JP3393659B2 - 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.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an air conditioner for an automobile has a blower unit in which a blower and an evaporator are housed in a casing that also serves as a duct, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-1816, for example. It is customary to attach the blower unit to a dash panel that defines the forefront part of the vehicle compartment with the blower side extending largely from the dash panel to the front of the vehicle body.

An instrument panel is mounted on the vehicle compartment side of the dash panel, and various instruments and the like are housed inside the instrument panel.

[0004]

However, in an air conditioner for a vehicle in which the blower unit is arranged so as to extend from the dash panel to the front side of the vehicle body, for example, when the vehicle collides head-on, its collision load is applied. Is input to the extended portion of the blower unit. It is considered that the blower unit does not retreat in a normal collision, but in some cases, the blower unit may retreat and damage the accommodating members such as instruments stored in the instrument panel. As this is considered, it is necessary to prevent this more reliably.

[0005] Therefore the present invention is the air conditioning system of a vehicle blower unit is arranged in a state extending toward the vehicle body front side of the dash panel, suppressed as much as possible the backward movement of the blower unit in the positive collision of the motor vehicle Therefore, the purpose is to prevent damage to various members housed in the instrument panel due to the backward movement of the blower unit.

[0006]

According to the invention of claim 1, as a concrete means for solving the above-mentioned problems, in the invention of the present application, a dash panel defining the foremost part of the passenger compartment is provided from the dash panel to the vehicle body. Formed on both sides of the engine room in a vehicle air conditioner with a blower unit attached to the front engine room.
Connect the pair of left and right suspension towers connected by the connecting bar.
While connected to the vehicle width direction, to the blower unit, to suppress the collision force absorbing means transmission of absorption relaxation and continue the dash panel side impact force at the time of collision provided me, this
The blower unit on the rear side of the vehicle body with respect to the impact force absorbing means of
Is fixed to the connecting bar .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle air conditioner according to the first aspect, the collision force absorbing means is inclined at a predetermined inclination angle with respect to the plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle body. It is characterized in that it is divided into a plurality of parts by the dividing surface and is fastened by a fastener so as to release the fastening action by receiving an external force acting in the surface direction of the dividing surface. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle air conditioner according to the first aspect, the collision force absorbing means is used.
The part where the blower unit is located near the front of the vehicle.
Pivot but with the off <br/> set shape in the vehicle width direction for the portion located on the vehicle body rearward, between the ends mutually offset direction inboard of the divided and the divided surface at its intermediate position The feature is that a branch is formed.

[0009] In the invention of claim 4, wherein, in the automotive air conditioning system of claim 1, wherein the collision force absorbing means is characterized by being configured by the fragile portion formed in the casings grayed the blower unit.

[0010]

With each of the inventions of the present application, the following effects can be obtained by adopting such a configuration.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a collision force is input to the tip portion of the blower unit due to a collision (a head-on collision) of an automobile, the collision force is absorbed by the collision force absorbing means provided in the blower unit. Ru is relaxed. Also, dash
A blower unit that cantilevers the panel
By being connected and fixed to the connecting bar, its support strength is improved.
Is planned. Therefore, the backward movement of the blower unit is suppressed as much as possible.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a collision force is input to the blower unit, the fastening action of the fastener is released in response to the collision force, and the blower unit slides on the inclined dividing surface. Similar to the case described in the above 1, the collision force is absorbed and relaxed, and the backward movement of the blower unit is suppressed as much as possible.

According to a third aspect of the invention, when a collision force is input to the blower unit, a rotational moment acts due to the collision force because the blower unit is offset, and the blower unit receives the rotational moment. By rotating around the pivotal part provided in the divided part,
As in the case described in 1 above, the collision force is absorbed and relaxed,
The backward movement of the blower unit is suppressed as much as possible.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, when a collision force is input to the blower unit, the fragile portion formed in the blower unit is crushed and deformed in response to the collision force, which is similar to the case of the first aspect. In addition, the collision force is absorbed and relaxed, and the backward movement of the blower unit is suppressed as much as possible.

[0015]

Therefore, according to the automobile air conditioner of each invention of the present application, when the collision force is input to the blower unit projecting from the dash panel to the front of the vehicle body at the time of collision of the automobile, the invention is set forth in claim 1. According to the invention, the collision force absorption means provided in the blower unit absorbs and absorbs the collision force, and in the invention according to claim 2, the collision force absorption means constituted by the inclined surfaces of the divided portions of the blower unit slides. In the invention according to claim 3, the blower unit is divided in an offset state and is rotated by a collision force absorbing means constituted by engaging this with a hinge. Further, in the invention according to claim 4, the fragile portion provided in the blower unit. The collision force is absorbed and relaxed by the crushing deformation by the collision force absorbing means, which is input to the blower unit. The collision force transmitted to the dash panel is restrained as much as possible from the backward movement of the blower unit, and as a result, various members arranged in the dash panel due to the backward movement of the blower unit. The effect of preventing damage to the product is obtained.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The air conditioner for an automobile of the present invention will be specifically described below based on embodiments.

First Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a front part of a vehicle body 1 of an automobile equipped with an air conditioner according to a first embodiment to which the inventions described in claims 1 and 2 of the present application are applied. In the figure, reference numeral 2 is an engine compartment defined by a dash panel 4 arranged in the vehicle width direction and a vehicle compartment 9, and is connected to both sides of the engine room 2 by connecting bars 5 in the vehicle width direction. A pair of left and right suspension towers 3, 3 are formed, and a radiator 7 is arranged at the forefront of the engine room 2. Furthermore, the pair of suspension towers 3,
A steering rod 6 extends from the vehicle compartment 9 side through the dash panel 4 into the engine compartment 2 at a position biased toward one suspension tower 3 side of the vehicle interior 3. And this steering rod 6
A blower unit 10 to be described later is arranged in the engine room 2 while avoiding the above.

The blower unit 10 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the blower 11 and the evaporator 13 are housed in a casing 14. The casing 14 includes a scroll portion 14a that houses the blower 11.
And an evaporator casing portion 14c that accommodates the evaporator 13, and a duct portion 14b that connects these two portions in a curved path.

Further, the casing 14 is divided into two parts by an inclined dividing surface 22 at an intermediate position of the duct portion 14b, and a pair of fastening flanges 2 for abutting these divided portions against each other.
1, 21 are fastened together by a proper number of shear pins 23, 23 ,. The shear pin 23 corresponds to the fastener described in claim 2, and is broken when a shearing force of a predetermined value or more is applied in the surface direction of the dividing surface 22, and each of the casing 14 is broken. It acts so as to release the fastening action on the divided portion. Therefore, the blower unit 10 has the blower portion 10a located on the blower 11 side with the dividing surface 22 as a boundary.
And an evaporator portion 10b located on the side of the evaporator 13 can be divided into two parts.

The casing 14 has the evaporator casing portion 1 in order to prevent the casing 14 from interfering with the steering rod 6 in the arranged state.
The scroll portion 14a is offset with respect to 4c by a predetermined dimension S in the vehicle width direction. Reference numeral 12 is a blower motor.

The blower unit 10 thus configured
Is in a state in which it is positioned on the front side of the dash panel 4 in the vehicle body, the evaporator casing 1
The attachment flange 15 provided at the end of 4c is attached to the vehicle body by fastening and fixing it to the dash panel 4, but in this state, the blower unit 10 is cantilevered with respect to the dash panel 4, In this embodiment, the intermediate position of the evaporator portion 10b is connected and fixed to the connecting bar 5 via the stay 8 to improve the support strength thereof.

By the way, when the blower unit 10 constructed as described above is arranged in a projecting position in front of the dash panel 4, the blower unit 10 projects when the vehicle collides (particularly in a head-on collision). The impact force F is likely to be applied to the blower portion 10a by the amount. In this case, when the collision force F is transmitted to the dash panel 4 through the blower unit 10 as it is, the blower unit 10 retracts to the rear side of the vehicle body, and in some cases, the dash panel 4 and the vehicle interior 9 thereof. As described above, various members such as instruments stored between the instrument panel arranged on the side and the instrument panel may be damaged.

However, in this embodiment,
As described above, since the blower unit 10 can be divided into the blower portion 10a and the evaporator portion 10b by the dividing surface 22 inclined at the intermediate position,
When a collision force F is applied to the blower portion 10a from the front side of the vehicle body, when the shearing force acting on the dividing surface 22 along the surface direction reaches a predetermined value or more, each shear pin 23,
.. are broken, and the blower portion 10a slides in the direction of arrow A along the dividing surface 22 with respect to the evaporator portion 10b (indicated by a chain line 10a 'in FIG. 2).
Will be done. The sliding force of the blower portion 10a effectively absorbs and relaxes the collision force F, and further suppresses the collision force F from being transmitted to the dash panel 4 side via the evaporator portion 10b. ,
As a result, the backward movement of the blower unit 10 is suppressed, which prevents damage to the above-mentioned various members.

That is, in this embodiment, the casing 14 of the blower unit 10 is divided by the diagonal dividing surface 22 at the intermediate position thereof, so that the various devices inside the instrument panel are damaged at the time of a collision. Can be prevented.

Second Embodiment FIG. 3 shows a blower unit 10 constituting a main part of an air conditioner according to a second embodiment to which the inventions described in claims 1 and 3 of the present application are applied. The blower unit 10 of this embodiment is similar in basic structure and assembly structure to the vehicle body 1 to that of the first embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is that the absorption of the collision force F is mitigated. Only the structure. Therefore, only the structure for absorbing and absorbing the collision force F will be described in detail here.

In this blower unit 10, the casing 14 is divided at the duct portion 14b, and the blower unit 10 has a two-divided structure of a blower portion 10a and an evaporator portion 10b, and the blower portion of this divided portion. A hinge 24 (corresponding to a pivot portion in the claims) is attached to an end portion near 10a, and the blower portion 10a is centered on the hinge 24 as shown by a chain line in FIG. 3 (see reference numeral 10a '). The blower portion 10a is rotatable. The blower unit 10 is integrated and held by an appropriate number of shear pins 23, 23, ... In its normal state (state shown by a solid line in the figure).

When the blower unit 10 is constructed as described above, when a collision force F is input to the blower portion 10a from the front side of the blower portion 10a due to a collision of the automobile, the blower portion 10a.
Since a is appropriately offset with respect to the evaporator portion 10b, the hinge 2 is attached to the blower portion 10a.
Rotational moment acts around 4 and each shear pin 2
Tension is generated in 3,23 ,. When the tension reaches a predetermined value or more, the shear pins 23, 2
.. are broken, and the blower portion 10a has the hinge 24.
Is rotated to the offset side (indicated by a chain line), and the collision force F is effectively absorbed and relaxed by the rotating action of the blower portion 10a. As a result, the same as in the case of the first embodiment. The damage of various members in the ment panel is prevented in advance.

Third Embodiment FIG. 4 shows an essential part of an air conditioner according to a third embodiment to which the inventions described in claims 1 and 4 of the present application are applied. Unlike the case of the first and second embodiments in which the casing 14 has a divided structure so as to achieve absorption and relaxation of the collision force F, the case of this embodiment is different from that of this embodiment. .. are formed on the duct portion 14b so as to be able to expand and contract in the axial direction. In addition, this bead 30 is a “fragile portion” according to claim 4.
Corresponds to.

Thus, the duct portion 1 of the casing 14
When the beads 30, 30, ... Are formed on 4b, when the collision force F due to the collision of the automobile is input to the blower portion 10a of the blower unit 10, first, the input point is the evaporator portion as shown by the arrow F1. When the portion is close to the axial center of 10b, the beads 30, 30, ... Are subjected to a collision force F and are contracted and displaced as a whole, as indicated by a chain line 10 'in FIG. The collision force F is absorbed and relaxed. On the other hand, when the input point of the collision force F is a portion close to the blower 11 as shown by the arrow F2, the rotational moment acts due to the offset of the blower portion 10a, so that each of the beads is .., while the outer side in the rotational direction is expanded and displaced, while the inner side in the rotational direction is contracted and displaced, the blower portion 10a has the bead forming portion as indicated by a chain line 10 "in FIG. The center of rotation is about, and the collision force F is absorbed and relaxed by this rotating action.

In this embodiment, the bead 3 is used.
Although the "fragile portion" in claim 4 is constituted by 0, the present invention is not limited to such a constitution. For example, the plate thickness of the duct portion 14b portion of the casing 14 can be changed to that of other portions. Various methods such as making thinner can be considered.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle body front portion of an automobile equipped with an air conditioner according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a blower unit portion in the air conditioner shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a blower unit portion of an air conditioner according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a blower unit portion of an air conditioner according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a vehicle body, 2 is an engine room, 3 is a suspension tower, 4 is a dash panel, 5 is a connecting bar, 6 is a steering rod, 7 is a radiator, 8 is a stay, 9 is a passenger compartment, 10 is a blower unit, and 10a is a blower. Part, 10b is an evaporator part, 11 is a blower, 12 is a blower motor, 13 is an evaporator, 14 is a casing, 14a
Is a scroll portion, 14b is a duct portion, 14c is an evaporator casing portion, 15 is a mounting flange, 21 is a fastening flange, 22 is a dividing surface, 23 is a shear pin, 24 is a hinge, and 30 is a bead.

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] To 1. A dash panel defining the front of the cabin, the air conditioning system of a vehicle blower unit is attached in a state of projecting to the vehicle body front side of the engine room <br/> from the dash panel, A pair of left and right supports formed on both sides of the engine room.
Connect the Spence Tower in the width direction of the vehicle with a connecting bar
In addition, the blower unit is provided with a collision force absorbing means for absorbing and reducing the collision force at the time of collision and suppressing the transmission to the dash panel side.
An air conditioner for an automobile , wherein the blower unit is connected and fixed to the connecting bar . 2. The collision force absorbing means according to claim 1, wherein the blower unit is divided into a plurality of parts by a dividing surface inclined at a predetermined inclination angle with respect to a surface orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle body. An air conditioner for an automobile, characterized in that each divided portion is configured to be fastened by a fastener so as to release the fastening action by receiving an external force acting in the surface direction of the split surface. 3. The portion according to claim 1, wherein the collision force absorbing means positions the blower unit toward the front of the vehicle body.
Pivot but with the off <br/> set shape in the vehicle width direction with respect to the portion located on the vehicle body rearward, between the divided and the ends mutual offset direction inboard of the dividing plane at an intermediate position An air conditioner for an automobile, characterized by being formed by forming a branch. 4. The method of claim 1, the collision force absorbing means, automotive air-conditioning system, characterized in that it consists of a fragile portion formed in the casings grayed the blower unit.