Patent ID: 12246582

The following reference identifiers may be used in connection with the accompanying drawings to describe exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

10: Cooling system11: Engine12: Radiator13: Water pump20: Cooling fan21: Fan motor22: Blade30: Air conditioner device31: Compressor32: Condenser33: Expansion valve34: Evaporator40: Sensing unit41: Air conditioner operating sensor42: Pressure sensor43: Relay sensor44: Temperature sensor45: Speed sensor50: Controller

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

With reference to the accompanying drawings, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains can easily implement them. However, the present invention may be embodied in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

In order to clearly describe embodiments of the present invention, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and the same reference numerals are assigned to the same or similar elements throughout the specification.

In addition, since the size and thickness of each component illustrated in the drawings are arbitrarily indicated for convenience of description, embodiments of the present invention are not necessarily limited to that illustrated in the drawings, and the thickness is enlarged in order to clearly express various parts and regions.

The suffixes “module” and/or “unit” for components used in the following description are given or interchanged in consideration of only the ease of writing the specification, and do not have distinct meanings or roles by themselves.

In addition, in describing the embodiments disclosed in the present specification, when it is determined that detailed descriptions of related known technologies may obscure the gist of the embodiments disclosed in the present specification, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Moreover, the accompanying drawings are only for easy understanding of the embodiments disclosed in the present specification, the technical spirit disclosed herein is not limited by the accompanying drawings, and it should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.

In describing embodiments in the present application, terms such as “include” or “have” are intended to designate that a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification exists, but it should be understood that it does not preclude the possibility of addition or existence of one or more other features or numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

In the flowchart described with reference to the drawings, the order of operations may be changed, several operations may be merged, some operations may be divided, and specific operations may not be performed.

A component, “unit”, “group”, “block”, or “module” used in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by software such as a task, class, subroutine, process, object, thread of execution, and program performed in a predetermined area in memory, hardware such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a combination of the software and hardware. The “component”, “unit”, or the like may be included in a computer-readable storage medium, or a part thereof may be distributed in a plurality of computers.

Hereinafter, an apparatus for controlling a fan motor of a vehicle cooling fan according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG.1is a conceptual diagram illustrating a configuration of an apparatus for controlling a fan motor of a vehicle cooling fan according to an embodiment of the present invention. Moreover,FIG.2is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the apparatus for controlling the fan motor of the vehicle cooling fan according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As illustrated inFIGS.1and2, the apparatus for controlling the fan motor of the vehicle cooling fan according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to an air conditioner device30integrated in a vehicle cooling system10.

First, the cooling system10may include an engine11, a radiator12, and a water pump13. Here, the engine11, the radiator12, and the water pump13are arranged on a cooling line through which a coolant circulates.

The engine11includes a plurality of combustion chambers for generating power necessary for driving the vehicle by combustion of a fuel. The radiator12cools the coolant through heat exchange with outside air, and a cooling fan20for cooling the radiator12is disposed in front of the radiator12. The water pump13circulates the coolant cooled by the radiator12. The water pump13may be an electric water pump13operated by an electric motor.

The air conditioner device30includes a condenser32disposed in front (or rearward) of the radiator12and condensing the refrigerant by heat exchange with the outside air. That is, the condenser32may be an air-cooled condenser32. In the condenser32, the refrigerant flowing into a condensing port is condensed by the operation of the cooling fan20.

The cooling fan20cools the coolant flowing into the radiator12through heat exchange with the outside air and condenses the coolant flowing into the condenser32. To this end, the cooling fan20may include a fan motor21and a blade22rotated by the fan motor21. The cooling fan20may be configured as an axial-flow fan that forcibly blows air. A heat dissipation effect (or heat dissipation efficiency) of the radiator12may be increased and a condensation effect (or condensation efficiency) of the condenser32may be increased by the cooling fan20.

In addition, the air conditioner device30further includes an expansion valve33that expands the refrigerant discharged from the condenser32, an evaporator34that evaporates the expanded refrigerant supplied from the expansion valve33, and a compressor31that receives the refrigerant discharged from the evaporator34and compresses the refrigerant.

In the air conditioner device30, the condenser32, the expansion valve33, the evaporator34, and the compressor31are disposed on a refrigerant line through which the refrigerant flows.

Meanwhile, the apparatus for controlling the fan motor of the vehicle cooling fan according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a sensing unit40that detects driving information of the vehicle and a controller50that determines whether an operation condition of the cooling fan20is satisfied based on the driving information detected by the sensing unit40, determines whether a flooding condition of the condition is satisfied, and controls the fan motor21of the cooling fan20according to whether the vehicle is flooded.

The controller50may control the overall operation of the vehicle as an electronic control unit (ECU). The controller50may be, for example, one or more microprocessors operated by a program (control logic) or hardware (for example, a microcomputer) including the microprocessor, and the program may include a series of instructions for executing the method of controlling the fan motor21of the vehicle cooling fan20according to an embodiment of the present invention. The command may be stored in the memory of the controller50. The instructions may be stored in a memory of the controller50.

The driving information may include an air conditioner operation signal, a refrigerant pressure inside the condenser32, an activation signal of a relay that selectively cuts off power to activate the compressor31from a battery, a coolant temperature, and a vehicle speed.

To this end, the sensing unit40may include an air conditioner operating sensor41that receives an input of whether the air conditioner device30is operated from a driver (or an occupant of a vehicle), a pressure sensor42that detects the refrigerant pressure inside the condenser32, a relay sensor43that detects whether the relay for activating the compressor31is operated, a temperature sensor44that detects the coolant temperature of the vehicle, and a speed sensor45that detects the speed of the vehicle. The driving information of the vehicle detected by the sensing unit40is transmitted to the controller50.

Hereinafter, a method of controlling of the fan motor of the vehicle cooling fan according to an embodiment of the present invention as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG.3is a flowchart illustrating the method of controlling the fan motor of the vehicle cooling fan according to an embodiment of the present invention. Moreover,FIG.4is a graph for explaining an operation of the apparatus for controlling the fan motor of the vehicle cooling fan according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring toFIG.3, the sensing unit40detects driving information of the vehicle, and the detected driving information is transmitted to the controller50(S10).

The controller50determines whether the operating condition of the cooling fan20is satisfied based on the driving information detected by the sensing unit40(S20).

In this case, when the air conditioner operating sensor41is turned on by the driver (or the occupant of the vehicle), the refrigerant pressure detected by the pressure sensor42is equal to or greater than a reference pressure, the relay sensor is turned on, the coolant temperature detected by the temperature sensor44is equal to or greater than a reference temperature, and the vehicle speed detected by the speed sensor45is equal to or greater than a reference speed, the controller50may determine that the cooling fan20is operated (may determine that the operating condition of the cooling fan is satisfied).

When the operating condition of the cooling fan20is satisfied, the controller50determines whether the flooding condition of the vehicle is satisfied based on the driving information detected by the sensing unit40(S30).

In this case, the controller50may determine whether the flooding condition of the vehicle is satisfied based on a refrigerant pressure change rate inside the condenser32detected by the pressure sensor42. The refrigerant pressure change rate may be calculated from a change in refrigerant pressure per unit time (for example, one second).

Specifically, when the refrigerant pressure change rate inside the condenser32exceeds a first reference change rate, the controller50may determine that the vehicle is flooded (refer to boxes indicated by dashed lines inFIG.4). Moreover, when the refrigerant pressure change rate inside the condenser32is less than a second reference change rate, the controller50may determine that the vehicle is not flooded (in other words, the vehicle is out of the flooded state).

When the vehicle is flooded and the condenser32is flooded in water, heat exchange efficiency of the condenser32increases due to heat exchange between the water and the outside of the condenser32, and the refrigerant pressure inside the condenser32drops sharply from high pressure to low pressure. That is, in a state where the vehicle is flooded (that is, the condenser32is flooded), when the refrigerant pressure inside the condenser32decreases to a specific rate (that is, the refrigerant pressure change rate is less than the first reference change rate), it may be determined that the vehicle is flooded.

Conversely, when the refrigerant pressure inside the condenser32increases to a specific rate (that is, when the refrigerant pressure change rate exceeds the second reference refrigerant change rate), it may be determined that the vehicle is not flooded (that is, the vehicle is out of the flooded state).

When the flooding condition of the vehicle is satisfied (that is, when it is determined that the vehicle is flooded), the controller50stops the operation of the fan motor21of the cooling fan20(S31) (refer to boxes indicated by dotted lines inFIG.4). As such, when it is determined that the vehicle is flooded, the operation of the fan motor21of the cooling fan20is stopped, and thus, it is possible to prevent the fan motor21from operating in water and being damaged due to overload (or overcurrent) and improve durability of the fan motor21.

When the vehicle does not satisfy the flooding condition (that is, when the flooding condition is released), the controller50maintains the operation of the fan motor21of the cooling fan20in the previous state (S33).

The controller50determines whether a set time (for example, 60 seconds) has elapsed (S40). When the set time elapses, it returns to Step S30.

That is, in case the state of the cooling fan20does not change due to an abnormal or unknown reason, it prevents an error from occurring in the logic stored in the controller50by checking whether the flooding condition is satisfied every set time (for example, 60 seconds).

According to the apparatus for controlling the fan motor of the vehicle cooling fan and the method thereof according to the embodiments of the present invention as described above, whether the vehicle is flooded is determined based on the refrigerant pressure change rate inside the condenser32, and when the flooding condition is satisfied (that is, when the vehicle is flooded), by stopping the operation of the fan motor21of the cooling fan20, it is possible to prevent damage to the fan motor21due to overcurrent and improve the durability of the cooling fan20.

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims and the detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings, and it is natural that these also fall within the scope of the present invention.