JP2783348B2 - Air outlet damper opening / closing mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a damper opening / closing mechanism for an air outlet in a vehicle or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ventilation holes for ventilation and air conditioning in a vehicle cabin are provided in or near an instrument panel in front of a front seat of an automobile. The ventilation port is generally formed by fitting an air outlet formed of a cylindrical body or a box of a plastic molded product.

[0003] The air outlet is provided with a damper for switching ventilation or controlling the amount of ventilation at the ventilation opening, and actuating a lever pivotally attached to the outer wall of the air outlet to rotate the damper to thereby rotate the air outlet. Is controlled.

As a conventional damper opening / closing mechanism, a long hole is provided at one end of an arm-shaped operating lever connected to a rotating shaft of the damper, and a pin of a slider that reciprocates on the surface of the main body of the heater control device is provided. There is one engaged with a hole (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-31006). In the opening / closing mechanism, the operation lever is rotated by the reciprocating movement of the slider, and the damper connected to the operation lever is further rotated to control the air flow.

However, in the above-mentioned opening / closing mechanism, the surface of the pin provided upright on the slider is formed of a cylindrical surface, and the inner peripheral surface of the long hole of the operation lever is formed of a smooth plane except for both ends. The inner peripheral surface of the hole is not caught,
There is a tendency that the operation lever, that is, the damper is easily rotated by vibration of the vehicle body or the like. In addition, since wind pressure is applied to the damper, there is a possibility that the damper will naturally rotate to open or close the air outlet due to the synergistic effect of the vibration of the vehicle body and the wind pressure.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a damper opening / closing mechanism for an air outlet which can prevent natural rotation of a damper. .

[0007]

That is, the present invention provides:
An air outlet body with an openable and closable damper that regulates the ventilation opening and an external side wall with a boss protruding,
A rotating arm having a long hole and a base fixed to the center of rotation of the damper, and an engaging pin for slidably engaging the long hole and rotating the rotating arm are provided upright. A damper opening / closing mechanism of an air outlet, comprising an operating dial rotatably fitted to the boss portion and having an engagement connecting arm, wherein the damper is opened and closed by turning the operating dial. Or, a projection is provided on each of the opposed inner peripheral surfaces of the long hole where the engagement pin is located at the time of maximum opening,
When the damper is closed or when the damper is fully opened, an engaging portion formed of a projection or a flat surface that comes over the projection and comes into contact with one side surface of the projection and releasably engages is provided on the side surface of the engagement pin. The invention relates to a damper opening / closing mechanism for an air outlet.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an example of a damper opening / closing mechanism for an air outlet according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the mechanism of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of an engagement pin, FIG. 5 is a view showing an engagement state between an engagement pin and a long hole, and FIG. 6 is an opening degree of a damper. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a stepwise change in the engagement state between the engagement pin and the elongated hole, FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing a load applied to the protrusion and the engagement portion when the damper is opened, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating a load applied to the protrusion and the engagement portion at the time of closing, and FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating another example of the engagement pin.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the air outlet damper opening / closing mechanism of the present invention comprises an air outlet main body 10, a rotating arm 20, and an operation dial 30. The damper opening and closing mechanism of this air outlet is
It is attached to an air vent (not shown) for ventilation and air conditioning formed in or near the instrument panel in front of the front seat of the automobile.

The air outlet main body 10 is made of a plastic box-shaped molded product, and has an openable and closable damper 12 for opening and closing the ventilation opening 11 and for regulating the amount of ventilation. Reference numeral 70 denotes the air outlet main body 10.
This is an adjusting unit that is attached to the air outlet 13 and changes its wind direction.

The turning arm 20 connects the damper 12 and the operation dial 30, and turns to open and close the damper 12 by turning the operation dial 30.
It comprises a base 21 connected to the damper 12 and an arm 22 having an elongated hole 23. Base 21 of the rotating arm 20
Is provided with a shaft 24 serving as a rotation center of the damper 12. The shaft 24 is inserted into the air outlet main body 11 through a mounting hole 16 provided in an outer side wall 15 of the air outlet main body 11, and is axially mounted on a bearing 17 on the side of the damper 12 and fixed to the damper 12. .

The operation dial 30 comprises a dial body 31 and an engagement connecting arm 32. The dial main body 31 has a scale-shaped operation portion 34 formed on a part of its outer periphery.
The engagement connecting arm 32 has an engagement pin 33 erected substantially at its distal end, and is slidably engaged with the elongated hole 23 of the rotating arm 20.

In the operation dial 30, a mounting cylinder 40 is rotatably inserted into a center hole 35 provided at the center of the dial main body 31, and the mounting cylinder 40 is attached to the outer side wall 15 of the air outlet main body 11. It is fitted to the projecting boss portion 18 and is attached to the outer side wall 15 by screwing a fixing screw 60 to the boss portion 18 from the outside of the mounting tube portion 40. On the outer peripheral surface of the boss portion 18, a convex portion 18a is protruded. On the other hand, the protrusion 1
The mounting cylinder 40 is fixed to the boss 18 by the fixing screw 60. Around the mounting cylinder 40, the operation dial 3
0 is held rotatably.

In this embodiment, an annular rib 19 is provided so as to partially surround the outer periphery of the boss portion 18 so as to be in sliding contact with the back surface of the operation dial 30 fitted to the boss portion 18. I have. At this time, a disc-shaped member 36 is interposed between the operation dial 30 and the annular rib 19. The disc-shaped member 36 is provided with the projection 18 of the boss 18.
a and does not rotate even when the operation dial 30 rotates. Therefore, the operation dial 30 can be turned stably and smoothly. Reference numeral 37 is a mounting hole,
38 is an engagement notch.

In the embodiment, the operation dial 30 is used.
Is restricted by an engagement projection 41 protruding from the outer side wall 15. The engaging projection 41 has a large number of grooves 39 formed in an arc shape on the dial body 31.
Of the operation dial 30 is fitted into one groove formed in an arc of the rotation angle of the operation dial 30, and the operation dial 3
A rotation width of 0 is defined.

The outer side wall 15 is formed with an arc-shaped switching projection 42 having both ends formed narrower than the center. The switching projection 42 is provided in the dial body 31.
To prevent the operation dial 30 from wobbling and to give a proper sense of moderation when switching the damper between closing and opening.
That is, when the operation dial 30 is rotated, the elastic pressure contact portion 43 rides on the wide central portion 42b from the narrow portion 42a above or below the switching convex portion 42, and the elastic pressure contact portion 36
Presses the central portion 42b with appropriate spring elasticity. When the operation dial 30 is turned from the central portion 42b to the upper or lower narrow portion 42a, the elastic pressing portion 3
6 is engaged with the narrow portion 42a, and the user can feel the switching state between the closed state and the opened state.

This air outlet is provided with an operation dial 3
By rotating the zero operation unit 34, the rotation arm 20 connected via the engagement connection arm 32 is rotated. The rotating arm 20 has a damper 1 mounted on a shaft 24 of a base 21 thereof.
2 is fixed, the tilt of the damper 12 is changed by the movement of the rotation arm 20, and the ventilation port 11 of the air outlet is opened and closed.

On the inner peripheral surface of the elongated hole 23 of the rotary arm 20, as shown in FIG. 4, a portion where the engaging pin 33 of the operation dial 30 is located when the damper 12 is opened or closed most is opposed to each other. And projections 25 and 25 are provided. On the other hand, on the side surface of the engagement pin 33, when the damper 12 is most opened or closed, two projection-shaped engagement portions 45 that releasably engage with the projection 25 of the rotating arm 30 are provided. , 45 are provided. This engaging part 4
The reference numerals 5 and 45 project from the outer peripheral surface of the engagement pin 33 toward the tip of the engagement connection arm 32. As can be understood from FIG. 5, the projection 25 and the engagement portion 45 are releasably engaged by the inclination of the engagement connection arm 32 with respect to the rotating arm 20 at the position where the damper is most opened or closed. Then, the damper 12 is prevented from moving due to the wind pressure received at the time of opening or closing.

The mechanism of the projection and the engaging portion will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. In the drawings, the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 indicate the same members. First, (A)
When the damper 12 of the air outlet is most open as shown in FIG. 5, the pivot arm 20 and the engagement connection arm 32 are connected by bending upward as shown in the figure. At this time, the engagement pin 33 of the engagement connection arm 32 is
, The engaging portion 45 contacts and engages with one side surface of the protruding portion 25 in the elongated hole 23 to maintain the position of the damper 12. next,
As shown in (B), when the damper 12 is opened about halfway, the engagement is released, and the rotation arm 20 and the engagement connection arm 32 of the operation dial 30 are substantially overlapped to form a straight line. In this case, the engagement portion 45 of the engagement pin 33 moves over the protrusion 25 with some resistance and moves in the elongated hole 23. Further, as shown in (C),
When the damper 12 is closed, the rotation arm 20 and the engagement connection arm 32 bend downward. In this case, the engaging pin 33 returns inside the elongated hole 23 again, and the engaging portion 45 is the projecting portion 2 on the opposite side to the projecting portion engaged in the above (A).
5 and abuts and engages its side.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show the operation of the mechanism of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7A, when the damper 12 is open, the air outlet vent 11
As shown in (B), a load is applied to the upper and lower sides of the damper 12 in a direction orthogonal to the flow of the wind,
Tries to rotate. Then, as shown in (C), at the contact portion between the engaging portion 45 and the protruding portion 25, the rotating arm 20 is moved.
A force b opposing the downward force a is generated to prevent the damper 12 from rotating.

As shown in FIG. 8A, when the damper 12 is closed, the wind is applied to the upper and lower surfaces of the damper 12 substantially vertically as shown in FIG. A load is applied, and the damper 12 tries to rotate. Then, as shown in (C), a force d opposing the upward force c of the rotating arm 20 is generated at a contact portion between the engaging portion 45 and the protruding portion 25 to prevent the damper 12 from rotating.

The engaging pins are not limited to those of the above-described embodiment, and a part thereof is provided with a flat engaging portion 81 like an engaging pin 80 shown in FIG. It may be something.

[0023]

As shown and described above, according to the damper opening / closing mechanism for the air outlet of the present invention, the projection provided on the turning arm for turning the damper and the engagement connection for operating the turning arm. Since the engaging portion provided on the arm is releasably engaged when the damper is fully opened and closed,
Even when the damper is easily opened and closed when the damper is likely to rotate due to wind pressure and vibration, the position can be reliably fixed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an example of a damper opening / closing mechanism of an air outlet according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a rotation arm and an engagement connecting arm are substantially straight in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an engagement pin.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an engagement state between an engagement pin and a long hole.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the state of engagement between the engagement pin and the elongated hole, which varies with the degree of opening of the damper, in a stepwise manner.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing a load applied to a protrusion and an engagement portion when the damper is opened.

FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing a load applied to a protrusion and an engagement portion when the damper is closed.

FIG. 9 is a view showing another example of the engagement pin.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Air outlet main body 11 Ventilation port 12 Damper 15 External side wall 18 Boss part 20 Rotating arm 21 Base part 23 Long hole 24 Axis 25 Projection part 30 Operation dial 32 Engagement connection arm 33 Engagement pin 45 Engagement part

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An air outlet main body having an openable and closable damper for defining a ventilation opening inside thereof, a boss portion protruding from an outer side wall, and a rotation center of the damper having a long hole. A pivot arm having a base fixed thereto, and an engaging connection arm having an engaging pin slidably engaged with the elongated hole to rotate the pivot arm. An air outlet damper opening / closing mechanism, wherein the damper is opened and closed by turning the operation dial, wherein the engagement pin is located when the damper is closed or fully opened. A protrusion is provided on each of the opposed inner peripheral surfaces of the long hole, and when the damper is closed or fully opened, the protrusion comprises a protrusion or a flat surface which comes into contact with one side of the protrusion and releasably engages with the protrusion. An engaging portion is provided on a side surface of the engaging pin. Air outlet damper opening and closing mechanism, characterized in that digit.