JP3237283B2 - 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 having a function of mixing cold air and hot air.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As this type of vehicle air conditioner, there is known, for example, one described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 1-91414. As shown in FIG. 6, the air conditioner described in the above publication is
The air introduced from the air inlet 100a is passed through the heater core 101 into the hollow heater case 100 having the air inlet 100a and the air outlet 100b.
A hot air flow path Rh that guides to the air mix area AM provided near the air mix area 00b, and air introduced from the air introduction port 100a bypasses the heater core 101 to the air mix area A.
In addition to providing a cool air flow path Rc for guiding to M, an air mix door 102 is provided at a branch position of the hot air flow path Rh and the cool air flow path Rc in front of the heater core 101 to adjust an air distribution amount to both flow paths. The hot air from the hot air flow channel Rh and the cool air from the cold air flow channel Rc are combined in the air mix area AM, and the air having a temperature corresponding to the air distribution amount by the air mix door 102 is discharged from the air outlet 100b.
The air discharged from the air outlet 100b is distributed to outlets in various parts of the vehicle compartment by a distributor downstream of the heater case 100, and is discharged into the vehicle compartment.

[0003]

In the air conditioner described in the above publication, the air mix area AM is provided immediately before the exhaust port 100b of the heater case 100, so that the warm air passing through the heater core 101 and the heater core 101 The exhaust port 100b is not sufficiently mixed with the cold air
And the temperature distribution in the vicinity of the air outlet 100b may vary greatly. Therefore, in order to stabilize the temperature of air blown into the vehicle compartment, it is necessary to further mix air in the distributor downstream of the heater case 100. Therefore, when designing the distributor, it is necessary to give priority to the mixing efficiency of the air, so that the degree of freedom of the shape and dimensions is lost, and it has been difficult to design a distributor that can be shared by many types of vehicles. on the other hand,
Vehicle air conditioners are required to realize a so-called head cold foot heat state in which cold air is supplied to the passenger's head and warm air is supplied to the feet.
In order to satisfy such requirements, for example, the heater case 100
It is necessary to provide a third flow path that directs the cool air upstream of the heater case 100 to the outlet at the upper part of the vehicle compartment, bypassing the heater case 100. For this reason, the structure of a series of air-conditioning ducts constituting the air-conditioning apparatus becomes complicated, and the design work cannot be carried out with inconvenience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to easily realize a head cold foot heat state by utilizing a temperature difference between hot air passing through a heater core in a heater case and cold air bypassing the heater core, and is discharged from the heater case. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle air conditioner capable of stabilizing the temperature of air.

[0005]

1 and 2 showing one embodiment, the invention of claim 1 is directed to the inside of a hollow heater case 1 having a wind guide port 10 and a discharge port 11. A hot air flow path Rh that guides air introduced from the air introduction port 10 through the heater core 2 and guides the air to the air mix area AM provided near the exhaust port 11, and heats the air introduced into the heater case 1 by a heater. The present invention is applied to a vehicle air conditioner provided with a cool air flow path Rc that guides the air from the core 2 to the air mix area AM. The above-described object is to provide the air mixing area AM from the cold air flow path Rc.
So that the flow direction of the cold air C guided to the air flow is deflected upward (in the direction of the arrow U) when the heater case 1 is mounted on the vehicle, more than the flow direction of the hot air H guided from the hot air flow path Rh to the air mix area AM. Hot air flow path R of heater case 1
At least one of the upper wall surface on the h side and the lower wall surface on the cold air flow path Rc side is connected to the air outlet 1 from the air mix area AM.
This is achieved by providing concave curved surfaces 131 and 141 that curve as approaching 1. The invention according to claim 2 is the exhaust outlet 11
The radius of curvature of the concave curved surfaces 131 and 141 increases from the end to the center.

[0006]

The flow direction of the cold air C flowing from the cold air flow path Rc into the air mixing area AM by the concave curved surfaces 131 and 141 is higher than the flow direction of the hot air H flowing from the hot air flow path Rh into the air mixing area AM. Deflect,
Air having a low temperature is discharged from an upper portion of the air outlet 11, and air having a higher temperature is discharged from a lower portion of the air outlet 11.

In the means and means for solving the above problems which explain the constitution of the present invention, the drawings of the embodiments are used to make the present invention easy to understand. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a heater case, and 2 denotes a heater core. The heater case 1 has a rectangular parallelepiped container shape, and has a wind guide port 10 for taking in air from a cooling unit (not shown), and an air outlet port 11 opened in a direction orthogonal to the wind guide port 10 to discharge air to a distributor (not shown). It has. When the heater case 1 is mounted on the vehicle, the direction of arrow U in FIG. 1 is above the vehicle and the direction of arrow D is below the vehicle.
Is directed in the vehicle width direction, and the exhaust port 11 is directed rearward of the vehicle.
In the following, the arrow U direction in the figure is above the heater case 1,
The direction of arrow D is referred to as the lower side of the heater case 1.

The heater core 2 is disposed in the heater case 1 so as to be inclined so as to approach the exhaust port 11 toward the downstream side in the flow direction of the air from the air guide port 10.
Abuts against a wall surface 12 on the opposite side of the air outlet 11 and is connected to a heater pipe (not shown). On the other hand, the rear end 21 of the heater core 2 is located substantially in the middle between the exhaust port 11 and the wall surface 12 of the heater case 1, whereby air from the air guide port 10 is supplied to the heater core 2 inside the heater case 1. The hot air flow path Rh that is guided to the exhaust port 10 after passing through
Thus, a cool air flow passage Rc that guides the air from the air guide opening 10 to the exhaust opening 11 bypassing the front of the heater core 2 is formed.
The reason why the heater core 2 is arranged as described above is that the length of the heater core 2 is increased while the depth of the heater case 1 (vertical direction in FIG. 1) is prevented from increasing, and a sufficient amount of heat is secured. The length of the heater pipe connected to the core 2 is made as short as possible to suppress a decrease in thermal efficiency,
Furthermore, the flow path of the cool air C that bypasses the front surface 22 side of the heater core 2 and is directed toward the exhaust port 11 is made as short and straight as possible to minimize the ventilation resistance.

The hot air flow path Rh and the cool air flow path Rc join in the air mix area AM before the exhaust port 10. As shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, a portion of the upper wall surface 13 of the heater case 1 which continues from the air mix area AM to the air outlet 11 is a flat surface 13 on which the side of the cool air flow path Rc is uniform.
On the other hand, the concave curved surface 13 that curves downwardly of the heater case 1 as the side of the hot air flow path Rh approaches the exhaust port 11.
It is set to 1. On the other hand, of the lower wall surface 14 of the heater case 1, the air outlet 11
The portion continuing from the heater case 1 is a concave curved surface 141 that is curved upward as the side of the cold air flow channel Rh approaches the exhaust port 11 while the side of the hot air flow channel Rc is a uniform flat surface 140.

As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the heater core 2
In front of the air mixing door 3, an air mix door 3 that is driven to rotate about a shaft 30 provided near the rear end 21 of the heater core 2 by an actuator (not shown) is provided. The air mix door 3 is rotatable between a position at which the hot air flow channel Rh is closed (solid line position in FIG. 2) and a position at which the cold air flow channel Rc is closed (two-dot chain line position in FIG. 2). The amount of air distribution to the hot air flow path Rh and the cold air flow path Rc is adjusted according to the position of the air mix door 3.

A gap substantially equal to the thickness of the heater core 2 is provided between the shaft 30 of the air mix door 3 and the front face 22 of the heater core 2. An adjustment channel Rm is formed by the parallel partition walls 4 and is separated from the cold air channel Rc and communicates with the hot air channel Rh. At the rear end of the adjustment channel Rm, a sub air mix door 5 that is sufficiently smaller than the air mix door 3 is provided. The sub-air mix door 5 is brought into contact with the rear end 21 of the heater core 2 around the shaft 50 by an actuator (not shown) to close the adjustment flow path Rm (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2). It is rotationally driven between a position substantially on the extension and a position where the adjustment flow path Rm is completely opened (the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2).

The positions of the air mix door 3 and the sub air mix door 5 are controlled by a control device (not shown) based on the position indicated by a temperature control lever (not shown) provided in the vehicle interior. Hereinafter, the positional relationship between the doors 3 and 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. When the temperature control lever is at the full hot position on the highest temperature side, the air mix door 3 rotates to a position that completely covers the cooling passage Rc as shown in FIG. It rotates to the position where the adjustment flow path Rm is closed. As a result, the entire amount of the air taken in from the air guide port 10 flows into the hot air channel Rh, and the hot air H that has passed through the heater core 2 is exhausted from the exhaust port 11 as it is.

When the temperature control lever is operated from the full hot position to the low temperature side, as shown in FIG. 3 (B), first, the sub air mix door 5 starts moving and the adjustment flow path Rm is set to the temperature control lever. Opened by an amount corresponding to the operation amount, the cool air Cm that has passed through the adjustment flow path Rm flows into the hot air flow path Rh, and the temperature of the hot air H decreases. When the temperature control lever is further operated to the lower temperature side from the state where the adjustment flow path Rm is fully opened, the air mix door 3 moves toward the heater core 2 as shown in FIG. Then, the cool air C flows into the cool air flow path Rc and the air mix area AM
To join the hot air H.

When the temperature control lever is at the lowest temperature full cool position, as shown in FIG. 2, the air mix door 3 is rotated to a position completely covering the hot air flow path Rh, and the sub air mix door 5 is moved. It rotates to the position where the adjustment flow path Rm is closed. As a result, the entire amount of the air taken in from the air introduction port 10 flows into the cool air flow path Rc, and only the cool air C floating on the heater core 2 is exhausted from the exhaust air port 11.

In this embodiment, the exhaust port 1 of the heater case 1
1 is provided by the concave curved surface 131 provided in front of the hot air flow path Rh.
The flow direction of the warm air H flowing into the air mix area AM from the vehicle is deflected downward of the vehicle (FIGS. 1 and 5), and the concave curved surface 141 is formed.
As a result, the flow direction of the cool air C flowing from the cool air flow path Rc into the air mix area AM is deflected upward of the vehicle (FIG. 1,
(Fig. 4). For this reason, the temperature of the air discharged from the air outlet 11 is lower at the upper part of the air outlet 11 and higher at the lower part. Therefore, at the distributor connected to the exhaust port 11,
The air discharged from the upper part of the exhaust port 11 is simply guided to the outlet at the upper part of the vehicle compartment, and the air discharged from the lower part of the exhaust port 11 is guided to the outlet at the foot side of the passenger compartment. A state is formed.

The mixing of the hot air H and the cold air C in the air mix area AM is reduced by the amount of deflection of the two in the opposite directions. Therefore, the temperature of the air discharged from the upper part of the air outlet 11 and the temperature of the air outlet 11 The temperature of the air exhausted from the lower part is stabilized while maintaining a certain temperature difference. For this reason, it is not necessary to mix air at the distributor downstream of the heater case in order to stabilize the blowing temperature from each outlet.

In addition, in this embodiment, the hot air H is discharged from the exhaust port 11 while deflecting downward of the vehicle, and the cool air C is discharged from the exhaust port 11 while deflecting upward of the vehicle. Even if the shape is not devised, more warm air is supplied to the foot side than the head in the full hot state (FIG. 3A), and the foot side in the full cool state (FIG. 3B). More cold air is supplied to the head than in the head, and a comfortable environment is naturally formed.

In the present embodiment, the adjustment flow path Rm is provided on the back side of the heater case 1 with respect to the cold air flow path Rc because the temperature of the hot air H is adjusted at a position sufficiently distant from the outlet 11. This is for stabilizing the temperature of the warm air H. However, if it is not necessary to lower the temperature of the air supplied to the feet, the sub air mix door 5 may be omitted. In addition, when the width of the adjustment flow path Rm is set small and the temperature control lever is operated from the full hot state to the low temperature side, the sub air mix door 5 is moved to the air mix door 3.
The reason for opening beforehand is that the temperature reduction characteristic from the full hot state can be finely adjusted in proportion to the operation amount of the temperature adjustment lever. Air mix door 3
Is opened immediately, a considerable amount of cold air C flows into the cold air flow passage Rc not only from the front end side of the air mix door 3 but also from the side.
Turns around, and the exhaust temperature of the exhaust port 11 greatly decreases.

In the above embodiment, the concave curved surfaces 131 and 141 are provided on the heater case 1, but a considerable effect can be expected by providing only one of them. Further, in the embodiment, the curvature radii of the concave curved surfaces 131 and 141 are made constant in the width direction of the exhaust port 11, and the deflection amounts of the hot air H and the cold air C are equal. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, the curvature radii of the concave curved surfaces 131 and 141 are increased toward the center of the air outlet 11, and the degree of deflection of the hot air H and the cold air C in the flow direction at both ends of the air outlet 11 is increased. If the degree of deflection in the flow direction of the warm air H and the cool air C at the center is reduced, the mixing amount of the warm air H and the cool air C can be increased while realizing a vertical temperature difference.

[0021]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, at least one of the upper wall surface of the heater case on the side of the warm air flow path and the lower wall surface of the heater case on the side of the cool air flow path is brought closer from the air mixing area to the exhaust port. Since the concave surface has a curved surface, the lower temperature air is discharged from the upper portion of the exhaust port of the heater case, and the higher temperature air is discharged from the lower portion of the exhaust port. Therefore, the air discharged from the upper part of the outlet is guided to the outlet at the upper part of the vehicle compartment, and the air discharged from the lower part of the outlet is guided to the outlet at the foot side of the passenger compartment, so that the head cold state can be easily reduced. realizable. Moreover, since the temperature of the air discharged from above and below the discharge port is stabilized while maintaining a desired temperature difference, there is no need to mix the air at the distributor downstream of the heater case. Therefore, the degree of freedom in designing the distributor is increased, and the series of duct shapes is simplified, so that the man-hour required for designing the air conditioner is reduced. According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the radius of curvature of the concave surface is increased from the end of the air outlet toward the center, the mixing amount of hot air and cold air can be increased while realizing a vertical temperature difference. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a heater case according to an embodiment of the present invention in a partially sectional view.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the heater case of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of air flow in the heater case of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a conventional heater case.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Heater case 2 Heater core 3 Air mix door 5 Sub air mix door 10 Ventilation opening 11 Outlet 131 Concave curved surface which deflects hot air 141 Concave curved surface which deflects cool air AM Air mix area C Cold air H Hot air Rc Cold air flow channel Rh Hot air flow path

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An air introduced from the air guide port is passed through a heater core into a hollow heater case having a wind guide port and an exhaust port, and then guided to an air mix area provided near the exhaust port. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising: a hot air flow path; and a cold air flow path that guides air introduced from the air guide port to the air mix area while bypassing the heater core. the flow direction of the cool air guided into the region, to deflect the upward when mounted on a vehicle of the heater case than the flow direction of the hot air derived from the warm air passage to the air mix region, the human
The upper wall surface of the heat case on the side of the hot air flow path and the cold air
At least one of the lower wall surfaces on the flow path side is
Concave curve that curves as it approaches the exhaust port from the
An air conditioner for a vehicle, characterized in that it has a surface . 2. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein
hand, As going from the end of the air outlet to the center, the concave curved surface
A vehicle air conditioner characterized by having a large radius of curvature.
Place.