Fuel efficiency evaluation system

Abstract

To provide a fuel efficiency evaluation system applicable to vehicle testing that uses camera images to acquire illuminance and solar radiation amount.SOLUTION: A fuel efficiency evaluation system which evaluates the fuel efficiency of a vehicle comprises: a transition unit which transitions the vehicle state to a test mode in which a fuel efficiency evaluation test is performed using a chassis dynamo device; a derivation unit which derives a test solar radiation amount corresponding to the air conditioning settings of an air conditioner in the test mode; a control unit which controls the air conditioning of the air conditioner based on the test solar radiation amount; and a fuel efficiency evaluation unit which evaluates the vehicle's fuel efficiency in a state where the air conditioning of the air conditioner is controlled.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a system for evaluating the fuel consumption of a vehicle.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle test method using a chassis dynamometer device for performing a performance test of a vehicle.

Prior Art Document

Patent Document

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Tests of vehicles using a chassis dynamometer device are generally performed in a test chamber where sunlight does not enter. Therefore, when evaluating the fuel consumption of a vehicle with the air conditioner operating properly, by irradiating light from a light source or the like onto the illuminance / solar radiation sensor mounted on the vehicle to forcibly reproduce the midday solar radiation amount required for the test, the setting and control of the air conditioner outlet are performed according to the test purpose.

[0005] In recent years, vehicles have emerged that use images captured by an in-vehicle camera (camera images) instead of an illuminance / solar radiation sensor to acquire illuminance and solar radiation amounts. However, when irradiating light from a light source onto an in-vehicle camera in the same way as an illuminance / solar radiation sensor in the test of such a vehicle, the camera image becomes overexposed and the illuminance / solar radiation amount cannot be correctly acquired, and there is a problem that the fuel consumption evaluation of the vehicle cannot be appropriately performed.

[0006] The present disclosure has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a fuel consumption evaluation system that can be applied to tests of vehicles that use camera images to acquire illuminance and solar radiation amounts.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] To solve the above problems, one aspect of the disclosed technology is a fuel consumption evaluation system for evaluating the fuel consumption of a vehicle, comprising: a transition unit that transitions the state of the vehicle to a test mode in which a fuel consumption evaluation test is performed using a chassis dynamo device; a derivation unit that derives a test solar radiation amount corresponding to the air conditioning setting of the air conditioner in the test mode; a control unit that controls the air conditioning of the air conditioner with the test solar radiation amount; and a fuel consumption evaluation unit that evaluates the fuel consumption of the vehicle in a state where the air conditioning of the air conditioner is controlled.

Advantages of the Invention

[0008] According to the fuel consumption evaluation system of the present disclosure, the air conditioning of the air conditioner during the test is controlled based on the test solar radiation amount derived corresponding to the air conditioning setting of the air conditioner. Therefore, for a vehicle that uses a camera image to acquire illuminance and solar radiation amount, a fuel consumption evaluation test of the vehicle can be appropriately performed.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] The fuel consumption evaluation system of the present disclosure performs air conditioning control of the air conditioner during a test using a prescribed test solar radiation amount corresponding to the air conditioner setting of the test target, instead of irradiating light on an in-vehicle camera to reproduce the midday solar radiation amount in an indoor vehicle test. Thereby, it is possible to appropriately perform the fuel consumption evaluation of the vehicle without worrying about whiteout in the camera image. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0011] <Embodiment> [Structure] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a fuel consumption evaluation system 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure and its peripheral parts. The functional blocks shown in FIG. 1 include a fuel consumption evaluation system 10, a lighting device 20, and an A / C 30. The fuel consumption evaluation system 10, the lighting device 20, and the A / C 30 according to the present embodiment are mounted on a vehicle.

[0012] The lighting device 20 is configured to ensure visibility at night and indicate the presence of the vehicle. The lighting device 20 includes a headlamp 21, a clearance lamp 22, and a tail lamp 23.

[0013] The A / C 30 is an air conditioner for controlling the air conditioning of the vehicle. As items related to air conditioning, the A / C 30 can set the temperature in the vehicle interior (Lo, Hi, numerical values, etc.), the air flow (recirculation of indoor air, introduction of outdoor air), the mode of the air outlet (FACE, FOOT, Auto, DEF, etc.), the air volume (Lo, Hi, Auto, etc.), the presence or absence of air conditioner operation (ON, OFF), etc., respectively.

[0014] The fuel consumption evaluation system 10 is configured to control the states of the lighting device 20 and the A / C 30 to evaluate the fuel consumption of the vehicle. This fuel consumption evaluation system 10 includes a state transition unit 11, a solar radiation amount derivation unit 12, an illuminance conversion unit 13, a lighting setting unit 14, an air conditioning control unit 15, and a fuel consumption evaluation unit 16. The state transition unit 11, the solar radiation amount derivation unit 12, the illuminance conversion unit 13, the lighting setting unit 14, and the air conditioning control unit 15 are communicably connected via an in-vehicle network such as a communication bus.

[0015] The state transition unit 11 is configured to transition the state of the vehicle from the normal mode to the test mode and from the test mode to the normal mode. The normal mode is the mode when the vehicle is used normally. The test mode is a special test mode for conducting a fuel consumption evaluation test of the vehicle using a chassis dynamometer device. The state transition unit 11 executes the mode transition by detecting that a predetermined operation (hereinafter referred to as "special operation") for switching the mode has been performed. Note that the special operation can be arbitrarily determined.

[0016] When the state of the vehicle becomes the test mode, the solar radiation amount derivation unit 12 is configured to automatically derive the test solar radiation amount corresponding to a predetermined operation (hereinafter referred to as "additional special operation") for switching the setting state of each item related to the air conditioning of the A / C 30 and the solar radiation amount. As the solar radiation amount derived in the fuel consumption evaluation test of the vehicle, 850 [W / m 2 assuming summer and 0 [W / m 2 assuming winter can be exemplified. Note that the additional special operation can be arbitrarily determined.

[0017] When the state of the vehicle becomes the test mode, the illuminance conversion unit 13 is configured to convert the illuminance acquired by the vehicle into the test illuminance. For acquiring the illuminance of the vehicle, a camera image captured by a camera (not shown) mounted on the vehicle is used. The illuminance conversion unit 13 converts the actual illuminance acquired in the test room into the test illuminance, which is the illuminance corresponding to the state with sunlight during the day outdoors (state equivalent to daytime).

[0018] The lighting setting unit 14 is a configuration for setting the state of the lighting device 20 for testing in the test mode. This lighting setting unit 14 sets the state of the lighting device 20 based on the test illuminance obtained by the illuminance conversion unit 13. As the states of the lighting device 20 set in the vehicle fuel consumption evaluation test, “OFF” in which all of the headlamp 21, clearance lamp 22, and tail lamp 23 are turned off, and “DRL (Daytime Running Light)” in which the clearance lamp 22 is lit and the headlamp 21 and tail lamp 23 are turned off can be exemplified.

[0019] The air conditioning control unit 15 is a configuration for controlling the air conditioning of the A / C 30 according to the test solar radiation amount derived by the solar radiation amount derivation unit 12. For example, when the test solar radiation amount is 850 [W / m 2 , the air conditioning control unit 15 performs air conditioning control in accordance with the solar radiation amount of 850 [W / m 2 according to the set states of each item regarding the air conditioning of the A / C 30.

[0020] The fuel consumption evaluation unit 16 is a configuration for evaluating the fuel consumption of the vehicle. Well-known methods can be adopted for the evaluation of fuel consumption.

[0021] The above-described state transition unit 11, solar radiation amount derivation unit 12, illuminance conversion unit 13, lighting setting unit 14, air conditioning control unit 15, and fuel consumption evaluation unit 16 are typically composed of an electronic control device (such as a special test mode control ECU, illuminance calculation ECU, light control ECU, solar radiation amount calculation ECU, air conditioner control ECU, etc.) including a processor such as a microcomputer, a memory, and an input / output interface. This electronic control device realizes the above-described functions by the processor reading and executing the program stored in the memory.

[0022] [Control] Next, with further reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the control performed by the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the processing procedure of the fuel consumption evaluation setting control executed by the fuel consumption evaluation system 10. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the air conditioning setting and the light setting for each evaluation condition and the solar radiation amount.

[0023] (Step S201) The fuel consumption evaluation system 10 performs air conditioning setting of the A / C 30 and light setting of the lighting device 20 according to the evaluation conditions. In the example of FIG. 3, there are four (conditions [1] to [4]) evaluation conditions to be tested, and for each evaluation condition, the state of the air conditioning items of the A / C 30 including the temperature (temperature) inside the vehicle cabin, the air flow (inside / outside air), the outlet mode (blowout mode), the air volume (blower level), and the presence / absence of air conditioner operation (A / C operation), and the state of the lights of the lighting device 20 are preset. The fuel consumption evaluation system 10 sets each air conditioning item of the A / C 30 according to the evaluation conditions of the test to be performed. For the lighting device 20, it is only necessary to set the light switch to "Auto". When the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 performs the air conditioning setting of the A / C 30 and the light setting of the lighting device 20 according to the evaluation conditions, the process proceeds to step S202.

[0024] (Step S202) The state transition unit 11 of the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 determines whether a special operation for switching the state of the vehicle from the normal mode to the test mode has been performed on the vehicle. If the state transition unit 11 determines that the special operation has been performed (step S202, Yes), the process proceeds to step S203.

[0025] (Step S203) The state transition unit 11 of the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 transitions the state of the vehicle from the normal mode to the test mode. When the state of the vehicle is transitioned from the normal mode to the test mode by the state transition unit 11, the process proceeds to step S204 for performing light determination and step S206 for performing air conditioning determination, respectively.

[0026] (Step S204) The illuminance conversion unit 13 of the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 converts the illuminance acquired by the vehicle into the illuminance for testing and sets it as the illuminance to be used in this test. When the illuminance for testing is set (converted) by the illuminance conversion unit 13, the process proceeds to step S205.

[0027] (Step S205) The lighting setting unit 14 of the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 controls the state of the lighting device 20. For example, if the evaluation condition for this test is condition [1] in FIG. 3, the lighting setting unit 14 controls the lighting device 20 to "OFF" based on the illuminance for testing. If the evaluation condition for this test is condition [3] in FIG. 3, the lighting setting unit 14 controls the lighting device 20 to "DRL" based on the illuminance for testing. This control is automatically performed if the light switch of the lighting device 20 is set to "Auto". When the state of the lighting device 20 is controlled by the lighting setting unit 14, the process proceeds to step S210.

[0028] (Step S206) The solar radiation amount derivation unit 12 of the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 determines whether there is a specific setting among the air conditioning settings of the evaluation conditions. This determination is made to determine whether this test must have a solar radiation amount of 850 [W / m 2 . Here, the specific setting corresponds to the setting content assuming summer. For example, it includes that the temperature inside the vehicle cabin is set to 25°C or the blowing mode is set to FACE (the shaded areas in FIG. 3). When the solar radiation amount derivation unit 12 determines that there is a specific setting among the air conditioning settings of the evaluation conditions (step S206, yes), the process proceeds to step S207. When it determines that there is no specific setting among the air conditioning settings of the evaluation conditions (step S206, no), the process proceeds to step S208.

[0029] (Step S207) The solar radiation amount derivation unit 12 of the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 sets the solar radiation amount for testing to be used in this test to 850 [W / m 2Set it to. When the solar radiation amount for the test is 850 [W / m by the solar radiation amount derivation unit 12 2 When it is set to, the process proceeds to step S209.

[0030] (Step S208) The solar radiation amount derivation unit 12 of the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 sets the solar radiation amount for the test used in this test to 0 [W / m 2 Set it to. When the solar radiation amount for the test is 0 [W / m by the solar radiation amount derivation unit 12 2 When it is set to, the process proceeds to step S209.

[0031] (Step S209) The air-conditioning control unit 15 of the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 controls the air-conditioning of the A / C 30 according to the solar radiation amount for the test set in the above step S207 or step S208. When the air-conditioning of the A / C 30 is controlled by the air-conditioning control unit 15, the process proceeds to step S210.

[0032] Note that the above-described light determination (steps S204 to S205) and air-conditioning determination (steps S206 to S209) may be processed in parallel or serially as shown in the flow of FIG. 2.

[0033] (Step S210) The fuel consumption evaluation unit 16 of the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 performs a fuel consumption evaluation of the vehicle. When the fuel consumption evaluation is performed by the fuel consumption evaluation unit 16, the fuel consumption evaluation setting control ends.

[0034] In this way, in the fuel consumption evaluation setting control of the present embodiment, it is possible to perform a fuel consumption evaluation of the vehicle in a state where the lighting device 20 is appropriately set for the test and the A / C 30 is appropriately set for the test.

[0035] [Application Example] Depending on the test, regardless of the air-conditioning setting state of the A / C 30, the solar radiation amount is 850 [W / m for each test 2 And 0 [W / m 2There may be a need to switch to []. Therefore, in this application example, an additional special operation is newly defined so that the tester can freely select the solar irradiance.

[0036] FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the processing procedure of fuel consumption evaluation setting control of an application example executed by the fuel consumption evaluation system 10. The fuel consumption evaluation setting control of the application example in FIG. 4 is different from the fuel consumption evaluation setting control in FIG. 2 in the process of step S406. Hereinafter, the fuel consumption evaluation setting control of the application example will be described centering on this different process.

[0037] In step S203, when the state of the vehicle transitions from the normal mode to the test mode by the state transition unit 11, the process proceeds to step S204 for performing a light determination and step S406 for performing an air conditioning determination, respectively.

[0038] (Step S406) The solar irradiance derivation unit 12 of the fuel consumption evaluation system 10 determines whether there is an additional special operation on the vehicle. This is to confirm whether the tester has selected a solar irradiance of 850 [W / m 2 or a solar irradiance of 0 [W / m 2 . When the solar irradiance derivation unit 12 determines that there is an additional special operation (step S406, yes), the process proceeds to step S207, and when it determines that there is no additional special operation (step S406, no), the process proceeds to step S208.

[0039] Thus, in the fuel consumption evaluation setting control of the application example of the present embodiment, since the tester can appropriately select the solar irradiance required for the test, the fuel consumption evaluation of the vehicle can be performed in a state where the lighting device 20 is appropriately set for the test and the A / C 30 is appropriately set for the test.

[0040] <Function and Effect> As described above, according to the fuel consumption evaluation system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when conducting a test to evaluate the fuel consumption of a vehicle using a chassis dynamometer device, after transitioning the state of the vehicle to a test mode in which the fuel consumption evaluation test is to be conducted, a function for converting the solar radiation amount to a solar radiation amount suitable for the test is used to derive the solar radiation amount for the test, and the air conditioning of the air conditioner is controlled with the derived solar radiation amount. Further, according to the fuel consumption evaluation system according to the present embodiment, after transitioning the state of the vehicle to a test mode in which the fuel consumption evaluation test is to be conducted, the function for converting the illuminance to an illuminance equivalent to daylight is used to control the lights of the lighting device.

[0041] By this control, just by transitioning to the test mode, the state of the vehicle can be automatically set to a state conforming to the test, and the fuel consumption evaluation test (mode fuel consumption evaluation and off-cycle test) of the vehicle can be conducted in a state where the air conditioning of the air conditioner is suitably controlled and the lights of the lighting device are suitably controlled. Also, since it is not necessary to install a light source in the test chamber, an appropriate fuel consumption evaluation test can be conducted even for a vehicle that uses a camera image to acquire illuminance and solar radiation amount.

Industrial Applicability

[0042] The fuel consumption evaluation system of the present disclosure can be used when conducting a vehicle test using a chassis dynamometer device.

Explanation of Signs

[0043] 10 Fuel consumption evaluation system 11 State transition unit 12 Solar radiation amount derivation unit 13 Illuminance conversion unit 14 Lighting setting unit 15 Air conditioning control unit 16 Fuel consumption evaluation unit 20 Lighting device 21 Headlamp 22 Clearance lamp 23 Taillamp 30 A / C

Claims

1. A fuel consumption evaluation system for evaluating the fuel consumption of a vehicle, comprising: a state transition unit that transitions the state of the vehicle to a test mode in which a fuel consumption evaluation test is performed using a chassis dynamometer device; a solar radiation amount derivation unit that derives a test solar radiation amount corresponding to the air conditioning setting of the air conditioner in the test mode; an air conditioning control unit that controls the air conditioning of the air conditioner with the test solar radiation amount; a fuel consumption evaluation unit that evaluates the fuel consumption of the vehicle in a state where the air conditioning of the air conditioner is controlled. A fuel consumption evaluation system.

2. In the test mode, an illuminance conversion unit that converts the illuminance acquired by the vehicle into test illuminance; and a lighting setting unit that sets the state of the lighting device based on the test illuminance. The fuel consumption evaluation system according to claim 1, further comprising: wherein the fuel consumption evaluation unit evaluates the fuel consumption of the vehicle in a state where the lighting device is controlled and the air conditioning of the air conditioner is controlled.

3. The fuel consumption evaluation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the state transition unit transitions the state of the vehicle to the test mode when a predetermined operation is performed on the vehicle.

Images