JP2011161970A - Vehicular air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent rainwater from entering a vehicle interior by preventing space from occurring between an air conditioner case and a firewall without adding a member such as a packing. <P>SOLUTION: In the construction of bringing an end face of a housing section (30) of the air conditioner case (8) into contact with the circumferential edge of an opening (24) of the firewall (22) through a grommet (32) storing an expansion valve (26), a first projection (44) and a second projection (46) whose cross section is projected in a U-shape are formed around a flange section (40) of the grommet. Each of the projections is brought into contact with the firewall by pressing a rib (48) formed on the back surface of each of the projections by the end face of the housing section. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner, and more specifically, a refrigerant pipe that circulates a refrigerant between an outdoor unit placed in an engine room and an indoor unit provided in a vehicle compartment between the engine room and the room. The present invention relates to a seal structure around the refrigerant pipe when penetrating through a partition wall.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a vehicle air conditioner (hereinafter referred to as a car air conditioner), which is a vehicle air conditioner, a compressor that operates a refrigeration cycle compressor with a driving force of an engine or the like is generally used. In such a car air conditioner, the refrigerant pipe is usually passed through an opening of a firewall (partition wall) that partitions the engine room and the passenger compartment, and an outdoor unit (condenser, compressor, etc.) in the engine compartment and an indoor unit in the passenger compartment. (Evaporator etc.) are connected.

By the way, in rainy weather or the like, rainwater is scattered on the engine room side of the firewall due to the front wheel jumping up or the like. In this case, there is a problem that rainwater enters the vehicle compartment from the opening of the firewall through which the refrigerant pipe passes.
On the other hand, in recent years, the downsizing and space-saving of indoor units in car air conditioners are progressing in car air conditioners, and they are part of an evaporator (evaporator) and refrigerant piping in a resin air conditioning case that functions as an air conditioning duct. A technology for housing and integrating the evaporator tube has been developed and put into practical use. In general, the expansion valve disposed on the upstream side of the evaporator tube is preferably disposed not on the vehicle compartment but on the engine room side as much as possible because noise and vibration are likely to be generated or replaced easily. There is a demand to keep away from the heat of the engine, and for example, it is arranged at the opening of the firewall while being supported by a part of the air conditioning case.

  However, in such a structure, the opening of the firewall tends to be large, and the possibility of rainwater entering the vehicle interior from the opening increases. On the other hand, an elastic body (grommet) that covers the expansion valve is interposed between the expansion valve and the air conditioning case, and the peripheral wall of the air conditioning case presses the peripheral edge of the grommet toward the firewall side. The technique which does is developed (refer patent document 1).

JP 2009-67356 A

  However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, the grommet end face that is in contact with the firewall is a flat surface, and when the grommet end face is slightly inclined with respect to the firewall, the grommet end face comes into contact with each other and a gap is formed. There is a risk that water may enter the vehicle interior from the gap. Further, if there is a slight error in relation to the installation position of the air conditioning case with respect to the firewall, a gap is also generated between the grommet end face and the firewall. In order to close such a gap, generally, a packing made of a foam material is attached to the end face of the grommet. However, as the packing is provided, there is a problem that the number of parts increases and the cost increases.

  The present invention was made to solve such a problem, the purpose of which is to prevent the formation of a gap between the air conditioning case and the firewall without adding a member such as packing, An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle air conditioner that can prevent rainwater from entering the passenger compartment.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the vehicle air conditioner of the first aspect, the refrigerant pipe is passed through the opening of the partition wall that partitions the engine room and the passenger compartment, and the outdoor unit in the engine compartment and the interior of the passenger compartment are provided. And connecting a part of the refrigerant pipe to the opening hole of the outer shell of the air conditioning case to store in the air conditioning case to constitute the indoor unit, and each of the opening of the partition wall and the opening hole In the vehicle air conditioner in which the gap is sealed with a seal member, the refrigerant pipe is provided with an expansion valve member located at the opening of the partition wall, and an end surface is provided at the periphery of the opening hole of the air conditioning case. A housing part is formed to protrude outwardly so as to abut the opening peripheral edge of the partition wall via the seal member, and the expansion valve member is accommodated inside the seal member, and the seal member includes each of the opening of the partition wall and the opening hole. Should close the gap The rubber member is integrally formed with an elastic rubber member, and includes a recess that bulges inside the housing portion so as to wrap the expansion valve member, and a flange portion that covers the end surface of the peripheral wall, The recess has a through hole that allows a part of the refrigerant pipe to pass through in an air-tight and liquid-tight manner, and a projecting portion that protrudes in a convex shape toward the partition wall and contacts the partition wall is formed in an annular shape on the periphery of the flange portion. It is characterized by having.

The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in claim 1, the protruding portion occupies the opening surface of the opening of the partition wall from the opening edge to the radially inner side.
In a vehicle air conditioner according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the protruding portion has a U-shaped cross section, and ribs extending in the cross-sectional direction at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction are formed on the back surface of the protruding portion. The rib is in contact with the end surface of the housing portion and covers the end surface of the housing portion.

In a vehicle air conditioner according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, the housing portion serves as a first protrusion on the peripheral side and a radially inner side of the first protrusion as a protrusion. It has the 2nd protrusion part which is formed along with this 1st protrusion part and differs in width | variety, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle air conditioner according to the fourth aspect, wherein the second protrusion has a larger radial width than the first protrusion.

  According to the vehicle air conditioner of the first aspect of the present invention using the above means, the refrigerant is provided so that a part of the refrigerant pipe is accommodated in the opening of the partition partitioning the engine room and the vehicle compartment and the air conditioning case constituting the indoor unit. Each clearance gap of the opening hole of the outer shell which penetrates a part of piping is plugged up with a seal member. The sealing member is integrally formed with an elastic rubber member so as to close each gap between the opening of the partition wall and the opening hole of the air conditioning case, and encloses the expansion valve member interposed in the refrigerant pipe. And a flange that covers the end surface of the housing part that protrudes from the periphery of the opening hole of the air conditioning case. In addition, the recess has a through hole that allows a part of the refrigerant pipe to pass through in an airtight and liquid-tight manner, and a protruding portion that protrudes in a convex shape toward the partition wall and contacts the partition wall is formed in an annular shape on the periphery of the flange portion. Has been.

  With this configuration, when the air-conditioning case is assembled to the vehicle, the projecting portion at the periphery of the flange portion of the seal member is pressed against the periphery of the opening of the partition wall by the end surface of the housing portion and comes into contact with the periphery. The communication between the room and the vehicle compartment is shut off in a watertight or airtight manner. Since the projecting portion that comes into contact with the peripheral edge of the opening of the partition wall has elasticity and protrudes toward the partition wall, the projecting portion contacts the partition wall in a crushed state by being pressed toward the partition wall side. In other words, even if the gap between the housing part and the partition wall of the air conditioning case deviates from the predetermined distance due to design error or assembly error, the error is absorbed by the change in the degree of collapse of the protruding part, and the housing part and the partition wall The gap is securely sealed.

Thereby, even if rainwater scatters in the engine room, it is possible to reliably prevent the rainwater from entering the passenger compartment by the seal member.
In addition, since a part of the refrigerant pipe penetrates the through hole in an airtight and liquid tight manner, the communication between the engine room and the inside of the air conditioning case is also shut off in a watertight or airtight manner. This reliably prevents rainwater from entering the air conditioning case and also prevents leakage of air flowing through the air conditioning case into the engine room.

Therefore, without adding a member such as packing, it is possible to prevent a gap from being generated between the air conditioning case and the partition wall (firewall), and to prevent rainwater from entering the vehicle interior.
According to the vehicle air conditioner of the second aspect, the protruding portion formed in the flange portion of the seal member occupies the inner side in the radial direction with respect to the opening surface of the opening of the partition wall.

That is, at the time of assembling the air conditioning case, a part of the protruding portion protrudes inside the opening of the partition wall, and water is prevented from collecting between the partition wall and the seal member.
Thereby, it is possible to more reliably prevent rainwater from entering the vehicle interior.
According to the vehicle air conditioner of the third aspect, the protruding portion has a U-shaped cross section, and the ribs extending in the cross-sectional direction at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction are formed on the back surface of the protruding portion. The end surface of the housing part is covered by contacting the end surface of the housing part.

Thus, since the protrusion has a U-shaped cross section, the protrusion is crushed flexibly when it comes into contact with the partition wall, but always comes into contact with the partition wall without being hit by one piece. Thereby, an error can be easily allowed, and communication between the engine room and the vehicle compartment can be more reliably blocked.
According to the vehicle air conditioner of the fourth aspect, the first protrusion on the peripheral side and the second protrusion having a different width formed on the radially inner side of the first protrusion on the housing portion. And two protrusions.

The first protrusion and the second protrusion have different elastic forces due to the different widths. By pressing the two protrusions having different elastic forces against the partition wall, either protrusion The part comes into contact with the partition wall with a stronger force.
Thereby, the clearance gap between a housing part and a partition can be sealed more reliably.
According to the vehicle air conditioner of the fifth aspect, when the pressing force is evenly applied to the first and second protrusions, the first protrusion located outside has a width wider than the second protrusion. By being narrow, the pressing force is concentrated more than the second projecting portion, and it is strongly compressed and deformed, so that the space between the housing portion and the partition wall can be sealed more closely.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the vehicle air conditioner which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view of a grommet. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a grommet. It is a front view of the grommet seen from the arrow A direction of FIG. It is a rear view of a grommet. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the expansion valve periphery part at the time of an assembly | attachment. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the modification of a grommet.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a vehicle air conditioner according to the present invention mounted on a vehicle 1.
A vehicle air conditioner, that is, a vehicle air conditioner (hereinafter referred to as a car air conditioner) includes a compressor 4, a condenser (not shown) and the like as an outdoor unit in the engine room 2, and an air conditioning duct in the vehicle room 6. An air conditioning case 8 made of resin that functions as an indoor unit having an evaporator 10 and metal evaporator tubes (parts of refrigerant pipes) 12 and 14 is arranged as an indoor unit. Are connected by metal pipes 16 and 18 to form a refrigeration cycle.

That is, the car air conditioner is configured to be able to perform air conditioning of the vehicle interior by operating the compressor 4 with the driving force of the engine 20.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 is provided with a firewall (partition wall) 22 so as to partition the engine room 2 and the vehicle compartment 6, and refrigerant pipes such as pipes 16 and 18 are connected to the firewall 22. The outdoor unit and the indoor unit are connected through the opening 24.

Specifically, the pipes 16 and 18 on the engine room side and the evaporator tubes 12 and 14 on the passenger compartment side are connected to each other via an expansion valve (expansion valve member) 26, and the expansion valve 26 is a component of the refrigerant pipe. Is located in the opening 24 of the firewall 22.
The evaporator tubes 12 and 14 extend into the air conditioning case 8 through the opening hole 28 in the outer shell of the air conditioning case 8, and the expansion valve 26 has an annular shape protruding from the periphery of the opening hole 28 toward the engine room side. The housing portion 30 is housed on the inner peripheral side.

  The air conditioning case 8 is divided into a lower case 8a and an upper case 8b, and is configured such that outer shells of the lower case 8a and the upper case 8b are brought into contact with each other and overlapped in a middle state (shell shape). Yes. The opening hole 28 of the air conditioning case 8 is located at a divided portion of the air conditioning case 8 and is composed of a lower opening hole on the lower case 8a side and an upper opening hole on the upper case 8b side. It is divided into housings.

In addition, the housing part 30 has an elastic rubber (for example, EPDM) grommet (for example, made of EPDM) for closing the gap between the housing part 30 of the air conditioning case 8 and the firewall 22 while accommodating the expansion valve 26. (Seal member) 32 is provided.
Hereinafter, the grommet 32 will be described in detail.
2 to 5, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the grommet, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the grommet, and FIG. 4 is a front view of the grommet as viewed from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 5 shows a rear view of the grommet.

  As shown in these figures, a central portion of the grommet 32 is formed with a recess 34 that bulges toward the passenger compartment so that the expansion valve 26 is accommodated. The concave portion 34 has a shape along the outer shape of the expansion valve 26 so that the expansion valve 26 can be fitted therein. In addition, through holes 36 and 38 through which the evaporator tubes 12 and 14 pass are formed at the bottom of the recess 34. The inner diameters of the through holes 36 and 38 are slightly smaller than the outer diameters of the evaporator tubes 12 and 14, and are configured to be tightly fitted to the evaporator tubes 12 and 14.

Further, the grommet 32 is formed with a flange portion 40 that extends in the radial direction (radial direction) from the opening portion of the recess 34 on the engine room side.
The flange portion 40 includes a flat portion 42 that extends in a flat shape in the radial direction of the concave portion 34, and a first protrusion portion 42 and a second protrusion portion 44 that are formed on the peripheral side of the flange portion 40. Yes.

  Specifically, the first protrusion 44 protrudes toward the engine room over the entire circumference in the outer edge portion of the flange portion 40. The second projecting portions 46 are formed side by side on the radially inner side of the first projecting portion 44, and similarly project toward the engine room over the entire circumference in the circumferential direction. As shown in FIG. 3, the first projecting portion 44 and the second projecting portion 46 project with a U-shaped convex cross section on the engine room side, and on the engine room side at the periphery of the flange portion 40. There are two overhanging mountains. The second protrusion 46 is wider in the radial direction than the first protrusion 44. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the second protrusion 46 on the inner side occupies the opening surface of the opening 24 of the firewall 22 from the opening edge indicated by the chain line to the inner side in the radial direction.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, ribs 48 extending in the radial direction in the U-shaped inner space are formed on the inner sides of the projecting portions 44 and 46, that is, on the vehicle interior side. Yes. A plurality of the ribs 48 are formed at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction of the protrusions 44 and 46.
And the outer edge of the 1st protrusion part 44 is extended in the vehicle interior side rather than the plane part 42, and when the air-conditioning case 8 is assembled | attached, the outer edge of the said 1st protrusion part 44, the outer peripheral part of the plane part 42, or The end portion of the housing portion 30 is covered with the outer peripheral surface of the concave portion 34, and the end surface of the housing portion 30 comes into contact with the rib 48.

Next, the state of the grommet 32 when the air conditioning case 8 is assembled to the vehicle will be described in detail, and the effects and the like of the seal structure around the expansion valve 26 will be described.
Here, FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the peripheral portion of the expansion valve at the time of assembly, which will be described below with reference to FIG.
The evaporator tubes 12 and 14, the air conditioning case 8, the expansion valve 26 and the grommet 32 configured as described above are attached to the recess tube 34 of the grommet 32 and the expansion valve 26 and the expansion valve 26 and the grommet 32 in the assembly process. The valve stay 26a is inserted.

  In this state, these are first installed in the lower housing 30a of the lower case 8a. That is, in a state where the lower evaporator tube 14 is passed through the lower opening hole 28 a, the lower housing 30 a is formed on the back side of the first projecting portion 44 and the second projecting portion 46 below the flange portion 32 of the grommet 32. Cover the end face. Further, the outer periphery of the recess 34 of the grommet 32 corresponding to the expansion valve stay 26a is fitted to a lower support wall 50 formed in the lower housing 30a.

  Next, the upper case 8b is overlaid on the lower case 8a. At this time, in the peripheral portion of the expansion valve 26, the upper evaporator tube 12 is passed through the upper opening hole 28b, while the upper portion of the first projecting portion 44 and the second projecting portion 46 at the upper portion of the flange portion 32 are upper. The end surface of the housing 30b is covered. And the outer periphery of the recessed part 34 of the grommet 32 is fitted to the upper support wall 52 formed in the upper housing 30b.

In this way, the evaporator tubes 12, 14, the expansion valve 26, the expansion valve stay 26 a and the grommet 32 are easily attached to the air conditioning case 8. When the air conditioning case 8 is assembled to the vehicle, the end face of the housing part 30 is brought into contact with the peripheral edge of the opening 24 of the firewall 22 via the grommet 32.
The grommet 32 is integrally formed of a rubber member having elasticity so as to close each gap between the opening 24 of the firewall 22 and the opening hole 28 of the air conditioning case 8, and is connected to the evaporator tubes 12 and 14. 26 is provided with a recessed portion 34 that bulges inside the housing portion 30 so as to wrap around the housing 26, and a flange portion 32 that covers an end surface of the housing portion 30 that protrudes from the periphery of the opening hole 28 of the air conditioning case 8.

  And since the recessed part 34 has the through-holes 36 and 38 which penetrate the evaporator tubes 12 and 14 airtightly and liquid-tightly, communication with the engine room 2 and the inside of the air-conditioning case 8 is interrupted | blocked watertight or airtightly. The This reliably prevents rainwater from entering the air conditioning case 8 and reliably prevents the air flowing in the air conditioning case 8 from leaking into the engine room 2.

Further, on the peripheral edge of the flange portion 40 of the grommet 32, a first projecting portion 44 and a second projecting portion 46 that protrude in a convex shape toward the firewall side and come into contact with the firewall are respectively formed in an annular shape.
When the air conditioning case 8 is assembled to the vehicle, the projecting portions 44 and 46 are pressed against the peripheral edge of the opening 24 of the firewall 22 by the end face of the housing portion 30 and come into contact with the peripheral edge. Communication with 6 is shut off in a watertight or airtight manner. Since the protrusions 44 and 46 have elasticity and protrude toward the firewall, the protrusions 44 and 46 come into contact with the firewall 22 in a state of being crushed by pressing. In particular, each of the protrusions 44 and 46 has a U-shaped cross section and is pressed through a rib 48. Thus, it comes into contact with the firewall 22. That is, even if the distance between the housing part 30 and the firewall 22 of the air conditioning case 8 is deviated from a predetermined distance due to a design error, an assembly error, or the like, the error is absorbed by a change in the degree of collapse of the protrusions 44 and 46. The gap between the housing part 30 and the firewall 22 is reliably sealed.

  Further, the two protrusions of the first protrusion 44 and the second protrusion 46 have a width that the second protrusion 46 is wider than the first protrusion 44, and the two protrusions 44 and 46 have elastic force. Is different. In particular, when the pressing force is equally applied to both the protruding portions 44 and 46, the first protruding portion 44 located outside is narrower than the second protruding portion 46, so that the first protruding portion 44 is narrower than the second protruding portion 46. Since the pressing force concentrates and strongly compresses and deforms, the space between the housing portion 30 and the firewall 22 can be sealed more closely. By pressing the two protrusions 44 and 46 having different elastic forces against the firewall in this way, any one of the protrusions abuts with a stronger force, and the housing is more reliably provided with a single protrusion. The gap between the portion 30 and the firewall 22 can be sealed.

Furthermore, since the second protrusion 46 occupies the radially inner side with respect to the opening surface of the opening 24 of the firewall 22, when the second protrusion 46 is pressed, the second protrusion 46. As a result, a part of the water bulges out from the inside of the opening 24, and water can be prevented from accumulating between the lower portion of the housing portion 40 and the firewall 22.
From the above, the air conditioner according to the present invention can tolerate errors by the projecting portions 44 and 46 formed in the flange portion 40 of the grommet 32 that is a sealing member, so that it is not necessary to add a member such as a packing. Even if rainwater scatters in the room 2, the grommet 32 can reliably prevent the rainwater from entering the passenger compartment 2.

Although the description about embodiment of the vehicle air conditioner concerning this invention is finished above, embodiment is not restricted to the said embodiment.
For example, as a modification of the grommet of the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, instead of a U-shaped projecting portion, cylindrical projecting portions 60, 62 projecting in a cross-sectional I shape perpendicular to the flange surface. , 64 may be used.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the two protrusion parts 44 and 46 are provided in the flange part 40 of the grommet 32, the number of protrusion parts is not restricted to this, You may be one or three or more.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 2 Engine room 4 Compressor 6 Car compartment 8 Air conditioning case 8a Lower case 8b Upper case 10 Evaporator 12, 14 Evaporator tube 16, 18 Pipe 20 Engine 22 Firewall (partition wall)
24 opening 26 expansion valve (expansion valve member)
26a stay 28 opening hole 30 housing part 32 grommet (seal member)
34 Recess 36, 38 Through-hole 40 Flange part 42 Plane part 44 First protrusion 46 Second protrusion 48 Rib 50 Lower support wall 52 Upper support wall

Claims (5)

Refrigerant piping penetrates through the opening of the partition wall that partitions the engine room and the vehicle compartment to connect the outdoor unit in the engine room and the indoor unit in the vehicle interior, and a part of the refrigerant piping is connected to the outer shell of the air conditioning case. In the vehicle air conditioner, wherein the indoor unit is configured by penetrating through the opening hole of the partition wall and constituting the indoor unit, and the gap between the opening of the partition wall and the opening hole is closed with a seal member.
An expansion valve member is interposed in the refrigerant pipe at the opening of the partition wall,
On the periphery of the opening hole of the air conditioning case, a housing portion is formed so that the end surface protrudes outward so as to contact the opening periphery of the partition wall via the seal member, and the expansion valve member is accommodated inside.
The seal member is integrally formed with a rubber member having elasticity so as to close each gap between the opening of the partition wall and the opening hole, and bulges inside the housing portion so as to wrap the expansion valve member. A recess that covers the end surface of the peripheral wall,
The recess has a through-hole that allows a part of the refrigerant pipe to penetrate in an airtight and liquid-tight manner,
A vehicular air conditioner is characterized in that a projecting portion that protrudes in a convex shape toward the partition wall and is in contact with the partition wall is formed in an annular shape at the periphery of the flange portion.   The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion occupies the opening surface of the opening of the partition wall from the opening edge to the radially inner side.   The protrusion has a U-shaped cross section, and ribs extending in the cross section at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction are formed on the back surface of the protrusion, and the rib abuts against an end surface of the housing portion. The vehicular air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the vehicular air conditioner covers an end face of the portion.   The housing portion is formed as a protruding portion, a first protruding portion on the peripheral side, and a second protruding portion formed side by side on the radially inner side of the first protruding portion and having a width different from that of the first protruding portion. The vehicle air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein   The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 4, wherein the second protrusion has a larger radial width than the first protrusion.

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