CN217464936U

CN217464936U - Temperature adjusting device and vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN217464936U
Application number: CN202221535250.1U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王伟; 张彦福; 龙思习; 王刚辉; 周瑞彬; 孙静美; 刘永刚; 鞠立军
Original assignee: Apollo Intelligent Technology Beijing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Nanchang Apollo Intelligent Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-17
Filing date: 2022-06-17
Publication date: 2022-09-20
Anticipated expiration: 2032-06-17

Abstract

The utility model discloses a temperature regulation apparatus and vehicle. Relate to car technical field, especially relate to intelligent transportation, autopilot field. The temperature adjusting device includes: an air compressor for generating compressed air; the vortex tube comprises an input end, a cold air output end and a hot air output end, wherein the input end is communicated with the air compressor to receive compressed air, and the vortex tube is used for shunting the compressed air and respectively outputting shunted cold air and hot air through the cold air output end and the hot air output end; the air outlet valve comprises a cold air inlet, a hot air inlet, a first cold air outlet and a first hot air outlet, the cold air inlet is communicated with the cold air output end of the vortex tube, and the hot air inlet is communicated with the hot air output end of the vortex tube; a temperature sensor; the controller is respectively electrically connected with the temperature sensor and the air outlet valve and is used for controlling the air outlet valve according to the sensing signal transmitted by the temperature sensor so as to: the first cold air outlet is communicated and the first hot air outlet is closed; or the first hot gas outlet is conducted and the first cold gas outlet is closed.

Description

Temperature adjusting device and vehicle

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the field of automotive technology, especially, relate to intelligent transportation, autopilot technical field, in particular to temperature regulation apparatus and vehicle.

Background

The requirement of the automatic driving calculation hardware in the automatic driving vehicle on environmental conditions, particularly environmental temperature is high, and if the environmental temperature exceeds the temperature range allowed by the automatic driving calculation hardware, the operation of the automatic driving calculation hardware is possibly failed, so that the normal driving of the vehicle is influenced, and even safety accidents are possibly caused in severe cases.

The approaches described in this section are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. Similarly, the problems mentioned in this section should not be considered as having been acknowledged in any prior art, unless otherwise indicated.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

An object of the utility model is to provide a temperature regulation device. The temperature adjusting device includes: an air compressor for generating compressed air; the vortex tube comprises an input end, a cold air output end and a hot air output end, wherein the input end is communicated with the air compressor to receive compressed air generated by the air compressor, and the vortex tube is used for shunting the compressed air and respectively outputting shunted cold air and shunted hot air through the cold air output end and the hot air output end; the air outlet valve comprises a cold air inlet, a hot air inlet, a first cold air outlet and a first hot air outlet, the cold air inlet is communicated with the cold air output end of the vortex tube, and the hot air inlet is communicated with the hot air output end of the vortex tube; a temperature sensor; and the controller is respectively electrically connected with the temperature sensor and the air outlet valve and is used for controlling the air outlet valve according to a sensing signal transmitted by the temperature sensor so as to: the first cold air outlet is communicated and the first hot air outlet is closed; or the first hot gas outlet is conducted and the first cold gas outlet is closed.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the temperature adjustment device further comprises an air inlet valve disposed between the air compressor and the vortex tube, the air inlet valve being electrically connected to the controller and configured to be controllable by the controller to adjust a gas flow supplied to the vortex tube via the air inlet valve.

According to the utility model discloses a some embodiments, temperature regulation apparatus is still including setting up the gas holder between air compressor machine and admission valve, and the gas holder has the surge damping valve, and the gas holder is used for the compressed gas that the storage air compressor machine produced and provides stable in pressure's gas to the vortex tube through the admission valve.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes: according to the above temperature adjusting device, both the first cold air outlet and the first hot air outlet of the air outlet valve are communicated to the inside of the vehicle, and the temperature sensor is disposed inside the vehicle.

According to the utility model discloses a some embodiments, the vehicle is still including setting up the autopilot arithmetic equipment in the vehicle, and temperature sensor sets up in autopilot arithmetic equipment department to the first air conditioning export and the first steam export of air outlet valve all communicate to autopilot arithmetic equipment, thereby can carry out temperature regulation to autopilot arithmetic equipment.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the air outlet valve further comprises a second cold air outlet and a second hot air outlet, both the second cold air outlet and the second hot air outlet communicate to the outside of the vehicle, and the air outlet valve is configured to: when the first cold air outlet is communicated and the first hot air outlet is closed, the second hot air outlet is communicated; or when the first hot air outlet is conducted and the first cold air outlet is closed, the second cold air outlet is conducted.

According to the utility model discloses a some embodiments, the air compressor machine is the air compressor machine that is used for providing pneumatic pressure in the braking system of vehicle.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Drawings

The above and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate like or similar parts or elements throughout the several views unless otherwise specified. The figures are not necessarily to scale. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only some embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view showing a temperature adjustment device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

fig. 2 is another schematic structural view illustrating a temperature adjustment device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Description of reference numerals:

temperature adjusting

devices

100, 200;

air compressors

110, 210;

vortex tubes

120, 220;

outlet valves

130, 230;

first

cold air outlets

131A, 231A;

first

hot gas outlets

131B, 231B;

temperature sensors

140, 240;

controllers

150, 250;

an intake valve 260; and

an air reservoir 270.

Detailed Description

In the following, only certain exemplary embodiments are briefly described. As those skilled in the art will recognize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present application. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

As described above, the requirement of the automated driving calculation hardware in the automated driving vehicle for the ambient temperature is high, and therefore, it is necessary to control the temperature inside the vehicle, particularly, the temperature around the automated driving calculation hardware, to an appropriate temperature range so as to ensure that the automated driving vehicle can normally run. For example, in some scenarios, computing hardware may generate heat during operation, which may lead to an overheating shutdown or damage of the autonomous computing hardware if the heat cannot be dissipated in time (e.g., components such as CPUs, GPUs, etc. in the computing hardware may be out of service or damaged due to overheating). In some scenarios, the vehicle may be traveling in a colder environment, which may also cause the hardware to not work properly if the autonomous driving computing hardware temperature is too low.

In the related art, the autopilot computing hardware may be disposed within a passenger compartment of a vehicle such that the computing hardware is cooled by cool air generated by an air conditioner within the passenger compartment; alternatively, the autopilot computing hardware may be disposed within the vehicle service bay and cool air drawn from the passenger compartment or air conditioning circuit to cool the computing hardware. However, the cooling method using the vehicle-mounted air conditioner usually requires that the air conditioner is first turned on, and when the temperature of the passenger compartment or the maintenance cabin is reduced to a proper temperature and reaches the starting temperature of the calculation hardware, the calculation hardware is then turned on, which affects the overall performance of the vehicle-mounted air conditioning system and the starting time of the automatic driving system. In addition, the temperature of the mobile computing hardware cannot be accurately regulated.

In order to solve the technical problem, the utility model provides a temperature adjusting device. The vortex tube is used for outputting cold air to cool or outputting hot air to heat, a vehicle-mounted air conditioner is not needed, and the overall performance of a vehicle-mounted air conditioning system is not influenced; and the automatic temperature adjustment is realized by arranging a temperature-controlled air outlet valve.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring first to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural view illustrating a temperature adjustment device 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 1, the temperature adjustment device 100 includes:

an air compressor 110 for generating compressed air;

the vortex tube 120 comprises an input end, a cold air output end and a hot air output end, wherein the input end is communicated with the air compressor to receive compressed air generated by the air compressor, and the vortex tube is used for shunting the compressed air and respectively outputting shunted cold air and shunted hot air through the cold air output end and the hot air output end;

the gas outlet valve 130 comprises a cold gas inlet, a hot gas inlet, a first cold gas outlet and a first hot gas outlet, the cold gas inlet is communicated with the cold gas output end of the vortex tube, and the hot gas inlet is communicated with the hot gas output end of the vortex tube;

a temperature sensor 140; and

and the controller 150 is respectively electrically connected with the temperature sensor and the air outlet valve and is used for controlling the air outlet valve according to the sensing signal transmitted by the temperature sensor so as to: the first cold air outlet is communicated and the first hot air outlet is closed; or the first hot gas outlet is conducted and the first cold gas outlet is closed.

The air compressor 110 may be a piston type air compressor, a rotary vane type air compressor, or the like. The air compressor 110 can compress air to obtain compressed gas having a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure, and in some examples, the air compressor 110 can compress air to about 1.5MPa to 2 MPa.

The direction of the arrows in fig. 1 show the direction of gas flow, and compressed gas can enter the input end of vortex tube 120 in the direction of the arrows extending from air compressor 110. After entering the vortex tube 120, the compressed air can flow in the inner cavity of the vortex tube 120 in a high-speed rotation manner, and then spread along the pipeline to form a vortex in a high-speed rotation manner. The angular velocity of the inner and outer ring airflows is different from that of the inner ring, the angular velocity of the inner ring is high, the angular velocity of the outer ring is low, the inner ring airflow drives the outer ring vortex to rotate by friction force, namely, the power of the inner ring airflow is provided for the outer ring airflow to rotate, so that the gas internal energy of the inner ring vortex is continuously converted into rotating power, the internal energy is reduced, the temperature is reduced, and cold air is obtained through separation; the corresponding gas internal energy of the outer ring is increased, the temperature is increased, and hot air is separated. The split cold and hot gases are then output through cold and hot gas output ports (e.g., left end of vortex tube 120 in FIG. 1) and (e.g., right end of vortex tube 120 in FIG. 1), respectively.

The cold air output by the vortex tube 120 can enter the air outlet valve 130 from the cold air inlet along the arrow direction on the left side between the vortex tube 120 and the air outlet valve 130; hot gas output by the vortex tube 120 can enter the outlet valve 130 from the hot gas inlet in the direction of the right arrow between the vortex tube 120 and the outlet valve 130.

The outlet valve 130 may be a solenoid valve. The temperature sensor 140 may be a thermocouple type temperature sensor, an infrared temperature sensor, or the like.

The dashed line between the temperature sensor 140 and the controller 150 in fig. 1 shows the electrical connection between the two; and the dashed line between the controller 150 and the outlet valve 130 shows the electrical connection between the two. The controller 150 can control the air outlet valve 130 to open the first cold air outlet 131A and close the first hot air outlet 131B according to the sensing signal transmitted from the temperature sensor 140; or the controller 150 can control the gas outlet valve 130 to open the first hot gas outlet 131B and close the first cold gas outlet 131A according to the sensing signal transmitted from the temperature sensor 140.

Thus, the thermostat 100 cools down by outputting cold air using the vortex tube 120 or heats up by outputting hot air using the vortex tube 120, so that it is not necessary to use an on-vehicle air conditioner and the overall performance of the on-vehicle air conditioning system is not affected. In addition, by providing the temperature sensor 140 and the controller 150 to control the air outlet valve 130, automatic temperature adjustment can be achieved.

It should be understood that various types of tubing (e.g., hoses, tubes, adapters, etc.) may be provided in the airflow path; and the electrical connection between the electrical components (e.g., between the temperature sensor 140 and the controller 150) may be a wired or wireless connection.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural view illustrating a temperature adjustment device 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, the thermostat 200 includes an air compressor 210, a vortex tube 220, an air outlet valve 230, a temperature sensor 240, and a controller 250, which are similar to the components 110 to 150 of the thermostat 100 described above with respect to fig. 1 and will not be described again.

According to some embodiments, the thermostat 200 further comprises an air intake valve 260 disposed between the air compressor 210 and the vortex tube 220. The intake valve 260 is electrically connected to the controller 250 (shown in fig. 2 with a dashed line between the intake valve 260 and the controller 250) and is configured to be controllable by the controller 250 to adjust the flow of gas supplied to the vortex tube 220 via the intake valve 260.

The intake valve 260 may be a solenoid valve. And the inlet valve 260 adjusts the cold air output flow rate or the hot air output flow rate of the outlet valve 230 by adjusting the gas flow rate supplied to the vortex tube 220, thereby achieving control of the temperature adjustment rate. Further, when the intake valve 260 is controlled to be in the closed state, the vortex tube 220 may be brought to a state of suspending the operation.

In some examples, the controller 250 may be able to control both the inlet valve 260 and the outlet valve 230 simultaneously to achieve more precise temperature adjustment.

According to some embodiments, with continued reference to fig. 2, the temperature adjustment device 200 may further include a gas tank 270 disposed between the air compressor 210 and the air inlet valve 260, the gas tank 270 having a pressure stabilizing valve (not shown in the drawings), the gas tank 270 for storing compressed gas generated by the air compressor 210 and supplying pressure-stabilized gas to the vortex tube 220 via the air inlet valve 260.

The gas tank 270 may be made of a material having a certain strength, such as stainless steel, for storing the compressed gas generated by the air compressor 210. Through setting up the surge damping valve on air compressor 210 for the inside pressure of gas holder 270 can maintain in predetermineeing pressure range, therefore, no matter whether the pressure of the compressed air that the air compressor 210 produced during operation is stable, the gas that provides to vortex tube 220 through gas holder 270 all can maintain stable pressure, thereby ensures the normal work of vortex tube 220.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes: according to the above-described

thermostat

100 or 200, both the first cold air outlet and the first hot air outlet of the

air outlet valve

130 or 230 of the

thermostat

100 or 200 are communicated to the vehicle interior, and the

temperature sensor

140 or 240 of the

thermostat

100 or 200 is also disposed in the vehicle interior. Therefore, the automatic adjustment of the temperature inside the vehicle can be realized, and the vehicle-mounted air conditioner is not required to be used, so that the overall performance of the vehicle-mounted air conditioning system is not influenced.

In some examples, the first cold air outlet and the first hot air outlet may be communicated to a passenger compartment or a service compartment of the vehicle.

In some examples, the air reservoir 170 or 270 may be disposed in a service bay of the vehicle.

According to the utility model discloses a some embodiments, the vehicle can also be including setting up the autopilot arithmetic equipment in the vehicle, and

temperature sensor

140 or 240 can set up in autopilot arithmetic equipment department to the first air conditioning export and the first steam export of

air outlet valve

130 or 230 all communicate to autopilot arithmetic equipment, consequently can carry out temperature regulation to autopilot arithmetic equipment, and need not to use on-vehicle air conditioner, thereby can not influence on-vehicle air conditioning system wholeness ability.

In some examples, multiple temperature sensors may be provided, each arranged on a different portion of the autonomous driving computing device (e.g., memory, CPU) to enable separate temperature measurements for each portion; accordingly, one or more cold or hot gas outlets may be communicated to a location corresponding to a respective sensor for targeted temperature adjustment of that location.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the

air outlet valve

130 or 230 may further include a second cold air outlet and a second hot air outlet (not shown in the drawings), both of which are communicated to the outside of the vehicle, and the

air outlet valve

130 or 230 is configured to: when the first cold air outlet is communicated and the first hot air outlet is closed, the second hot air outlet is communicated; or when the first hot air outlet is conducted and the first cold air outlet is closed, the second cold air outlet is conducted.

Therefore, when the

air outlet valve

130 or 230 conducts the first cold air outlet and closes the first hot air outlet to cool the interior of the vehicle, for example, the air outlet valve conducts the second hot air outlet, so that the hot air separated from the compressed air by the

vortex tube

120 or 220 is discharged to the exterior of the vehicle, thereby preventing the hot air from affecting the cooling of the interior of the vehicle. Similarly, when the

air outlet valve

130 or 230 opens the first hot air outlet and closes the first cold air outlet to warm the interior of the vehicle, for example, the air outlet valve opens the second cold air outlet, so that the cold air separated from the compressed air by the

vortex tube

120 or 220 is discharged to the exterior of the vehicle, thereby preventing the cold air from affecting the warm-up of the interior of the vehicle.

In some vehicles (e.g., large autonomous trucks), the braking system of the vehicle is provided with an air compressor for providing pneumatic pressure to the brakes. Therefore, according to some embodiments of the present invention, the

air compressor

110 or 220 may be an air compressor for providing pneumatic pressure in a brake system of a vehicle. Therefore, the existing air compressor of the vehicle is used for assisting in completing temperature regulation of the interior of the vehicle, and the cost is further reduced.

It will be understood that in this specification, the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," "circumferential," and the like, indicate an orientation or positional relationship or dimension based on that shown in the drawings, and that such terms are used for convenience of description only and do not indicate or imply that the device or element so referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore should not be considered limiting to the scope of this application.

Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," "third," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicit to a number of indicated technical features. Thus, features defined as "first", "second", "third" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.

In this application, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," "mounted," and the like are to be construed broadly and can include, for example, a mounted connection, a detachable connection, or an integral part; the connection can be mechanical connection, electrical connection or communication; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.

In this application, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the first feature "on" or "under" the second feature may comprise direct contact of the first and second features, or may comprise contact of the first and second features not directly but through another feature in between. Also, the first feature being "on," "above" and "over" the second feature includes the first feature being directly on and obliquely above the second feature, or merely indicating that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. "beneath," "under" and "beneath" a first feature includes the first feature being directly beneath and obliquely beneath the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is at a lesser elevation than the second feature.

This description provides many different embodiments or examples that can be used to implement the present application. It should be understood that these various embodiments or examples are purely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application in any way. Those skilled in the art can conceive of various changes or substitutions based on the disclosure of the specification of the present application, which are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A temperature adjustment device, comprising:

an air compressor for generating compressed air;

the vortex tube comprises an input end, a cold air output end and a hot air output end, the input end is communicated with the air compressor to receive compressed air generated by the air compressor, and the vortex tube is used for shunting the compressed air and respectively outputting shunted cold air and shunted hot air through the cold air output end and the hot air output end;

the gas outlet valve comprises a cold gas inlet, a hot gas inlet, a first cold gas outlet and a first hot gas outlet, wherein the cold gas inlet is communicated with the cold gas output end of the vortex tube, and the hot gas inlet is communicated with the hot gas output end of the vortex tube;

a temperature sensor; and

the controller is respectively electrically connected with the temperature sensor and the air outlet valve and is used for controlling the air outlet valve according to the sensing signal transmitted by the temperature sensor so as to:

conducting the first cold air outlet and closing the first hot air outlet; or

And the first hot air outlet is communicated and the first cold air outlet is closed.

2. The thermostat of claim 1, further comprising an air intake valve disposed between the air compressor and the vortex tube, wherein the air intake valve is electrically connected with the controller and is configured to be controllable by the controller to regulate a flow of gas supplied to the vortex tube via the air intake valve.

3. The temperature regulating device according to claim 2, further comprising a gas tank provided between the air compressor and the air intake valve, the gas tank having a pressure stabilizing valve for storing compressed gas generated by the air compressor and supplying pressure-stabilized gas to the vortex tube via the air intake valve.

4. A vehicle, characterized in that the vehicle comprises:

the temperature adjustment device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein both the first cold air outlet and the first hot air outlet of the air outlet valve are communicated to the vehicle interior, and the temperature sensor is provided in the vehicle interior.

5. The vehicle according to claim 4, characterized in that the vehicle further comprises an automatic driving operation device provided in the vehicle, wherein the temperature sensor is provided at the automatic driving operation device, and both the first cold air outlet and the first hot air outlet of the air outlet valve are communicated to the automatic driving operation device, so that temperature adjustment of the automatic driving operation device is possible.

6. The vehicle of claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the air outlet valve further comprises a second cold air outlet and a second hot air outlet, wherein both the second cold air outlet and the second hot air outlet are communicated to the outside of the vehicle,

and wherein the gas outlet valve is configured to:

when the first cold air outlet is conducted and the first hot air outlet is closed, conducting the second hot air outlet; or

And when the first hot air outlet is conducted and the first cold air outlet is closed, the second cold air outlet is conducted.

7. The vehicle according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the air compressor is an air compressor for supplying pneumatic pressure in a brake system of the vehicle.