Vehicle compartment purification system, method for controlling vehicle compartment purification system, program and storage medium

A method for controlling a vehicle compartment purification system, the vehicle compartment purification system comprising:

• a heater element comprising a honeycomb structure and a functional material-containing layer, wherein the honeycomb structure has an outer peripheral wall and partition walls provided inside the outer peripheral wall, the partition walls partitioning a plurality of cells that form flow paths extending from an first end surface to an second end surface, and at least the partition walls are made of a material having PTC characteristics, and the functional material-containing layer is provided on a surface of the partition walls;
• a power supply for applying voltage to the heater element;
• an inflow piping for sending air from the vehicle compartment to the plurality of cells of the heater element;
• an outflow piping comprising a first path for returning the air flowing out of the plurality of cells of the heater element to the vehicle compartment, and a second path for discharging the air flowing out of the plurality of cells of the heater element to an outside of the vehicle;
• a switching valve provided in the outflow piping and capable of switching the flow of the air flowing through the outflow piping between the first path and the second path;
• and
• a ventilator for sending the air from the vehicle compartment to the heater element via the inflow piping;
• wherein
• the method comprises a regeneration mode in which a component to be removed captured by the functional material-containing layer is discharged to the outside of the vehicle by turning on an voltage applied from the power supply, and switching the switching valve such that the air flowing through the outflow piping passes through the second path;
• the regeneration mode comprises:
• a first regeneration step in which the air is flowed through the plurality of cells at a flow velocity A for a predetermined time from a start of the regeneration mode, and
• after the first regeneration step, a second regeneration step in which the air from the inflow piping is flowed through the plurality of cells at a flow velocity B and flowed out to the outflow piping;
• and
• the method comprises controlling the vehicle compartment purification system such that the flow velocity A and the flow velocity B satisfy the flow velocity A<the flow velocity B, provided that a direction from the first end surface to the second end surface is regarded as a positive direction, and the flow velocity B is a positive value.