JP2000130166A - Fan coupling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively cool an air condenser by rotating a cooling fan, even when the temperature of an engine cooling water is low and when the refrigerant pressure of the air condenser arranged in front of a radiator is high. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a valve mechanism 24 for opening/ closing the communication hole 23 formed on the partition plate for partitioning the inside of the housing 10 of a fan coupling device 1 for sending the cooling wind for a radiator and an air condenser arranged in front of this radiator to a storage room 11 and operation room 12. This valve mechanism 24 is provided with a valve element 26b for opening, a thermosensitive body 27 for driving the valve element 26b in response to the atmosphere temperature around the housing 10, a heating mechanism 29 for heating the thermosensitive body 27, and a controller for electrifying the heating mechanism 29 in response to the refrigerant pressure of the air condenser.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a fan coupling device used for a cooling system of an internal combustion engine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of fan coupling devices of this type have been provided.
Japanese Patent No. 204491 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 3-77825 are known.

[0003] In brief, as shown in FIG. 6, a conventional fan coupling device 101 has a bearing 10 mounted on a drive shaft 102 which is rotationally driven by a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine.
The housing 104 is rotatably supported via the housing 3.
And a storage chamber 105 and a working chamber 10 in the housing 104.
6, a communication hole 107 formed in the partition plate 108 to communicate the storage chamber 105 and the working chamber 106, and the working chamber 106 fixed to the end of the drive shaft. A rotor 109 disposed therein;
The torque transmitting portion 110 for transmitting the rotation of the rotation to the housing 104 and the communication hole 107 of the partition plate 108 are opened and closed according to the ambient temperature around the housing to control the flow rate of the working fluid flowing from the storage chamber 105 to the working chamber 106 It mainly comprises a valve mechanism 111 for adjusting.

The housing 104 includes a bearing 10
The housing body 12 supported on the rotation shaft by 3
1 and a cover part 122 fitted and fixed to the front side of the housing main body 121. This cover part 1
Reference numeral 22 denotes a ring-shaped flange portion 125 having a circular concave portion 123 on the inner peripheral side for forming the storage chamber 105, and a hydraulic fluid return passage 124 provided on the outer peripheral side of the concave portion 123.
have. Further, a cooling fan is fixed to the outer peripheral side of the housing main body 121 and the cover part 122 with bolts.

[0005] The torque transmitting portion 111 has a plurality of concentric labyrinth grooves 127 provided in the flange portion 125 of the cover portion 122, and concentric circles provided on the rotor 109 in a state of being engaged with the labyrinth grooves 127. And a plurality of labyrinth grooves 128.

The fan coupling device 10
1. The partition plate 108 is operated by the valve mechanism 111.
The working fluid is blocked from flowing from the storage chamber 105 to the working chamber 106 by closing the communication hole 107 provided in the rotor 1, thereby restricting the supply of the working fluid to the torque transmission unit 110.
The amount of transmission torque from 09 to the housing 104 is reduced to stop the cooling fan. On the other hand, when the ambient temperature around the housing 104 increases,
The valve mechanism 111 opens a communication hole 107 provided in the partition plate 108 to allow a large amount of hydraulic fluid to be stored in the storage chamber 105.
To the working chamber 106 and the torque transmitting unit 110 from
The amount of torque transmitted from the rotor 109 to the housing 104 is increased, and the housing 104 and a cooling fan attached thereto are rotated at a high speed to cool the radiator.

[0007]

In some vehicles, an air condenser, which is a condenser of an air conditioner, is disposed in front of the radiator, and the two condensers are cooled by one fan coupling device disposed behind the radiator. There is something to do. However, in such a case, when the air conditioner is operated during the idling operation from the start of the engine when the temperature is high such as in summer, the air condenser cannot be sufficiently cooled.

That is, for example, when the air conditioner is operated during idling after a low temperature start of the engine in summer, the air temperature of the air condenser rises and the refrigerant pressure rises. The ambient temperature around the housing does not rise. Therefore, the cooling fan does not rotate, the air condenser cannot be cooled, and the heat exchange efficiency of the air conditioner deteriorates.

In order to reduce the refrigerant pressure of the air condenser, it is conceivable to provide a separate auxiliary fan or the like. However, in such a case, the structure becomes complicated, the efficiency of the manufacturing operation deteriorates, and the cost increases. You.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and provides a heat exchanger for cooling engine cooling water and an air condenser disposed in front of the heat exchanger. A fan coupling device for blowing cooling air to the housing, the housing being rotatably supported by a drive shaft that is rotationally driven by a crankshaft of an engine, and a housing separated into a storage chamber and a working chamber inside the housing. A partition plate having a communication hole communicating the storage chamber and the working chamber; a rotor fixed to the drive shaft; and a rotor disposed on an outer peripheral portion of the rotor. A valve body for transmitting a torque to the housing via the working fluid introduced into the working chamber, the valve body opening and closing a communication hole formed in the partition plate, and an ambient temperature around the housing for the valve body. Driven according to A temperature sensing element, and a heating mechanism for heating the temperature sensitive body, characterized in that a valve mechanism and a controller for energizing in accordance with the heating mechanism to the refrigerant pressure of the air conditioner de service.

Therefore, even when the temperature of the engine cooling water is low, when the refrigerant pressure of the air condenser installed in front of the radiator rises, the controller energizes and heats the heating mechanism. For this reason, the ambient temperature of the temperature sensing element rises, the temperature sensing element operates to open the valve body, and the communication hole is opened. As a result, the working fluid in the storage chamber flows into the working chamber, and the transmission torque efficiency of the torque transmission unit is increased, and the housing and the cooling fan provided therein are rotated at high speed. The rotation of the cooling fan cools the air condenser.

[0012]

1 to 5 show a fan coupling device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the fan coupling device 1 is disposed at a front position in an engine room of an automobile, and a radiator 7 is disposed at a front position via a flash loud 6. Air condenser 8
Is arranged.

As shown in FIG. 1, the fan coupling device 1 has a housing 10 rotatably supported on a drive shaft 2 via a bearing 22, and a housing 1.
A partition plate 13 that divides the inside of the chamber 0 into a storage chamber 11 and a working chamber 12
A communication hole 23 formed in the partition plate 13 so as to communicate the storage chamber 11 and the working chamber 12; a rotor 15 disposed in the working chamber 12; A driven wheel 17 disposed in the housing 11, a torque transmitting portion 16 provided between the rotor 15 and the driven wheel 17 for transmitting the rotation of the rotor 15 to the housing 10 via the driven wheel 17,
And a valve mechanism 24 that opens and closes the communication hole 23 to adjust the flow rate of the working fluid flowing into the working chamber 12 from the storage chamber 11.

The housing 10 includes the bearing 2
2 supported on the drive shaft 2 by the housing body 10a
And a cover 10b attached to the front side of the housing body 10a by bolts 18.
The cover portion 10b has a recess 20 that forms the storage chamber 11 on the inner peripheral side. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, a cooling fan 4 is fixed to outer peripheral sides of the housing body 10a and the cover portion 10b by bolts.

The rotor 15 is formed in a disk shape and has a central portion connected to the drive shaft 2. On one side surface, a concentric annular projection 1 forming a torque transmitting portion 16 is provided.
5a is provided. The height of the annular projection 15a is
All are set almost the same.

The driven wheel 17 has an outer peripheral side fixed to the cover portion 10b, and a side surface opposing the rotor 15 meshes with a plurality of annular projections 15a of the rotor 15 to form a concentric circle constituting the torque transmitting portion 16. An annular projection 17a is provided. The height of the annular projection 17a is set to be substantially the same as that of the annular projection 15a of the rotor 15, and between the annular projections 15a, 17a.
A labyrinth groove that forms a part of the torque transmitting section 16 is formed.

The partition plate 13 is formed in a substantially circular shape by a metal plate or the like, and separates the storage chamber 11 and the working chamber 12 as described above. That is, this partition plate 13
The outer peripheral end of the cover 10b is swaged and fixed to the cover 10b in a state where the opening of the recess 20 of the cover 10b is closed. The partition plate 13 is fixed between the cover 10b of the housing 10 and the driven wheel 17 by a rivet 19 inserted into the rivet insertion hole 13 at a substantially central position in the radial direction. Further, the partition plate 13
An insertion hole 13b is formed substantially in the center, and a communication hole 23 that communicates the storage chamber 11 and the working chamber 12 is formed on the outer peripheral side by punching along the radial direction.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 5, the valve mechanism 24 includes a valve body 26 for opening and closing the communication hole 23, a spiral bimetal 27 for driving the valve body 26, Heating mechanism 29 for heating 27
And a controller 9a for energizing the heating mechanism 29.

As shown in FIG. 1, the valve body 26 has a connecting portion 26a operatively connected to a bimetal 27 via a rotating shaft 25, and one end of the connecting portion 26a has one end of the partition plate 13. And a valve body 26a arranged so that the side surface can be slidably rotated. Both ends of this connecting portion 26a
The inner peripheral side is bent so that the contact between the valve body 26a and one side surface of the partition plate 13 is stabilized.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bimetal 27 is attached to the front surface of the cover 10b, is connected to the first valve body 26a via the rotating shaft 25, and
As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
1 is inserted. The bimetal 27 extends when the ambient temperature rises, rotates the rotating shaft 24 in one direction, and rotates and slides the valve body 26a in accordance with this rotation to open the communication hole 23 and to open the communication hole 23. When the temperature decreases, the communication hole 23 contracts, rotates the rotary shaft 24 in the other direction, and rotates and slides the valve body 26a with the rotation to close the communication hole 23.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the heating mechanism 29 includes a heating element 40 for heating the bimetal 27, an electrode rod 30 connected to the heating element 40, and a heating element 29 mounted on the electrode rod 30. And a harness 38.

The heating element 40 is constituted by an electric heater or the like, and is provided near the bimetal 27 of the cover portion 10b as shown in FIGS. 41 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 1, the electrode rod 30 is inserted into the insertion hole 3b of the bearing 3a of the bracket 3, and is supported by the cap-shaped electrode receiving and wear-resistant member 33 and the spring 38. Thus, the drive shaft 2 is slidably inserted into the insertion holes 36 and 37 of the drive shaft 2 via an oil seal 35 with respect to the rotation of the drive shaft 2. The electrode rod 30 has a base end 30 a connected to a joint 47 provided at the rear end of the bracket 3, and a front end 30 b connected to the heating element 40 through the insertion hole 13 b of the partition plate 13. And rotates together with the housing 10.

The harness 38 is, as shown in FIG.
A base end 38a is connected to the harness 50 at the joint 47, and a distal end 38b is connected to the heater 40. Therefore, the heating element 40 is connected via the harness 38.
Can be energized.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the engine cooling water is maintained at a low temperature, the controller 9a operates the air conditioner cut-off switch when the refrigerant pressure detected by the refrigerant pressure sensor 8a of the endanger 8 operates. When the pressure rises to near the specified pressure, the switch 9b is closed,
The heating element 40 is energized and heated from a power source 9c via harnesses 50 and 38.

Therefore, in the fan coupling device 1 configured as described above, when the temperature is high in summer or the like, the valve mechanism 24 operates as follows.

That is, even when the temperature of the engine cooling water is low, for example, when the air conditioner in the vehicle compartment is operated during idling after starting at low temperature, the air condenser 8
When the air temperature of the air rises and the refrigerant pressure of the air condenser 8 detected by the refrigerant pressure sensor 8a rises to near the specified pressure at which the air conditioner cutoff switch operates,
Since the controller 9a closes the switch 9b and energizes and heats the heating element 40 from the power supply 9c via the harnesses 50 and 38, the temperature around the bimetal 27 increases.

Therefore, the bimetal 27 extends, the bimetal 27 rotates in one direction via the rotary shaft 25, and the valve 26b rotates and slides to open the communication hole 23. Therefore, the working fluid in the storage chamber 11 flows into the working chamber 12, and the working fluid is supplied to the torque transmission unit 16, and
The transmission torque from the housing 5 to the housing body 10a is increased, and the housing 10 and the cooling fan 4 provided therein are rotated at a high speed. For this reason, as shown by the broken line (region B) in FIG. 4, even if the ambient temperature around the housing 10 is low, the rotation of the cooling fan 4 increases the air volume to effectively cool the air condenser 8. I do.

Since the heating of the heating element 40 is limited to high temperature conditions such as in summer, the air condenser 8 can be sufficiently cooled without hindering the warm-up of the engine, and the heat exchange efficiency of the air conditioner can be reduced. Improve. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately provide an auxiliary fan or the like in order to lower the refrigerant pressure of the air condenser 8, so that the apparatus can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

On the other hand, if the refrigerant pressure in the air condenser 8 does not rise to near the specified pressure at which the air conditioner cut-off switch operates, the controller 9a switches the switch 9b.
Is not closed, the heating element 40 is not electrically heated. Therefore, the state in which the valve body 26 b closes the communication hole 23 is maintained, and the working fluid in the storage chamber 11 does not flow into the working chamber 12. Therefore, the flow rate of the working fluid supplied to the torque transmission chamber 16 decreases, the transmission torque from the rotor 15 to the housing body 10a also decreases, and the rotation of the housing 10 and the cooling fan provided therein is prevented.

However, as shown by the solid line (region A) in FIG. 4, when the temperature of the engine cooling water rises, the temperature around the bimetal 27 rises, so that the bimetal 27 extends and the rotating shaft The communication hole 23 is opened by rotating the bimetal 27 in one direction via 25 and sliding the valve body 26b. Therefore, the working fluid in the storage chamber 11 flows into the working chamber 12, and the working fluid is supplied to the torque transmission unit 16, and
5 to the housing body 10a increases. For this reason, the radiator 7 is cooled by rotating the housing 10 and the cooling fan 4 provided therein at high speed.

The temperature sensing element of the present invention is not limited to a bimetal, but includes, for example, a wax pellet type.

[0033]

As apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, even when the engine cooling water is maintained at a low temperature, the refrigerant pressure of the air condenser installed in front of the radiator increases. In this case, the controller turns on the heating mechanism, so that the heating mechanism is heated. Therefore, the temperature around the bimetal rises, the temperature sensing element operates, and the valve element opens to open the communication hole, whereby the working fluid in the storage chamber flows into the working chamber, and the torque transmitting section The transmission torque efficiency is increased, and the housing and the cooling fan provided therein are rotated at a high speed. For this reason, the air condenser is cooled, and deterioration of the heat exchange efficiency of the air conditioner is prevented. As a result, the refrigerant pressure of the air condenser can be reduced with a simple structure, and there is no need to separately provide an auxiliary fan or the like, so that the apparatus can be simplified and the cost can be suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of a fan coupling device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the vicinity of the bimetal and the heating element according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram showing a relationship between a temperature of the engine cooling water and a flow rate of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing an arrangement state of a fan coupling device, a radiator, and an air condenser.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Fan coupling device 2 ... Drive shaft 7 ... Heat exchanger 8 ... Air condenser 9a ... Controller 10 ... Housing 11 ... Storage chamber 12 ... Working chamber 13 ... Partition plate 15 ... Rotor 16 ... Torque transmission part 23 ... Communication hole 24 ... Valve mechanism 26b ... Valve element 27 ... Temperature sensing element 29 ... Heating mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heat coupling device for cooling an engine cooling water and a fan coupling device for blowing cooling air to an air condenser disposed in front of the heat exchanger, wherein the fan coupling device rotates on a crankshaft of the engine. A housing rotatably supported on a driven shaft that is driven, and a housing separated into a storage chamber and a working chamber inside the housing;
A partition plate formed with a communication hole communicating the storage chamber and the working chamber; a rotor fixed to the drive shaft; and a rotor disposed on an outer peripheral portion of the rotor and rotating the rotor in the working chamber. A valve body for transmitting a torque to the housing through the hydraulic fluid introduced into the partition, a valve body for opening and closing a communication hole formed in the partition plate, and the valve body according to an ambient temperature around the housing. A fan cup comprising: a temperature-sensitive body to be driven; a heating mechanism for heating the temperature-sensitive body; and a valve mechanism including a controller for energizing the heating mechanism in accordance with the refrigerant pressure of the air conditioner deserter. Ring device.