JP2964764B2 - Vehicle 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 capable of sending temperature-controlled conditioned air to front and rear seats of a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a vehicle air conditioner of this type, cold air cooled by a refrigeration cycle device and hot air heated by using a heat source such as hot water are appropriately mixed to form front and rear seats in a vehicle interior. Air is controlled through a duct to control the air conditioning of the vehicle interior. In recent years, an air conditioner capable of independently controlling the air conditioning of the front seat side and the rear seat side has been considered.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 60-248412 discloses an air conditioning unit on the front seat in which a heat exchange amount adjusting means including a heater core and the like is provided downstream of a cooler. Each part before and after the heat exchange amount adjusting means of the air conditioning unit and the rear seat duct are connected through three connection passages, and are introduced through the respective connection passages according to the temperature setting conditions by the setting device on the rear seat side. The hot air and the cold air to be mixed are automatically controlled so as to be appropriately mixed and the air is blown to the rear seat side.

[0004] With such a configuration, the air conditioning of the rear seat side is performed independently of the front seat side while the duct configuration is simplified, so that the rear seat space can be maintained in a comfortable state. become.

[0005] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-189225 also provides a first outlet for introducing cool air upstream of the heater core and a second outlet for introducing warm air downstream of the heater core. An air outlet is provided, and according to the temperature conditions set on the rear seat side, cold air and hot air are mixed at an appropriate ratio by an air mix damper, and the mixed air is blown to the rear seat side via a rear duct. The rear seat is air-conditioned independently of the front seat.

[0006]

However, in the above-described prior art, in the rear-seat side air-blowing configuration, a foot air outlet for blowing air toward the feet and a face air outlet for blowing air toward the head side. Are separately provided, the temperature of the air blown from each outlet is substantially the same, although a slight difference may occur depending on the magnitude of the heat loss of the blowing path. It is impossible to control such that only the air temperature to the head side is adjusted without changing the air temperature to the head.

In order to respond to such a demand, for example, it is conceivable to divide the rear duct into two ducts, a rear foot duct and a rear face duct, and to perform individual control for each duct. In addition, since it is necessary to provide a connection passage for introducing cool air and hot air to each of the rear face ducts, there is a problem that the duct configuration becomes very complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to control the temperature of the rear foot and the rear face independently while keeping the rear duct configuration simple and space-saving. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle air conditioner.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an air conditioner for a vehicle according to the present invention comprises: a blower for blowing air into a vehicle cabin through a duct; Heating means for heating, and a temperature adjusting means for adjusting a heating amount of the air heated by the heating means, the air temperature adjusted by the temperature adjusting means to the front seat and rear seat in the vehicle interior A rear foot duct in which an air outlet is provided at a foot of a rear seat of the vehicle interior, and a rear air outlet having an air outlet provided above a rear seat of the vehicle interior, for an air conditioner for a vehicle which is guided and blows out. A face duct,
A rear outlet provided in the duct so as to guide the air, the temperature of which has been adjusted by the temperature adjusting means, to a rear seat of the vehicle cabin, the rear outlet, the rear foot duct, and a rear face duct; A first distribution chamber connected to the first distribution chamber, a first air volume distribution means for distributing the temperature-regulated air to the rear foot duct and the rear face duct provided in the first distribution chamber; A cold air outlet for introducing a part of the cool air upstream of the means, a second distribution chamber connected between the cold air outlet and the rear foot duct and the rear face duct, and a second distribution chamber A second air flow distribution means disposed upstream of the second air flow control means for adjusting an introduction amount of the cold air; and a second air flow distribution means disposed downstream of the second distribution chamber for distributing the cold air to the rear foot duct and the rear face duct. Characterized in was constructed by providing a third air volume distribution means.

[0010]

According to the air conditioner for a vehicle of the present invention, when the temperature-regulated air is introduced into the first distribution chamber, the first distribution chamber becomes the first.
The air is distributed to one or both of the rear foot duct and the rear face duct with the distribution amount set by the air volume distribution means. In the second distribution chamber, the introduced amount of cold air adjusted by the second air volume adjusting means is introduced through the cold air outlet, and the introduced cold air is distributed by the third air volume adjusting means. Is blown to one or both of the rear foot duct and the rear face duct.

[0011] Thus, in each of the rear foot duct and the rear face duct, air in a state where the temperature-controlled air and the cool air are mixed is introduced, and the air is blown out from the foot outlet at the foot of the rear seat and the upper outlet. Each is blown out.

Therefore, by controlling the first to third air volume adjusting means, it is possible to introduce air of different temperatures into each of the rear foot duct and the rear face duct. Appropriate air blowing corresponding to a desired temperature setting can be performed for each of the upper portions.

If the temperature of the temperature-adjusted air is set to a high temperature in advance, the temperature of air distribution to the rear seat can be controlled within a wider range.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 1 showing the overall configuration, a duct 1 is provided at the center of the front part of a vehicle, and a blower 2 as a blower for blowing air into a vehicle interior is provided upstream of the duct 1. Evaporator 3
Is for dehumidifying and cooling the air by the evaporating action of the refrigerant flowing therein, and is disposed downstream of the blower 2. In this embodiment, cold air is produced by the evaporator 3.

Further, the heater core 4 as a heating means includes:
Heats the air using the engine cooling water as a heat source, and is disposed downstream of the evaporator 3. In this case, the heater core 4 is disposed so as to occupy a part of the inside of the duct 1, and the first and second cold air passages 5 and 6 through which the cool air from the evaporator 3 bypasses the heater core 4 are provided. 4 are formed above and below.

Both ends of a cylindrical first shaft 7a and a second shaft 7b, which are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the paper of the drawing, are supported by a duct 1 so as to be rotatable. A timing belt (not shown) is provided between the first shaft 7a and the second shaft 7b, and the first shaft 7a is driven to rotate by a servo motor (not shown).

The air mix damper 8 as a temperature adjusting means is made of a flexible film, and is movably disposed with both ends wound around the first shaft 7a and the second shaft 7b. Has been established. An opening for passing air is formed in a part of the air mix damper 8, and the first shaft 7a
The first cold air passage 5, the heater core 4
In addition, the amount of cool air from the evaporator 3 passing through the second cool air passage 6 is adjusted.

Downstream of the duct 1, a front foot outlet 9 for blowing air toward the feet of the occupant on the front seat side in the vehicle compartment, a defroster outlet 10 for blowing air toward the windshield, and a vehicle interior. A front face outlet 11 for blowing air toward the upper body of the front seat occupant is provided.

Similarly, on the downstream side of the duct 1, a third shaft 1 having a cylindrical shape and disposed in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper of FIG.
Both ends of the 2a and the fourth shaft 12b are supported by the duct 1 so as to be rotatable. Third shaft 12
A timing belt (not shown) is provided between a and the fourth shaft 12b, and the third shaft 12a is driven to rotate by a servo motor (not shown).

At the boundary between the defroster outlet 10 and the front face outlet 11, an intermediate shaft 13 having a cylindrical shape is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. Also,
Both ends of the intermediate shaft 13 are supported by the duct 1 so as to be rotatable.

The outlet switching damper 14 is made of a flexible film, and one end of the damper 14 is connected to the third shaft 12a.
And the other end is connected to the fourth shaft via the intermediate shaft 13.
It is arranged movably while being wound around the shaft 12b. An opening for allowing air to pass through is formed in a part of the outlet switching damper 14, and
The opening portion is slid by the winding or feeding operation by the shaft 12a, whereby the front foot outlet 9, the defroster outlet 10, and the front face outlet 1 are moved.
1 and the amount of air passing through two rear outlets 15a and 15b, which will be described later.

The cold air bypass damper shaft 16 is disposed in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of the drawing, and has both ends supported by the duct 1 so as to be rotatable. A plate-shaped cold air bypass damper 17 is connected to this. ing. The cool air bypass damper shaft 16 is driven to rotate by a servo motor (not shown), whereby the cool air bypass damper 17 is opened and closed. Further, when the air mix mode is set to the mac school mode, a larger amount of cool air can be obtained by opening the cool air bypass passage.

As shown in a perspective view in FIG. 4, four partition plates 18 are arranged at predetermined intervals on the downstream side of the heater core 4 so as to be parallel to the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. Then, five passages are formed by these four partition plates 18, and the above-mentioned rear outlets 15a and 15b are disposed at positions corresponding to the second and fourth passages.

The first, third and fifth passages are front passages 19a, and the second and fourth passages are front and rear common passages 19b.

The first distribution chambers 21a and 21b have openings on one end side connected to the rear outlets 15a and 15b, respectively, and are arranged along the outer peripheral surface of the second cold air passage 6 of the duct 1. Have been.

Two cold air outlets 22a and 22b are formed in the second cold air passage 6 on the outer wall of the duct 1 for taking out cold air that bypasses the second cold air passage 6, and each of the cold air outlets 22a and 22b is formed in each of the cold air outlets 22a and 22b. Corresponding second distribution chamber 2
3a and 23b are connected. These second distribution chambers 2
As shown in FIG. 2, 3a and 23b are arranged so as to be adjacent to the first distribution chambers 21a and 21b, respectively.

First distribution chamber 21a and second distribution chamber 2
A rear foot duct 24 for the left side is provided at the downstream side outlet 3a.
a, the rear face duct 25a is connected,
The right rear foot duct 24b and the rear face duct 25b are connected to the downstream outlets of the distribution chamber 21b and the second distribution chamber 23b.

Although not shown, the rear foot duct 24
Air outlets are disposed on the left and right sides of the rear seat feet of the passenger compartment, respectively, and rear face ducts 25a, 25b are provided.
The air outlets are arranged on the left and right above the rear seats of the passenger compartment, respectively.

Now, referring to FIG. 3, the first left side
The configuration of the second distribution chambers 21a and 23a will be described in detail. The first and second distribution chambers 21 for the right side are used.
Regarding the configurations of b and 23b, as shown in FIG.
Since the configuration is the same except that it is arranged symmetrically, the description is omitted here.

That is, the boundary between the foot outlet 26 on the side of the rear foot duct 24a of the first distribution chamber 21a and the face outlet 27 on the side of the rear face duct 25a is provided as shown in FIG.
A first damper shaft 28 whose both ends are rotatably supported in the direction perpendicular to the inner surface of the paper sheet is provided, and a plate-shaped first damper 29 as first air volume distribution means is connected to this. The first damper 29 is rotationally driven by a servo motor (not shown), whereby the air outlets 26 and 27
One or both of them are opened.

A second damper shaft 30 is rotatably supported by the duct 1 at an edge of the cold air outlet 22a on the upstream side of the second distribution chamber 23a. Is connected to a plate-shaped second damper 31 as second air volume distribution means which opens and closes on the side of the cold air passage 6.
The second damper 31 is driven to rotate by a servo motor (not shown) so that the amount of cool air introduced from the cool air passage 6 into the second distribution chamber 23a can be adjusted.

Rear foot duct 2 of second distribution chamber 23a
4a side cold air foot outlet 32 and rear face duct 2
A third damper shaft 34 whose both ends are rotatably supported in the direction perpendicular to the paper of FIG. 1 is disposed at the boundary between the cold air face outlet 33 and the cold air face outlet 33 on the 5a side. A plate-shaped third damper 35 as a means is connected. The third damper 35 is driven to rotate by a servo motor (not shown), so that the outlets 32 and 3
One or both of them are open.

FIG. 5 shows the external appearance of the control panel 36 disposed on the rear seat side in the passenger compartment. On the lower left part of the control panel 36, a set temperature changing switch 3 is provided.
7 is provided, and a set temperature display section 38 is provided at an upper portion thereof. The set temperature changing switch 37 can be set up or down by pressing the set temperature up or down, and the set temperature is displayed in a set temperature display section 38.
Is displayed.

The rear mode changeover switch 39 is a cyclic switch. For example, each time a depressing operation is performed, three modes of a face mode, a bi-level mode and a foot mode can be changed and set. The direction of the air flow is indicated by a lamp.

Although not shown, the temperature control in the passenger compartment is performed by a control unit including a microcomputer in accordance with a temperature control program. In this case, the temperature control is performed by the above-described temperature setting. The processing is executed based on conditions and temperature detection signals inside and outside the vehicle cabin detected by sensors (not shown) provided in each section.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.
Due to the rotational drive of the blower 2, air inside and outside the vehicle interior is
The air cooled through the evaporator 3 according to the set conditions is sent to the heater core 4 and the first and second cold air passages 5 and 6.
At this time, by sliding the air mix damper 8, the amount of air passing through the heater core 4 and the cool air passages 5, 6 is adjusted. Air mixed at an appropriate temperature is blown to the front foot outlet 9, the defroster outlet 10, and the front face outlet 11 according to the setting state of the outlet switching damper 14.

At the same time, the air-mixed air is supplied to the first distribution chambers 21a, 21a through the rear outlets 15a, 15b.
1b. The cool air passing through the second cool air passage 6 is introduced into the second distribution chambers 23a and 23b on the way according to the setting state of the second damper 31.

When the rear mode changeover switch 39 of the rear control panel 36 is set to the rear face mode, the first damper 29 closes the foot outlet 26 as shown in FIG. 3B, the third damper 35 is driven to a position to close the cool air foot outlet 32 as shown in FIG.

Thus, the first distribution chambers 21a, 21b
All the air-mixed air introduced into the rear face ducts 25 a and 25
It is blown out to the b side. The cool air whose introduction amount is adjusted by the second damper 31 is blown toward the rear face ducts 25a and 25b through the cool air face outlet 33. In the rear face ducts 25a and 25b, the cold air is mixed with the air-mixed air, and the air is guided and blown out above the rear seat as air having a temperature suitable for the set conditions.

Next, when the rear mode changeover switch 39 of the control panel 36 is set to the rear-by-level mode, as shown in FIG. The third damper 35 is driven to an intermediate position between the cool air foot outlet 32 and the cold air face outlet 33 as shown in FIG.

Accordingly, the rear foot ducts 24a and 24b and the rear face duct 25
In a and 25b, the air-mixed air and the cold air are mixed, and are blown out to the feet of the rear seat and upwards as air having a temperature suitable for the set conditions.

Further, when the rear mode changeover switch 39 of the control panel 36 is set to the rear foot mode, the first damper 29 is in the position for closing the face outlet 27 as shown in FIG. Driven,
As shown in FIG. 3B, the second damper 31 is driven to a position for closing the cold air outlets 22a and 22b, and the third damper 35 is driven to a position for closing the cold air face outlet 33.

Thus, the first distribution chambers 21a, 21b
All of the air-mixed air introduced to the rear is blown out to the rear foot ducts 24a and 24b through the foot outlet 26. Further, the second damper 31 is a cold air outlet 2
In this state, no cool air is introduced into the second distribution chambers 23a and 23b because the 2a and 22b are closed. However, by driving the second damper 31 to introduce cool air,
Cold air can also be sent to the rear foot ducts 24a and 24b. Thereby, the rear foot ducts 24a, 24b
In the above, the cold air is mixed with the air-mixed air, so that the air is guided above the rear seat and blown out as air having a temperature suitable for the set conditions.

Next, based on the temperature conditions set by the set temperature changing switch 39 of the control panel 36 and the outputs of the various sensors, the difference between the left and right insolation states and the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures and the cold air temperature. A case will be described in which control is automatically performed by a control circuit based on the above.

That is, according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 9, when the control circuit starts the program, it first inputs various data (step S1). Various data to be input are shown below.

Set temperature Tset: Set temperature change switch 37 (Right set temperature TRset, Left set temperature TLset when left and right can be set independently) Outside air temperature TAM: By outside air temperature sensor Solar temperature TS: By sun light sensor (In the case of using an omnidirectional solar radiation sensor, the right solar radiation temperature TSR and the left solar radiation temperature TSL) Indoor temperature TR: By the inside air temperature sensor Cool air temperature TE: By the cool air temperature sensor downstream of the evaporator 3

The control circuit calculates the target outlet temperatures TAO (R) and TAO (L) corresponding to the left and right sides of the various input data based on the arithmetic expressions (step S).
2). In this case, the arithmetic expression is a well-known general expression in which a constant is set and stored, for example, corresponding to the air conditioner.

Subsequently, the control circuit determines the target blowout temperature TAO
The damper positions of the left and right dampers 29, 31 and 35 are calculated corresponding to (R) and TAO (L) (step S3). In this case, each damper position is set by reading and calculating data stored in advance as a map corresponding to the value of the target outlet temperature TAO.

It should be noted that, as shown in FIG. 10, a value ΔT indicating how many times the face blowout temperature is to be reduced is calculated in accordance with the sunshine temperature Ts value of the sunshine sensor to correct the face blowout temperature. ing. That is, when the amount of solar radiation is large, the upward blowing temperature is controlled to be lower than the normal face blowing temperature.

The control circuit outputs a drive signal to each servomotor in accordance with the calculated value of the damper position to adjust the opening of each of the left and right dampers 29, 31 and 35 (step S).
4) Terminate the program. By executing such a program each time the set temperature is changed, or by executing the program at regular intervals, the temperature of air blown to the rear seat in the vehicle compartment can be maintained in an optimum state.

According to the present embodiment, the first distribution chambers 21a, 21b and the second distribution chambers 23a, 23b are provided adjacent to the duct 1, and the left and right first dampers 29,
Since the mixing ratio of the air mixed with the cold air and the cold air by the second damper 31 and the third damper 35 is appropriately set and the air is blown out to a desired outlet, the rear foot ducts 24a and 24b and the rear face are formed. Duct 25
Even when the temperature of the air blown out from a and 25b is individually controlled, the duct configuration is simple and space-saving. Thus, there is an advantage that the configuration for independent left and right temperature control is not complicated even in the rear seat of the vehicle cabin.

FIG. 11 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the first embodiment is that a cool air cut plate 20 is provided in a part of the front and rear common passage 19b. . This cold air cut plate 20 is made of a thin plate material, and its edges are formed by the heater core 4 and the partition plate 18.
And is fixedly adhered to.

With such a configuration, the amount of cold air introduced into the rear outlets 15a and 15b is reduced, and the temperature of the air-mixed air is set to be higher than that of the front side. be able to.

Therefore, according to the second embodiment, the following effects can be obtained in addition to the effects of the first embodiment. That is, by adjusting the amount of the cool air introduced from the second distribution chambers 23a and 23b, the temperature of the air blown to the rear side can be controlled in a wide range from a higher temperature to a lower temperature than the front side. Become like

In each of the above embodiments, the temperature adjusting means is constituted by the air mix damper 8. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the air mix damper 8 and the cold air passage 5,
Instead of 6, the temperature adjusting means may be constituted by a reheat type in which the air temperature after passing through the heater core 4 is adjusted by adjusting the flow rate or temperature of the hot water inside the heater core 4.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the cool air is produced by the evaporator 3 and sent to the rear seat side. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, in an air conditioner for a vehicle having no evaporator, the outside air When the temperature is low, the outside air can be used as cold air.

[0057]

As described above, according to the vehicle air conditioner of the present invention, the temperature-controlled air is introduced into the first distribution chamber and distributed by the first air volume distribution means, and the cold air outlet is provided. From the above, the cool air is introduced into the second distribution chamber by the second air volume distribution means, distributed by the third air volume distribution means and sent to the rear foot duct and the rear face duct, so that the configuration of the duct is simple and space-saving. can do. This also provides an excellent effect that the temperature can be controlled independently for the left and right sides.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing an entire vehicle air conditioner showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from a direction A in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view showing a configuration of a main part.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view showing a heater core and a partition plate.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing the appearance of the control panel.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional side view of the first and second distribution chambers showing positions of respective dampers in a rear face mode.

FIG. 7 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 6 in a rear bi-level mode.

FIG. 8 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 6 in a rear foot mode.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an automatic temperature control program.

FIG. 10 is a correlation diagram between the output of the solar radiation sensor and the correction amount.

FIG. 11 is a view corresponding to FIG. 4, showing a second embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a duct, 2 is a blower (blower), 3 is an evaporator, 4 is a heater core (heating means), 5 is a first cold air passage, 6 is a second cold air passage, 8 is an air mix damper (temperature adjusting means), 9 is a front foot outlet, 10 is a defroster outlet, 11 is a front face outlet, 14 is an outlet switching damper, 15a and 15b are rear outlets, 1
7 is a cold air bypass damper, 18 is a partition plate, 19a is a front passage, 19b is a front rear common passage, 20 is a cold air cut plate, 21a and 21b are first distribution chambers, 22a and 22a.
22b is a cold air outlet, 23a and 23b are second distribution chambers,
24a, 24b are rear foot ducts, 25a, 25b are rear face ducts, 29 is a first damper (first air flow distribution means), 31 is a second damper (second air flow distribution means), and 35 is a third damper. Damper (third air volume distribution means), 3
Reference numeral 6 denotes a control panel.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A blower for blowing air into a vehicle interior through a duct, a heating unit disposed in the duct to heat the air, and a temperature for adjusting a heating amount of the air heated by the heating unit. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising: an adjusting unit for guiding the air, the temperature of which has been adjusted by the temperature adjusting unit, to a front seat and a rear seat in the vehicle cabin, and blowing the air to a rear seat foot of the cabin. A rear foot duct in which an outlet is provided; a rear face duct in which an air outlet is provided above a rear seat in the vehicle compartment; and the air whose temperature is adjusted by the temperature adjusting means to the rear seat in the vehicle interior. A rear outlet provided in the duct for guiding, a first distribution chamber connected between the rear outlet, the rear foot duct, and a rear face duct; and a first distribution chamber. Set in First air volume distribution means for distributing the temperature-controlled air to the rear foot duct and the rear face duct, a cold air outlet for introducing a part of the cool air upstream of the heating means, and a cold air outlet. A second distribution chamber connected between the second distribution chamber and the rear foot duct and the rear face duct; and a second air volume distribution means disposed upstream of the second distribution chamber for adjusting an introduction amount of the cool air. And a third air volume distribution means disposed downstream of the second distribution chamber and distributing the cool air to the rear foot duct and the rear face duct.