Patent ID: 6439468
Filing Date: 2002-08-27
Classification: B60H,B64D,F24F,Y02B

Abstract:
In a vehicle having an automatic climate control system including a controller, an acoustic heating, ventilation and air conditioning control system capable of determining a localized air temperature within the vehicle comprising:an acoustic transmitter adapted to be mounted within the vehicle for transmitting an ultrasonic pulse along a pre-selected path in the vehicle adjacent to a breath-level of an occupant, said pre-selected path being spatially separated from any solid surfaces within the vehicle such that a majority of said pulse maintains a spatial relationship with a thermal boundary layer of the solid surfaces; an interface circuit connected to said acoustic transmitter for exciting said acoustic transmitter electrically; an acoustic receiver adapted to be mounted in the vehicle for receiving said ultrasonic pulse with said acoustic transmitter and said acoustic receiver being located at one end of said pre-selected path; and a counter-timer and a signal processing circuit connected to both of said acoustic transmitter and said acoustic receiver for measuring a time interval from said transmission until said receipt of said ultrasonic pulse and sending a corresponding signal which encodes an air temperature to said controller of said automatic climate control system wherein said controller uses said signal to control a temperature within the vehicle near the occupant.