# US 2018/0022183 A1 · Air conditioning system for motor vehicles > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2018/0022183 A1 - Document ID: US20180022183A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/548,949 - Filed: 2016-01-28 - Published: 2018-01-25 - Earliest claimed: 2015-02-10 - Assignees: Hanon Systems - Applicants: Hanon Systems - Inventors: Ei Hyun CHOI - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180022183A1 ## CPC - B60H 1/00864: {Ventilators and damper doors} - B60H 1/00064: {for sending air streams of different temperatures into the passenger compartment} - B60H 1/00964: {Control systems or circuits characterised by including features for automatic and non-automatic control, e.g. for changing from automatic to manual control} - B60H 2001/00192: {to left and right part of passenger compartment} - B60H 2001/002: {to front and rear part of passenger compartment} - B60H: ARRANGEMENTS OF HEATING, COOLING, VENTILATING OR OTHER AIR-TREATING DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR PASSENGER OR GOODS SPACES OF VEHICLES ## Abstract An air conditioning system for motor vehicles is designed to independently cool or heat a plurality of vehicle room regions and to independently adjust discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions. The air conditioning system includes a control unit configured to, when one of the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions is set to a maximum air volume level, dependently control the other discharged air volume level to the maximum air volume level while entering into a maximum air volume control mode. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An air conditioning system for motor vehicles, which is designed to independently cool or heat a plurality of vehicle room regions and to independently adjust discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions, comprising: a control unit configured to, when one of the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions is set to a maximum air volume level, dependently control the other discharged air volume level to the maximum air volume level while entering into a maximum air volume control mode. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The air conditioning system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to, when one of the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions is reduced to a level lower than the maximum air volume level after entry into the maximum air volume control mode, dependently control the other discharged air volume level to a level lower than the maximum air volume level while being released from the maximum air volume control mode. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The air conditioning system of claim 2, wherein the control unit is configured to, when released from the maximum air volume control mode, determine whether one of the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions reduced to a level lower than the maximum air volume level has acted as a maximum air volume level entry leader of leading all the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions to the maximum air volume level at the time of entry into the maximum air volume control mode, and differentially control the other dependently-controlled discharged air volume level depending on the determination result. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The air conditioning system of claim 3, wherein when it is determined that one of the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions reduced to a level lower than the maximum air volume level has acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader of leading all the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions to the maximum air volume level at the time of entry into the maximum air volume control mode, the control unit is configured to, when released from the maximum air volume control mode, control the discharged air volume level acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader according to a discharged air volume level value set by a user and cause the discharged air volume level dependently controlled to the maximum air volume level by the maximum air volume level entry leader to come back to an original discharged air volume level available before the entry into the maximum air volume control mode. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The air conditioning system of claim 4, wherein when it is determined that one of the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions reduced to a level lower than the maximum air volume level has not acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader of leading all the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions to the maximum air volume level at the time of entry into the maximum air volume control mode, the control unit is configured to, when released from the maximum air volume control mode, reduce the discharged air volume level acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader by one level from the maximum air volume level and control the discharged air volume level dependently controlled to the maximum air volume level by the maximum air volume level entry leader, according to the discharged air volume level value set by the user. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The air conditioning system of claim 5, wherein the control unit is configured to, when one of the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions is controlled to the maximum air volume level by a user's manual operation, dependently control the other discharged air volume level to the maximum air volume level while entering into the maximum air volume control mode, and is configured to, when one of the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions is reduced to a level lower than the maximum air volume level by a user's manual operation after entry into the maximum air volume control mode, dependently reduce the other discharged air volume level to a level lower than the maximum air volume level while being released from the maximum air volume control mode. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The air conditioning system of claim 6, wherein the control unit is configured to, when one of the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions is automatically controlled to the maximum air volume level, dependently control the other discharged air volume level to the maximum air volume level while entering into the maximum air volume control mode. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The air conditioning system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to, when one of temperatures in the vehicle room regions is automatically controlled to a maximum cooling temperature or a maximum heating temperature, control both the discharged air volume level in the vehicle room region controlled to the maximum cooling temperature or the maximum heating temperature and the discharged air volume level in the other vehicle room region, to the maximum air volume level. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The air conditioning system of claim 7, wherein the control unit is configured to, when one of air conditioning modes in the respective vehicle room regions is selected as an auto mode after entry into the maximum air volume control mode, determine whether the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode has acted as a maximum air volume level entry leader of leading all the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions to the maximum air volume level at the time of entry into the maximum air volume control mode, and is configured to determine whether to allow the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode to enter into the auto mode depending on the determination result. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The air conditioning system of claim 9, wherein the control unit is configured to, when the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode has acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader of leading all the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions to the maximum air volume level, permit the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode to enter into the auto mode while being released from the maximum air volume control mode, and is configured to, when the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode has not acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader, prevent the maximum air volume control mode from being released and prevent the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode from entering into the auto mode. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The air conditioning system of claim 10, wherein the control unit is configured to, when the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode has acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader, automatically control the discharged air volume level acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader according to the selected auto mode while being released from the maximum air volume control mode and cause the discharged air volume level dependently controlled to the maximum air volume level by the maximum air volume level entry leader to come back to a state available before the entry into the maximum air volume control mode. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The air conditioning system of claim 11, wherein when the discharged air volume level dependently controlled to the maximum air volume level by the maximum air volume level entry leader is caused to come back to a state available before the entry into the maximum air volume control mode, the control unit is configured to allow the dependently-controlled discharged air volume level to come back to an original manual control value, if the dependently-controlled discharged air volume level is manually controlled before the entry into the maximum air volume control mode, and is configured to allow the dependently-controlled discharged air volume level to come back to an original automatic control value, if the dependently-controlled discharged air volume level is automatically controlled before the entry into the maximum air volume control mode. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The air conditioning system of claim 12, wherein when the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode has not acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader of leading the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions to the maximum air volume level, the control unit is configured to turn on an indicator of an auto mode switch corresponding to the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode, even if the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode is prevented from entering into the auto mode. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The air conditioning system of claim 13, wherein even when the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode has not acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader of leading the discharged air volume levels in the respective vehicle room regions to the maximum air volume level, the control unit is configured to allow the maximum air volume control mode to be released and allow the air conditioning mode selected as the auto mode to enter into the auto mode, as long as the discharged air volume level acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader is manually reduced to a level lower than the maximum air volume level or automatically reduced to a level lower than the maximum air volume level by a user's selection of the auto mode. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The air conditioning system of claim 14, wherein when the discharged air volume level acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader is manually or automatically controlled to a level lower than the maximum air volume level in a state in which the air conditioning mode not acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader is selected as the auto mode, the control unit is configured to manually or automatically control the discharged air volume level acted as the maximum air volume level entry leader according to manual mode or an auto mode selected by a user while being released from the maximum air volume control mode and is configured to automatically control the discharged air volume level dependently controlled to the maximum air volume level by the maximum air volume level entry leader, according to an auto mode selected by a user. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The air conditioning system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle room regions are two regions including a driver seat region and a front passenger seat region. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The air conditioning system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle room regions are three regions including a driver seat region, a front passenger seat region and a rear seat region. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The air conditioning system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle room regions are four regions including a driver seat region, a front passenger seat region, a rear left seat region and a rear right seat region.