KR20180008180A - Armrest - Google Patents

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, provided is an armrest including: a case including a flow path for guiding air in and out, and a first through hole through which the air is dischargeable outwards; a blowing fan positioned inside the case and allowing air to flow in and out through the flow path; a heating element supplying heat to the air discharged by the blowing fan; and a support member coupled to the inner surface of the case and supporting the case in at least two directions so as to maintain the shape of the case against an external force applied to the case.

Description

Armrest {ARMREST}

The present invention relates to an armrest.

Generally, the interior parts of an automobile are composed of an instrument panel, a built-in floor and ceiling, a sun visor, a glove box, an arm rest, and a door trim. Among the built-in components of such an automobile, the armrest is a simple one to a large one that covers only a part of a shift lever or a parking brake lever provided in a tunnel portion of a floor panel between a driver's seat and an assistant driver's seat, A radio, a stereo, a heater control, a small water storage bag, etc., and a box portion with a lid on the back side of the box. The rear seat has an escutche or a switch. As a material to be used, an integral molded article of polypropylene or ABS resin is used in many cases, and some of them are softened to make it luxurious. However, in the above-described armrest, a user's arm or object such as a driver may be stuck. Therefore, the armrests need to have the strength to withstand a certain level of load. Nevertheless, when the airbag is not strong enough to support a certain level of load, the upper portion of the armrest is struck downward. If the airflow passage is formed on the upper portion of the armrest, .

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0047948 (Feb.

An embodiment of the present invention is to provide an armrest that includes a reinforcing member capable of supporting a predetermined load and can prevent the upper portion of the armrest from sinking downward by the reinforcing member.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an armrest that can control the heat generation and the blowing of a heating element from an operating portion included in the armrest or an operating portion formed inside the vehicle.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the first through-hole and the second through-hole through which the air discharged by the blowing fan included in the armrest are staggered and arranged, the point where the heat is exchanged via the heat- The present invention provides an arm rest which can be used as an arm rest.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner comprising: a case including a flow path for guiding the air in and out, and a first through hole through which the air can be discharged outward; A blowing fan positioned inside the case and allowing air to flow in and out through the flow path; A heating element for supplying air to the outside surface of the case and the air discharged by the blowing fan; And a support which is engaged with the inner surface of the case and supports at least two directions so as to maintain the shape of the case against an external force applied to the case.

And, the supporting portion includes a rib arranged to support upward; And a reinforcing member which is supported by at least one of the ribs and is positioned in close contact with the case inside the upper portion of the case.

The apparatus may further include a casing surrounding at least a part of the outer side of the case, and the casing may include a second through-hole through which the air is discharged outside the armrest.

Further, the first through-hole and the second through-hole may be staggered, and the heating element may be disposed in a space between the first through-hole and the second through-hole.

Further, it may further comprise a fabric member which is combined with the heating element and is located on the inner surface of the envelope.

In addition, the flow path is formed on the inside of the case, communicates with the outside of the case, and is an inflow path through which air flows into the armrest; And a discharge duct through which air is discharged by the air blowing fan.

Further, the blowing fan may include a soundproofing device for alleviating the noise and vibration generated by the operation of the blowing fan.

The apparatus may further include an operation unit operable to operate the heating element and the blowing fan.

Further, the display device may further include a display unit for displaying operation states of the heating element and the blowing fan.

The control unit may further include an external temperature sensing unit for sensing a temperature outside the armrest, and the control unit may determine a heating temperature of the heating body based on the sensed temperature of the external temperature sensing unit.

The apparatus may further include an operation unit operable to determine an operation and a stop time of the blowing fan or the heating element.

In a vehicle including an armrest, there is provided a vehicle including an operating portion capable of operating operations of the blowing fan and the heating element.

Then, the operation portion can determine the operation and the stopping time of the blowing fan or the heating element.

An embodiment of the present invention can provide an armrest which can include a reinforcing member capable of supporting a predetermined load and can prevent the upper portion of the armrest from sinking downward by the reinforcing member.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide an arm rest which can control the heat generation and the blowing of the heat generating element from an operating part included in the armrest or an operating part formed inside the vehicle.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the first through-hole and the second through-hole through which the air discharged by the blowing fan included in the armrest are staggered and arranged, the point where the heat is exchanged via the heat- It is possible to provide an arm rest that can be used.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an armrest according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an internal structure of an armrest according to an embodiment of the present invention
Fig. 3 (a) is a front sectional view of a support according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 (b) is a side sectional view of a support according to an embodiment of the present invention
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an inflow passage for introducing air into an armrest according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a discharge passage for discharging air by a blowing fan
5 is a view showing that an armrest according to another embodiment of the present invention is controlled by a separate operating portion in a vehicle

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, this is merely an example and the present invention is not limited thereto.

In the following description, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. The following terms are defined in consideration of the functions of the present invention, and may be changed according to the intention or custom of the user, the operator, and the like. Therefore, the definition should be based on the contents throughout this specification.

The technical idea of the present invention is determined by the claims, and the following embodiments are merely a means for effectively explaining the technical idea of the present invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs.

For example, a heating element of an embodiment to be described later specifies a heating wire which is a linear heating element by way of example, but it is possible to apply an area heating element. Further, a soundproofing device for preventing noise and vibration by the blowing fan is shown on the lower side of the fan of the blowing fan, but this position is only one embodiment, and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art.

1 is a perspective view showing an armrest 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The armrest (2) can house an arm of a human body part and also includes a storage space for storing the object. Generally, the armrest 2 is provided with a seat, and when installed in a vehicle, the armrest 2 can be installed on at least one of the left side or the right side of the driver or the passenger. When installed in a vehicle, it is capable of direct contact with the human body and functions to control the air conditioning environment inside the vehicle. Referring to FIG. 1, for the air conditioning environment, the armrest 2 may include a blowing fan (200 of FIG. 2) for forced forced convection inside the vehicle, and air A through hole 411 may be formed so that the through hole 411 can be discharged. The air discharged to the through holes 411 may be discharged to the outside of the armrest 2 via the heat generating element 300 capable of heat exchange with the air to raise the air temperature inside the vehicle.

In addition, the heating element 300 included in the armrest 2 can heat-exchange with the air to raise the temperature of the air through the convection, thereby raising the temperature of the air outside the armrest 2. Furthermore, since the heating element 300 is disposed on the upper side of the armrest 2, heat can be transmitted from the outer side of the upper side of the armrest 2 to the arm through conduction while the arm of the human body is being held. Of course, this example corresponds to the case where the human body comes into contact with the upper side of the armrest 2, and the heating body 300 is arranged at another position to perform heat transfer by contact with the other side of the armrest 2 It is possible.

The control unit 33 may further include a control unit 33 for controlling the temperature and the discharge speed of the air discharged to the outside of the armrest 2 from the user. The operation unit 33 may include, for example, a temperature control button capable of determining the temperature of the air discharged by the user and a wind speed control button capable of determining the air discharge amount. Further, when the temperature control button is operated, the temperature of the heating element 300 may be raised. If the temperature of the heating element 300 rises above the temperature determined by the user during the temperature rise or overheats exceeding the predetermined temperature, It is possible to control such that the condition for overheating such as the power supplied to the heating element 300 is cut off by the overheat preventing means is not satisfied.

In addition, the armrest 2 may further include a display unit 500. 1, the display unit 500 and the operation unit 33 can be independently positioned at different points in a separate configuration, though the display unit 500 is formed together with the operation unit 33. [ In addition, the display unit 500 can display a temperature according to the air flow rate according to the rotational speed of the blowing fan 200 and the degree of heat generation of the heating element 300 with audible or visual information. For example, in the case of a display, the information can be displayed as time information.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view in side section showing the internal structure of the armrest 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

2, the armrest 2, which is one embodiment, includes a case 100, a blowing fan 200, a heating element 300, and a supporting portion 10 . The armrest 2 may further include an enclosure 400 at least partially enclosing the outer surface of the case 100 and an operating portion 33 capable of controlling the blowing fan 200 and the heating body 300 have.

Here, the case 100 includes an upper case 110 and a lower case 120, and the cases 110 and 120 may be vertically coupled to each other. Of course, the case of joining the case and the joining manner can be variously modified by those skilled in the art, and thus the present invention is not limited thereto. The upper case 110 may include a first through hole 111. The lower case 120 can form a flow path (121 and 122 in FIG. 3) through which the air can be introduced into and discharged from the case 100 by coupling with the upper case 110.

The blowing fan 200 may be positioned inside the case 100 and rotated, and forced convection may occur due to the rotation. 3) through which the air is introduced by the forced convection, and a discharge flow path 122 formed to discharge air through the blowing fan 200, Air can be discharged. Here, the discharged air can be discharged to the outside of the case 100 through the first through hole 111 included in the upper case 110. 1, air may be discharged to the outside of the armrest 2 via the second through-hole 411 formed in the shell 400, as shown in FIG. 1 . Here, assuming that the through holes 111 and 411 are respectively formed in a circular shape, they may be disposed except for positions concentric with each other. That is, the first through holes 111 and the second through holes 411 may be disposed at a predetermined distance from the upper surface of the case 100.

The air flow process described above may further include a heat exchange process between the air and the heating element 300. The heating element 300 may be a code heater or a planar heater, which is a line heater, but a heating element formed by a heating line will be described below with reference to FIG. The heating element 300 may be positioned on the upper case 110 side. Specifically, it can be arranged within the predetermined distance between the first through-hole 111 and the second through-hole 411. This arrangement may be a structure for increasing the heat exchange area with the heat generating element 300 and the heat exchange time when the air is discharged to the outside of the armrest 2.

When the heating element 300 is positioned on the upper case 110 side, the heating element 300 may be positioned in contact with one surface of a highly breathable material. Here, the highly breathable material may be a fabric member 310 such as a fiber or a nonwoven fabric formed in a mesh structure. Further, the fabric member 310 can perform a cushion function so as to alleviate at least a part when the armrest 2 is subjected to the same weight or impact as the load from the outside. The fabric member 310 prevents the heat generated by the heating element 300 from being directly transmitted to the envelope 400 to prevent the envelope 400 from being damaged by the high temperature, And the air flow path can be secured in the process of discharging the air to the outside of the armrest 2.

The supporting portion 10 included in the armrest 2 may include a reinforcing member 11 and a rib 12. The reinforcing member 11 is in contact with the upper side surface of the inner side surface of the case 100 and supports the reinforcing member 11 by supporting the rib 12 upward so as to support the load applied to the armrest 2 Can be a structure. And, the reinforcing member 11 can be supported by one or more ribs 12.

FIG. 3 (a) is a front side sectional view of the support portion 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 (b) is a side sectional view of the support portion 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 (a), the reinforcement member 11 of the support portion 10 is extended in the left-right direction and can be closely attached to the upper case 110. [ The close contact may be supported by the rib 12 upwardly. The ribs 12 may be formed with concavoconvex type partition walls in order to partition the inflow passage 121 and the discharge passage 122 into the lower case 120. The ribs 12 may be formed in a shape of concavo- And may be formed to extend toward the case 110. The ribs 12 may be formed to extend from the outer structure of the feeding fan 200 toward the upper case 110.

Further, referring to FIG. 3 (b), the shape of the rib 12 may be such that one rib 12 supports a plurality of reinforcing members 11. Accordingly, the rib 12 can be variously modified as long as it extends upward from the structure in the case 100 to support the reinforcing member 11. [ However, it is preferable that the air discharged from the air blowing fan 200 is formed to pass through the first through hole 111, and it is preferable that the air flow is maximally secured.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an inflow passage 121 through which air flows into the armrest 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a discharge passage 122 through which air is blown by the blowing fan 200.

4, in order to provide air from the armrest 2, a blowing fan 200 is located inside the case 100, and the armrest 2 is configured such that air can be blown in and out by the blowing fan 200 And may include flow paths 121 and 122, respectively. The flow paths 121 and 122 include an inflow path 121 through which the air flows into the armrest 2 and a discharge path 122 through which the air is discharged from the inside of the armrest 2 by the blowing fan 200, And a flow path passing through the through holes 122 and 122 and passing through the through holes 111 and 411 may be further included. Here, the flow paths 121 and 122 may be formed by the structure of the lower case 120, and the flow path on the rear side of the discharge flow path 122 may be secured by the support portion 10 based on the air flow direction.

Specifically, the supporting portion 10 may extend from the upper portion of the structure forming the inflow passage 121 to support the lower side of the upper case 110 upward. The predetermined distance between the upper case 110 and the structure forming the flow paths 121 and 122 that are part of the lower case 120 can be maintained by the support, The first through hole 111 can be moved to the first through hole 111. Air can be discharged from the inside of the case 100 through the plurality of first through holes 111 via the space.

In addition, the ventilation fan 200 and the heating element 300 can be controlled by the operating portion 33 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in the armrest 2. Further, the blowing fan 200 and the heating element 300 can be controlled by a control unit (not shown). For example, when the target temperature inside the vehicle set by the user is 35 degrees and the current temperature is 25, a temperature difference of 10 degrees occurs. Therefore, the control unit may further include a temperature sensing unit capable of sensing the current temperature inside the vehicle, and the temperature sensing unit may sense the current temperature to calculate the temperature difference. The heating time and the heating temperature of the heating element 300 can be set differently by reflecting the calculated temperature difference. That is, the air conditioning environment inside the vehicle can be determined by the user's operation or control unit.

Furthermore, the control unit can determine the operation of the blowing fan 200 and the heating element 300 like the operating unit 33a. Here, the operation includes making it possible to operate for a predetermined time. For example, the start time point of the heat generation of the heating element 300 is determined by a predetermined time, and the time point at which the heat emission is stopped can be determined. Determining the information related to this operation includes what is manually performed by the operation unit 33 and that the control unit automatically performs by the predetermined time information.

5 is a view showing that the armrest 2 according to another embodiment of the present invention is controlled by the separate operating portion 33a in the vehicle 1. [

And can be determined through the operation unit 33a when it is determined by the user's operation to determine the air conditioning environment inside the vehicle as described above. The operating portion 33a may be formed on one side of the armrest 2, but may be formed at one point inside the vehicle and connected to the armrest 2 by wire or wire. For example, the operating portion 33a is formed on the dashboard inside the vehicle, and is connected to the heating element 300 of the armrest 2 and the blowing fan 200 by electric or wireless communication, .

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, . Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiments, but should be determined by equivalents to the appended claims, as well as the appended claims.

1: vehicle
2: Armrest
10: Support
11: reinforcing member
12: rib
33:
100: Case
110: upper case
111: First through hole
120: Lower case
121: Inflow channel
122:
200: blowing fan
300: heating element
310: Fabric member
400: envelope
411: second through hole
500:

Claims (15)

A case including a flow path for guiding air in and out and a first through hole through which the air can be discharged outward;
A blowing fan positioned inside the case and allowing air to flow in and out through the flow path;
A heating element for supplying heat to the outer surface of the case and the air discharged by the blowing fan; And
And a supporting portion coupled to an inner surface of the case and supporting at least two directions so as to maintain the shape of the case against an external force applied to the case.
The method according to claim 1,
The support portion includes a rib arranged to support upward; And
And a reinforcing member supported by at least one of the ribs and positioned in close contact with the case inside the upper portion of the case.
The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a shell surrounding at least a portion of an outer side of the case,
Wherein the shell comprises a second through-hole through which the air is discharged out of the armrest.
The method of claim 3,
The first through-hole and the second through-hole are staggered,
Wherein the heating element is disposed in a space between the first through-hole and the second through-hole.
The method of claim 3,
And a fabric member coupled to the heating element and positioned on an inner surface of the envelope.
The method according to claim 1,
The flow path is formed inside the case and communicates with the outside of the case,
An inflow channel through which the air flows into the armrest; And
And a discharge duct through which the air is discharged by the blowing fan.
The method according to claim 1,
The air-
And a soundproofing device for alleviating noise and vibration generated by the operation of the blowing fan.
The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising an operating portion for operating the operation of the heating element and the blowing fan.
The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a display unit for displaying an operation state of the heating element and the blowing fan.
The method according to claim 1,
And an external temperature sensing unit for sensing a temperature outside the armrest,
And a control unit for determining a heat generation temperature of the heating element based on a temperature detected by the external temperature sensing unit.
The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising an operating portion capable of operating an operation and a stopping time of the blowing fan or the heating element.
The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a controller capable of controlling an operation and a stopping time of the blowing fan or the heating element.
In the vehicle including the armrest according to claim 1,
And an operating portion capable of operating the operation of the blowing fan and the heating element.
14. The method of claim 13,
And the operation and stop time of the blowing fan or the heating element can be controlled by the operation unit.
14. The method of claim 13,
Further comprising a controller capable of controlling an operation and a stopping time of the blowing fan or the heating element.

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