JP4560811B2 - Cooling unit mounting structure - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a structure in which, for example, a cooling unit of an air conditioner laid on a vehicle or the like is attached near the opening of a dash panel on the vehicle interior side.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A cooling unit that constitutes this type of vehicle air conditioner has a block-type expansion valve, and is disposed on the vehicle interior side of a dash panel that partitions the engine room and the vehicle interior. Etc. are connected with piping.
[0003]
A cooling unit mounting structure in the case of using a block type expansion valve as an expansion valve connected to an evaporator disposed in the cooling unit is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-123749. There are various modes as shown in the expansion valve mounting structure, the seal cap of the automotive air conditioner according to JP-A-10-119558, and the like.
[0004]
An example of the cooling unit mounting structure will be outlined with reference to FIG.
In the cooling unit 100, an evaporator 102 is accommodated in a case 101, and a block type expansion valve 103 is directly connected to the evaporator 102 via a connector 104. The expansion valve 103 is also housed in the case 101 of the cooling unit 100, like the evaporator 102.
The expansion valve 103 has a high pressure passage and a pipe connection connector 105 having a pressure passage inside thereof, which is fixed to the side opposite to the evaporator connection side. The pipe connection connector 105 is connected to the high pressure side pipe 106 and the low pressure side pipe 107 by an attachment member 108 provided at the tip of the high pressure side pipe 106 and the low pressure side pipe 107, and is fixed to the expansion valve 103. When projecting, the tip of the case 101 protrudes from the opening 109 of the case 101 and further reaches the inside of the engine room 112 from the opening 111 of the dash panel 110 provided to face the opening 109.
[0005]
The gap between the pipe connection connector 105 and the opening 109 of the case 101 is sealed by the first seal member 113 alone, and the pipe connection connector 105 or the case 101 and the opening 111 of the dash panel 110 and the dash are provided. The second seal member 114 is interposed between the dash panel 110 and the case 101 so that the second seal member 114 is sandwiched between the plate member 115 and the case 101 for each vehicle body. Is sealed. The vehicle body-specific plate member 115 is used to allow the seal member 114 to be clamped while increasing the inner diameter of the opening of the dash panel 110 by 111 so that the expansion valve 103 can be taken out from the engine room side.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
On the other hand, in recent years, there has been a demand for cost reduction of vehicle air conditioners. In order to meet this demand, the applicant of this application has also reviewed the structure around the expansion valve of the cooling unit and reduced the number of parts. It is necessary to plan etc. However, if the piping connection connector is deleted and the entire expansion valve is placed in the engine room, the temperature sensing element of the expansion valve may be corroded by rainwater or the like entering from outside the vehicle, or the temperature sensing element may be damaged by high heat in the engine room. There is a risk of malfunction.
[0007]
In addition, there is still a demand for the expansion valve to be removable from the engine room side in order to maintain or replace the expansion valve after the cooling unit is mounted on the vehicle.
[0008]
Therefore, in the present invention, the cooling unit is attached so that the expansion valve accommodated in the interior can be detached from the engine room side while at the same time reducing the cost as compared with the conventional product while ensuring the same sealing performance as the conventional product. The purpose is to provide a structure.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
Therefore, the cooling unit mounting structure according to the present invention includes a cooling heat exchanger and an expansion valve connected to the cooling heat exchanger and the high-pressure side pipe and the low-pressure side pipe. In the mounting structure of the cooling unit in which the opening is formed on the side facing the opening, the expansion valve has an attachment formed by extending the side connected to the high-pressure side pipe and the low-pressure side pipe. The front end portion of the mounting portion protrudes from the opening portion of the cooling unit, and the outer periphery of the front end portion of the mounting portion is surrounded by a seal member made of an elastic member, and the opening portions of the cooling unit and the dash panel are The outer peripheral shape of the expansion valve including the seal member is formed to be relatively larger than the outer shape of the expansion valve, and the outer peripheral portion of the opening of the cooling unit. A holding member is attached, and the holding member has an outer shape whose outer shape is relatively larger than the opening of the cooling unit and a hole that is formed with a relatively smaller hole than the outer shape of the sealing member. (Claim 1). Separately from the seal member, a seal member whose outer shape is relatively larger than the opening of the dash panel and formed of an elastic member is attached to the outside of the cooling unit. 2).
[0010]
With this configuration, the outer periphery of the seal member attached to the attachment portion of the expansion valve is extrapolated by the extrapolation portion of the holding member, and at the same time, the flange portion of the holding member is applied to the peripheral edge of the opening of the cooling unit case. By contacting, the seal member is compressed and a restoring force is also applied to the seal member, and the opening of the cooling unit is closed. Also, by arranging the cooling unit in the vicinity of the dash panel so that the openings face each other, a seal member separate from the previous seal member is sandwiched between the cooling unit and the dash panel. The space between the vehicle interior side surface near the opening and the outer surface of the cooling unit is closed. Thereby, the favorable sealing performance similar to the conventional one can be maintained. On the other hand, it is possible to eliminate the pipe connection connector by extending the side connected to the high-pressure side pipe and the low-pressure side pipe of the expansion valve, thereby reducing the cost of the cooling unit. Can be achieved. In addition, since the outer shape of the expansion valve including the seal member is relatively smaller than the openings of both the cooling unit and the dash panel, the expansion valve can be attached with the seal member attached from the engine room side by simply removing the holding member. Therefore, maintenance work and replacement of the expansion valve are facilitated, and the plate for each vehicle body can be omitted, so that the number of parts can be reduced.
[0011]
The expansion valve has a temperature sensing element that senses the temperature of the refrigerant on the outer surface side, and this temperature sensing element is located in the case of the cooling unit. In this way, by positioning the temperature sensing element of the expansion valve in the case of the cooling unit and not projecting to the engine room side, the temperature sensing element may be corroded by rainwater that has entered from the outside of the vehicle, or the high temperature in the engine room. It is possible to prevent the temperature sensing element from malfunctioning due to air.
[0012]
Furthermore, either the low-pressure side pipe or the high-pressure side pipe has a connecting portion for connecting to the expansion valve at the tip portion, and is connected to the other pipe by connecting means formed in the connecting portion. (Claim 4). As a result, even if the pipe connector is deleted, the low pressure side pipe and the high pressure side pipe can be reliably connected to the expansion valve.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0017]
1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a cooling unit 1 is disposed on the vehicle interior side, an evaporator 2 as a cooling heat exchanger, and a direct connection to the evaporator 2 via a connector 4. And a block type expansion valve 3 connected to the. The evaporator 2 is a laminated type formed by alternately laminating tubes and fins, for example. However, since the configuration is a known one, description thereof is omitted.
[0018]
The expansion valve 3 is appropriately connected with a compressor, a condenser and the like (not shown) to constitute a refrigeration cycle. In the expansion valve 3, an inflow passage 11 through which refrigerant flows into the evaporator 2 from the condenser side and an outflow passage 12 through which refrigerant flows out from the evaporator 2 to the compressor are formed in the expansion valve main body 13. A low pressure side passage 14 that communicates with the capacitor side, a high pressure side passage 15 that communicates with the capacitor side, and an orifice 16 that communicates with the low pressure side passage 14 and the high pressure side passage 15.
[0019]
The high pressure side passage 15 has a space 15a drilled from a direction intersecting with the connection direction of the expansion valve 3 to the evaporator 2 (downward direction after the expansion valve 3 is attached), and one end connected to the space 15a. The other end is constituted by a connecting portion 15b drilled from substantially the same direction as the connection direction of the expansion valve 3 to the evaporator 3 (the engine room side direction of the expansion valve 3). Is inserted. Further, the low pressure side passage 14 opens to the side surface opposite to the connection portion 15b of the expansion valve main body 13 with respect to the high pressure side passage 15 so that the connector 4 is connected to the opening end portion.
[0020]
The outflow passage 12 is perforated in the same direction from the opening end surface of the low pressure side passage 14 to the opening end surface of the high pressure side passage 15 of the expansion valve body 13, and the connector 4 is connected to one opening end surface 12a. The gasified refrigerant 2 flows out from the connecting portion 12b formed at the other opening end.
[0021]
The expansion valve body 13 is provided with an operating rod 19 that passes through the outflow passage 12 and the low-pressure passage 14 through a mounting hole 18 formed in a radial direction with respect to the low-pressure passage 14 and the high-pressure passage 15. Further penetrates the orifice 16 leaving a gap around the periphery, and the tip portion reaching the high-pressure side passage 15 is coupled to the ball-shaped valve body 20. The valve body 20 abuts on a valve body receiver 21 accommodated in the space 15 a and is always urged in a direction to close the orifice 16 by a spring 22 elastically mounted between the valve body receiver 21 and the lid body 17. Has been.
[0022]
The base end portion of the actuating rod 19 is connected to a diaphragm 24 constituting a temperature sensing element 23, and the diaphragm 24 is a diaphragm chamber in which the inside of the housing 25 assembled to the expansion valve body 13 is sealed with the housing 25. 26 and a pressure equalizing chamber 27 communicating with the outflow passage 12. A known diaphragm driving fluid is sealed in the diaphragm chamber 26, and this diaphragm driving fluid is gasified in response to heat of a certain level or more transmitted through the operating rod 19, and is outside the diaphragm 24. Press the side.
[0023]
As a result, the diaphragm 24 is displaced in the axial direction of the operating rod 19 due to the pressure difference between the pressure from the diaphragm chamber 26 side and the refrigerant pressure from the outflow passage 12 side, and the diaphragm 24 is displaced via the operating rod 19. The valve body 20 is moved to a position where the pressure acting on the pressure 24 and the biasing force of the spring 22 are balanced, and the opening degree of the expansion valve 3 is adjusted. Thus, the valve body 20 and the orifice 16 form an expansion portion that decompresses and expands the refrigerant in a mist form from the high pressure passage 15 to the low pressure passage 14.
[0024]
A low pressure side pipe 30 to the capacitor side and a high pressure side pipe 33 from the capacitor side are connected to the connection portions 12b and 15b of the expansion valve body 13 through a thin plate-like connection portion 31, respectively. . In the embodiment, the connecting portion 31 is provided in the vicinity of the opening end of the low-pressure side pipe 30, and on the side opposite to the side through which the low-pressure side pipe 30 is inserted, a notch opened laterally as a connecting means for the other pipe. A portion 32 is formed, and the cutout portion 32 is connected by attaching a portion near the opening end of the high-pressure side pipe 29. The connection portion 31 is formed with a pair of screw holes 33 extending in the axial direction of the pipes 29 and 30, and screws (not shown) are inserted into the screw holes of the connection portion 31 and the connection holes 28 of the expansion valve main body 13. Thus, the expansion valve 3 is fixed. The connecting portion 31 may be provided on the high-pressure side pipe 33 (not shown).
[0025]
Further, the expansion valve 3 extends from the temperature sensing element 23 on the pipes 29 and 30 side to form a mounting portion 35, and the tip of the mounting portion 35 projects from the opening 6 to the outside of the case 5. A seal member 36 formed of an elastic member is attached to the outer periphery of a portion of the attachment portion 35 that is outside the case 5. The outer shape of the expansion valve 3 including the seal member 36 is relatively small with respect to the opening 6 of the case 5 as shown in FIG. In the embodiment, the seal member 36 is configured by a band-shaped member as shown in FIG. 3, and is attached by being wound around the attachment portion 35 about one turn. However, the configuration of the seal member 36 is not necessarily limited to the above-described band shape, and the expansion member 3 has an annular shape having a hole punched out in the same shape as viewed from the attachment side of the expansion valve 3 to the pipes 30 and 33. 3 may be extrapolated to a portion outside the case 5.
[0026]
And the sealing member 37 is attached with respect to the sealing member 36 attached to the attaching part 35 in this way so that the whole outer periphery of this sealing member 36 may be enclosed.
The seal member 37 is made of an elastic member, and has a hole 38 for extrapolating to the seal member 36. The shape of the hole 38 is somewhat smaller than the outer shape of the expansion valve 3 including the seal member 36 so that it can be pressed against the seal member 36 from the outer peripheral side. In addition, in embodiment, although formed in the two-layer structure of the case 5 side and the dash panel 8 side mentioned later, you may form in a single layer structure instead of a two-layer structure in this way. Further, the seal member 37 is smaller in hardness than the seal member 36. To achieve such a hardness ratio, for example, when rubber is used as an elastic member forming the seal member 36, the seal member 37 The member 37 is made of urethane.
[0027]
A dash panel 8 that divides the vehicle interior 39 and the engine room 40 is located on the side of the cooling unit 1. The dash panel 8 opens at a position facing the opening 6 of the case 5. Part 9 is open. The opening 9 is relatively larger than the outer shape of the expansion valve 3 including the seal member 36, and is relatively smaller than the outer shape in a state where the outer periphery of the seal member 36 is further surrounded by the seal member 37. Is formed. A flange 41 extending toward the vehicle interior 39 is formed on the periphery of the opening 9.
[0028]
By setting it as such a structure, the attachment operation | work of the cooling unit 1 is performed in the following procedures, for example. First, the expansion valve 3 to which the seal member 36 is attached in advance is connected to the connector 4. With the connection of the expansion valve 3, the attachment portion 35 extends from the pipe side 29 and 30 with respect to the temperature sensing element 23, so that the temperature sensing element 23 is located in the case 5 and is attached to the attachment portion 35. The part to which the seal portion 36 is attached is located in the vicinity of the opening 6 outside the case 5. Next, after the outer periphery of the seal member 36 is surrounded by the seal member 37, the cooling unit 1 is moved to the dash panel 8 side so that the opening 6 of the case 5 and the opening 9 of the dash panel 8 are aligned. Thereby, since the outer shape of the seal member 37 is larger than the openings 6 and 9, the seal member 37 is sandwiched and compressed by the peripheral edge portions of the openings 6 and 9, and is pressed to the case 5 side by the flange 41. 5 and presses the seal member 36. In response to this, a restoring force acts on the seal member 36 so that the opening 6 of the case 5 is closed, and the opening 9 of the dash panel 8 The case 5 is also closed.
[0029]
The outer shape of the expansion valve 3 including the seal member 36 is smaller than the opening 6 of the case 5 and the opening 9 of the dash panel 8, and the seal member 37 in contact with the seal member 36 is the seal member 36. Since the hole is enlarged by a pressing force when the expansion valve 3 is pulled out or pushed in, the expansion valve 3 is mounted after the cooling unit 1 is attached. Even so, it can be easily removed from the engine room 40 and attached.
[0030]
As described above, the low-pressure side pipe 30, the high-pressure side pipe 33 and the expansion valve 3 can be connected without using the pipe connection connector, so the pipe connection connector can be omitted, Since the expansion valve 3 can be taken out from the engine room 40 side and attached without using any members, the plate member for each vehicle body can be omitted, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced by reducing the number of parts. it can. Further, since the expansion valve 3 can be taken out into the engine room 40, maintenance and replacement of the expansion valve 3 can be achieved. Further, since the temperature sensing element 23 stays in the case 5 of the cooling unit 1, the temperature sensing element 23 is corroded by rainwater or the like entering from outside the vehicle, or the temperature sensing element 23 operates normally due to high heat in the engine room 40. The trouble of not doing can be avoided.
[0031]
FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, which will be described below with reference to FIG. However, the same components as those of the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.
[0032]
A seal member 36 is attached to a portion of the attachment portion 35 of the expansion valve 3 that is outside the case 5. The seal member 36 is formed of an elastic member, and is provided with a hole having a shape substantially the same as the shape of the attachment portion 35 viewed from the attachment side of the pipes 30 and 33 or by winding the belt-like member around the attachment portion 35. It is attached by extrapolating to the attachment part 35.
[0033]
And the holding member 43 is attached to the outer periphery of the said sealing member 36, and the opening part 6 peripheral part of the said cooling unit. The holding member 43 is, for example, flexible, and is formed with an extrapolating portion 44 having a large inner diameter hole 44a slightly smaller than the outer shape of the attachment portion 25 in a state where the seal member 35 is attached. At the same time, it has a flange 45 that comes into contact with the peripheral portion of the opening 6. The flange 45 is provided with a plurality of protrusions 46 extending toward the vehicle interior 39 so that the width of the protrusions 46 facing each other is slightly wider than the inner diameter of the opening 6. Yes.
[0034]
With such a configuration, the extrapolation portion 44 of the holding member 43 is extrapolated from the attachment portion 35 of the expansion valve 3 to which the seal member 36 is preliminarily attached, and the seal member 36 and the opening portion 6 are By inserting the protrusion 46 between the peripheral surface and the flange 45 abutting against the peripheral portion of the opening 6, the outer insertion portion 44 of the holding member 43 presses the seal member 35 from the outer peripheral side, and the protrusion Since the part 46 is press-contacted to the opening part 6, the opening part 6 can be obstruct | occluded. Further, the expansion valve 3 can be taken out into the engine room 40 or attached from the engine room 40 side only by removing the holding member 43 even when the seal member 35 is attached.
[0035]
Therefore, also in this embodiment, since the low pressure side pipe 30, the high pressure side pipe 33 and the expansion valve 3 can be connected without using the piping connection connector, the piping connection connector can be omitted. The manufacturing cost can be reduced by reducing the number of parts. Further, since the expansion valve 3 can be taken out into the engine room 40, the maintenance and replacement of the expansion valve 3 can be achieved. Further, since the temperature sensing element 23 stays in the case 5 of the cooling unit 1, the temperature sensing element 23 is corroded by rainwater or the like entering from outside the vehicle, or the temperature sensing element 23 operates normally due to high heat in the engine room 40. The trouble of not doing can be avoided.
[0036]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the first and second aspects of the invention, the outer periphery of the seal member attached to the attachment portion of the expansion valve is extrapolated by the extrapolation portion of the holding member and at the same time the case of the cooling unit case. By bringing the flange of the holding member into contact with the periphery of the opening, the sealing member is compressed and a restoring force is also applied to the sealing member, the opening of the cooling unit is closed, and the cooling unit is opened near the dash panel. By arranging the parts to face each other, a separate sealing member is sandwiched between the cooling unit and the dash panel, and the space between the vehicle interior side surface near the opening of the dash panel and the outer side surface of the cooling unit is blocked. Therefore, a good sealing property can be obtained.
[0037]
Moreover, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the pipe connection connector is eliminated by extending the side of the expansion valve that is connected to the high-pressure side pipe and the low-pressure side pipe to form the mounting portion. In addition, since the expansion valve can be taken out from the inside of the engine room with the seal member attached, the plate for each vehicle body can be deleted, and the cost of the cooling unit can be reduced. Further, it is possible to simplify operations such as maintenance and expansion valve replacement.
[0038]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the temperature sensing element of the expansion valve is positioned in the case of the cooling unit and is not projected to the engine room side, so that the temperature sensing element is corroded by rainwater entering from outside the vehicle. It is possible to prevent the temperature sensing element from malfunctioning due to the high temperature air in the engine room. In addition, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reliably connect the low pressure side pipe and the high pressure side pipe to the expansion valve even if the pipe connection connector is omitted.
[0039]
In particular, according to the invention described in claim 2, when the second seal member is inserted into the hole of the second seal member in order to remove the expansion valve with the first seal member attached, the second seal member is pressed. Since the diameter of the expansion valve is increased, it is easier to take out the expansion valve to the engine room side and attach it from the engine room side.
be able to.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state in which a cooling unit is attached in the vicinity of an opening of a dash panel as viewed from above according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of an expansion valve in a state where a seal member is attached to an attachment portion.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state of the expansion valve in a state in which the seal member is attached to the attachment portion as seen from the pipe connection side.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration in which a pipe is attached to an expansion valve without using a pipe connection connector.
FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state in which the cooling unit is mounted near the opening of the dash panel as viewed from above according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional cooling unit mounting structure.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Cooling unit 2 Evaporator (cooling heat exchanger)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Expansion apparatus 5 Case 6 Opening part 8 Dash panel 9 Opening part 23 Temperature sensing element 30 Low pressure side pipe 33 High pressure side pipe 31 Connection part 35 Attachment part 36 Seal member 37 Seal member 38 Hole 40 Inside engine room 43 Holding member 44 Extrapolation Part 44a hole 45 collar part

Claims (4)

A cooling heat exchanger, and an cooling valve in which the cooling heat exchanger and an expansion valve connected to the high-pressure side pipe and the low-pressure side pipe are accommodated and an opening is formed on the side facing the opening of the dash panel In the unit mounting structure,
The expansion valve has a mounting portion formed by extending a side connected to the high-pressure side pipe and the low-pressure side pipe, and a tip portion of the mounting portion protrudes from the opening of the cooling unit. And the opening of the cooling unit and the dash panel is formed relatively larger than the outer shape of the expansion valve including the seal member. A holding member is attached to an outer periphery of the sealing member and a peripheral portion of the opening of the cooling unit. The holding member has a flange portion whose outer shape is relatively larger than the opening of the cooling unit, and the seal A cooling unit mounting structure comprising: an extrapolated portion in which a hole relatively smaller than an outer shape of the member is formed. Separately from the seal member, relatively larger than the opening of the outer shape of the dash panel, and an elastic member sealing member formed in, characterized in that attached to the outside of the cooling unit The cooling unit mounting structure according to claim 1 . The expansion valve has a temperature sensing element that senses the temperature of the refrigerant on the outer surface side, and this temperature sensing element is placed in the case of the cooling unit when the expansion valve is connected to the cooling heat exchanger. The cooling unit mounting structure according to claim 1 , wherein the cooling unit mounting structure is located. Either one of the low-pressure side pipe or the high-pressure side pipe has a connecting portion for attaching to the expansion valve at a tip portion, and is connected to the other pipe by a connecting means formed in the connecting portion. The cooling unit mounting structure according to claim 1 .

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