0045] It is within the discretion of a person skilled in the art to not provide any high-contrast transitions between the illuminated region and the non-illuminated regions when controlling the three regions 40′ 40″, 40′″ of the display panel 40, but rather to configure these transitions with a continuous brightness profile and also to provide intermediate positions.

[0046] FIG. 5 shows an alternative form of display which can be combined with the other forms of display. On account of an area extent control signal S.sub.A received from the control unit 54, the area extent of the illuminated display region on the display panel 40 can be changed. The area of the oval illuminated display region 41 bounded by a solid line can therefore be increased, as illustrated by the oval display region 41′ depicted using dashed lines, or can be reduced. In this manner, the intensity of the resulting air flow L.sub.r, that is to say the level of the air flow velocity or the magnitude of the emerging volumetric air flow, can be visually displayed, for example. In this case, the smaller illuminated display region 41 represents a less intensive resulting air flow L.sub.r, while the display region 41′ which is larger in terms of the illuminated area represents a more intensive resulting air flow L.sub.r. In this case too, there may be a gradual transition between display regions of different sizes as a function of the air flow velocity or the volumetric air flow.

[0047] This form of display for visualizing the air flow intensity can be combined with the form of display in FIG. 4, with the result that the oval display regions 41, 41′ illustrated in FIG. 5 can move over the display panel 40 in the vertical direction and can therefore also indicate the direction of the air flow (as shown in FIG. 4) in addition to the intensity of the latter.

[0048] Additional information can be conveyed to the vehicle occupant by choosing the color of the corresponding illuminated display in that the color of the illuminated region displayed on the display panel 40 is displayed on the basis of the determined temperature of the emerging resulting air flow L.sub.r by virtue of a color control signal S.sub.C received from the control unit 54. For example, a color transition along the visible color spectrum from green to red via blue or any other arbitrarily selectable color transition may thus symbolize a range for the temperature level of the emerging resulting air flow L.sub.r.

[0049] In this manner, three different items of information can be conveyed to the vehicle occupant by means of the display panel 40 of the display apparatus 4, namely an item of information relating to the resulting air flow direction R.sub.r of the emerging resulting air flow L.sub.r, an item of information relating to the intensity of the resulting air flow L.sub.r and an item of information relating to the temperature of the resulting air flow L.sub.r.

[0050] As an additional benefit, the display panel 40, under the control of a warning signal S.sub.W received from the control unit 54, can display priority warning information which temporarily pushes the displays illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 and based on the resulting air flow L.sub.r into the background or hides them, with the result that only the warning information can be seen. If the motor vehicle 2 approaches the end of a traffic jam, for example, without a substantial reduction in the driving speed being able to be determined, an extensive warning signal from an emergency brake assistant can be displayed on the display panel 40 in order to therefore draw the attention of the vehicle occupants, in particular of the vehicle driver, to the imminent hazardous situation. It goes without saying that it is also possible to display other warning signals, for example if a predefined maximum speed is exceeded, without this being described in detail here.

[0051] The invention is not restricted to the exemplary embodiment above which is used only to generally explain the core idea of the invention. Rather, the apparatus according to the invention may also assume configurations other than those described within the scope of protection. In this case, the apparatus may have, in particular, features which represent a combination of the respective individual features of the claims.

[0052] Reference signs in the claims, the description and the drawings are used only for the better understanding of the invention and are not intended to restrict the scope of protection.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0053] 1 Vehicle interior ventilation system [0054] 2 Motor vehicle [0055] 3 Heating, ventilation and cooling unit [0056] 4 Display apparatus [0057] 5 Control device [0058] 10 Upper air vent [0059] 11 Upper air outlet slot [0060] 12 Lower air vent [0061] 13 Lower air outlet slot [0062] 14 Air guide housing [0063] 15 Air supply duct [0064] 16 Upper air guide duct [0065] 17 Upper issue duct section [0066] 18 Lower air guide channel [0067] 19 Lower issue duct section [0068] 20 Dashboard [0069] 21 Smart bar [0070] 22 Windshield [0071] 23 Casing element [0072] 24 Vehicle interior [0073] 30 Fan [0074] 31 Speed sensor of the fan [0075] 32 Cooling system heat exchanger [0076] 34 Heating heat exchanger [0077] 36 Upper additional fan [0078] 38 Lower additional fan [0079] 40 Display panel [0080] 40′ Upper region of the display panel [0081] 40″ Lower region of the display panel [0082] 40′″ Central region of the display panel [0083] 50 Upper air sensor [0084] 51 Upper temperature sensor [0085] 52 Lower air sensor [0086] 53 Lower temperature sensor [0087] 54 Control unit [0088] A Active signal area [0089] A1 Active signal area [0090] A1′ Active signal area [0091] A2 Active signal area [0092] A3 Active signal area [0093] A4 Active signal area [0094] F Direction of travel [0095] Lo Upper air flow [0096] Lr Resulting air flow [0097] Lu Lower air flow [0098] R Air flow direction [0099] Ro Air outlet direction at the top [0100] Rr Resulting air flow direction [0101] Rr′ Resulting air flow direction [0102] Rr″ Resulting air flow direction [0103] Rr′″ Resulting air flow direction [0104] Ru Air outlet direction at the bottom [0105] S Control signal [0106] SA Area extent control signal [0107] SB Region control signal [0108] SC Color control signal [0109] SW Warning signal