JP2002162089A - Connecting structure for duct for air conditioning - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a structure for connecting a first duct formed of a foaming resin sheet under vacuum in tight contact with a second duct with rigidity. SOLUTION: In the structure, the first air conditioning duct 12 formed by connecting both the end edge parts of the half duct body formed of the foaming resin sheet under vacuum is connected to the second air conditioning duct 14 with rigidity. The structure comprises an inwardly extending engaging piece 18 formed at the opening end of a first opening part 16 of the first duct intersecting a central axis L from the opening end, an expansion allowing part 22 formed from the first opening part to the engaging piece to expand the opening part outward and a groove part 20 slightly inwardly recessed on the periphery of the outer side surface from a second opening 24 of the second duct. Thus, the first opening part is opened outward by a prescribed dimension by the expansion allowing part to allow the opening side of the second duct to be internally inserted and the engaging piece formed in the first opening part to be fitted to and engaged with the groove part of the second opening part.

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 connection structure, and more particularly, to a rigid air-conditioning first air-conditioning duct obtained by vacuum forming a foamed resin sheet, and a rigid synthetic resin. The present invention relates to a connection structure capable of easily and closely contacting a second air conditioning duct without using packing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An air conditioner which is derived from a temperature controlled air outlet of an air conditioner unit for a vehicle and is connected to a ventilator and a defroster outlet provided on an instrument panel, for example, to supply temperature controlled air respectively. Ducts have generally been manufactured by blow molding a parison made of high density polyethylene. On the other hand, in order to reduce the weight and to improve the soundproofing and moistureproofing effects, two pieces of vacuum forming mold are used between two vacuum forming dies whose outer contour of the duct half is divided into the cavity and whose inner contour is the inner contour of the cavity. A foamed resin sheet (for example, a foamed polypropylene sheet material) is interposed, and after heating and softening, vacuum forming is performed to join the two duct halves at both ends in the longitudinal direction for air conditioning. Duct manufacturing methods have recently been implemented.

[0003]

The air-conditioning duct, in which the two duct halves are joined together, is made of a foamed resin sheet, so that the air-conditioning duct is reduced in weight and improved in soundproofing and moistureproofing. On the other hand, the mechanical stiffness required for the duct is kept to a minimum, and is much smaller than the stiffness of the duct formed by blow molding high-density polyethylene. For this reason, an air-conditioning duct made of a foamed resin sheet (hereinafter referred to as a “first air-conditioning duct”) is replaced with another air-conditioning duct (hereinafter, referred to as a “second air-conditioning duct”) made of, for example, high-density polyethylene by blow molding to have rigidity. )), Since the opening serving as the connection portion of the first air conditioning duct has no rigidity, when the other duct is inserted into one duct in a close contact, the There was a problem that the opening was easily deformed and the connection work became difficult.

Therefore, it has been practiced to set the opening size of one duct larger than the opening size of the other duct to facilitate the connection work for inserting the duct. However, in this case, there is a gap in the connection portion between the two ducts, and there is a problem that the temperature-controlled air supplied with pressure from the air conditioner unit leaks out therefrom. Therefore, measures have been taken to prevent leakage of temperature-controlled air by attaching a packing such as a urethane sheet in advance to the inside of the opening of the air conditioning duct on the side where the opening size is set to be large. At the same time, other drawbacks such as the necessity of separately preparing a packing as a separate member and the necessity of further attaching the packing are required.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems suitably, and is intended to provide a first air-conditioning duct having a low rigidity obtained by vacuum-forming a foamed resin sheet to a rigid synthetic resin. When connecting to the second air conditioning duct made of
An object of the present invention is to provide an air-conditioning duct connection structure that can easily achieve close connection between both ducts.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and to achieve the intended object, the present invention is to form two foam resin sheets by vacuum forming to form two duct halves at both longitudinal edges. For connecting the first air-conditioning duct joined at the portion to a second air-conditioning duct made of a synthetic resin having rigidity, wherein an opening end of a first opening of the first air-conditioning duct is provided. And a locking piece slightly extending inward from the open end to intersect the central axis of the duct;
An expansion permitting portion formed from an appropriate position of the first opening to the locking piece and expanding the first opening outward by a required dimension; and a second opening of the second air conditioning duct. A groove recessed circumferentially on the outer side surface slightly recessed from the portion to allow the engagement of the locking piece in the first air conditioning duct, and the open side of the second air conditioning duct (1) When inserting into the first opening of the air conditioning duct, the first opening is expanded outward by a required dimension by the expansion permitting portion,
The second air-conditioning duct is allowed to be inserted on the open side, and the locking piece formed in the first opening is fitted and locked in the groove formed in the second opening. I do.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a connection structure of an air-conditioning duct according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of preferred embodiments. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a connection structure of an air conditioning duct according to an embodiment, and shows a state before connection of first and second air conditioning ducts. FIG. 2
3 and FIG. 3 show a state in which the second air conditioning duct is inserted into the first air conditioning duct. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the air conditioning duct, showing a state immediately before the second air conditioning duct is inserted into the first air conditioning duct.

The air conditioning duct designated by the reference numeral 12 in FIG. 4 is formed into two duct halves 10 and 10 by vacuum forming two foam resin sheets such as foamed polypropylene. Edge 10a, 1
Oa is a hollow cylindrical body having an air flow passage defined therein. Since the air conditioning duct 12 is made of a foamed resin sheet, it has extremely poor rigidity as described above. In addition, since the vacuum forming method of the twin composite or the like for manufacturing the air conditioning duct 12 from the foamed resin sheet has already been technically established, the description thereof will be omitted. The air conditioning duct designated by reference numeral 14 in FIG.
For example, an air-conditioning duct obtained by blow molding a hollow parison made of high-density polyethylene,
It has considerable rigidity as compared with 2. The present invention relates to an air-conditioning duct 12 made of a foamed resin sheet and having a low rigidity.
And a structure for connecting a high-rigidity air-conditioning duct 14 made of high-density polyethylene or the like, in order to avoid confusion, the former duct is referred to as a first air-conditioning duct 12, and the latter is referred to as a first air-conditioning duct 12. Is referred to as a second air conditioning duct 14.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a first opening 16 having a rectangular opening at one end of the first air conditioning duct 12.
Is the second air-conditioning duct 1
In order to easily insert the open end of 4, it is slightly widened outward with a required inclination angle like a trumpet. A locking piece 18 is formed integrally with the first opening 16 so as to intersect orthogonally with the central axis L of the duct 12 from the opening end and slightly extend inward of the opening. . That is, the locking piece 18 is a protruding piece that extends from the peripheral edge of the opening of the first opening 16 to the inside of the opening, and is formed along the entire peripheral edge of the opening as illustrated. This locking piece 18
When the duct is connected, a groove 2 described later of the second air conditioning duct 14
0.

[0010] The first opening 1 of the first air conditioning duct 12
6, the locking piece 1 is located at an appropriate position in the opening.
8, a V-groove-shaped expansion allowance 22 is formed, and the presence of the expansion allowance 22 allows the first opening 16 to be described later.
Can be expanded outward by a required dimension.
That is, as described above, the first opening portion 16 is expanded outward in a trumpet shape, and an expansion permitting portion formed of a V-groove is provided at, for example, a position corresponding to the top and bottom of the trumpet-shaped expansion surface. 2
2 are formed. As shown in FIG. 4, the expansion allowable portion 22 extends not only to the first opening 16 but also to the locking piece 18, and always opens the valley of the V groove. That is, as shown in FIG.
Since the valley is opened, the first opening 16 of the first air conditioning duct 12 is expanded outward by a required dimension. However, it is not an essential requirement that the expansion allowable portion 22 is always opened, and as shown in FIG. 6, the expansion allowable portion 22 may be a bottomed cut portion cut into a required depth.

In particular, as shown in FIG.
4 has a rectangular opening at one end thereof, and has a groove 2 at an outer surface slightly recessed from the open end thereof.
0 is circumferentially recessed. That is, the groove portion 20 is an entire circumferential groove set to a width in which the locking piece 18 provided in the first air conditioning duct 12 can be fitted, and the width dimension of the locking piece 18 is slightly tight. It is preferable to set to an extent that the fitting is allowed. The shape and external dimensions of the second opening 24 in the second air-conditioning duct 14 are similar to the cross-sectional shape of the first air-conditioning duct 12 and the first opening 1
6 is set to such an extent as to be able to come into close contact with the base that starts to open in a trumpet shape.

[0012]

The operation of the air-conditioning duct connecting structure according to the embodiment constructed as described above will be described below. Since the first opening 16 of the first air-conditioning duct 12 is formed with the expansion permitting portion 22 as described above, the open end of the opening 16 expands outward like a trumpet. I have. In the second air conditioning duct 14 to be inserted and connected to the first air conditioning duct 12, the shape and external dimensions of the second opening 24 are substantially the same as the shapes and external dimensions of the first opening 16 before the expansion. Equivalently set.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
The second opening 24 of the second air conditioning duct 14 is directed to the first opening 16 of the air conditioning duct 12,
The second air-conditioning duct 14 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow in a state where the axes of are aligned. Thereby, the open end of the second air conditioning duct 14 is easily inserted into the first opening 16 of the first air conditioning duct 12, as shown in FIG. When the second air-conditioning duct 14 is inserted into the first air-conditioning duct 12 by a required dimension in the axial direction in this manner, the locking pieces 18 formed at the open end of the first opening 16 which is expanded in a trumpet shape. Is slightly fitted into the groove 20 provided on the outer surface of the second opening 24 of the second air conditioning duct 14.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, when the expansion allowing portion 22, which always opens the valley portion in a V-shape, is sandwiched between the fingertips and pressed, the first expanding portion 22 is expanded outward in a trumpet shape. The first opening 16 of the air conditioning duct 12 closes and converges toward the center, and the first opening 16 is in close contact with the outer surface of the second air conditioning duct 14 near the open end. If the finger is released in this state, the widening allowable portion 22 opens again in a V-shape,
As shown in FIG. 3, the stapler 26 locks the closed expansion allowance portion 22 with the stapler needle 22 to prevent the opening from occurring thereafter. The opening preventing means applied to the expansion permitting portion 22 may be welding by a heat gun, attaching an adhesive tape, or the like, other than the stapler needle 26. The first opening 16 of the first air conditioning duct 12 is closed with the second opening
By making the outer surface of the air-conditioning duct 14 be in close contact with the outer surface of the air-conditioning duct 14, the locking piece 18 whose front end faces the groove 20 is completely fitted into the groove 20 as shown in FIG. 3. That is, in the air conditioning ducts 12 and 14 after the connection is completed, the first
The locking piece 18 circumferentially projecting from the opening 16 fits tightly around the groove 20 circumferentially recessed into the second opening 24, so that the inside of the duct is accompanied by pressure. It effectively prevents the supplied conditioned air from leaking from the connection site, and does not require sealing packing unlike the prior art.

When the expansion permitting portion 22 is a bottomed cut portion having a required depth as shown in FIG. 6, prior to inserting the second air conditioning duct 14 into the first air conditioning duct 12, The first opening 16 of the first air conditioning duct 12 is lightly applied with a force from the inside to the outside. As a result, the bottomed cut portion 22 opens in a V-shape, so that the first opening portion 16 expands outward in a wrapper-like manner, thereby allowing easy insertion of the second air conditioning duct 14.

[0016]

As described above, according to the air-conditioning duct connection structure of the present invention, the first air-conditioning duct having a low rigidity obtained by vacuum-forming a foamed resin sheet is made of a rigid synthetic resin. When connecting to the second air-conditioning duct, the connecting portion of the first air-conditioning duct is not easily deformed to make connection difficult, and the packing material is not separately required. An excellent effect is obtained that can easily achieve close connection of the duct.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a connection structure of an air conditioning duct according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state immediately before connecting a second air conditioning duct to a first air conditioning duct.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a connection structure of the air conditioning duct according to the embodiment, and shows a state immediately after the second air conditioning duct is inserted into the first air conditioning duct.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the duct connection structure, showing a connection completed state in which a locking piece of a first air conditioning duct is fitted and locked in a groove of a second air conditioning duct.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the air-conditioning duct connection structure according to the embodiment, showing a state immediately before inserting a second air-conditioning duct into a first air-conditioning duct.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front view of an expansion permitting portion formed at a first opening of the first air conditioning duct, showing a state in which a valley portion is opened by a V groove-shaped expansion allowing portion; .

FIG. 6 is an enlarged front view of an expansion permissible portion formed at a first opening of the first air conditioning duct, wherein the expansion permissible portion is a bottomed cut portion having a required depth.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Duct half 12 1st air-conditioning duct 14 2nd air-conditioning duct 16 1st opening 18 Locking piece 20 Groove 22 Expandable permissible part 24 2nd opening

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masaaki Sugiura 3-136 Imaike-cho, Anjo-shi, Aichi F-term (reference) in Inoac Corporation Anjo Office 3H016 EA03 3L080 AA01 AB02 AB07

Claims (3)

[Claims] A first air-conditioning duct (12) in which two duct halves (10, 10) are joined at both ends in the longitudinal direction by vacuum-forming two foamed resin sheets to increase rigidity. A structure for connecting to a second air-conditioning duct (14) made of synthetic resin having a material, formed at an open end of a first opening (16) in the first air-conditioning duct (12); The center axis of the duct (12) from the open end
Locking piece (18) extending slightly inward to intersect (L)
An expansion permitting portion formed from an appropriate position of the first opening (16) to the locking piece (18) and expanding the first opening (16) outward by a required dimension ( 22), a circumferentially recessed outer surface slightly recessed from the second opening (24) of the second air conditioning duct (14), and a locking piece ( The groove (2
0), the open side of the second air conditioning duct (14) is the first air conditioning duct
At the time of insertion into the first opening (16) of (12), the first opening (16) is expanded outward by a required dimension by the expansion permitting portion (22), and the second air conditioning duct is inserted. (14) allows insertion on the open side and fits the locking piece (18) formed in the first opening (16) into the groove (20) recessed in the second opening (24). A connection structure for an air conditioning duct, which is configured to be locked. 2. The air-conditioning duct connection structure according to claim 1, wherein the expansion permitting portion is formed as a V-groove. 3. The air-conditioning duct connection structure according to claim 1, wherein the widening allowable portion is formed as a notched bottom having a required depth.