JP2023160022A - Vehicular air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a vehicular air conditioner configured so that a motor that drives an air blower is cooled utilizing air in a unit introduced by the air blower, which is suppressed from deteriorating in air conditioning efficiency.SOLUTION: A vehicular air conditioner is equipped with a temperature adjusting/blowing part that cools or heats air introduced into a housing and blows the air into a vehicle interior, and an air introducing part that introduces either or both of outside air and the air in the vehicle interior into the housing. The temperature adjusting/blowing part comprises a partition wall partitioning the housing into a first area and a second area, a filter that purifies air passing through the first area and the second area, and a heat exchange part that cools air passing through the filter. The air introducing part comprises a first blowing part that introduces air into the first area, a second blowing part that introduces air into the second area, and a driving part that rotationally-drives the first blowing part and the second blowing part coaxially. The driving part is arranged near the first blowing part, of the first blowing part and the second blowing part and near the first area, of the first area and the second area, which is provided with a driving part cooling passage through air between the filter and the heat exchange part, in the first area is guided to the driving part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner.

A vehicle air conditioner includes an air conditioning unit called HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning). This air conditioning unit is equipped with a blower, a heat exchange part (evaporator or heater core), an air mix door, etc., and the air introduced into the unit by the blower is heated or cooled and blown into the vehicle interior.

As a first conventional technology, such a vehicle air conditioner is provided with a branch duct which returns the air introduced by the blower into the unit to the back of the motor, in order to cool the motor that drives the blower. It is known that an air intake port is provided on the downstream side of a filter provided in a ventilation path within the unit (see Patent Document 1 below).

In addition, as a second conventional technology for a vehicle air conditioner, a casing in which a first flow passage and a second flow passage are formed, an inside/outside air switching section, an evaporator, a blower, a heater core, and an evaporator (cooling heat exchanger) A cooling passage for cooling the blower motor is directed from the upstream side of the evaporator to the blower motor placed downstream of the evaporator. It is known that the above-mentioned structure is formed (see Patent Document 2 below).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-186692 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-162894

According to the first conventional technique described above, the air flowing through the branch duct is sent to the back of the motor to air-cool the motor, and then returned into the unit by the blower. According to this, the air heated by removing heat from the motor mixes with the cabin air introduced into the unit and circulates through the branch duct upstream of the heat exchange section. For this reason, air that has been temperature-adjusted by the air conditioner and introduced into the vehicle interior is heated, which may deteriorate air conditioning efficiency. In particular, when the air temperature on the upstream side of the heat exchange section (evaporator) becomes high, efficient cooling operation cannot be performed.

Furthermore, according to the second prior art described above, although it is possible to allow inside air to flow through one of the first flow passage and the second flow passage in the unit and outside air to flow through the other, it is possible to branch the air on the upstream side of the evaporator and to control the motor. Since the structure is such that the air heated by cooling the air passes through the evaporator and mixes with the cooled air, this also has the problem of deteriorating air conditioning efficiency during cooling operation.

The present invention aims to address such problems. In other words, our goal is to prevent deterioration in air conditioning efficiency in vehicle air conditioners that cool the motor that drives the blower using the air introduced into the unit by the blower. By removing the heated air, the heated air can be prevented from mixing with the cabin air introduced into the unit, allowing efficient cooling operation, or by branching on the upstream side of the heat exchanger to An object of the present invention is to avoid mixing of air heated by cooling with air that has passed through a heat exchanger and been cooled, thereby enabling efficient cooling operation.

In order to solve such problems, the present invention includes the following configuration.
An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising: a temperature-controlling blower section that cools or heats air introduced into a housing and blows it out into a vehicle interior; and an air introduction section that introduces one or both of outside air and interior air into the housing. , the temperature control blower section includes a partition wall that partitions the interior of the housing into a first region and a second region, a filter that purifies the air that passes through the first region and the second region, and a filter that purifies the air that has passed through the filter. The air introduction section includes a first blowing section that introduces air into the first region, a second blowing section that introduces air into the second region, and a second blowing section that introduces air into the second region. and a drive unit configured to coaxially drive the second air blower and the second air blower, the drive unit being disposed on the side of the first air blower between the first air blower and the second air blower and the second air blower. A drive section cooling flow path is provided which is disposed on the side of the first region among the region and the second region and guides air between the filter and the heat exchange section in the first region to the drive section. A vehicle air conditioner characterized by:

The present invention having such features can prevent deterioration of air conditioning efficiency in a vehicle air conditioner that cools a motor that drives a blower using air introduced into the unit by a blower.

1 is an external side view of a vehicle air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an air introduction part in a vehicle air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention. An external view of a drive unit cooling flow path. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a drive unit cooling channel. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of air within the housing leading to the branch opening of the drive unit cooling flow path.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same reference numerals in different figures indicate parts with the same function, and redundant explanation in each figure will be omitted as appropriate.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the vehicle air conditioner 1 includes an air introduction section 1A and a temperature control blower section 1B in a housing 100. The air introduction section 1A includes an outside air intake port 2. and inside air intake ports 3 (3A, 3B) are provided, and the temperature control blowing section 1B is provided with a first blowing section 4, a second blowing section 5, and a third blowing section 6. Here, the first air outlet 4 is, for example, a defroster air outlet, the second air outlet 5 is, for example, a face air outlet, and the third air outlet 6 is, for example, a foot air outlet 6A, a rear seat air outlet, etc. These include a foot air outlet 6B, a rear seat face air outlet 6C, and the like.

The air introduction section 1A includes therein a blower section 10 and a drive section (motor) 11 that constitute a blower. The blower section 10 is driven by a drive section 11 and includes a two-layer first blower section 10A and a second blower section 10B that are coaxially rotated by a drive shaft 11A of the drive section 11. Further, in the air introduction section 1A, a suction port 12 of the first blowing section 10A and a suction port 13 of the second blowing section 10B open in opposite directions along the drive shaft 11A.

Furthermore, the air introduction section 1A includes intake cases 20 and 21. The intake cases 20 and 21 are provided so as to respectively cover the pair of intake ports 12 and 13 in the ventilation section 10 (the first ventilation section 10A and the second ventilation section 10B), and one intake case 20 has an internal air intake port 3A. The other intake case 21 is provided with an inside air intake port 3B. An outside air intake port 2 is provided so as to straddle the two intake cases 20 and 21. When mounted on a vehicle, the outside air intake port 2 is provided so as to open toward the front side of the vehicle, and the two inside air intake ports 3A and 3B are provided so as to open toward the left and right sides in the width direction of the vehicle.

In the air introduction section 1A, an intake door 22 is provided inside the intake case 20, and an intake door 23 is provided inside the intake case 21. The intake doors 22, 23 are rotary dampers, each having a rotating shaft 22A, 23A, and rotate in one direction around the rotating shafts 22A, 23A to close the outside air intake 2 and open the inside air intake 3A, 3B. , and by rotating in the other direction around the rotating shafts 22A, 23A, the outside air intake port 2 is opened and the inside air intake ports 3A, 3B are closed.

The temperature control blower section 1B includes a partition wall 110 that partitions the inside of the housing 100 into a first region 111 and a second region 112. The temperature control air blower 1B includes a filter 120 that purifies the air passing through the first area 111 and the second area 112, and a filter 120 that purifies the air passing through the first area 111 and the second area 112 so as to straddle the partition wall 110. It includes a first heat exchange section (cooler) 121 for cooling, and a second heat exchange section (heater) 122 for heating the air passing through the first region 111 and the second region 112.

Inside the casing 100 of the temperature control blowing section 1B, the above-mentioned blowing sections (the first blowing section 4, the second blowing section 5, the third blowing section 6) pass through the first region 111 or the second region 112. A ventilation flow path is formed in the first region 111, and a first air mix door 111A is provided in the first region 111, and a second air mix door 112A is provided in the second region 112.

The above-mentioned air outlet includes a first door 4A that opens and closes the first air outlet 4, a second door 5A that opens and closes the second air outlet 5, and a wind direction that changes the wind direction of the foot outlet 6A in the third air outlet 6. A switching door 60 is provided.

The flow of air in the air introduction section 1A and the temperature control blower section 1B will be explained. The air sucked in from the suction port 12 by the first blowing section 10A flows along the introduction path in the air introduction section 1A, enters the first region 111, and undergoes first heat exchange with the filter 120 installed in the housing 100. After passing through the section (cooler) 121, the ventilation flow path is switched by the first air mix door 111A.

At this time, in one state of the first air mix door 111A, the air is blown to the first blowing part 4, the second blowing part 5, or the third blowing part 6 without passing through the second heat exchange part 122. When the 1 air mix door 111A is in another state, air is blown to the first blowing section 4, the second blowing section 5, or the third blowing section 6 via the second heat exchange section 122.

On the other hand, the air sucked from the suction port 13 by the second blowing section 10B flows along the introduction path in the air introduction section 1A, enters the second region 112, and enters the filter 120 installed in the housing 100. After passing through the first heat exchange section 121, the air flow path is switched by the second air mix door 112A.

At this time, in one state of the second air mix door 112A, the air is blown to the first blowing part 4, the second blowing part 5, or the third blowing part 6 without passing through the second heat exchange part 122. When the 2-air mix door 112A is in any other state, air is blown to the first blowing section 4, the second blowing section 5, or the third blowing section 6 via the second heat exchange section 122.

Then, depending on the operation mode of the intake doors 22 and 23 in the air introduction section 1A, an inside air introduction mode, an outside air introduction mode, and a two-layer flow mode are switched.

The states of the intake doors 22 and 23 are an inside air introduction mode in which the outside air intake 2 is blocked by the shielding part of the intake doors 22 and 23 and the inside air intakes 3A and 3B are open, and There is an outside air introduction mode in which the inside air intake ports 3A and 3B are blocked by the shielding part and the outside air intake port 2 is open; This is a two-layer flow mode in which the intake door 23 closes the outside air intake port 2 with a shielding part and opens the inside air intake port 3B.

In the inside air introduction mode, the air sucked in from the suction port 12 by the first blower 10A and the air sucked from the suction port 13 by the second blower 10B are both inside air. Inside air flows into both the region 111 and the second region 112. In addition, in the outside air introduction mode, the air sucked from the suction port 12 by the first blower section 10A and the air sucked from the suction port 13 by the second blower section 10B are both outside air. Outside air flows into both the first region 111 and the second region 112.

In the two-layer flow mode, one of the air sucked from the suction port 12 by the first blower 10A and the air sucked from the suction port 13 by the second blower 10B is inside air, and the other is outside air. Only outside air can flow into the first region 111 and only inside air can flow into the second region 112.

Here, the drive unit 11 that drives the air blower 10 (the first air blower 10A and the second air blower 10B) is arranged on the first area 111 side in the first area 111 and the second area 112. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2, the drive part 11 is arrange|positioned at the 1st ventilation part 10A side of 10A of 1st ventilation parts, and the 2nd ventilation part 10B.

The housing 100 is provided with a drive unit cooling flow path 200 for cooling the drive unit 11. The drive unit cooling channel 200 guides air between the filter 120 and the first heat exchange unit 121 in the first region 111 of the housing 100 to the drive unit 11 .

According to this, in the above-mentioned two-layer flow mode, in the first region 111 through which only outside air flows, air on the upstream side of the first heat exchange section 121 can be sent to the drive section cooling channel 200, and the drive section cooling The air sent from the flow path 200 to the drive unit 11 is sucked in from the suction port 12 by the first blowing unit 10A, and is returned only to the first region 111. Thereby, in the two-layer flow mode, the air sent to the drive unit 11 does not mix with the inside air flowing through the second region 112.

At this time, the drive section cooling channel 200 forms a circulation channel that sends the outside air sucked in from the suction port 12 by the first blower section 10A to the drive section 11 via the filter 120, so that foreign matter etc. are removed. By circulating the purified outside air, the drive unit 11 can be efficiently cooled.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the drive unit cooling flow path 200 communicates with the space between the filter 120 and the first heat exchange unit 121 in the first region 111 of the housing 100, and communicates with the space between the filter 120 and the first heat exchange unit 121. It passes through a branch opening 200A provided on the outside of the end. Further, the drive unit cooling flow path 200 is formed by a cover member 210 that covers the back side of the drive unit 11 and extends to the branch opening 200A.

The cover member 210 can be formed by a first cover member 211 and a second cover member 212, as shown in FIG. The first cover member 211 is a member that covers the rearmost side of the drive unit 11 , and the second cover member 212 is a member that covers the side part of the drive unit 11 . The first cover member 211 and the second cover member 212 are provided with divided flow passage frames 211A and 212A for forming the driving unit cooling flow passage 200, and the first cover member 211 and the second cover member 212 are combined. By integrating these divided channel frames 211A and 212A, a drive section cooling channel 200 is formed inside thereof. Note that the drive unit cooling flow path 200 may be formed by attaching an integral frame instead of being formed by such divided flow path frames 211A and 212A.

The cover member 210 , which is a combination of the first cover member 211 and the second cover member 212 , is attached to the housing 100 via the suction port frame 213 that forms the suction port 12 . The suction port frame 213 includes a connection port 213A to which the ends of the divided flow path frames 211A and 212A are connected, and the divided flow path frames 211A and 212A are connected to the branch opening 200A via this connection port 213A. .

Here, the branch opening 200A is provided outside the end of the first heat exchange section 121, but communicates with the space between the filter 120 and the first heat exchange section 121 within the housing 100. . As shown in FIG. 5, support ribs R for supporting the first heat exchange section 121 are provided inside the housing 100, but there is a space between the filter 120 and the first heat exchange section 121. In order to communicate the branch opening 200A with the support rib R, a notch R1 is provided in the support rib R, and air passing through the notch R1 is taken out from the branch opening 200A to the drive unit cooling flow path 200. At this time, since the notch R1 is formed only in the first region 111 where the drive section 11 is provided, inside air and outside air do not mix during the above-mentioned two-layer flow mode. Thereby, it is possible to suppress a decrease in heating performance and window clearing performance.

The air introduced into the first region 111 of the housing 100 from the suction port 12 passes through the filter 120 and is taken out from the branch opening 200A before entering the first heat exchange section 121, and is taken out from the drive section cooling channel 200. It is sent to the back side of the drive unit 11 through the.

According to such a vehicle air conditioner 1, when the outside air intake port 2 is opened by switching the intake door 22 in the air introduction section 1A, outside air is introduced from the suction port 12, and the introduced outside air is passed through the filter 120. It can be purified by passing through and sent to the branch opening 200A. According to this, the drive unit 11 can be cooled by removing foreign matter and circulating purified outside air, so that foreign matter does not get mixed in around the drive unit 11 or the drive unit 11 is contaminated with dirty outside air. The drive unit 11 can be efficiently cooled by the outside air without causing any damage.

In addition, since the outside air introduced from the suction port 12 circulates on the upstream side of the first heat exchange section 121 via the drive section cooling channel 200, it takes away heat from the drive section 11 and cools the case 100 from the suction port 12. The temperature of the air returned to the inside can be lowered, and even while the drive unit 11 is being cooled, the temperature rise on the upstream side of the first heat exchange unit 121 can be suppressed and cooling operation can be performed efficiently.

Since the air that takes away the heat from the drive unit 11 and is introduced into the housing 100 from the suction port 12 does not flow into the second region 112, the influence of motor waste heat on the air flowing through the second region 112 is reduced. can be suppressed. In particular, in a mode (two-layered flow mode) in which different air is introduced into the first region 111 and the second region 112, the outside air flowing through the first region 111 does not mix with the inside air flowing through the second region 112. The influence of motor waste heat on the indoor air flowing through the second region 112 can be suppressed, and cooling operation can be performed efficiently.

In the illustrated embodiment, the branch opening 200A is arranged outside the end of the first heat exchange section 121 in the first region 111 of the casing 100, and the drive section 11 is placed on the first region 111 side of the casing 100. In addition, since it is disposed on the first blowing section 10A side, the drive section cooling flow path 200 extending from the center of the drive section 11 to the branch opening 200A can be arranged substantially horizontally over a short distance. According to this, it is possible to shorten the distance of the circulation flow path in which the air blown by the first air blower 10A circulates via the drive unit cooling flow path 200, and the introduced outside air can be smoothly transferred to the drive unit 11 with less flow resistance. Since the cooling unit 11 can be cooled efficiently, the driving unit 11 can be cooled efficiently.

In addition, air that is sent to the drive unit cooling channel 200 on the upstream side of the first heat exchange unit 121 and heated by cooling the drive unit 11 passes through the first heat exchange unit 121 and is cooled. Since there is no mixing with the air conditioner, efficient cooling operation can be performed.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and the design may be changed without departing from the gist of the present invention. Even if there is, it is included in the present invention. Moreover, the above-described embodiments can be combined by using each other's technologies unless there is a particular contradiction or problem in the purpose, structure, etc.

1: Vehicle air conditioner, 1A: Air introduction section, 1B: Temperature control blower section,
2: Outside air intake, 3 (3A, 3B): Inside air intake,
4: First blowout part, 4A: First door,
5: Second blowing part, 5A: Second door,
6: Third air outlet, 6A: Foot air outlet, 6B: Rear seat foot air outlet,
6C: Rear seat face outlet, 60: Wind direction switching door,
10: ventilation section, 10A: first ventilation section, 10B: second ventilation section,
11: Drive part, 11A: Drive shaft, 12, 13: Suction port,
20, 21: Intake case, 22, 23: Intake door,
22A, 23A: rotation axis,
100: housing, 110: partition wall, 111: first region, 112: second region,
111A: First air mix door, 112A: Second air mix door,
120: filter, 121: first heat exchange section, 122: second heat exchange section,
200: Drive unit cooling flow path, 200A: Branch opening,
210: cover member, 211: first cover member, 212: second cover member,
211A, 212A: Divided channel frame, 213: Suction port frame, 213A: Connection port,
R: Support rib, R1: Notch

Claims (3)

An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising: a temperature-controlling blower section that cools or heats air introduced into a housing and blows it out into a vehicle interior; and an air introduction section that introduces one or both of outside air and interior air into the housing. ,
The temperature control blower section includes a partition wall that partitions the inside of the housing into a first region and a second region, a filter that purifies the air that passes through the first region and the second region, and a filter that purifies the air that has passed through the filter. Equipped with a heat exchange section for cooling,
The air introducing section includes a first blowing section that introduces air into the first region, a second blowing section that introduces air into the second region, and a coaxial arrangement of the first blowing section and the second blowing section. Equipped with a drive unit that rotates by
The drive unit is disposed on the side of the first blowing unit among the first blowing unit and the second blowing unit, and on the side of the first area among the first area and the second area,
A vehicle air conditioner characterized in that a drive section cooling flow path is provided that guides air between the filter and the heat exchange section in the first region to the drive section. The drive unit cooling flow path communicates with a space between the filter and the heat exchange unit in the first region and passes through a branch opening provided outside an end of the heat exchange unit. Item 1. Vehicle air conditioner according to item 1. 3. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 2, wherein the drive unit cooling flow path is formed by a cover member that covers the back side of the drive unit and extends to the branch opening.

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