JP2001030732A - Air conditioner for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set the temperature of a face outlet moderately lower than that of a foot outlet during operation in bi-level mode. SOLUTION: An arranging direction of a face outlet opening 41 and a foot outlet is set generally vertical (left-right direction of the vehicle) with respect to an arranging direction (vertical direction of the vehicle) of cool air a and warm air b that flow into a mixing portion 38 so that uniform distribution to each outlet opening is conducted easily without making the cool air a and warm air b non-uniform. Then, for example, flows of the cool air a and warm air b are controlled so that the temperature of the air from the face side outlet is moderately lower than that of the foot side outlet during operation in bi-level mode.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner for a vehicle, and more particularly, to an improvement in feeling in a bi-level mode.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as a trend of air conditioning systems for vehicles, in luxury cars, air conditioning air can be blown out to front and rear seats, and rear passengers can freely use the rear seats to improve the comfort of the rear seats. There is an increasing need for independent control that can set the blowing mode and the blowing temperature.

[0003] In a conventional device that performs such independent control,
As shown in FIG. 6, a rear air distribution section of the air conditioning unit, a cold air a cooled by an evaporator (not shown) and a hot air b heated by a heater core (not shown) are mixed in a rear seat mixing section 38. And mixed. Downstream of the rear-seat mixing section 38, there is a rear-seat face blowing opening 41 and a rear-seat foot blowing opening 42, and a face mode in which air is blown toward the rear occupant head. Foot mode that blows air toward the feet of the rear occupant, and further, both blowout openings 41 and 42
A bi-level mode that blows air together can be set.

Here, due to the configuration of the air conditioning unit, the cool air a flows into the lower part of the rear seat mixing section 38, and the warm air b flows into the upper part of the rear seat mixing section 38. on the other hand,
The rear face opening 41 and the rear foot opening 42 are arranged vertically, and the rear face opening 4 is provided.
1 is located at the top.

[0005]

By the way, in the bi-level mode, the temperature of the blown air on the face side should be adjusted to be lower than the temperature of the blown air on the foot side by a predetermined temperature (about 15 to 20 ° C.). However, according to the above-described conventional device, in the bi-level mode, the warm air b flowing into the upper portion of the rear-seat mixing section 38 easily flows into the rear-seat face blowing opening 41 located on the upper side. In addition, there is a problem that the temperature of the blown air on the side of the rear seat face opening 41 becomes higher than the temperature of the blown air on the side of the rear seat opening 42.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-207544 discloses an air conditioner that blows out conditioned air only to the front seats. In this conventional device, too, cool air flows into the lower part of the mixing section and hot air Flows into the upper part of the mixing section. The face blowout opening is located at the upper part, and the foot blowout opening is located at the lower part. Therefore, also in this conventional apparatus, there is a problem that the air temperature on the face side becomes higher than the air temperature on the foot side in the bilevel mode.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above points,
It is an object of the present invention to be able to set the temperature of the blown air on the face side appropriately lower than the temperature of the blown air on the foot side in the bilevel mode.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the mixing section (38) into which the cool air (a) and the hot air (b) flow, and the mixing section (38). A face blowing opening (41) that opens and blows air toward the occupant head, and a foot blowing opening (42) that opens to the mixing section (38) and blows air toward the occupant's feet are provided. Face blowing opening (4) in the direction in which the cold air (a) and the hot air (b) flowing into the section (38) are arranged.
1) and the foot outlet opening (42) is arranged substantially perpendicularly.

According to this, in the bi-level mode,
The cold air (a) and the hot air (b) are easily distributed to each of the blowout openings (41, 42) without bias, and basically, the blowout air temperature on the face side and the blowout air temperature on the foot side are substantially the same. become. Therefore, the problem that the temperature of the blown air on the face side becomes higher than the temperature of the blown air on the foot side as in the conventional device is solved. Then, for example, by controlling the flow of the cold air (a) or the hot air (b), it is easy to appropriately lower the face-side blown air temperature than the foot-side blown air temperature in the bilevel mode. It is feasible.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the air in which the cold air and the hot air are mixed is blown into the front seat outlets (25a, 25b, 2).
9a, 29b, 30a, 30b), a rear air mixing unit (38) and a rear air mixing unit into which cold air (a) and hot air (b) flow in, A face opening opening (41) that opens to (38) and blows air toward the rear seat occupant head, and a foot that opens to the rear seat mixing section (38) and blows air toward the rear seat occupant's feet. A face opening (41) and a foot opening in the direction in which the cold air (a) and the hot air (b) flowing into the rear seat mixing section (38) are arranged. (42) is characterized in that the arrangement direction is substantially vertical.

According to this, in the vehicle air conditioner capable of blowing air to the front seat side and the rear seat side, in the bi-level mode, the cool air (a) and the hot air (b) are not biased to the rear seat. Since the air is distributed to the air outlets (41, 42), the air temperature of the rear face air and the air temperature of the rear foot air basically become substantially the same. Therefore, the problem that the rear face face blown air temperature becomes higher than the rear seat foot blown air temperature as in the conventional device is solved. For example, by controlling the flow of the cold air (a) or the hot air (b), it is easy to appropriately lower the temperature of the rear face blown air from the rear seat foot air temperature in the bi-level mode. It is feasible.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the restriction means for restricting the amount of the cool air (a) flowing toward the foot outlet opening (42) in the passage of the cool air (a) reaching the foot outlet opening (42). (46) is provided.

According to this, in the bi-level mode,
By limiting the amount of the cold air (a) flowing to the foot outlet opening (42) side, the rear seat face outlet air temperature can be set appropriately lower than the rear seat foot outlet air temperature.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the amount of the warm air (b) flowing toward the face outlet opening (41) is restricted in the passage of the warm air (b) reaching the face outlet opening (41). It is characterized in that a limiting means (47) is provided.

According to this, in the bi-level mode,
By limiting the amount of the warm air (b) flowing to the face outlet opening (41) side, the rear seat face outlet air temperature can be set appropriately lower than the rear seat foot outlet air temperature.

Note that the reference numerals in parentheses of the above means indicate the correspondence with specific means described in the embodiment described later.

[0017]

1 is a sectional view of an air conditioning unit of a vehicle air conditioner according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG.
1 is an AA sectional view of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a CC sectional view of FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is a view taken in the direction of an arrow D of FIG. And a blower unit (not shown) that blows air to the air conditioning unit 10.

The blower unit is disposed at a position offset from the center of the lower instrument panel in the passenger compartment toward the passenger seat. On the other hand, the air conditioner unit 10 is disposed in the lower instrument panel in the passenger compartment. It is arranged at a substantially central portion in the left-right direction.

As is well known, the blower unit includes an inside / outside air switching box for switching and introducing outside air (outside air) and inside air (inside air), and a blower for sucking air through the inside / outside air switching box to blow air. I have.

More specifically, the air conditioning unit 10 includes an evaporator (cooling heat exchanger) 1 in one common air conditioning case 11.
2 and a heater core (heat exchanger for heating) 13 are both integrated. The air-conditioning unit 10 is located substantially in the center of the lower part of the instrument panel in the passenger compartment,
They are arranged in the mounting direction indicated by the arrows in FIGS.

An air inlet 14 is formed on the side of the air-conditioning case 11 closest to the front of the vehicle. As shown by arrows B in FIGS. 2 and 3, air blown from the case outlet of the blower of the blower unit flows into the air inlet 14. Since the vehicle air conditioner of this example is applied to a left-hand drive vehicle, the blast air flows into the air inlet 14 from the right side of the vehicle as indicated by an arrow B.

The evaporator 12 is disposed in the air conditioning case 11 immediately after the air inlet 14. This evaporator 1
Numeral 2 is arranged in a thin manner in the vehicle front-rear direction and substantially vertically so as to cross the passage in the air conditioning case 11. Therefore,
An air inlet 14 is provided at the front of the evaporator 12 which extends in the vehicle vertical direction.
Blast air from the air flows in. As is well known, the evaporator 12 cools the conditioned air by absorbing the latent heat of evaporation of the refrigerant in the refrigeration cycle from the conditioned air.

A heater core 13 is disposed downstream of the evaporator 12 in the air flow (rear side of the vehicle) at a predetermined interval. The heater core 13 is disposed at a lower portion in the air conditioning case 11 and is slightly inclined toward the vehicle rear side. The width of the evaporator 12 in both left and right directions is:
As shown in FIG. 2, the air conditioning case 11 is designed to have substantially the same width dimension. Although the heater core 13 is not shown in FIG.
The width of the heater core 13 in the vehicle left-right direction is also the air-conditioning case 1.
1 is designed to be substantially equal to the width dimension.

The heater core 13 reheats the cold air that has passed through the evaporator 12, and flows therein high-temperature hot water (engine cooling water) to heat the air using the hot water as a heat source. As is well known, the heater core 13 has a heat exchange core portion 13a composed of a flat tube through which warm water passes and a corrugated fin joined thereto. The air flow path of the heat exchange core portion 13a is a first partition. The member 15 is partitioned into an upper front passage 16 and a lower rear passage 17.

Here, the first partition member 15 is disposed on the upstream side of the heater core 13 in the air flow, and the
It is formed so as to extend over the entire length of the internal space in the lateral direction of the vehicle.

Further, the upper front seat flow path 16 is provided as shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, the second partition member 18 separates a driver seat side flow path 16a located on the left side of the vehicle and a passenger seat side flow path 16b located on the right side of the vehicle. The second partition member 18 is arranged at a central portion in the vehicle left-right direction in the internal space of the air-conditioning case 11, and is arranged over an entire region from a region immediately after the evaporator 12 to a front-seat outlet opening described later.

Therefore, the upper front passage 16 is provided with the evaporator 1.
The whole part after the part 2 is divided into two parts in the vehicle left-right direction. The first and second partition members 15 and 18 may be separate from the air conditioning case 11 or may be integrally formed with the air conditioning case 11.

In the air passage in the air-conditioning case 11, cool air bypass passages 19a, 19b for front seats are formed above the heater core 13 so that air (cool air) flows through the heater core 13. The front-seat cold air bypass passages 19a and 19b are separated by a second partition member 18 into a driver seat side and a passenger seat side.

A flat air-mixing door 20a for front seats is provided between the heater core 13 and the evaporator 12.
0b are arranged in the driver's seat side passage 16a and the passenger's seat side passage 16b, respectively. The air mix doors 20a and 20b for the front seats (the driver's seat side and the passenger's seat side) are connected to the front seat flow passage 16 (16) of the heat exchange core portion 13a of the heater core 13.
The airflow ratio between the warm air heated in a and 16b) and the cool air that bypasses the heater core 13 through the front seat cool air bypass passages 19a and 19b is adjusted.

The front air mixing doors 20a and 20b are provided with rotating shafts 21a arranged horizontally (in the lateral direction of the vehicle).
The rotation shafts 21a, 21b,
1b is rotatable independently in the vertical direction of the vehicle. The front air mixing doors 20a and 20b constitute front seat temperature adjusting means for independently adjusting the temperature of air blown to the driver's seat side and the passenger's seat side of the front seat in the vehicle cabin by adjusting the air flow rate.

The rotating shafts 21a and 21b are
, And one end of each of the rotating shafts 21a and 21b protrudes outside the air conditioning case 11, and is separately connected to an independent actuator mechanism using a servomotor via a link mechanism (not shown). The rotational position of the air mix doors 20a and 20b is independently adjusted by this actuator mechanism.

On the other hand, in the air-conditioning case 11, a wall surface 22 extending in the vertical direction at a predetermined interval from the heater core 13 is formed integrally with the air-conditioning case 11 at a position downstream of the heater core 13 (on the rear side of the vehicle). Have been. The front wall warm air passages 23a and 23b extending upward from immediately after the heater core 13 are formed by the wall surface 22.

The downstream side (upper side) of the front warm air passages 23a and 23b joins with the downstream side of the cool air bypass passages 19a and 19b above the heater core 13 to mix the cool air and the warm air. The air mixing sections 24a and 24b are formed. The front-seat hot air passages 23a and 23b and the front-seat air mixing sections 24a and 24b are also separated by the second partition member 18 into a driver seat side and a passenger seat side.

On the upper surface of the air conditioning case 11, defroster openings 25a, 2a on the driver's seat side and the passenger's seat side are formed adjacent to the front seat air mixing sections 24a, 24b.
5b is open. The defroster openings 25a, 2
Reference numeral 5b denotes a temperature-controlled conditioned air flowing from the air mixing sections 24a and 24b, which is connected to a defroster outlet via a not-shown defroster duct, and from the defroster outlet to the inner surface of the vehicle front window glass. Blow the wind toward it.

The defroster openings 25a and 25b are flat defroster doors 26a and 26a on the driver's seat side and the passenger's seat side.
6b. This defroster door 26a, 2
6b is configured to rotate around rotation shafts 27a and 27b arranged in the horizontal direction near the upper surface of the air conditioning case 11.

The defroster doors 26a, 26b open and close the defroster openings 25a, 25b and the communication ports 28a, 28b. The communication ports 28a and 28b are also provided on the driver's seat side and the passenger's seat side, and are provided with the air mixing sections 24a and 24b.
The air-conditioned air from the front seat 4b is used for the front face opening 29 described later.
a, 29b and a passage for flowing toward the front seat foot openings 30a, 30b.

On the upper surface of the air-conditioning case 11, face openings 29a and 29b are provided at a position on the vehicle rear side (closer to the occupant) than the defroster openings 25a and 25b. These face openings 29a and 29b are shown in the figure. It is connected to a face outlet located on the upper side of the instrument panel via a face duct which is not used, and blows wind from the face outlet toward the occupant head in the vehicle compartment.

Next, in the air-conditioning case 11, the foot openings 30a, 30b are provided below the face openings 29a, 29b.
30b is provided. These foot openings 30a, 3
0b is the left and right side surfaces of the air conditioning case 11 (see FIG. 2).
And blows air to the front of the driver's seat and the front passenger's seat.

Between the face openings 29a, 29b and the foot openings 30a, 30b, flat foot-face switching doors 31a, 31b are provided with rotating shafts 32a, 32b.
And are rotatably arranged. This switching door 31
The entrance opening passages 33a and 33b of the face openings 29a and 29b and the foot openings 30a and 30b are switched and opened and closed by a and 31b.

Here, the defroster doors 26a, 26b and the foot face switching doors 31a, 31b are front-seat blowing mode switching means, and the driver side defroster door 26a and the foot face switching door 31a are shown It is connected to a common actuator mechanism composed of a servomotor via a link mechanism that is not used, and is operated in conjunction with this actuator mechanism.

Similarly, the defroster door 26b on the passenger seat side
The foot face switching door 31b is connected to a common actuator mechanism composed of a servomotor via a link mechanism (not shown), and is operated in conjunction with the actuator mechanism.

Next, a cool air bypass passage 34 for the rear seat is formed in the air-conditioning case 11 at a position below the heater core 13 to allow the cool air from the outlet of the evaporator 12 to pass through the heater core 13.

A fixed partition member 3 is provided at the downstream side of the heater core 13 so as to face the rear seat flow path 17.
The fixed partition member 35 separates the warm air passages 23a and 23b for the front seat from the warm air passage 37 for the rear seat. The rear seat hot air passage 37 is a passage that leads the downstream side of the rear seat flow path 17 of the heater core 13 to the rear seat air mixing section 38 located below.

On the other hand, on the upstream side of the heater core 13, a flat rear-seat air mix door 39 is arranged rotatably about a rotary shaft 40 at a position on the side of the rear seat flow path 17. The rear air mix door 39 is provided with the heater core 13.
The rear seat side which adjusts the air volume ratio of the warm air b passing through the rear seat flow path 17 and the cool air a passing the rear seat cool air bypass passage 34 to adjust the temperature of the air blown to the rear seat side in the vehicle compartment. The temperature adjusting means is constituted. The warm air b from the warm air passage 37 for the rear seat and the cool air a from the cool air bypass passage 34 for the rear seat are mixed in the air mixing section 38 for the rear seat to become air at a desired temperature.

Rotating shaft 40 of rear air mix door 39
Is arranged in the horizontal direction (lateral direction of the vehicle), one end of which protrudes outside the air conditioning case 11 and is connected to an independent actuator mechanism using a servomotor or the like via a link mechanism (not shown). Thereby, the turning position of the air mix door 39 for the rear seat is adjusted.

A rear seat face opening 41 and a rear seat foot opening 42 are arranged on the downstream side (rear side of the vehicle) of the rear seat air mixing section 38. In this example, as shown in FIGS.
The rear seat foot openings 42 are arranged on both left and right sides of the rear seat face opening 41.

Here, the cool air a flows into the lower part of the rear seat air mixing section 38, and the warm air b flows into the upper part of the rear seat air mixing section 38. The arrangement direction of the rear-seat face opening 41 and the rear-seat foot opening 42 is perpendicular to the arrangement direction (up-down direction) of the warm air b (vehicle left-right direction).

As shown in FIG. 4, at the boundary between the rear-seat cool air bypass passage 34 and the rear-seat air mixing section 38, the amount of the cool air a flowing toward the rear-seat foot outlet opening 42 is limited. Wall section (restriction means) 46 is provided. The diaphragm wall portion 46 is provided in a range indicated by reference numeral W1 in FIG. 5 (a portion facing the rear seat foot blowing opening 42), and is provided in a portion facing the rear seat face blowing opening 41. Absent.

As shown in FIG. 1, at the boundary between the hot air passage 37 for the rear seat and the air mixing section 38 for the rear seat, the amount of the hot air b flowing toward the face blowing opening 41 for the rear seat is restricted. A hot air restriction plate (restriction means) 47 is provided. The hot air restricting plate 47 is provided in a range indicated by reference numeral W2 in FIG. 5 (a portion facing the rear seat face blowout opening 41), and is provided in a portion facing the rear seat foot blowout opening 42. Not.

In each of the openings 41 and 42, a rear door blowing mode switching door 4 comprising a butterfly door is provided.
Reference numerals 3 and 44 are arranged so as to be rotatable about a rotation shaft 45. Here, a plurality of (three in this example) rear-seat blowout mode switching doors 43 and 44 are connected to one rotating shaft 45 and operated in conjunction.

The air having the desired temperature mixed in the rear air mixing section 38 is supplied to the rear face opening 41 or the rear foot opening 42 selected by the rear air outlet mode switching doors 43 and 44. The air flows toward the rear of the vehicle toward the rear, and further flows from a face outlet for the rear seat or a foot outlet for the rear seat to the head or foot side of the rear occupant through a connection duct (not shown).

The rotating shafts 45 of the rear-seat outlet mode switching doors 43 and 44 are rotatably supported by the air-conditioning case 11, and one end of the rotating shaft 45 protrudes outside the air-conditioning case 11 to form a link mechanism (not shown). , And is connected to an independent actuator mechanism using a servomotor.
The operation position of No. 4 is switched.

Next, the operation of this embodiment in the above configuration will be described for each blowing mode.

(1) Face Mode When the face mode is selected as the blowout mode for the front and rear seats, the defroster doors 26a and 26b close the defroster openings 25a and 25b to close the communication ports 28a and 28b.
28b is fully opened. In addition, door 3 for foot face change
1a and 31b completely close the entrance side passages 33a and 33b of the front seat foot openings 30a and 30b. The rear-seat outlet mode switching doors 43 and 44 open the rear-seat face opening 41 and close the rear-seat foot opening 42.

At this time, the air mix door 20 for the front seat
When a and 20b are moved to the position a in FIG.
The maximum cooling state is set in which the front seat flow path 16 of No. 3 is fully closed and the front seat cool air bypass passages 19a and 19b are fully opened.
In this state, when the blower unit and the refrigeration cycle are operated, the blown air from the blower unit flows in from the air inlet 14 and is cooled by the evaporator 12 to become cool air.

In the maximum cooling state, the cool air passes through the cool air bypass passages 19a and 19b for the front seat and passes through the air mixing sections 24a and 24b for the front seat and the communication ports 28a and 28.
b, the air flows toward the front seat face openings 29a and 29b, and cool air is blown from the front seat face outlet toward the head of the front seat occupant.

When the front air mix doors 20a and 20b are operated from the position a (maximum cooling position) in FIG. 1 to the intermediate opening position to control the temperature of the air blown into the passenger compartment, the front air mix door 20a , 20b in accordance with the position of the opening degree, the majority of the cool air passes through the front seat cool air bypass passages 19a, 19b, and the remaining part of the cool air flows into the front seat flow path 16 of the heater core 13 and is heated. And rises in the front seat warm air passages 23a and 23b. Then, the cool air in the cold air bypass passages 19a, 19b for the front seat and the hot air passage 23a for the front seat,
The warm air from 23b is mixed with the front air mixing units 24a and 24b.
And adjusted to the desired temperature.

Here, by independently controlling the opening positions of the front driver's air mix door 20a and the front passenger's seat air mix door 20b, the blowout temperatures to the driver's seat side and the passenger's seat side can be controlled independently. .

On the other hand, the rear seat air mix door 39 is shown in FIG.
Is operated, the air flow to the rear seat flow path 17 of the heater core 13 is shut off and the rear cold air bypass passage 34 is fully opened, so that the maximum cooling state on the rear seat side is set. . In this maximum cooling state, the cool air from the outlet of the evaporator 12 passes through the cool air bypass passage 34 for the rear seat, passes through the air mixing section 38 for the rear seat, and then to the face opening 41 for the rear seat. Cold air blows out from the outlet toward the head of the rear passenger.

When the rear air mix door 39 is operated from the dashed line position (maximum cooling position) of FIG. 1 to the intermediate opening position, the rear cold air bypass passage according to the open position of the rear air mix door 39 is provided. The ratio of the amount of cold air from the warm air from the rear seat warm air passage 37 to the amount of the cool air from the warm air passage 37 can be adjusted.

Therefore, the front air mix door 20a,
By independently controlling the operation positions (rotational positions) of the 20b and the rear air mix door 39, the face air temperature of the three front seat driver side seats, the passenger seat side and the rear seat side is independent. Can be controlled.

(2) Bi-level mode The defroster doors 26a and 26b are operated to the positions indicated by the solid lines in FIG.
b to the solid line position in FIG.
Both the entrance passages 30a and 30b of the front seat foot openings 30a and 30b are opened.

Also, rear door blow mode switching doors 43 and 4 are provided.
4 opens both a rear face opening 41 and a rear foot opening 42.

Since the bi-level mode is usually used in the middle season of spring and autumn, the air mix door 20 for the front seat is used.
a and 20b are operated to the intermediate opening position, and the wind adjusted to the desired temperature flows vertically from both the front face openings 29a and 29b and the front foot openings 30a and 30b toward the front seat side in the vehicle compartment. At the same time.

By operating the rear-seat air mix door 39 to the intermediate opening position, the wind adjusted to the desired temperature is also blown to the rear seat side by the face opening 41 and the foot opening 42.
The air can be blown simultaneously from both sides above and below the rear seat side of the passenger compartment.

Here, the rear face air outlet 41 and the rear foot air outlet 4 are arranged in the direction in which the cold air a and the hot air b flow into the rear air mixing section 38 (up and down direction).
2 is vertical (vehicle left-right direction), so that the cool air a and the hot air b are not biased,
In the case where the throttle wall portion 46 and the hot air limiting plate 47 are not provided, the temperature of the blown air on the face side and the temperature of the blown air on the foot side become substantially the same.

In this embodiment, however, the amount of cool air flowing toward the rear seat foot opening 42 is restricted by the throttle wall 46, and the amount of cool air on the rear seat foot opening 42 side is reduced. On the other hand, the amount of cool air flowing toward the rear seat face outlet 41 is not restricted by the restricting wall 46, so that the amount of cool air on the side of the rear seat outlet 41 is large. Further, the amount of warm air flowing toward the rear seat face opening 41 is limited by the warm air restricting plate 47, and the amount of warm air on the rear seat face opening 41 is reduced. On the other hand, the warm air heading toward the rear seat foot outlet opening 42 is not restricted by the hot air restricting plate 47, so that the amount of warm air at the rear seat foot outlet opening 42 side increases.

Therefore, the temperature of the blown air on the rear seat face side can be appropriately lowered than the temperature of the blown air on the rear seat foot side.

(3) Foot mode The defroster doors 26a and 26b are operated from the solid line position in FIG. 1 to a position where the defroster openings 25a and 25b are opened a small amount and the communication ports 28a and 28b are opened (almost fully opened). In addition, the doors 31a, 3
1b closes the front seat face openings 29a and 29b, and the entrance passage 3 of the front seat foot openings 30a and 30b.
Operate 0a, 30b to the fully open position.

Further, the rear-seat outlet mode switching doors 43 and 4 are provided.
4 is operated to close the rear seat face opening 41 and open the rear seat foot opening 42.

At this time, the air mix door 20 for the front seat
When a and 20b are moved to the dashed line position b in FIG. 1, the cool air bypass passages 19a and 19b are fully closed and the heater core 13
The maximum heating state in which the front seat flow path 16 is fully opened is set. In this state, after the blast air from the blower unit flows in from the air inlet 14, passes through the evaporator 12, flows into the front seat channel 16 of the heater core 13, and is heated to become hot air. This warm air rises in the warm air passages 23a, 23b for the front seats and reaches the air mixing sections 24a, 24b for the front seats, from which through the communication ports 28a, 28b, the foot opening 30 for the front seats.
a, 30b, from which warm air blows toward the feet of the front passenger.

At this time, the rear air mix door 39 is operated to the solid line position in FIG. 1 to completely close the rear cold air bypass passage 34 and fully open the rear seat flow passage 17 of the heater core 13. The maximum heating state on the rear seat side is set. In this state, the entire amount of the rear-seat-side blast air below the partition member 15 is heated by the rear-seat channel 17 of the heater core 13 to become hot air. After passing through the air mixing section 38, it goes to the rear seat foot opening 42.
Further, warm air is blown from the rear seat foot opening 42 toward the foot of the rear occupant through the rear seat foot outlet.

The front air mix doors 20a and 20b and the rear air mix door 39 are each independently shown in FIG.
By operating from the dashed-dotted line position (maximum heating position) to any intermediate opening position, the mixing ratio of cold air and hot air can be adjusted independently on both the front seat side and the rear seat side. In addition, the temperature of the foot outlet air on the front seat side and the rear seat side can be controlled independently.

In the foot mode, the ratio of the amount of air blown out from the defroster openings 25a and 25b to the amount of air blown out from the front seat foot openings 30a and 30b is usually about 3 to 7 on the front seat side. However, if the defroster doors 26a and 26b are operated to a position where the degree of opening of the defroster openings 25a and 25b increases and the degree of opening of the communication ports 28a and 28b decreases compared to the case of the foot mode, the defroster openings 25a , 25b and the ratio of the amount of air blown from the front seat foot openings 30a, 30b to about 5: 5.

As a result, a foot defroster mode in which the effect of preventing fogging of the window glass is higher than that in the foot mode can be set.

(4) Defroster Mode When the defroster mode is selected, the defroster door 26
a, 26b is operated to the position indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 1 to fully open the defroster openings 25a, 25b and to open the communication ports 28a,
Close b. And the air mix door 20 for the front seat
When the a and b are moved to the dashed-dotted line position (maximum heating position) b in FIG. 1, the warm air heated in the front seat flow path 16 of the heater core 13 is heated by the front seat warm air passages 23a and 23b and the defroster opening. Through 25a and 25b, air is blown out from the defroster outlet toward the windshield of the vehicle to prevent the windshield from fogging.

Further, the rear door blowing mode switching doors 43 and 4 are provided.
4 is operated to close the rear seat face opening 41 and open the rear seat foot opening 42. Therefore,
Warm air is blown from the rear seat foot opening 42 toward the foot of the rear occupant through the rear seat foot outlet.

(Other Embodiments) In the above embodiment, in order to set the temperature difference between the face side and the foot side in the bi-level mode, the throttle wall 46 and the hot air limiting plate 47 are set.
Is provided, but only one of them may be provided.

In the above-described embodiment, a case is described in which the front-seat channel 16 of the heater core 13 is partitioned into the driver-side channel 16a and the passenger-side channel 16b by the partitioning member 18 at the center in the left-right direction. However, the present invention may be applied to an air conditioner in which the partition member 18 is abolished and the front seat channel 16 is not partitioned in the left-right direction. In this case, the doors 20a, 20
b, the doors 26a and 26b, the doors 31a and 31b, and the doors 350a and 350b are not divided in the left-right direction, and may be formed as an integral door.

The present invention is also applicable to an air conditioner that blows out conditioned air only to the front seat.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an air conditioning unit of a vehicle air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a view taken in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a main part of an air conditioning unit of a conventional vehicle air conditioner.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 evaporator, 13 heater core, 38 air mixing section for rear seat, 41 face opening for rear seat, 42 foot opening for rear seat.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cooling heat exchanger for cooling air.
A heating heat exchanger (13) for heating air; a cold air (a) cooled by the cooling heat exchanger (12); and a hot air (heated by the heating heat exchanger (13)). b) a mixing section (38) into which the air flows, a face blowing opening (41) opening to the mixing section (38) and blowing air toward the occupant head, and an opening to the mixing section (38). A cold air (a) and a hot air (b) flowing into the mixing section (38), comprising a foot blowing opening (42) for blowing air toward the feet of the occupant;
The face blowing opening (41)
And the foot outlet opening (42) is arranged substantially vertically. 2. An air mixture of the cold air cooled by the cooling heat exchanger (12) and the hot air heated by the heating heat exchanger (13) is blown to the front seat blowout openings (25a, 25b). , 29
a, 29b, 30a, 30b) in a vehicle air conditioner that blows out toward a front seat occupant, wherein the cold air (a) cooled by the cooling heat exchanger (12) and the heating heat exchanger (13) are used. A rear-seat mixing section (38) into which heated warm air (b) flows; and a face-blowing opening (38) that opens into the rear-seat mixing section (38) and blows air toward the rear-seat occupant head. 41), a foot outlet opening (42) that opens to the rear seat mixing section (38) and blows air toward the rear passenger foot, and flows into the rear seat mixing section (38). A vehicle air conditioner wherein the direction in which the face blowout opening (41) and the foot blowout opening (42) are arranged substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the cold air (a) and the warm air (b) are arranged. apparatus. 3. A restricting means (46) for restricting the amount of cold air (a) flowing to the foot outlet opening (42) in the passage of the cold air (a) reaching the foot outlet opening (42). The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle air conditioner is provided. 4. In the passage of the warm air (b) reaching the face blowing opening (41), the face blowing opening (4) is provided.
1) A limiting means (4) for limiting the amount of hot air (b) flowing to the side.
The vehicle air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein (7) is provided.