JP2002103945A - Air conditioning duct mounting structure of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioning duct mounting structure with a screw fastening structure discontinued. SOLUTION: An air conditioning duct 20 is retained by a bracket 12 formed by cutting and raising a part of a sandwich panel 11 integrated with a cowl panel 10. A usual structure fixing the air conditioning duct 20 with screws, thereby can be eliminated and a usual bracket 21 formed as one body with the air conditioning duct 20 can be eliminated. Accordingly, it is allowed to form the air conditioning duct 20 with sound absorbing soft material (for example expanded polypropylen) to absorb noise with the air conditioning duct 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air-conditioning duct mounting structure for circulating conditioned air blown into a vehicle cabin.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional air-conditioning duct mounting structure will be described with reference to FIG. 10. An air-conditioning duct 20 is disposed inside a vehicle instrument panel 30 to circulate conditioned air in a vehicle left-right direction (a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. Air-conditioning duct 20
, A bracket 21 having a screw insertion hole 21a is integrally formed of resin (for example, polyethylene). The air conditioning duct 20 is fixed and held on the inner surface of the instrument panel 30 by screws inserted into the screw insertion holes 21a.

The general sectional shape of the instrument panel 30 is as follows.
The air-conditioning duct 20 is formed in a J-shape including a curved portion 31 curved so as to be convex toward the vehicle rear side and a horizontal portion 32 extending substantially horizontally from the upper end of the curved portion 31 toward the vehicle front side. Are arranged adjacent to the curved portion 31.

[0004]

By the way, noise generated by a blower or the like that blows conditioned air to the air conditioning duct 20 is transmitted to the vehicle interior through the conditioned air in the air conditioning duct 20 and the wall of the air conditioning duct 20. Would. As a measure against this,
It is conceivable that the air conditioning duct 20 is made of a material having excellent sound absorbing properties and the noise is absorbed by the air conditioning duct 20. In general, the resin having excellent sound absorbing properties is a soft material such as foamable polypropylene.

However, since the bracket 21 having the screw insertion hole 21a is formed integrally with the conventional air conditioning duct 20, if the air conditioning duct 20 is formed of a soft material, the bracket 21 also becomes a soft material. The screw insertion hole 21a portion 21 is easily damaged. Therefore, it was difficult to form the air conditioning duct 20 with a soft material.

Incidentally, the instrument panel 30 is designed to have a shape corresponding to the interior design that differs for each vehicle type, and in particular, the shape of the curved portion 31 greatly differs for each vehicle type. here,
Since the conventional air conditioning duct 20 is disposed adjacent to the curved portion 31, the shape of the air conditioning duct 20 must be designed to match the curved shape of the curved portion 31.
Also, it is necessary to change the shape for each type of vehicle, which leads to an increase in the manufacturing cost of the air conditioning duct 20.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, the present invention has a first object of providing an air-conditioning duct mounting structure in which the structure of fixing with screws is eliminated.
A second object is to make the shape of the air conditioning duct a common shape regardless of the vehicle type.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a bracket (12) is formed integrally with a vehicle structural part (10) constituting a part of a vehicle body, An air-conditioning duct (20) for circulating air-conditioned air blown into the vehicle interior is mounted on the upper surface of the bracket (12) and held.

Accordingly, the air conditioning duct (20) is placed on the upper surface of the bracket (12) formed integrally with the vehicle structural component (10) and is held.
Can be eliminated, and the conventional bracket integrally formed with the air conditioning duct (20) can be eliminated. Therefore, the air conditioning duct (20) can be formed of a soft material having a sound absorbing property (for example, foamable polypropylene), and the air conditioning duct (20) can absorb noise.

Further, in the invention according to the second aspect, the air conditioning duct (20) is arranged so as to extend in the lateral direction of the vehicle inside the instrument panel (30) of the vehicle, and the vehicle structural parts are outside the vehicle compartment and the vehicle. A cowl panel (10) extending in the vehicle width direction so as to partition the room, and the bracket (12) is shaped to extend rearward of the vehicle along the lower surface of the air conditioning duct (20).

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the air conditioning duct (20) is connected to the instrument panel (30) and the bracket (1).
Since it is characterized by being sandwiched and fixed in 2), the air conditioning duct (20) can be securely fixed inside the instrument panel (30) without increasing the number of parts.

According to the invention described in claim 4, the air-conditioning duct (20) for circulating conditioned air inside the instrument panel (30) of the vehicle is mounted on the instrument panel, and the instrument panel (30) is located at the rear of the vehicle. A curved portion (31) curved to be convex to the side;
A horizontal portion (32) extending substantially horizontally from the upper end of the curved portion (31) to the vehicle front side, wherein the entire air conditioning duct (20) is disposed below the horizontal portion (32). I do.

[0013] Since the entire air conditioning duct (20) is arranged below the horizontal portion (32) of the instrument panel (30), the air conditioning duct (20) is curved as compared with the conventional arrangement position. It will be located at a position distant from the part (31). Therefore, it is not necessary to design the shape of the air-conditioning duct (20) according to the shape of the curved portion (31), so that the air-conditioning duct (20) can be easily made to have a common shape regardless of the type of vehicle, and the air-conditioning duct can be easily formed. (20) The manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[0014] Further, the invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the air conditioning duct (20) is formed of a soft material having a sound absorbing property.

Note that the reference numerals in parentheses of the above means are examples showing the correspondence with specific means described in the embodiments described later.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a view of the interior of a vehicle using a structure for mounting an air conditioning duct according to the present embodiment. A cowl panel (vehicle structural component) 10 extending in the vehicle width direction and defining a part of the vehicle body so as to partition the outside of the vehicle compartment (engine room) and the vehicle interior, and extends conditioned air in the vehicle width direction. Air conditioning duct 20 to be distributed
Is provided inside a dashboard 30 on which a center cluster device such as an instrument or an audio device is mounted.

An air conditioner (not shown) is disposed inside the instrument panel 30. The air conditioning duct 20 shown in FIG. It is a side face duct that leads to 30a. Further, the air conditioning duct 20 of the present embodiment is formed of a soft material having excellent sound absorbing properties, and is preferably formed by blow molding a resin such as foamable polypropylene.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the mounting structure of the air conditioning duct 20, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view. The metal cowl panel 10 has a U-shaped sectional shape and extends in the vehicle width direction. , Metal sandwich panel 11 formed in beam shape
Are joined by a welding means such as spot welding and are integrated with the cowl panel 10.

A wire harness 40 extending in the vehicle width direction is arranged on the lower surface of the sandwich panel 11, and a clip 13 having an arrow-shaped cross section fixed to the wire harness 40 is formed on the lower surface of the sandwich panel 11. The wire harness 40 is held by the sandwich panel 11 by being inserted into the clip insertion hole 11a.

Incidentally, in the present embodiment, the cowl panel 1
Numeral 0 is not a simple panel shape (plate shape), but increases the rigidity of the cowl panel 10 by forming a rectangular closed cross section at a portion where the sandwich panel 11 is welded. The upper part of the cowl panel 10 functions as a rain gutter through which rainwater flows in the left-right direction of the vehicle.

Reference numeral 50 denotes a windshield, which extends from the front part of the sandwich panel 11 toward the rear of the vehicle. The instrument panel 30 is formed in a J-shaped cross section including a curved portion 31 curved so as to be convex toward the vehicle rear side, and a horizontal portion 32 extending substantially horizontally from the upper end of the curved portion 31 toward the vehicle front side. Have been. The two-dot chain line shown in FIG. 3 indicates the boundary between the curved portion 31 and the horizontal portion 32.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a bracket which extends rearward from the cowl panel 10 along the lower surface of the air conditioning duct 20 and supports the air conditioning duct 20. The bracket 12 is a part of the sandwich panel 11. It is formed by cutting and raising, and is integrated with the cowl panel 10.

The air conditioning duct 20 is fixed by being sandwiched between the horizontal portion 32 of the instrument panel 30 and the bracket 12. In addition, a projection 32a is formed on the inner surface of the horizontal portion 32 of the instrument panel 30 so as to project downward and sandwich the air conditioning duct 20 in the vehicle front-rear direction. Has become. Reference numeral 12a denotes a positioning portion formed by bending the distal end portion of the bracket 12 upward. The air conditioning duct 20 is also sandwiched and positioned by the positioning portion 12a and the sandwich panel 11 in the vehicle front-rear direction. I have. With the mounting structure described above, the entire air-conditioning duct 20 is connected to the horizontal portion 32 of the instrument panel 30.
It is arranged below.

Next, the procedure for mounting the air conditioning duct 20 will be described.
It is sandwiched between the positioning part 12a and the sandwich panel 11. On the other hand, the instrument panel 30 has a side face outlet 30
a connecting duct (not shown) for connecting the air conditioning duct 20 to the air conditioning duct 20 is fixed to the side face outlet 30 a of the instrument panel 30. After the connection, the protrusion 32a formed on the horizontal portion 32 of the instrument panel 30 is fitted into the air conditioning duct 20, and the instrument panel 30 is assembled at a predetermined position of the vehicle.

Next, the features of this embodiment will be described.

In this embodiment, the bracket 12 is formed by cutting and raising a part of the sandwich panel 11 integrated with the cowl panel 10, and the air conditioning duct 20 is sandwiched between the horizontal portion 32 of the instrument panel 30 and the bracket 12. It is fixed. Thus, the conventional structure in which the air conditioning duct 20 is fixed with screws can be eliminated, and the conventional bracket 21 integrally formed with the air conditioning duct 20 can be eliminated. Therefore, the air conditioning duct 20 can be formed of a soft material having a sound absorbing property, and the noise can be absorbed by the air conditioning duct 20.

Further, since the bracket 12 is formed using the existing sandwich panel 11 for holding the wire harness 50, the air conditioning duct 20 can be held without increasing the number of parts.

Further, since the air conditioning duct 20 is sandwiched and fixed between the instrument panel 30 and the bracket 12,
The air conditioning duct 20 can be securely fixed without increasing the number of parts.

Since the conventional air-conditioning duct 20 has a mounting structure fixed to the instrument panel 30 by screws, the screw tightening work is troublesome. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the conventional bracket 21 integrally formed with the air conditioning duct 20 is eliminated as described above, so that troublesome screw tightening work can be eliminated, and the air conditioning duct 20 can be mounted on the bracket 12. Since the air conditioning duct 20 can be fixed only by assembling the instrument panel 30 at a predetermined position of the vehicle, the operation of fixing the air conditioning duct 20 can be facilitated.

Further, in the present embodiment, the conventional bracket 21 can be eliminated as described above.
The manufacturing cost of the air-conditioning duct 20 can be reduced as compared with the air-conditioning duct 20 in which 1 is integrally formed.

Further, since the entire air conditioning duct 20 of the present embodiment is disposed below the horizontal portion 32 of the instrument panel 30, it is disposed at a position farther from the curved portion 31 than the conventional arrangement position. Will be. Therefore, it is not necessary to design the shape of the air-conditioning duct 20 in accordance with the shape of the curved portion 31, so that the air-conditioning duct 20 can be easily formed into a common shape regardless of the vehicle type, and the manufacturing cost of the air-conditioning duct 20 can be reduced. Can be planned.

In this embodiment, the side face duct is described as an example of the air conditioning duct 20. However, the air conditioning duct 20 is not limited to the side face duct, and may be an air conditioning duct such as a rear duct leading to the rear of the passenger compartment. Also,
If the air-conditioning duct 20 is held by the bracket 12 formed integrally with the vehicle structural component 10 constituting a part of the vehicle body, the structure for fixing the air-conditioning duct 20 with screws can of course be eliminated. is there.

In this embodiment, the air conditioning duct 20
Is disposed below the horizontal portion 32 of the instrument panel 30, but is not limited to this, and the bracket 1 formed integrally with the vehicle structural component 10 constituting a part of the vehicle body
If the air-conditioning duct 20 is held by 2, the structure for fixing the air-conditioning duct 20 with screws can of course be eliminated.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a mounting structure of an air conditioning duct 20 according to the present embodiment, in which a clip 13 fixed to a wire harness 40 is formed on the sandwich panel 11 on the rear side of the vehicle. The wire harness 4 is inserted into the clip insertion hole 11a.
0 is held on the sandwich panel 11.

A curved portion 20a is formed in a part of the air conditioning duct 20 so as to bend inward along the outer peripheral surface of the wire harness 40, and the curved portion 20a of the air conditioning duct 20 is hooked on the wire harness 40. Thus, the air conditioning duct 20 is held by the wire harness 40. The air conditioning duct 20 is fixed by being sandwiched between the horizontal portion 32 of the instrument panel 30 and the wire harness 40.

Thus, the conventional bracket 21 integrally formed with the air conditioning duct 20 can be eliminated, and
It is easy to form the air-conditioning duct 20 into a common shape regardless of the vehicle type.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a mounting structure of an air conditioning duct 20 according to the present embodiment. The engaging portion 20b is integrally formed, and the panel-side engaging portion 11b is joined to a portion of the sandwich panel 11 corresponding to the duct-side engaging portion 20b by spot welding or the like. Then, the duct side engaging portion 20b
The air-conditioning duct 20 is pressed into the panel-side engaging portion 11b while elastically deforming the air-conditioning duct 20 to engage the duct-side engaging portion 20b with the panel-side engaging portion 11b.
Is held.

As a result, the conventional bracket 21 integrally formed with the air conditioning duct 20 can be eliminated.
It is easy to form the air-conditioning duct 20 into a common shape regardless of the vehicle type.

(Fourth Embodiment) FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a mounting structure of an air-conditioning duct 20 according to the present embodiment. A clip 20c having an arrow-shaped cross-section is adhered to the front surface of the air-conditioning duct 20. The air conditioning duct 20 is held by the sandwich panel 11 by inserting the clip 20c into a clip insertion hole 11c formed in a portion of the sandwich panel 11 that contacts the air conditioning duct 20. .

Thus, the conventional bracket 21 integrally formed with the air conditioning duct 20 can be eliminated,
It is easy to form the air-conditioning duct 20 into a common shape regardless of the vehicle type.

(Fifth Embodiment) By the way, conventionally, the sandwich panel 11 is provided to hold the wire harness 40.
The space inside was not being used effectively.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, the air conditioning duct 20 is arranged in the sandwich panel 11 as shown in FIG. Thereby, the space in the sandwich panel 11 can be effectively used. Further, in a vehicle in which the shape of the cowl panel 10 is the same regardless of the type of the vehicle, the shape of the sandwich panel 11 is substantially the same.
The shape of the air-conditioning duct 20 can be easily made common regardless of the vehicle type, which is preferable.

In addition, the conventional bracket 21 integrally formed with the air conditioning duct 20 can be eliminated, and the air conditioning duct 20 can be easily formed into a common shape regardless of the vehicle type.

(Sixth Embodiment) FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a mounting structure of an air conditioning duct 20 according to the present embodiment. 32.

Thus, the conventional bracket 21 integrally formed with the air conditioning duct 20 can be eliminated,
It is easy to form the air-conditioning duct 20 into a common shape regardless of the vehicle type.

(Seventh Embodiment) FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a mounting structure of an air-conditioning duct 20 according to the present embodiment. The duct-side mounting portion 20e is integrally formed,
A panel-side mounting portion 11d is joined to a portion of the sandwich panel 11 corresponding to the mounting hole 20d by welding or the like. Then, the mounting hole 20d is attached to the panel-side mounting portion 11.
The air conditioning duct 20 is attached to the sandwich panel 11 so as to be inserted into the sandwich panel d, and the air conditioning duct 20 is held by the sandwich panel 11.

The air-conditioning duct 20 of the present embodiment is formed of a hard resin (for example, polyethylene) having such a strength that the mounting hole 20d of the duct-side mounting portion 20e is not damaged.

Even with the above-described mounting structure of the air-conditioning duct 20, the entire air-conditioning duct 20 is connected to the horizontal portion 32 of the instrument panel 30.
, The air-conditioning duct 20 can be easily formed into a common shape regardless of the vehicle type.

(Other Embodiments) Although the air-conditioning duct 20 of the first to sixth embodiments is formed of a resin of a soft material having excellent sound absorbing properties, the present invention is not limited to this. However, if the air-conditioning duct 20 is disposed below the horizontal portion 32 of the instrument panel 30, the air-conditioning duct 20 may be formed of a relatively hard resin (eg, polyethylene) having no sound absorbing property. It is easy to form a common shape regardless of the vehicle type.

In the first to sixth embodiments, the air-conditioning duct 20 is blow-molded. However, the air-conditioning duct 20 is not limited to this but may be, for example, injection-molded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vehicle cabin diagram using a mounting structure of an air conditioning duct according to first to seventh embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a mounting structure of the air conditioning duct according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a mounting structure of the air conditioning duct according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a mounting structure of an air conditioning duct according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a mounting structure of an air conditioning duct according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a structure for mounting an air conditioning duct according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a structure for mounting an air conditioning duct according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a mounting structure of an air conditioning duct according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a mounting structure of an air conditioning duct according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional air-conditioning duct mounting structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... cowl panel, 11 ... sandwich panel, 12
... bracket, 20 ... air conditioning duct, 30 ... instrument panel, 31
... bending part, 32 ... horizontal part.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle structural part (1) constituting a part of a vehicle body.
0), a bracket (12) is integrally formed, and an air-conditioning duct (20) for circulating conditioned air blown into the vehicle interior is mounted on the upper surface of the bracket (12) and held. Vehicle air-conditioning duct mounting structure. 2. The air-conditioning duct (20) is arranged to extend in the left-right direction of the vehicle inside an instrument panel (30) of the vehicle, and the vehicle structural component partitions the outside of the vehicle compartment from the interior of the vehicle. The cowl panel (10) extending in the vehicle width direction as described above, wherein the bracket (12) has a shape extending rearward of the vehicle along a lower surface of the air conditioning duct (20). The mounting structure of the vehicle air conditioning duct described in the above. 3. The mounting of an air conditioning duct for a vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the air conditioning duct (20) is sandwiched and fixed between the instrument panel (30) and the bracket (12). Construction. 4. A mounting structure of an air conditioning duct (20) for circulating conditioned air inside an instrument panel (30) of a vehicle, wherein the instrument panel (30) is curved so as to protrude rearward of the vehicle. A curved portion (31), and a horizontal portion (32) extending substantially horizontally from the upper end of the curved portion (31) to the front of the vehicle, and the entire air-conditioning duct (20) is formed of the horizontal portion (32). A mounting structure for a vehicle air-conditioning duct, which is disposed below. 5. The mounting structure for a vehicle air-conditioning duct according to claim 1, wherein the air-conditioning duct is formed of a soft material having a sound absorbing property.