JP3719353B2 - Vehicle air conditioner and method of assembling the same - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner that reduces the installation space.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in an air conditioner for a vehicle, when an air conditioning unit is arranged near the instrument panel in the front part of the vehicle interior, an air conditioning unit including a cooling evaporator, a heater core, a blow mode switching door, etc. A layout in which a blower unit (not shown) for blowing conditioned air to the air conditioning unit is offset on the passenger seat side on the side of the air conditioning unit has been put into practical use while being arranged at a substantially central portion in the vehicle left-right direction.
[0003]
FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the air conditioning unit 1 of the conventional air conditioner and its surroundings. A center face that blows out blown air toward the upper body of the occupant in the passenger compartment on the surface of the vehicle instrument panel 41 facing the occupant. A blow-out grill 24 is disposed at a substantially central portion in the vehicle left-right direction, and a defroster blow-out grill 26 that blows blown air toward the front window glass of the vehicle is disposed on the upper surface of the instrument panel 41.
[0004]
On the other hand, the air conditioning unit 1 includes a cooling evaporator 13, a heater core 14 for heating, a rotary door (blowing mode switching door) 19, and the like. Further, the face blowing part 50 communicating with the face blowing grill 24 via the face duct 23 and the defroster blowing part 51 communicating with the defroster blowing grill 26 via the defroster duct 25 are both the outermost part of the case 10 of the air conditioning unit 1. It is formed in the upper part. Note that an air conditioning unit having a similar configuration is known in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-35252.
[0005]
And the assembly | attachment to the vehicle of the conventional air conditioning apparatus is performed as follows. First, the air conditioning unit 1 is assembled and fixed to a vehicle, and a refrigerant pipe and a hot water hose are connected. Next, the instrument panel 41 in which the face duct 23 and the defroster duct 25 are assembled and fixed in advance is assembled and fixed to the vehicle. By mounting the instrument panel 41, the face blowing part 50 and the face duct 23 communicate with each other, and the defroster blowing part 51 and the defroster duct 25 communicate with each other.
[0006]
Here, sealing materials 32 are arranged on the mating surfaces of the face blowing part 50 and the face duct 23 and the mating surfaces of the defroster blowing part 51 and the defroster duct 25, respectively. 23 or 25. Then, by assembling the instrument panel 41 from above the air conditioning unit 1, the sealing material 32 is compressed by an appropriate amount to seal the mating surfaces.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional air conditioner, since the instrument panel 41 to which the face duct 23 and the defroster duct 25 are assembled is assembled from above the air conditioning unit 1, the air duct side end of the face duct 23 and the defroster duct 25 faces downward. Therefore, the face duct 23 is bent downward from the face blowing grill 24 side toward the face blowing portion 50 side.
[0008]
Therefore, the upper end position of the air conditioning unit 1 in which the face blowing section 50 and the defroster blowing section 51 are formed must be set lower than the lower end position of the face blowing grill 24 after the instrument panel 41 is assembled. As a result, there is a problem that a large space is formed in the vertical direction as an installation space for the face duct 23 and the defroster duct 25 on the upper side of the air conditioning unit 1.
[0009]
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the space in which the face duct has been conventionally installed, and thus to reduce the installation space of the entire air conditioner.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a face blowing grill disposed in a substantially central portion of the vehicle instrument panel (41) in the left-right direction of the vehicle and blowing blown air toward a passenger in the vehicle interior. (24) and
In a vehicle air conditioner including a case (10) disposed on a lower side of the instrument panel (41) and in a substantially central portion in the vehicle left-right direction and forming an air passage,
The case (10) is divided into at least two in the vertical direction,
Air conditioning heat exchangers (13, 14) are arranged in the lower case (12),
At least a part of the face duct (23) for guiding the blown air to the face blowing grill (24) is formed integrally with the upper case (11), and the blowing mode switching door (19) is disposed in the upper case (11). It is characterized by that.
[0011]
According to this, the air conditioning heat exchanger (13, 14) in which the refrigerant pipe and the hot water hose are connected before the instrument panel (41) is assembled is disposed in the lower case (12), so that the air conditioning heat The upper case (11) on which the exchangers (13, 14) are not arranged can be assembled and fixed in advance on the instrument panel (41). As described above, since the upper case (11) can be assembled to the instrument panel (41), at least a part of the face duct (23) assembled on the instrument panel (41) side is integrated with the upper case (11). Therefore, it is not necessary to bend the face duct (23) downward as in the prior art, and the installation space in the vertical direction of the face duct (23) can be reduced.
[0012]
In addition, the vertical installation space of the face duct (23) has been reduced, and the blowout mode switching door (19) is disposed in the upper case (11), so that the vertical dimension of the air conditioner is significantly reduced. can do.
[0013]
As in the second aspect of the invention, as the blow mode switching door, a rotary door (19) that is rotatably disposed in the upper case (11) and has an arcuate circumferential wall (190) is used. be able to.
[0014]
In invention of Claim 3, it is the assembly | attachment method of the vehicle air conditioner of Claim 1 or 2, Comprising:
The upper case (11) is assembled in advance to the instrument panel (41),
After the lower case (12) is assembled and fixed to the vehicle, the instrument panel (41) with the upper case (11) is assembled and fixed to the vehicle.
[0015]
Accordingly, the same effect as that of the first aspect of the invention can be obtained.
[0016]
In addition, the code | symbol in the bracket | parenthesis of each said means shows the correspondence with the specific means as described in embodiment mentioned later.
[0017]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments shown in the drawings will be described below.
[0018]
1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention, and the air conditioner is roughly divided into a blower unit (not shown) and the air conditioning unit 1. It is mounted close to a partition wall (dash panel) 43 that partitions the engine 40 and the engine room 42.
[0019]
And the air conditioning unit 1 is arrange | positioned in the approximate center part of the vehicle left-right direction, and an air blower unit is offset-arranged on the passenger seat side. Therefore, the air conditioner of the present example has a semi-centered layout in which only the air conditioning unit 1 is disposed at a substantially central portion in the left-right direction of the vehicle.
[0020]
The blower unit introduces vehicle compartment air (inside air) or vehicle compartment outside air (outside air) and blows air to the air conditioning case 10 by a blower (not shown).
[0021]
The air conditioning unit 1 has a resin air conditioning case 10 that forms an air passage. The air conditioning case 10 is divided into two parts, an upper case 11 and a lower case 12. In the lower case 12, an evaporator (cooling heat exchanger) 13 of the refrigeration cycle is arranged in a substantially horizontal direction, and a heater core (heating heat exchanger) 14 is arranged in a substantially horizontal direction above the evaporator 13. An air passage 15 into which blown air from the blower unit flows is formed below the evaporator 13.
[0022]
The evaporator 13 is formed in a thin rectangular shape as a whole, and a heat exchanging core portion (not shown) comprising a flat tube constituting the refrigerant passage and a corrugated fin joined between the tubes. Z). The blown air flowing into the air passage 15 below the evaporator 13 flows from the bottom to the top through the gap between the tube of the heat exchange core and the corrugated fin, and the refrigerant absorbs the latent heat of evaporation from the blown air. As the air evaporates, the blown air is cooled.
[0023]
The heater core 14 is also formed in a thin rectangular shape as a whole, and the blown air from the evaporator 13 is heated and led upward by using hot water (cooling water) from a vehicle engine (not shown) as a heat source. It is like that. Therefore, the heater core 14 has a heat exchanging core portion (not shown) composed of a number of flat tubes through which hot water circulates and corrugated fins joined between the number of tubes, as is well known. . The heater core 14 is controlled in air heating amount by adjusting the flow rate of hot water flowing to the heater core 14 by a flow rate adjusting valve (not shown). The flow rate adjusting valve is connected to a blown air temperature setting lever provided on an air conditioning control panel (not shown) in the passenger compartment.
[0024]
The heater core 14 is positioned on the vehicle front side in the lower case 12, and a cold air bypass passage 16 that bypasses the heater core 14 and flows air is formed on the side of the heater core 14 (vehicle rear side). The cold air bypass passage 16 is provided with a rotatable cold air bypass door 17 that opens and closes the passage 16. An air passage 18 is formed in the upper part of the heater core 14. Here, the cold air bypass door 17 is disposed in the lower case 12, and the cold air bypass passage 16 and the air passage 18 are formed by both the upper case 11 and the lower case 12.
[0025]
The cold wind bypass door 17 has a rotary shaft 170 integrally formed with the cold wind bypass door 17 rotatably supported by the lower case 12, and a lever 171 is fixed to the rotary shaft 170 outside the lower case 12. One end of a control cable (not shown) is connected to the lever 171. The other end of the control cable is connected to a blown air temperature setting lever provided on an air conditioning control panel (not shown) in the passenger compartment. Thus, the cold air bypass door 17 fully opens the cold air bypass passage 16 only at the time of the max cool, and fully closes the cold air bypass passage 16 at times other than the time of the max cool. The cold air bypass door 17 can also be driven by a servo motor.
[0026]
A resin-made rotary door (blowing mode switching door) 19 for switching the blowing mode is rotatably installed in the upper case 11. The rotary door 19 has a semi-cylindrical circumferential wall 190 having an arc range of approximately 180 °. The inside of the circumferential wall 190 is always in communication with the air passage 18, and the circumferential wall 190 is in communication with the inside and outside of the circumferential wall 190. A communication hole 191 is formed.
[0027]
The rotary door 19 has a rotary shaft 192 integrally formed at both ends of the rotary door 19 and is rotatably supported by the upper case 11. A lever 193 is fixed to the rotary shaft 192 outside the upper case 11. The lever 193 is connected to one end of a control cable (not shown). The other end of the control cable is connected to a blow mode switching lever provided on an air conditioning control panel (not shown) in the passenger compartment. Thereby, the rotary door 19 rotates based on the manual operation of the blowing mode switching lever. The rotary door 19 can also be driven by a servo motor.
[0028]
In the upper case 11, three blowout openings 20, 21, 22 are provided adjacent to each other along the rotation direction (circumferential direction) of the rotary door 19 in the region where the rotary door 19 rotates. In addition, the circumferential wall 190 of the rotary door 19 slides on the front end portion of the partition wall of the upper case 11 that forms the three outlet openings 20, 21, and 22.
[0029]
Of the three blowout openings 20, 21, and 22, the face blowout opening 20 located on the most rear side of the vehicle communicates with the center face blowout grill 24 through a face duct 23 formed integrally with the upper case 11. Yes. The center face blowing grill 24 is disposed on the surface of the instrument panel 41 facing the occupant in the vehicle compartment and at a substantially central portion in the left-right direction of the vehicle, and blown air blows from the center face blowing grill 24 toward the upper body of the occupant. Is done. In addition, the face duct 23 and the center face blowing grill 24 are connected by abutting the opening ends of the both with a sealant interposed therebetween or by fitting the two together.
[0030]
Here, the face duct 23 extends in the horizontal direction from the face blowing opening 20 toward the center face blowing grill 24. The cold air bypass passage 16 bypasses the rotary door 19 and communicates with the face duct 23. At the time of max cool, the cold air bypass door 17 fully opens the cold air bypass passage 16, and the air cooled by the evaporator 13 flows. In addition, it is sent directly to the face duct 23 via the cold air bypass passage 16.
[0031]
The defroster outlet opening 21 located in the middle of the vehicle longitudinal direction among the three outlet openings 20, 21, 22 communicates with the defroster outlet grill 26 via a defroster duct 25 formed integrally with the upper case 11. Yes. The defroster blowing grill 26 is arranged on the upper surface of the instrument panel of the vehicle, and blows air to the front window glass of the vehicle. Here, the defroster duct 25 extends in the vertical direction from the defroster blowout opening 21 toward the defroster blowout grill 26. In addition, the defroster duct 25 and the defroster blowing grill 26 are connected by abutting the opening end portions of the two with a sealant interposed therebetween or by fitting the two together.
[0032]
Of the three outlet openings 20, 21, 22, the foot outlet opening 22 located closest to the vehicle front side is a foot duct 27 formed integrally with the upper case 11 and a foot duct 28 formed integrally with the lower case 12. The case 11, 12 is connected to a resin-made duct member 29. The duct member 29 extends below the lower case 12 and blows air toward the feet of the occupant. Here, the foot duct 27 on the upper case 11 side extends to the front side of the vehicle and then extends toward the lower side of the vehicle so that it can communicate with the foot duct 28 on the lower case 12 side.
[0033]
One end of a side face duct 30 extending in the left-right direction of the vehicle is connected to both side surfaces of the middle portion of the face duct 23, and a side face blowing grill 31 is disposed at the other end of the side face duct 30. The side face blowing grill 31 is disposed on the instrument panel 41 at a position facing the passenger in the vehicle compartment and close to the front seat side window glass, and from the side face blowing grill 31 to the upper body of the passenger or the front seat side window glass. Blowing air is blown out toward The face duct 23 and the side face duct 30 and the side face duct 30 and the side face blowing grill 31 are connected to each other by abutting the opening ends of the both with a sealant interposed therebetween or by fitting the two together. Has been.
[0034]
A sealing material 32 made of a porous foam material (for example, urethane foam) is fixed (attached) to the lower end opening edge of the upper case 11 or the upper end opening edge of the lower case 12, and the upper case 11 and the lower case 12. These sealing surfaces are sealed with a sealing material 32.
[0035]
Next, assembly of the air conditioning unit 1 will be described. First, before the instrument panel 41 is assembled to the vehicle, the rotary door 19 is assembled to the upper case 11, and the upper case 11 is assembled to the instrument panel 41 together with the center face blowing grill 24 and the defroster blowing grill 26. After the assembly, the side face duct 30 and the side face blowing grill 31 are assembled to the upper case 11 and the instrument panel 41.
[0036]
On the other hand, the lower case 12 to which the evaporator 13, the heater core 14 and the cold air bypass door 17 are assembled is attached to a predetermined position of the partition wall 43 (or the vehicle body reinforcing material) before the instrument panel 41 is assembled to the vehicle. Secure with. Then, a refrigerant pipe is connected to the evaporator 13, and a hot water hose is connected to the heater core 14.
[0037]
Next, after the connection work of the refrigerant pipe and the hot water hose is completed, the instrument panel 41 with the upper case 11 or the like assembled in advance is attached to a predetermined position of the vehicle and fixed with a screw or the like. Then, by assembling the lower case 12 and the instrument panel 41 at a predetermined position, the lower end side opening edge of the upper case 11 and the upper end side opening edge of the lower case 12 are abutted, and the sealing material 32 is compressed by an appropriate amount. The sealing surfaces of the upper case 11 and the lower case 12 are sealed.
[0038]
After the above assembly, a control cable (not shown) is connected to the lever 171 of the cold air bypass door 17 and the lever 193 of the rotary door 19.
[0039]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the evaporator 13 and the heater core 14 that are connected to the refrigerant pipe and the hot water hose are installed in the lower case 12 before the instrument panel 41 is assembled. The upper case 11 in which the 13 and the heater core 14 are not arranged can be assembled and fixed to the instrument panel 41 in advance. As described above, since the upper case 11 can be assembled to the instrument panel 41, the face duct 23 to be assembled on the instrument panel 41 side can be formed integrally with the upper case 11. Therefore, it is not necessary to bend the face duct downward as in the prior art, and the installation space in the vertical direction of the face duct 23 can be reduced.
[0040]
Further, since the installation space in the vertical direction of the face duct 23 is reduced, and the rotary door 19 for switching the blowing mode is disposed in the upper case 11, the face duct 23 is positioned significantly below the conventional face blowing grill 24. The position of the rotary door 19 that has been placed can be arranged at substantially the same height as the face blowing grill 24, and the vertical dimension of the air conditioner can be significantly reduced.
[0041]
Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described based on the above configuration. Air is sent from the blower unit to the air passage 15 of the air conditioning unit 1 by turning on an operation switch (not shown) of the air conditioner. The blown air passes through the evaporator 13 from below to above, and during this time, the air is dehumidified and cooled by the latent heat of evaporation of the refrigerant flowing in the tube of the heat exchange core of the evaporator 13. The cooling air further flows upward and is divided into air introduced into the heater core 14 and air passing through the cold air bypass passage 16.
[0042]
The air introduced into the heater core 14 is reheated and flows into the rotary door 19 through the air passage 18. At this time, the temperature of the hot water flowing to the heater core 14 is adjusted by the flow rate adjusting valve, and the air heating amount is controlled, so that air at a predetermined temperature is obtained.
[0043]
The air having the predetermined temperature passes through one or more of the opening selected by the rotary door 19, that is, the face blowing opening 20, the defroster blowing opening 21, and the foot blowing opening 22. It is blown in.
[0044]
And five blowing modes can be selected according to the rotational position of the rotary door 19. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, as a blowing mode, a face mode in which only the face blowing opening 20 is opened, a bi-level mode in which both the face blowing opening 20 and the foot blowing opening 22 are substantially half-opened, and a foot A foot mode in which the blowout opening 22 is fully opened and a small amount of the defroster blowout opening 21 is opened, a foot def mode in which both the defroster blowout opening 21 and the foot opening 19 are substantially half open, and a defroster mode in which only the defroster blowout opening 21 is opened. Can be selected. In addition, the arrow in FIG. 4 has shown the flow of the air at each blowing mode.
[0045]
(Other embodiments)
In the above embodiment, the face duct 23 and the defroster duct 25 formed integrally with the upper case 11 are directly connected to the blowout grills 24 and 26, but between the ducts 23 and 25 and the blowout grills 24 and 26 The duct member formed separately from the upper case 11 may be connected.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a vehicle air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view of an upper part of the air conditioning unit in FIG. 1. FIG.
3 is an enlarged side cross-sectional view of an upper case in the air conditioning unit of FIG. 1. FIG.
4 is a side cross-sectional view of the main part for explaining the operation of the apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of a conventional vehicle air conditioner.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 ... case, 11 ... upper case, 12 ... lower case,
13 ... evaporator (heat exchanger for air conditioning), 14 ... heater core (heat exchanger for air conditioning),
19 ... Rotary door (blow mode switching door), 23 ... Face duct,
24 ... Face blowing grille, 41 ... Instrument panel.

Claims (4)

A face blowing grill (24) disposed in a substantially central portion of the vehicle instrument panel (41) in the lateral direction of the vehicle and blowing blown air toward a passenger in the vehicle interior;
A case (10) disposed below the instrument panel (41) and substantially in the center in the vehicle left-right direction to form an air passage;
An air conditioner heat exchanger (13, 14) disposed in the case (10) for exchanging heat with air;
In the vehicle air conditioner provided in the case (10) and provided with a blowing mode switching door (19) for switching the blowing mode,
The case (10) is divided into at least two in the vertical direction, and the heat exchanger for air conditioning (13, 14) is disposed in the lower case (12),
At least a part of a face duct (23) for guiding the blown air to the face blowing grill (24) is formed integrally with the upper case (11), and the blowing mode switching door (19) is disposed in the upper case (11). A vehicle air conditioner provided in The blowout mode switching door (19) is a rotary door (19) rotatably disposed in the upper case (11) and having an arcuate circumferential wall (190). Item 2. The vehicle air conditioner according to Item 1. An assembly method for a vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2,
The upper case (11) is assembled in advance to the instrument panel (41),
After assembling and fixing the lower case (12) to a vehicle, the instrument panel (41) to which the upper case (11) is assembled is assembled and fixed to the vehicle. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the face duct (23) extends in a horizontal direction from the blowing mode switching door (19) toward the face blowing grill (24). .

Images