JP3289446B2 - 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 an air conditioner in which the amount of air passing through a heater core is adjusted in accordance with the movement of a film damper having a ventilation opening.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in an air conditioner for a vehicle, an air outlet switching damper or an air mix damper or the like is formed by a film damper made of a flexible material such as plastic, so that the overall size is reduced and the structure is simplified. 8 and 9 show a schematic configuration example of an air mix damper using such a film damper.

[0003] That is, in FIGS. 8 and 9, on the upstream side of the heater core 1 disposed in an air duct (not shown),
An air mix film damper 2 is arranged so as to surround the front surface (upstream side surface) of the heater core 1, and a first and a lower portion of the heater core 1 indicated by an arrow 3 in FIG. A cooling air passage and a second cooling air passage, also indicated by arrow 4, are formed. This film damper 2 has both ends connected to a pair of winding shafts 5 and 6,
It is configured to be able to reciprocate at a position along the front surface of the heater core 1 by a winding operation according to the rotation of the winding shafts 5 and 6.

The film damper 2 has a plurality of ventilation openings 2a, and the entire opening 2a is moved to a maximum heating position corresponding to the heater core 1 (the opening 2a is shown in FIG. 8). In the state shown by the solid line), the first cooling air passage 3 is closed. Also,
From the maximum heating position as described above, the film damper 2
An intermediate position in which the lower half of each opening 2a corresponds to the upper half of the heater core 1 and the upper half corresponds to the first cooling air passage 3 (the position where the opening 2a is indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 8). ), And each opening 2 a is moved to a heating stop position corresponding to only the first cooling air passage 3. Such adjustment of the movement position of the film damper 2 is performed, for example, This can be performed by a temperature control lever provided on an instrument panel of an automobile.

Therefore, by adjusting the moving position of the film damper 2 in accordance with the operation of the temperature adjusting lever, the amount of the heating air passing through the heater core 1 and the amount of the cooling air passing through the first cooling air passage 3 are determined. The ratio can be controlled, whereby the temperature of the blown conditioned air can be adjusted.

[0006]

By the way, in the above configuration, since the film damper 2 is arranged along the front surface of the heater core 1, for example, the film damper 2 is disposed in the lower half of each opening 2a. In a state where the portion is located at an intermediate position corresponding to the upper half portion of the heater core 1, the arrow W in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the air passing through the opening 2a intensively flows only in the upper half of the heater core 1, and heat exchange with cooling air hardly occurs in the lower half of the heater core 1. is there. Therefore, in such a state, the heat exchange ability of the heater core 1 is not sufficiently exhibited, and the heat exchange efficiency is reduced. However, there is a problem that the change characteristics of the blowout temperature of the heater do not have a linear relationship, and the temperature adjustment during the heating operation using the heater core 1 becomes inaccurate.

According to the measurements made by the inventor of the present invention, the temperature adjustment position by the temperature adjustment lever (the maximum temperature position is indicated by a scale "10" and the minimum temperature position is indicated by a scale "0"), the front foot outlet and the rear foot The relationship between the temperature TF and TR of the air-conditioned air from the air outlet is as shown in FIG. 10. From FIG. 10, the temperature adjustment position by the temperature adjustment lever is indicated by the scale “5”. It can be seen that inflection points occur in the conditioned air blowing temperatures TF and TR in the vicinity (corresponding to a state where about 50% of the heater core 1 corresponds to the ventilation opening 2a).

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a structure in which the amount of air passing through a heater core is adjusted by a film damper, while always maximizing the heat exchange capacity of the heater core. It is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner that can be exerted and that can accurately perform temperature control during a heating operation.

[0009]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a film damper having a ventilation opening is provided on an upstream side of a heater core provided in an air duct by providing an upstream side surface of the heater core. The air conditioner, wherein the film is arranged so as to be movable in an enclosed state, and the amount of air passing through the heater core is adjusted by changing a relative position between the opening and the heater core according to the movement of the film damper. The damper is provided with a holding means for holding the air chamber between the heater core and the heater core.

[0010]

When the relative position between the ventilation opening of the film damper and the heater core is changed by moving the film damper, the amount of air passing through the heater core through the opening can be adjusted. Become. In this case, since the air chamber is formed by the holding means on the upstream side of the heater core, that is, between the heater core and the film damper, the air that has passed through the ventilation opening is diffused in the air chamber and the heater core is diffused. Will pass through the whole area. Accordingly, the heat exchange capability of the heater core can be sufficiently exhibited regardless of the moving position of the film damper, and thus there is no possibility that the temperature adjustment during the heating operation becomes inaccurate as in the conventional configuration.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an air conditioner for a vehicle will be described below with reference to FIGS.
In FIG. 1, an inside / outside air switching damper (not shown) for selecting an inside air suction mode or an outside air suction mode is provided in an air duct 11 from an upstream side to a downstream side for sucking inside air or outside air and blowing the air downstream. A heater unit 15 including a blower 12, an evaporator 13, and a heater core 14 through which engine cooling water flows is provided.
At the most downstream part of the air duct 11, there is a face outlet 1
6, a foot outlet 17 and a defroster outlet 18 are provided. In this case, in particular, the foot outlet 17 is connected to a front foot outlet opened at the front of the vehicle compartment and a rear foot outlet opened at the rear of the vehicle compartment via a branch duct (not shown). Also, the heater unit 15
Are arranged such that a predetermined gap exists between each of the upper surface and the lower surface of the air duct 11. Accordingly, the first cooling air passage 19 and the first cooling air passage 19 are provided in the upper portion and the lower portion of the heater unit 15. A second cooling air passage 20 is formed.

An outlet switching film damper 21 provided at a position facing the outlets 16 to 18 from the inside.
Is made of a flexible material such as plastic, and both ends thereof are connected to a pair of winding shafts 22 and 23,
Further, the intermediate portion is supported by the guide roller 24. The winding shafts 22 and 23 are normally and reversely rotated via a motor and a power transmission mechanism (not shown), and the film damper 21 is moved according to the rotation. Although not shown, the outlet-port switching film damper 21 has an opening at a predetermined position, and the opening is located at one of or adjacent to the face outlet 16, the foot outlet 17, and the defroster outlet 18. By opposing the two air conditioners, a plurality of well-known blowing modes can be realized in this type of air conditioner.

An air mix film damper 25 made of a flexible material such as plastic is disposed on the upstream side of the heater core 14 so as to surround the front surface (upstream side surface) of the heater core 14. The film damper 25 is movable in each winding direction by connecting both ends thereof to a winding shaft 26 located above the heater unit 15 and a winding shaft 27 located behind the heater core unit 15, respectively. Configuration. The winding shafts 26 and 27 are configured to rotate forward and backward through a motor and a power transmission mechanism (not shown), and the film damper 25 is moved according to the rotation.

In this case, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3,
The heater unit 15 has a configuration including a plurality of holding plates 15a arranged in parallel in the vertical direction, and reinforcing ribs 15b, 15b connecting the holding plates 15a to each other. A storage recess 15c for storing the heater core 14 in a state of being inclined forward is formed. In this case, the holding plate 15a is formed in an approximate triangular shape, and the air mix film damper 25 is in sliding contact with the front end surface and the lower end surface of the holding plate 15a.

As a result of this configuration, an air chamber 28 defined by the holding plate 15a exists between the air mix film damper 25 and the heater core 14, and the holding plate 15a is referred to in the present invention. It will function as holding means.

As shown in FIG. 2, the air mix film damper 25 has a plurality of ventilation openings 25a, and the entire openings 25a are moved to the maximum heating position corresponding to the heater core 14. (Opening 25a
Is in a position shown by a solid line in FIG. 2), the first cooling air passage 19 is closed. Further, from the maximum heating position as described above, the air mix film damper 25 allows the lower half of each opening 25 a to correspond to the upper half of the heater core 14 and the upper half to the first cooling air passage 19.
And the opening position of each opening 25a is moved to the heating stop position corresponding to only the first cooling air passage 3. Therefore, the adjustment of the moving position of the film damper 25 can be performed. For example, the temperature can be controlled by a temperature control lever (not shown) provided on an instrument panel of an automobile.

According to the configuration of the present embodiment, for example, during a heating operation performed in a state in which the foot outlet 17 is opened by the outlet switching damper 21, the operation of the temperature control lever (not shown) is performed to operate the air mix. By moving the film damper 25, the foot outlet 1
The temperature of the conditioned air blown out from 7 can be adjusted. That is, if the relative position between the ventilation opening 25a of the film damper 25 and the heater core 14 is changed by moving the film damper 25 for air mix, the film passes through the heater core 14 through the opening 25a. Since the ratio between the amount of air to be blown and the amount of air passing through the first and second cooling air passages 19 and 20 can be adjusted, the temperature of the conditioned air blown out from the foot outlet 17 can be adjusted.

In this case, the upstream of the heater core 14, that is, between the heater core 14 and the air-mixing film damper 25, is held by the air chamber 2 by the holding plate 15a.
8, when the ventilation opening 25 a is located at a position corresponding to the air chamber 28, the air passing through the opening 25 a is diffused in the air chamber 28 and passes through the entire area of the heater core 14. I will be.

As a result, the heat exchange capacity of the heater core 14 is maximized regardless of the moving position of the air mix film damper 25, and the temperature control position by the temperature control lever (the maximum temperature position is indicated by a scale "10"). , The lowest temperature position is set to scale “0”), and the foot outlet 17
The relationship between the air-conditioning air outlet temperatures TF and TR from the front foot outlet and the rear foot outlet branched from the above can be made a linear relationship as shown in FIG.
This eliminates the risk of inaccurate temperature adjustment during the heating operation as in the conventional configuration.

The temperature change characteristics shown in FIG. 4 are based on the inclination of the heater core 14 and the holding plate 1 of the heater unit 15.
This is based on a measurement result of the inventor of the present application using an experimental model in which the shape of the air chamber 28 determined by the shape of 5a is set as a standard. Therefore, the slope of the characteristic curve in FIG. 4 changes according to the shape of the air chamber 28, and the shape of the air chamber 28 is actually determined according to the target temperature control performance. .

That is, FIG. 5 to FIG.
Is changed by changing the shape of the partition plate 15a, and the temperature control performance can be adjusted by adopting any of such configurations. Further, the air flow in the heater core 14 can be changed by changing the shape and the number of the reinforcing ribs 15b of the heater unit 15, so that the temperature control performance can be adjusted by such a change. .

In the above embodiment, the evaporator 13 is provided in the air duct 11, but the evaporator 13 may be provided as needed.

[0023]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when the amount of air passing through the heater core is adjusted by the film damper, an air chamber exists between the film damper and the heater core. Since the holding means for holding in a state where the heater core is held is provided, the heat exchange ability of the heater core can always be maximized, and the temperature control during the heating operation can be accurately performed. Things.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic longitudinal sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the main part.

FIG. 4 is a temperature characteristic curve diagram of air-conditioning air.

FIG. 5 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 3, showing a first modification;

FIG. 6 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 3, showing a second modification.

FIG. 7 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3, showing a third modification;

FIG. 8 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 2 showing a conventional example.

FIG. 9 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 3, showing the conventional example.

FIG. 10 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 4 in the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

In the drawing, 11 is an air duct, 12 is a blower, 13 is an evaporator, 14 is a heater core, 15 is a heater unit,
15a is a holding plate (holding means), 19 is a first cooling air passage, 20 is a second cooling air passage, 21 is a film damper for switching an outlet, 25 is a film damper for air mixing,
25a is a ventilation opening, and 28 is an air chamber.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A film damper having a ventilation opening is disposed on an upstream side of a heater core disposed in an air duct so as to be movable in a state surrounding an upstream side surface of the heater core, and the film damper is moved. In the air conditioner, the amount of air passing through the heater core is adjusted by changing the relative position between the opening and the heater core in accordance with the following conditions. An air chamber exists between the film damper and the heater core. An air conditioner characterized by comprising a holding means for holding the air conditioner.