Vehicular Air Conditioner with Modular Unit Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicular air conditioners require replacement of all units when air conditioning capability needs to change, and fail to provide satisfactory cooling when one unit fails, leading to inefficient and unsatisfactory air conditioning.
Innovation Solution
A vehicular air conditioner system comprising multiple units with heat supply amount setting and drive control means, allowing for combination operation to supply a predetermined heat amount, enabling easy adjustment of air conditioning capability and ensuring proper air conditioning even if some units fail.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If all air conditioner units are replaced to change air conditioning capability, then the air conditioning capability can be adjusted, but the complexity and cost of the system increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The air conditioning system is divided into multiple independent air conditioner units, each capable of operating autonomously. This segmentation allows the system to adjust its total air conditioning capability by simply adding or removing individual units rather than replacing the entire system, thereby reducing complexity while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
Each air conditioner unit is designed with universal functionality to perform the same air conditioning tasks. This multi-functionality at the unit level allows any number of identical units to be combined to achieve different total capacities, eliminating the need for complex system redesign when capability changes are needed.
2Reliability
If one air conditioner unit fails, then the air conditioning for the corresponding zone becomes unsatisfactory, but replacing all units is inefficient when only one has failed
Solution Approach 1:
The system is segmented into independent air conditioner units, each serving specific zones. When one unit fails, only that specific unit needs to be replaced or repaired, while other units continue to operate normally. This segmentation isolates failures to individual components rather than affecting the entire system, greatly improving maintenance efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is designed with redundant capacity by having multiple air conditioner units. This provides a cushion against failures, as the remaining functional units can continue to provide adequate air conditioning even when one unit fails, maintaining system reliability without requiring immediate replacement of all units.
3Reliability
If multiple air conditioner units are used to provide redundancy, then reliability improves, but the device complexity and initial cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses multiple identical, independently controllable air conditioner units instead of one complex centralized system. This segmentation provides redundancy and reliability while keeping each individual unit simple and manageable, reducing overall system complexity despite having multiple units.
Data Source
AI summary
When there arises a need to change an air conditioner capability, a vehicular air conditioner capable of easily meeting this need is achieved. Also, even if some of a plurality of air conditioner units break down, a vehicular air conditioner capable of properly air conditioning a vehicular space using other air conditioner units, is achieved.This vehicular air conditioner includes a controller 20 for calculating a total heat supply amount, based on a target temperature and an actual room temperature; at least one heater 5 and/or at least one cooler 6; a controller 20 that sets generated heat amounts of the heater 5 and/or the cooler 6 of each of the air conditioner units 30, based on a calculated total heat supply amount and the number of used air conditioner units 30; and a drive controller that controls operations of the heater 5 and/or the cooler 6, based on the generated heat amounts that have been set.