Low humidity detection system and method thereof
AssigneeHonda Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorsTrevor Burns, Junichi Kanemaru
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for detecting low levels of humidity (i.e. less than 10%) inside an automotive vehicle is provided whereby the total absolute humidity inside the vehicle is determined by multiplying the number of occupants in the vehicle by an absolute humidity factor to obtain a total absolute humidity expelled by the vehicle occupants. The absolute humidity outside the vehicle is added to the total absolute humidity expelled by the vehicle occupants to arrive at a total vehicle cabin absolute humidity.
Claims20
A method for determining humidity in a vehicle under low humidity conditions in an HVAC system, comprising:
- determining a total number of occupants in the vehicle;
- measuring an ambient temperature outside the vehicle;
- and
- determining the humidity in the vehicle based on the total number of occupants in the vehicle and the ambient temperature outside the vehicle.
A method for determining humidity in a vehicle in an HVAC system, comprising:
- measuring a relative humidity in the vehicle;
- determining if the relative humidity is less than a predetermined value, when relative humidity is determined to be less than the predetermined value:
- determining the number of occupants in the vehicle,
- multiplying the number of occupants by an absolute humidity factor to obtain a total occupant expelled absolute humidity,
- determining an outside absolute humidity, and
- adding the outside absolute humidity to the total occupant expelled
- absolute humidity to obtain a total vehicle cabin absolute humidity;
- otherwise, estimating the total vehicle cabin absolute humidity as the relative humidity measured in the vehicle.
An HVAC system for a vehicle, comprising:
- a humidity sensor in the vehicle for measuring a relative humidity in the vehicle;
- an occupant detection device for determining the number of occupants in the vehicle;
- and
- an HVAC controller operatively connected to the humidity sensor and the occupant detection device, the HVAC controller configured to estimate a total vehicle cabin humidity in the vehicle as the relative humidity measured by the humidity sensor when the relative humidity is greater than or equal to a predetermined value and calculate the total vehicle cabin humidity in the vehicle when the relative humidity is less than the predetermined value based the number of occupants in the vehicle determined to be in the vehicle by the occupant detection device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.