JP4475384B2 - Cooling air introduction structure for automobiles - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling air introduction structure for an automobile, and typically relates to a technique for guiding traveling wind to an intercooler that cools supercharged air.

  Typically, a turbocharged vehicle is often provided with an intercooler for the purpose of lowering the temperature of the supercharged air in order to improve the charging efficiency of the engine.

  In Patent Document 1, an air guide opening is provided in the bonnet, and an air guide passage extending from the air guide opening to the intercooler is provided to guide the traveling wind flowing along the hood to the intercooler through the air guide opening. Techniques to do this are disclosed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228688 provides a technology in which an air guide member that opens to the front of an automobile is provided under a bonnet, and through this air guide member, traveling wind from the front of the vehicle is guided to an intercooler, that is, a heat exchanger disposed above the engine. Is disclosed.
JP-A-11-20739 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-109722

  In the latter case, that is, when an air guide member that opens to the front of the vehicle is provided in the lower region of the bonnet and the traveling wind from the front of the vehicle is introduced into the heat exchanger, there is a margin in the vertical dimension between the bonnet and the engine. In the case of a certain vehicle body, the arrangement of the air guide member is not so difficult. It becomes difficult to introduce sufficient running wind to receive.

  The present invention has been devised in order to overcome such difficulties, and the object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle body with a sufficient vertical dimension between the hood and the heat exchanger disposed above the engine. Another object of the present invention is to provide a cooling air introduction structure for an automobile that can introduce sufficient traveling air from the front of the vehicle into the heat exchanger.

According to the present invention, such a technical problem is
In a cooling air introduction structure for an automobile that guides running wind from the front of the vehicle to a heat exchanger that is placed above the engine and disposed substantially horizontally in the gap between the engine and the bonnet,
A skirt member depending downward from the outer peripheral portion of the upper surface of the heat exchanger;
An air guide member that is fixed to the bonnet and forms an air guide passage that guides traveling wind from the front of the vehicle to the heat exchanger in cooperation with the skirt member when the hood is closed;
The skirt member includes an inclined guide surface that gradually becomes lower toward the front of the vehicle body of the heat exchanger. The guide surface guides traveling wind from the front of the vehicle from the air guide member to the guide surface. And introduced into the heat exchanger ,
The heat exchanger has a tank part spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and a core part having an upper surface lower than the tank part,
The bonnet is provided with a reinforcing member extending in the vehicle width direction at a portion corresponding to the core portion of the heat exchanger, and the air guide member is fixed to the reinforcing member. This is achieved by providing an introduction structure.

That is, according to the first feature of the present invention , the heat exchanger is provided with a skirt member that hangs downward from the upper surface, and the traveling wind from the front of the vehicle is introduced into the heat exchanger in cooperation with the skirt member. And the skirt member on the front side of the vehicle body is composed of an inclined guide surface, so there is only a small gap between the heat exchanger placed above the engine and the bonnet. In addition, sufficient traveling air can be introduced into the heat exchanger through the air guide member.

  In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an opening is formed in a portion of the air guide member corresponding to the skirt member, and when the bonnet is closed, the opening of the air guide member is closed by the skirt member. In cooperation with the members, traveling wind from the front of the vehicle is introduced into the heat exchanger. According to this, it becomes possible to introduce the traveling wind into the heat exchanger not only from the front side of the vehicle body of the heat exchanger but also from the side, and the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger can be increased.

  In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a seal member is provided between the opening of the air guide member and the outer peripheral portion that hangs downward from the skirt member. A sealing member having a thickness or thickness can be employed.

Further , according to the second feature of the present invention, the heat exchanger has a tank part spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body and a core part having an upper surface lower than the tank part. A reinforcing member extending in the vehicle width direction is provided at a portion corresponding to the core portion of the exchanger, and the air guide member is fixed to the reinforcing member. According to this configuration, since the reinforcing member on the bonnet side is disposed in the portion corresponding to the core portion having the upper surface at a relatively low position and the air guide member is fixed to the reinforcing member, the bonnet height is increased accordingly. Can be set low. This configuration can be suitably applied to a horizontally mounted engine type automobile with the engine output shaft oriented in the vehicle width direction.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an engine room constituting the front portion of the vehicle body as viewed from above without showing the hood. The front end of the engine room 1 is defined by a shroud member 2 as is known, and a radiator (not shown) is mounted on the shroud member 2. In the engine room 1, the engine 3 is mounted in a horizontal manner with its output shaft 3a directed in the vehicle width direction, and is slightly offset in the vehicle width direction with respect to the vehicle body center axis CL extending in the front-rear direction (this The engine 3 is mounted in the engine room 1 in a state offset to the right in the embodiment, and the engine 3 is supercharged using exhaust energy by a turbocharger 4 (FIG. 3).

  Reference numeral 5 in FIG. 1 indicates an intercooler. The intercooler 5 is disposed substantially horizontally above the engine 3 and is offset from the vehicle body center axis CL to the right. The intercooler 5 has a core portion 5 a that performs heat exchange. The fresh air compressed by the turbocharger 4 is cooled by the intercooler 5 and supplied to the engine 3. In order to be used for heat exchange in the intercooler 5, traveling wind from the front of the vehicle is introduced into the intercooler 5 by the air guide member 10.

  Referring also to FIG. 2, the air guide member 10 has two inlets 11 </ b> L and 11 </ b> R that are open toward the front surface of the automobile. The bonnet locking mechanism 2a disposed on the left and right is positioned on the left and right. The arrows in FIGS. 1 and 2 indicate the flow direction of the traveling wind.

  The air guide member 10 has a relatively flat closed internal air guide passage 12 with a ceiling wall 10a, a bottom wall 10b, and a side wall 10c. The internal air guide passage 12 includes an inlet 11L in the vicinity of the shroud member 2, It extends from 11R to the rear of the vehicle body and terminates near the rear end of the engine 3. Characteristically, the air guide member 10 extends straight from the front end to the vicinity of the front end of the engine 3 in the vehicle width direction central region of the engine room in a wide state, and then the left side wall 10c is connected to the engine output shaft 3a. Curved in the vicinity, the air guide member 10 becomes narrower and becomes substantially the same width as the width of the intercooler 5 that is offset to the right in the vehicle width direction. The bottom wall 10 b of the air guide member 10 has a rectangular opening 13 in the rear portion corresponding to the intercooler 5.

  3 and 4, the intercooler 5 has an inlet side tank 5b and an outlet side tank 5c that are spaced apart from each other in the vehicle body front-rear direction with the core portion 5a interposed therebetween, and around the core portion 5a, A skirt member 15 that hangs downward from the upper surface of the intercooler 5 is provided. That is, the skirt member 15 has a shape that is positioned downward as it is away from the intercooler 5, and a horizontal flange 15a is formed on the outer peripheral edge thereof. In particular, the skirt member 15 is composed of an inclined guide surface that is gradually positioned lower as the inclined portion 15b (see FIGS. 4 and 5) positioned in front of the intercooler 5 moves forward. The traveling wind introduced from the front is smoothly guided to the intercooler 5 by the guide surface 15b.

  The air guide member 10 has an elastic seal member 17 fixed to the peripheral portion of the opening 13, and when the bonnet B is closed, the lower end of the elastic seal member 17 is seated on the horizontal flange 15 a of the skirt portion 15 described above. Then, the elastic seal member 17 seals between the periphery of the opening 13 and the skirt member 15, and as a result, the internal air passage 12 of the air guide member 10 is communicated with the intercooler 5 (core portion 5a). The

  As can be understood from FIG. 4, the air guide member 10 is fixed to the bonnet B by fastening means 18 such as bolts and nuts. More specifically, the bonnet B has a reinforcing inner member 19 attached to the inner surface thereof, and the air guide member 10 is fixed to the reinforcing inner member 19. Regarding the fixing of the reinforcing inner member 19, the portion of the intercooler 5 has a beam-shaped portion 19a extending in the vehicle width direction through the core portion 5a, and the air guide member 10 is fastened to the beam-shaped portion 19a by the fastening means 18. It is fixed by.

  With the above configuration, the skirt member 15 that hangs downward from the periphery of the intercooler 5 is provided, and the space between the outer peripheral edge of the skirt portion 15, that is, the lower surface than the upper surface of the intercooler 5, is sealed. Therefore, as compared with the case where the air guide member 10 is sealed at the outer peripheral portion of the intercooler 5, the elastic seal member 17 having a sufficient thickness or vertical length can be adopted and the air guide member 10 can be used. Since the cross section can be expanded downward, sufficient traveling wind from the front of the vehicle can be introduced into the intercooler 5 even if the gap between the bonnet B and the engine is small.

  Further, since the air guide member 10 extends to the vicinity of the engine output shaft 3a in a wide state in the vehicle width direction central region of the engine room, the traveling wind induced by the air guide member 10 Since it is introduced into the intercooler 5 not only from the front side but also from the side, the traveling wind necessary for heat exchange of the intercooler 5 can be supplied to the intercooler 5. In order to enhance the effect of introducing the running wind from the side of the intercooler 5, in the inner peripheral portion of the skirt portion 15, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, in the side portion adjacent to the vehicle body center axis CL. It is preferable to provide a recess 20 having a shape in which this is cut out so as to enlarge the cross-sectional area of the passage where the traveling wind enters from the side of the intercooler 5.

  The intercooler 5 is mounted with the inlet side and outlet side tanks 5b and 5c being separated in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body when the engine is installed horizontally. The inlet side and outlet side tanks 5b, A beam-shaped reinforcing inner member 19 extending in the vehicle width direction of the bonnet B is arranged in a portion corresponding to the core portion 5a positioned lower than 5c, and the air guide member 10 is fixed to the beam-shaped reinforcing inner member 19 Therefore, the bonnet height can be set low accordingly.

It is the schematic which looked at the engine room from upper direction, omitting illustration of a bonnet. It is a figure for demonstrating the external shape of the air guide member fixed to a bonnet. It is a perspective view of an intercooler and a skirt member placed around the intercooler. It is sectional drawing cut | disconnected along the IV-IV line of FIG. It is sectional drawing cut | disconnected along the VV line | wire of FIG. It is sectional drawing cut | disconnected along the VI-VI line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Engine room 3 Engine 3a Engine output shaft 4 Turbocharger 5 Intercooler 5a Core part of intercooler 10 Air guide member 11 Entrance of air guide member 12 Internal air guide passage 13 of air guide member 13 Guidance located corresponding to intercooler Opening of air member 15 Skirt member 17 Elastic seal member 20 Recess of skirt member B Bonnet CL Center axis of vehicle body

Claims (3)

In a cooling air introduction structure for an automobile that guides running wind from the front of the vehicle to a heat exchanger that is placed above the engine and disposed substantially horizontally in the gap between the engine and the bonnet,
A skirt member depending downward from the outer peripheral portion of the upper surface of the heat exchanger;
An air guide member that is fixed to the bonnet and forms an air guide passage that guides traveling wind from the front of the vehicle to the heat exchanger in cooperation with the skirt member when the hood is closed;
The skirt member includes an inclined guide surface that gradually becomes lower toward the front of the vehicle body of the heat exchanger. The guide surface guides traveling wind from the front of the vehicle from the air guide member to the guide surface. And introduced into the heat exchanger ,
The heat exchanger has a tank part spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and a core part having an upper surface lower than the tank part,
The bonnet is provided with a reinforcing member extending in the vehicle width direction at a portion corresponding to the core portion of the heat exchanger, and the air guide member is fixed to the reinforcing member. Introduction structure. An opening is formed in the portion of the air guide member corresponding to the skirt member, and when the bonnet is closed, the opening of the air guide member is closed by the skirt member. The automobile cooling air introduction structure according to claim 1, wherein traveling air from the front of the vehicle is introduced into the heat exchanger. The cooling air introduction structure for an automobile according to claim 2, wherein a sealing member is provided between an opening of the air guide member and an outer peripheral portion that hangs downward from the skirt member.

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