Heater control device, method and program

摘要

A heater control device having at least two PTC heaters having PTC elements includes switching units which are provided so as to correspond to the PTC heaters and which switch an energized state and a non-energized state of the PTC elements by being turned ON and OFF, pattern information which defines state combination patterns of the energized state and the non-energized state of the PTC elements with respect to a required power value for the heater unit, and a ratio controlling unit which when the required power for the heater unit is at an intermediate value of the required power values defined in the pattern information, controls a ratio of the energized state to the non-energized state of the PTC elements based on a ratio of ON time to OFF time for which an average power within a certain period matches the required power.

主权项

1. A heater control device to be applied to a heater unit provided with a plurality of PTC heaters each of which has a predetermined power consumption value, the heater control device comprising:
a plurality of switching units each of which is provided corresponding to each of the plurality of PTC heaters and allows each of the plurality of PTC heaters to be put into an energized state or a non-energized state by a switching operation, which makes each of the plurality of switching units turn ON or OFF; a storing unit that stores each of a plurality of power values, which can be output by combining the plurality of PTC heaters, in association with each of a plurality of sets of state combination pattern information which indicates that each of the plurality of PTC heater is a PTC heater to be put into the energized state or a PTC heater to be put into the non-energized state when outputting each of the plurality of power values; and a ratio controlling unit that selects one of the plurality of sets of state combination pattern information in accordance with a target power value in which the heater unit outputs, wherein the ratio controlling unit, when the target power value is between the plurality of power values that are stored, selects a state combination pattern information, among the plurality of sets of state combination pattern information, which is associated with a power value which is exceeding the target power value and is closest to the target power value, and wherein the ratio controlling unit allows time for turning ON a switching unit corresponding to an energization object-PTC heater, among the plurality of PTC heaters, to change in accordance with the target power value, the energization object-PTC heater being indicated as a PTC heater to be put into the energized state in the state combination pattern information which is selected.