Methods and apparatus for vehicle climate control using distributed sensors
AssigneeFord Motor Company
InventorsPerry Robinson MacNeille, Omar Makke, Yimin Liu, Jeffrey Yeung, Oleg Yurievitch Gusikhin
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for vehicle climate control using distributed sensors are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving data from sensors distributed within a vehicle at a first controller, processing the data at the first controller to identify an event associated with the interior of the vehicle and sending an instruction based on the event from the first controller to a second controller of the vehicle to affect an operation of a climate control system of the vehicle.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- accessing environmental condition data from sensors distributed within an interior of a vehicle at a first controller;
- processing the environmental condition data at the first controller to identify an event associated with the interior of the vehicle;
- and
- in response to the event corresponding to a humidity change indicative of a spilled liquid in a localized area of the vehicle, sending an instruction from the first controller to a second controller of the vehicle to cause a climate control system of the vehicle to direct at least one vent door to focus warm air towards a fabric in the localized area.
An apparatus comprising:
- a first controller to:
- access allergen data associated with an external environment that a vehicle is approaching from sources external to the vehicle;
- process the allergen data to identify an environmental condition in the external environment;
- and
- receive an occupant-specific allergen associated with an occupant of the vehicle;
- and
- a second controller of the vehicle to affect an operation of a climate control system of the vehicle based on the environmental condition, the second controller to cause the climate control system to operate in a recirculation mode prior to the vehicle entering the external environment in response to the allergen data indicating that the occupant-specific allergen is present in the external environment.
A tangible computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least:
- access humidity data from sensors distributed within an interior of a vehicle;
- perform a comparison between the humidity data and one or more thresholds;
- identify a liquid on a fabric in a localized area of the interior of the vehicle in response to the humidity data satisfying the one or more thresholds;
- and
- cause a climate control system of the vehicle to focus a vent door on the fabric in the localized area and operate a heater core and a blower motor or a fan to cause warm air to flow through the vent door towards the fabric in the localized area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.