JP3838762B2 - Air conditioner for automobile - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air conditioner for an automobile, and more particularly to an air conditioner for an automobile configured to be compact.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Generally, an automotive air conditioner (car air conditioner) is provided with an evaporator for cooling air in a unit case, a heater core for heating the cooled air is provided downstream of the evaporator, and the air cooled by the evaporator, The air heated by the heater core is mixed at an appropriate ratio, and blown into the vehicle compartment from the outlet such as the defrost outlet, the vent outlet, and the foot outlet. The heater core is provided with a door for adjusting the air amount, which is usually called a mix store.
[0003]
Most of the mix doors are configured as one-side supported plate doors, and the amount of air guided to the heater core is adjusted by the opening / closing angle. By the way, a plurality of members such as an evaporator, a heater core, or a mix door must be arranged in the unit case of the car air conditioner. However, the space in the vehicle compartment where the unit case is installed is limited, so the size of the unit case is also determined naturally. For this reason, it is desirable that the space (rotation area) occupied for the rotation of the door portion of a plate door such as a mix door is conventionally smaller.
[0004]
However, if the area of the door body of the plate door is reduced, the space in which the door body can restrict the flow of air also becomes narrower. For this reason, it is necessary to design the air flow path in the unit case to be small, and the air flow path in the unit case should be narrowed to cope with such a point that the ventilation resistance in the unit case may be increased. Various proposals for reducing the size of the unit case have been made.
[0005]
As one means for solving such a problem, for example, there is a configuration in which the rotation area of the door body is regulated as necessary. FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of such a plate door (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-185620).
[0006]
In the plate-like damper 50 shown in FIG. 5, the rotation fulcrum 56 is provided on the inside air intake side (not shown), and the end E (rotation end) of the plate-like damper 50 that is the longest distance from the rotation fulcrum is not shown. It is attached in a unit case (not shown) so as to be located on the fan side.
[0007]
The rotation fulcrum 56 is configured to be movable in the length direction of the plate damper 50, and the rotation end E of the plate damper 50 is regulated so as to be a straight line parallel to the upper surface of the fan. The rotation area is reduced. The plate-like damper 50 is in communication with a driving means 51 for rotating the plate-like damper 50. Moreover, there exists a thing as shown in FIG. 6 as another door which can change a rotation area, for example.
[0008]
The air mix door 52 includes a sheath member 53 and a slide member 54 that slides in and out of the sheath member 53. The air mix door 52 rotatably pivots on the base end portion of the sheath member 53, and slide member 54. Let the tip of the rotation end. Then, by engaging this rotation end with a rotation position restricting groove 55 provided in a unit case (not shown), the locus of the rotation end during rotation is made substantially straight, and the rotation area of the air mix door 52 is reduced. .
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the conventional plate-like damper door 50 and air mix door 52 described above have problems as described below.
[0010]
That is, the plate-like damper 50 shown in FIG. 5 is in communication with the driving means 51 for rotating the plate-like damper 50 in the middle of the plate-like damper 50 in the length direction. Therefore, when the plate damper 50 is rotated, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 5, the locus of the power cable of the driving means 51 is curved without drawing an arc, and the rotation operation of the plate damper 50 is smoothly performed. I couldn't.
[0011]
Further, the air mix door 52 shown in FIG. 6 is configured such that the slide member 54 appears and disappears in the sheath member 53 as the air mix door 52 rotates. The rotation position of the slide member is regulated by the rotation position restriction groove 55. For this reason, when the air mix door 52 is rotated, a rotational force in the direction of arrow a acts on the entire air mix door 52, and an arrow b acting along the rotational position restricting groove 55 is formed on the rotation end side of the slide member 54. The force and the force indicated by the arrow c for pushing the slide member 54 into the sheath member 53 act.
[0012]
However, in reality, there is a problem that a couple of forces act on the air mix door 52 and the air mix door 52 may be bent as shown by a broken line in FIG. The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and the rotation area can be changed as necessary, and the door operates more smoothly, and further includes a more reliable door. An object is to provide an air conditioner for an automobile.
[0013]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration.
[0014]
(1) An automotive air conditioner including a plate door in a case member, the plate door holding the door main body and the door main body so as to be slidable and pivotally supported by the case member. A support member and a rotation position restricting protrusion provided on a side surface extending in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the door main body and projecting outward respectively; and the case member includes the rotation position restricting protrusion and Each has a slide groove that regulates the position of the door body by slidably supporting the rotational position restricting protrusion, and at least one of the support members is for rotating the plate door It has a rotation lever, and the drive means for rotationally driving the plate door is connected to the rotation lever .
[0015]
With this configuration, when the plate door is rotated, the rotation position restricting protrusion provided at the rotation end of the door body slides on the slide premises, so that the rotation position of the rotation end of the door body is restricted. At this time, the plate door is slidably held by the support member and rotates with the support member as a rotation fulcrum.
[0016]
Therefore, since the door body slides with the rotation of the plate door, the rotation area of the plate door can be reduced, and there is no inconvenience such as the door body being bent.
[0018]
Furthermore, by comprising in this way, a plate door can be rotated by connecting a drive means to the supporting member which comprises a lever. Therefore, since the rotation axis of the support member constituting the lever and the rotation axis of the plate door are different, the trajectory of the cable of the driving means becomes an arc shape, and the rotation operation of the plate door can be performed smoothly.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, this Embodiment shows the example which applied the plate door which concerns on this invention to the mix door.
[0020]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a car air conditioner according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a car air conditioner 1 according to the present invention includes a blower 3 for taking air into a unit case 2, an evaporator 4 for a refrigeration cycle for cooling air, and a heater core through which engine cooling water for heating air passes. 5. Further, the unit case 2 has a defrost outlet 6 for blowing out temperature-controlled air toward the inner surface of the windshield, a vent outlet 7 for blowing out temperature-controlled air toward the upper body of the occupant, and temperature-controlled air toward the feet of the occupant. A foot outlet 8 for blowing out is provided.
[0021]
In addition, such air outlets are provided with a tef vent door 9 that selectively opens and closes the defrost outlet 6 and the vent outlet 7, and a foot door 10 that opens and closes the foot outlet. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the door that opens and closes the defrost outlet 6 and the vent outlet 7 is also used as the Tef / vent door 9, but may be configured as a separate defrost door and a vent door, respectively.
[0022]
A mix door 11 is provided between the evaporator 4 and the heater core 5. Depending on the rotation angle, the mix door 11 branches the cool air that has passed through the evaporator 4 into an air passage that directly leads to the mix chamber 12 and an air passage that passes through the heater core 5 and leads to the mix chamber 12. It is a door for adjusting the mixing ratio with warm air.
[0023]
Therefore, the air cooled through the evaporator 4 is separated by the mix door 11 into air that passes through the heater core 5 and air that bypasses without passing through, and then mixed again in the mix chamber 12. The air is blown into the passenger compartment through the air outlets 6, 7, and 8. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the mix door 11 shown in FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the mix door 11, and FIG. 4 is a top view for explaining the operation of the mix door 11. As shown in FIG.
[0024]
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the mix door 11 is slidable and holds a single plate-like door body 13 and side surfaces A and B in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis c of the door body 13. And a pair of support members 14a and 14b. The side surfaces A and B are provided with a pair of rotational position restricting projections 15 and 15 that project outward.
[0025]
The support members 14a and 14b described above are composed of a shaft 14a and a lever 14b that hold the side surfaces A and B of the door body 13 so as to be slidable. A holding groove 16 that slidably holds one side surface of the door main body 13 is formed at one end of the shaft 14a, and is rotatably supported by the unit case 2. The lever 14b is also pivotally fixed to the unit case 2 by forming a holding groove 16 that slidably holds the other side surface of the door body 13 at one end.
[0026]
Further, a connecting shaft 17 is provided at the other end of the lever 14b so as to be shifted from the rotating shaft of the lever 14b, and a driving means (not shown) for rotating the mix door 11 is connected to the connecting shaft 17. Yes.
[0027]
Therefore, the mix door 11 is held in the holding groove 16 provided in the shaft 14a and the lever 14b, and slides along the front-rear direction of the unit case 2, and can rotate around the shaft 14a and the lever 14b as a rotation fulcrum. it can.
[0028]
On the other hand, in the unit case 2 described above, a pair of rotation position restricting projections 15 and 15 provided on the door body 13 are slidably supported, and a pair of slide grooves for restricting the rotation position of the rotation end of the mix door 11 18 is provided.
[0029]
Therefore, when the mix door 11 rotates, as shown in FIG. 4, the position of the rotation end E is regulated by the slide groove 18, and the rotation end E is a straight line parallel to the surface of the evaporator 4 on the air outlet side. To move.
[0030]
In addition, the rotation locus of the rotation end of the mix door 11 can be changed by changing the shape of the slide groove 18.
[0031]
In the present embodiment described above, the door body slides as the plate door 11 rotates, so that the rotation area of the plate door can be reduced and there is no inconvenience such as the door body being bent.
[0032]
Further, since the rotation axis of the lever 14b and the rotation axis of the plate door are different, the locus of the cable of the driving means becomes an arc shape, and the rotation operation of the plate door can be performed smoothly.
[0033]
The present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, the rotational position restricting protrusions 15 are not provided in a pair but are provided only on one surface of the door body, and one corresponding groove portion 18 is provided in the unit case 2. It may be configured to provide only. Alternatively, a plurality of pairs may be provided.
[0034]
In the present embodiment, the slide groove 18 is a straight line parallel to the air blowing surface of the evaporator. However, the groove may be formed in any shape that restricts the rotation of the plate door. Therefore, since the space | interval of an evaporator and a heater core can be shortened, the magnitude | size of a car air conditioner can be made compact in a length direction, and the space in a limited vehicle interior can be used effectively. .
[0035]
Furthermore, in this Embodiment, although the plate door which concerns on this invention was comprised as a mix door, you may apply to other doors, such as an intake door, for example.
[0036]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the door body slides with the rotation of the plate door, so that the rotation area of the plate door can be reduced and there is no inconvenience such as bending of the door body. Therefore, it is possible to provide an automotive air conditioner that includes a door with a more reliable door that can change the rotation area as necessary.
[0037]
Further, since at least one of the support members has a rotation lever for rotating the plate door, and a driving means for rotating the plate door is connected to the rotation lever, the rotation operation of the plate door is performed. Can be done smoothly.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a schematic configuration of an automotive air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the mix door shown in FIG.
3 is a cross-sectional view of the mixed door shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.
4 is a top view showing the configuration of the mix door shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a configuration of a conventional mix door.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of another conventional mix door.
[Explanation of symbols]
1. Car air conditioner (automobile air conditioner)
2 ... Unit case (case member)
4 ... Evaporator 5 ... Heater core 11 ... Mix door (plate door)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Door main body 14a ... Shaft 14b ... Lever 15 ... Rotation position control protrusion 16 ... Holding groove 17 ... Connecting shaft 18 ... Slide groove

Claims (1)

An automobile air conditioner including a plate door (11) in a case member (2), the plate door (11) holding the door main body (13) and the door main body (13) in a slidable manner. And a support member (14a, 14b) rotatably supported by the case member (2) and a side surface along a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the door body (13), and outward. The case member (2) engages with the rotational position restricting protrusion (15, 15), and the rotational position restricting protrusion (15, 15). ) Is slidably supported and has slide grooves (18, 18) for regulating the position of the door body (13).
At least one of the support members (14a, 14b) has a rotation lever for rotating the plate door (11),
The vehicle air conditioner is characterized in that driving means for rotationally driving the plate door (11) is connected to the rotating lever.

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