JP2607788Y2 - Piping structure of automotive air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner, and more particularly to an improvement in a piping structure of a cooler unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an air conditioner for a vehicle has a cooler unit in which an evaporator for cooling air blown into a vehicle compartment is housed. In this cooler unit, an expansion valve for controlling the amount of refrigerant flowing into the evaporator is also provided. In many cases, this expansion valve is located at a portion of the flow of air that is heat-exchanged by the evaporator.

However, if an expansion valve is provided at such a position, the air that flows through the cooler unit and exchanges heat with the evaporator hits the expansion valve, and the air flow resistance increases.

Therefore, recent air conditioners for automobiles include:
A structure in which an expansion valve is disposed outside a cooler unit case has been proposed (for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 63-96,
No. 918). As shown in FIG. 4, the automotive air conditioner includes an evaporator 2 provided in a cooler unit case 1 disposed in a passenger compartment CR, a refrigerant inlet side conduit 3a connected to the evaporator 2 and a refrigerant outlet side. Conduit 3
b through the joint member 4 to the second pipe 3
The second pipe 7 is connected to the pipe 7 and guided to the outside of the cooler unit case 1. An integrated expansion valve 5 is attached to an end of the second pipe 7, and a part of the integrated expansion valve 5 is a dash panel. 6 is inserted into the opening. The integral type expansion valve 5 will be described later.

[0005]

However, in such a piping structure, the second piping 7 and the like are required between the expansion valve 5 and the joint member 4, so that not only the number of parts is increased but also the connection work is not performed. Since there are a plurality of locations, assembly workability may be reduced, and the speed of the production line may be reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and reduces the cost by reducing the number of parts.
It is an object of the present invention to improve the efficiency of assembly work and to prevent noise generated from an expansion valve from being transmitted to a vehicle interior.

[0007]

According to the piping structure of an air conditioner for a vehicle according to the present invention which solves the above-mentioned problems, a cooler attached to a dash panel for separating a vehicle compartment and an engine room from the vehicle compartment side. The evaporator in the unit case and other cooling cycle components in the engine room are connected via an integrated expansion valve by a pipe formed of a refrigerant inlet side conduit and a refrigerant outlet side conduit connected to the evaporator. In the piping structure of the automotive air conditioner, the piping extends to the outside of the air passage portion of the evaporator and a joint member is provided at an end of the piping, while the expansion member is provided in an expansion valve housing provided in a cooler unit case. Paste the heat insulating material, house the integrated expansion valve and joint members, and
The valve and the joint member is more supported by the heat insulating material, provided the block connector for connecting to the other cooling cycle component devices disposed in the engine room to the dash panel through the hole which is opened in this block The connector is
Between the side of the block connector and the inner edge of the through hole
The dash panel so as to have a predetermined clearance
Packing separated from the clearance
The side part is sealed and held by a material, and the block connector, the joint member, and the integral expansion valve are connected collectively by a screw member.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the block connector provided on the dash panel, the joint member provided on the pipe of the evaporator, and the integral expansion valve are connected by one screw member. There is no need for joints or piping between the expansion valve and the block connector, such as a piping structure, reducing the number of parts, making connection work extremely simple, greatly improving assembly workability, and speeding up the production line. The drop can be prevented. Further, the noise generated from the expansion valve is not transmitted to the vehicle interior .

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an embodiment of a piping structure of an automotive air conditioner according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a main part of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view, and the same members as those shown in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the inside of the vehicle compartment CR and the engine room ER are partitioned by a dash panel 6, and a cooler unit case 1 is provided inside the vehicle compartment CR.

The cooler unit case 1 houses an evaporator 2 therein.
Is connected to a first pipe 3 composed of a refrigerant inlet side conduit 3a and a refrigerant outlet side conduit 3b. In this embodiment, the first pipe 3 extends from the tank section 2a of the evaporator 2 to the outside of the air passage section of the evaporator 2, and a joint member 4 is provided at an end.

The cooler unit case 1 is provided with an expansion valve housing 1a, a heat insulating material d (see FIG. 2) is affixed inside, and an integral expansion valve 5 and a joint member 4 are supported. The heat insulating material d has a sound insulating effect so that the noise of the integrated expansion valve 5 is not leaked to the outside.

On the other hand, the dash panel 6 is provided with an integrated expansion valve 5 and a block connector 8 for connecting to other cooling cycle components in the engine room ER. As shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable that a packing material 10 such as rubber is attached to the block connector 8 in a through hole O formed in the dash panel 6, and the block connector 8 is sealed and held by the packing material 10. Then, the screw member 3's and provided, these blocks connectors 8 and the joint member 4 and the integral expansion valve 5 integrated expansion valve 5 between the vehicle compartment inner end surface 8 c of the block connector 8 and the joint member 4 11 are connected collectively. In the block connector 8, an entrance-side passage 8a and an exit-side passage 8b are opened.

Since the integral type expansion valve 5 belongs to the public domain, its detailed description is omitted (for example, see Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 63-96, 63-96).
No. 918), a housing 12 made of a box-shaped block.
Inside, an inlet-side flow path 13 through which the refrigerant guided into the evaporator 2 flows, and an outlet-side flow path 14 through which the refrigerant flowing out of the evaporator 2 flows, and a valve that narrows the flow path to the inlet-side flow path 13 A heat-sensitive portion 16 is provided in the outlet side flow path 14, and the opening degree of the valve 15 is adjusted by the refrigerant flowing through the outlet side flow path 14. The refrigerant inlet side conduit 3a and the refrigerant outlet side conduit 3b
The inlet-side passage 8 a and the outlet-side passage 8 b in the block connector 8 communicate with the inlet-side passage 13 and the outlet-side passage 14 in the integrated expansion valve 4.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. When this cooler unit is mounted on a vehicle, the joint member 4 of the first pipe 3 protruding from the unit case 1
And the integral expansion valve 5 and the block connector 8 are collectively connected by the screw member 11. In this case, the first pipe 3
, The refrigerant inlet side conduit 3a and the refrigerant outlet side conduit 3b, and the inlet side flow path 13 and the outlet side flow path 14 in the integrated expansion valve 4.
And the entrance-side passage 8 opened in the block connector 8
a and the outlet side passage 8b communicate with each other so as to correspond to each other.

Then, the block connector 8 is inserted into the packing material 10 provided in the through hole O formed in the dash panel 6, and connected to other cooling cycle components in the engine room ER.

As described above, in this embodiment in which the connection between the block connector 8 provided on the dash panel 6 and the evaporator 2 can be completed by screwing the single screw member 11, the conventional piping structure is used. The second pipe 7 and the like are not required between the expansion valve 5 and the joint member 4 as described above, and the number of parts is reduced accordingly, and excessive force during assembly is applied to the brazing portion between the pipe and the evaporator 2. In addition, the connection work is extremely simple, the assembly workability is greatly improved, and a reduction in the speed of the production line can be prevented. Further, since the integral type expansion valve 5 is supported by the heat insulating material d, the noise generated from the expansion valve 5 is not transmitted to the vehicle interior .

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified within the scope of the claims for utility model registration. For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the integral type expansion valve 5 and the block connector 8 are constituted by different parts, but as shown in FIG.
And the housing 12 of the integral expansion valve 5 may be integrally formed. In this way, the joint member 4 of the first pipe 3 and the block connector 8 integrated with the integral expansion valve 5 are connected by the screw member 11, so that the connection operation is further simplified. As a result, the assembly workability is further improved.

[0019]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention,
When the cooler unit case is mounted on a vehicle, the joint member of the pipe, the integral expansion valve, and the block connector are configured to be connected together by a screw member,
Piping between the expansion valve and the joint member becomes unnecessary, the number of parts is reduced, and the connection work is extremely simple.
The assembly workability is greatly improved, and a reduction in the speed of the production line can be prevented. Further, since the expansion valve is supported by the heat insulating material, noise generated from the expansion valve is not transmitted to the vehicle interior .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view showing a piping structure of a conventional automotive air conditioner.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cooler unit case, 1a ... Expansion valve storage part, 2 ... Evaporator, 3 ...
Piping, 3a ... refrigerant inlet side conduit, 3b ...
Refrigerant outlet side conduit, 4 joint members,
5 ... Integral expansion valve, 6 ... Dash panel,
8: block connector, 11: screw member,
CR: car room, d: heat insulating material,
ER: engine room, O: through hole.

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60H 1/32 613 F25B 41/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] An evaporator in a cooler unit case (1) mounted inside a dash panel (6) defining a compartment (CR) and an engine compartment (ER) inside the compartment (CR).
(2) and other cooling cycle components in the engine room (ER), a refrigerant inlet-side conduit (3a) and a refrigerant outlet-side conduit (3b) connected to the evaporator (2). (3) In the piping structure of an automotive air conditioner connected via an integral expansion valve (5) by (3), the piping (3) extends to the outside of the air passage portion of the evaporator (2) and While the joint member (4) is provided at the end of the pipe (3), the heat insulating material (d) is attached to the expansion valve housing (1a) provided in the cooler unit case (1), and the integrated expansion valve (5) And the joint member (4) are accommodated.The integral expansion valve (5) and the joint member (4) are supported by a heat insulating material (d), and a through hole formed in the dash panel (6) is provided.
(O) A block connector for connecting to other cooling cycle components provided in the engine room (ER)
(8), and this block connector (8)
Between the side of the connector (8) and the inner edge of the through hole (O).
The dash panel so as to have a certain clearance
(6) is separated from the package placed in the clearance.
The side portion is held while being sealed by a kin material (10),
A piping structure for an automotive air conditioner, wherein the block connector (8), the joint member (4), and the integral expansion valve (5) are integrally connected by a screw member (11). . 2. The piping structure for an automotive air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein said block connector (8) is formed integrally with said integral expansion valve (5).