JP6353657B2 - Air intake structure at the front of the vehicle - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an air intake structure at the front of a vehicle, and more particularly to an air intake structure at the front of a vehicle having a shutter device.

  The shutter device is provided in the front part of the vehicle, and the shutter provided in the duct that guides the air introduced from the front part of the vehicle is operated to the open / close position to reduce the amount of air introduced into the vehicle through the duct. adjust. A radiator is disposed behind the shutter device, and the engine is cooled via the radiator cooled by the air introduced by moving the shutter to the open position, and further passes through the radiator and further to the rear of the vehicle ( The air sent to the rear of the engine room cools the engine and the exhaust system catalyst disposed around the engine. On the contrary, since it is preferable not to cool the engine in the warm-up operation, adjustment is performed to move the shutter to the closed position.

  On the other hand, if air is continuously introduced into the duct from the front of the vehicle with the shutter in the open position during high-speed driving, the running resistance increases as the amount of air introduced increases, and there is a concern that fuel efficiency will be reduced. Therefore, when the engine is sufficiently cooled, the shutter is set to the closed position, and adjustment is performed to reduce the running resistance.

  In this way, the aerodynamic performance and the engine overcooling can be prevented by adjusting the opening / closing of the shutter, and the fuel consumption can be improved.

  FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1 shows an example of the air intake structure at the front portion of the vehicle having a shutter device as described above. Specifically, the amount of air introduced from the front grille in the front of the engine room, passing through the radiator and traveling toward the engine is adjusted by opening / closing a shutter provided upstream of the radiator.

  However, according to the air intake structure at the front portion of the vehicle as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the shutter device is provided over the entire height direction region of the duct extending rearward from the front grill. However, when the shutter device fails in the closed position, or when the shutter is fixed due to ice and snow and becomes inoperable while traveling in a cold region, the engine may be overheated without being cooled, resulting in a vehicle failure.

  In order to avoid such a failure, in the case of a vehicle having a plurality of openings in the front part of the vehicle, a shutter device is provided only in a duct that communicates with one of the openings, thereby preparing for a failure of the shutter opening / closing mechanism. It was. Alternatively, in a vehicle having only one opening at the front part of the vehicle, a constant opening region where no shutter device is provided is provided in a part of the opening to prepare for a failure of the shutter opening / closing mechanism.

JP 2011-105220 A

  However, in these techniques, a part of the opening is always open. Therefore, since the air taken in from the opening always cools the engine, the effect of promoting the warm-up operation is reduced even when the shutter is in the closed position.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention made in view of such a point is to provide an air intake structure at the front portion of the vehicle that can suppress the running resistance to the maximum while avoiding the risk of vehicle failure due to the inoperability of the shutter. That is.

In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 is an air intake structure for introducing air taken from the front of a vehicle into an engine room, and an intake adjustment path capable of adjusting an air intake amount by opening and closing a shutter. And a normally open path in a normally open state, wherein the normally open path is disposed below the intake adjustment path at the front of the vehicle, and the inflow direction of the intake air is the engine. It has the structure toward the engine peripherals in room, wherein the intake adjustment path, which heat exchanger is provided for heat exchange with the engine, wherein the normally open path, the heat exchanger is provided The engine is located in front of the outlet at the rear end of the intake adjustment path, and the exhaust system catalyst that is the engine peripheral device is located below the engine. , Approximately the same height position the vehicle longitudinal the direction rearward exhaust system catalyst is located, the upper height position vehicle longitudinal direction rear engine than conduit normally open path conduit of the normally open path It is characterized by being located .

  According to this configuration, when the shutter is in the closed position in a state in which the shutter operates normally, only air that has passed through the always open path to cool the engine peripheral devices and diffused is directed to the engine. Thus, warm-up operation can be performed more efficiently, and engine overcooling can be more effectively prevented.

  On the other hand, when the shutter becomes inoperable when the shutter is closed, the minimum cooling of the engine is performed by the air passing through the engine peripheral devices, and the risk of vehicle failure such as overheating can be avoided.

In addition, parts that always require cooling may be arranged in the engine peripheral device. In this case, the engine peripheral device is always cooled by the air flowing in from the always open path regardless of whether the shutter is open or closed. It is possible to effectively cool engine peripheral devices that require cooling. Furthermore, normally, among the engine peripheral devices, devices that require constant cooling are often arranged below the engine, and according to this configuration, the configuration of the intake adjustment route and the constantly open route is made more compact. Becomes easy. Moreover, according to this configuration, the air that always passes through the open path does not pass through the heat exchanger that exchanges heat with the engine, and does not cool the heat exchanger. Therefore, when the shutter is closed to perform warm-up operation, not only the air that has cooled and diffused the engine peripheral devices is directed to the engine, but also the air taken from the front of the vehicle exchanges heat with the engine. Since the heat exchanger to be performed is cooled and the engine is not cooled by the cooled heat exchanger, the engine warm-up operation when the shutter is closed can be made more effective. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the air intake structure at the front part of the vehicle according to the first aspect, the pipe line of the normally open path extends to the vicinity of the exhaust system catalyst .

  According to the present invention, the combination of the air path taken from the front of the vehicle and the arrangement of the shutter can not only reduce the risk of a vehicle failure due to the inoperability at the closed position of the shutter, In the state where the shutter is normally driven, it becomes possible to perform more accurate cooling on the engine and the engine peripheral devices to be cooled.

1 is a front perspective view of a vehicle illustrating an air intake structure at the front of the vehicle in the present embodiment. It is the II-II sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the control system of a shutter apparatus. It is a figure which shows the case where the shutter in this Embodiment is (a) in an open position, and (b) in a closed position.

  Next, the present embodiment will be described in detail based on the drawings. An embodiment of an air intake device at the front of a vehicle having a shutter device that adjusts the amount of air introduced from an opening provided in the front surface of the engine room of the vehicle will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a vehicle for explaining an air intake structure at the front of the vehicle in the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a control system of the shutter device. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a case where the shutter according to the present embodiment is in the (a) open position and (b) the closed position.

  An arrow F in the figure indicates the forward direction of the vehicle, and an arrow W in the figure indicates the width direction of the vehicle.

  As shown in FIG. 1, two openings 20 and 22 are provided in the front surface of the engine room 3 of the vehicle 2, and these openings 20 and 22 are provided in the engine room 3 as shown in FIG. 2. The duct part 30 which guides the air introduced in the inside is connected. At the midway position in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle in the duct portion 30, a shutter device 40 having a shutter 50 that moves to an open position that allows passage of air in the duct portion 30 and a closed position that blocks or suppresses passage of air. Is provided. The air intake structure 10 in the front portion of the vehicle is mainly configured by the opening 20 and the opening 22, the duct portion 30, and the shutter device 40.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the opening 20 is a front grill 20 provided between the headlamps 4 above the front of the engine room 3 of the vehicle 2, and the opening 22 is a lower part of the front grill 20. A bumper grill 22 is formed in the bumper 5 at the position.

  A cylindrical upper duct portion 32 is provided between the front grill 20 and the upper portion 42 of the shutter device 40, and a cylindrical lower duct portion 34 is provided between the bumper grill 22 and the lower portion 44 of the shutter device. Is provided.

  The shutter device 40 has a substantially rectangular frame-shaped body 41, and the shutter device 40 has an upper portion 42 and a lower portion 44 of the shutter device 40 by a frame 43 extending in the vehicle width direction at a center position in the height direction of the frame-shaped body 41. It is divided into and.

  As shown in the figure, five louvers 52a are pivotally supported on the upper portion 42 of the shutter device 40 by a pivotable shaft extending in the vehicle width direction on the side of the frame-like body 41. Constitutes an upper shutter 52 which closes the upper part 42 of the shutter device 40 by a pivoting operation or opens as shown in FIG. That is, the upper part 42 of the shutter device 40 is an openable / closable opening region 42 a that can be opened and closed by the upper shutter 52.

  As shown in the drawing, three louvers 54a from above are pivotally supported on the lower portion 44 of the shutter device 40 by a rotatable shaft extending in the vehicle width direction on the side of the frame-shaped body 41. The louver 54a constitutes a lower shutter 54 that suppresses the passage of air in the lower portion 44 of the shutter device 40 or opens as shown in FIG.

  In this way, the shutter 50 including the upper shutter 52 (louver 52a) and the lower shutter 54 (louver 54a) is closed (see FIG. 4B) and opened (see FIGS. 2 and 4A). ), The amount of air introduced into the engine room 3 from the traveling front grill 20 and bumper grill 22 is adjusted.

  A partition plate 46 for partitioning the lower portion 44 of the shutter device 40 is provided below the louver 54 a located at the lowermost portion of the louver 54 a, and the lower portion 44 of the shutter device 40 is separated by the lower shutter 54 by the partition plate 46. It is partitioned into an openable and closable opening area 44 a and a constant opening area 44 b partitioned by the partition plate 46 and the lower part of the frame-like body 41.

  A cylindrical rear duct portion 36 whose upper end is connected to the upper portion of the frame-like body 41 and whose lower end is connected to the partition plate 46 further extends rearward from the shutter device 40, and is connected to the rear end portion of the rear duct portion 36. Is attached with a shroud 37 having an outlet portion 38 directed toward the engine 6 while being reduced in diameter. Here, the engine 6 is arranged in front of the outlet portion 38, and an exhaust system catalyst 7 that catalyzes and purifies exhaust discharged from the engine 6 is disposed below the engine 6 that is a peripheral portion of the engine 6. Has been placed. The exhaust system catalyst is often arranged immediately below the exhaust manifold because it requires rapid warm-up after engine startup for quick activation. On the other hand, there is a concern that after warming up, the catalyst will be overheated, leading to deterioration.

  Depending on the vehicle, a turbocharger (not shown) may be provided below the engine 6 that is the periphery of the engine 6. As described above, in many cases, an overheated engine peripheral device (exhaust system catalyst 7, turbocharger, etc.) that always becomes a high temperature during traveling is provided below the engine. Further, an ECU (Engine Control Unit) (also not shown) may be provided below and behind the engine 6, which is a peripheral part of the engine 6, because of its nature, which is susceptible to heat. These engine peripheral devices are devices that should be constantly cooled.

  The shroud 37 is provided with a fan 39 that generates an air flow for drawing air from the front grill 20 and the bumper grill 22 to the rear duct portion 36 and further to the vicinity of the engine 6 under predetermined conditions. In addition, a heat exchanger 35 is provided between the shutter device 40 and the outlet portion 38, and the heat exchanger 35 is connected to the engine 6 by a heat medium flow path (not shown). Thus, heat exchange between the engine 6 and the heat exchanger 35 is performed. The heat exchanger 35 is fixed to the upper wall and the lower wall of the rear duct portion 36 by a support member 36a.

  On the other hand, an upper wall is constituted by the bottom portion 36b of the rear duct portion 36 whose upper end is connected to the partition plate 46, and the lower end is connected to the lower portion of the frame-like body 41 and extends rearward from the shutter device 40. A conduit 31 that is a flat cylindrical body that is formed by the lower wall 33 and that is wide in the vehicle width direction extends to a position in the vehicle front-rear direction equivalent to the heat exchanger 35. In addition, the heat exchanger 35 is arrange | positioned in the back duct part 36, as shown in FIG.

Therefore, the duct portion 30 is arranged from the upper duct portion 32 and the lower duct portion 34 through the shutter 50 to the outlet portion 38, and the intake adjustment path 100 (indicated by the broken line arrow in FIG. 2) can adjust the air intake amount by opening and closing the shutter 50. 2) and a normally open path 200 (shown by a broken line arrow 200 in FIG. 2) that branches from the intake adjustment path 100 from the position where the shutter device 40, which is an intermediate position of the duct portion 30, is provided. And have. As shown in FIG. 2, the normally open path 200 is disposed below the intake adjustment path 100.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the intake adjustment path 100 branches off from the openable / closable opening areas 42a and 44a from the constantly open path 200, and conversely, the normally open path 200 has a normally open area 44b as shown in FIG. Branches from the intake adjustment path 100. The exhaust system catalyst 7 is positioned behind the vehicle 31 in the vehicle front-rear direction at substantially the same height position of the conduit 31.

  Next, opening / closing control of the shutter 50 in the shutter device 40 will be described. The shutter device 40 includes a shutter opening / closing control device 60 shown in the block diagram of FIG. The shutter device 40 includes a louver 52a and a louver 54a (shutter 50), a driving force transmission mechanism 62 configured as an endless belt 56 (see FIG. 4) for rotating each axis of the louver 52a and the louver 54a, and a driving shaft. 58 (refer to FIG. 4), a vehicle speed sensor 66 for detecting the vehicle speed, an outside air temperature sensor 68, a cooling water temperature sensor 70 for detecting the temperature of engine cooling water, and a control for controlling the driving motor 64. Part 72.

  The controller 72 is a computer including a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. The control unit 72 expands the program stored in the ROM on the RAM and causes the CPU to execute a corresponding process.

  Detection signals from the vehicle speed sensor 66, the outside air temperature sensor 68, and the cooling water temperature sensor 70 are input to the control unit 72. The control unit 72 is based on a program recorded in the ROM or the like, and the louver 52a according to these detections. In addition, it is determined whether the opening operation condition for setting the louver 54a to the open position is satisfied or the closing operation condition to be set to the closed position is satisfied.

  For example, when the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor 66 is high and the cooling speed detected by the cooling water temperature sensor 70 is low, a closing operation is performed to improve running stability, and the cooling detected by the cooling water temperature sensor 70 is performed. When the water temperature is high, control is performed to perform a closing operation in order to efficiently cool the water.

  When the control unit 72 determines that the opening operation (or the closing operation) should be performed, the drive motor 64 rotates the drive shaft 58 based on the opening operation instruction of the control unit 72 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the louver 52a and the louver 54a open and close the openable / closable regions 44a of the upper part 42 and the lower part 44 of the shutter device 40 as shown in FIG. It moves to the open position (refer to FIG. 4 (a)) to be opened or to the closed position (refer to FIG. 4 (b)) to be closed.

  That is, it is connected to the upper shutter 52 and the lower duct part 34 (that is, provided at the rear end of the lower duct part 34) connected to the upper duct part 32 (that is, provided at the rear end of the upper duct part 32). D) Since the lower shutter 54 operates integrally, the shutter device 40 is made into an integral part, and the cost can be reduced.

  The movement of the louver 52a and the louver 54a between the open position and the closed position corresponds to the amount of rotation of the louver 52a and the louver 54a between the open position and the closed position recorded in advance in the ROM or the like of the control unit 72. This is performed based on the number of rotations that is the rotation angle of the motor 64.

  Therefore, according to the air intake structure 10 at the front portion of the vehicle according to the present embodiment, when the shutter 50 is in the closed position in a state in which the shutter 50 operates normally, the exhaust system always passes through the open path 200. Since only the air that has cooled and diffused the engine peripheral equipment such as the catalyst 7 is directed to the engine 6, it becomes possible to perform the warm-up operation more efficiently than before, and to prevent the engine 6 from being overcooled more effectively. be able to.

  On the other hand, when the shutter 50 becomes inoperable in the closed state, the minimum cooling of the engine 6 is performed by the air that has passed through the engine peripheral devices, and the risk of vehicle failure such as overheating can be avoided. .

  In addition, the engine peripheral devices may include not only superheated devices (exhaust system catalyst 7, turbocharger, etc.) but also devices (ECU, etc.) that are vulnerable to heat. In this case, the engine peripheral devices are always and preferentially cooled by the air flowing in from the always-open path 200 regardless of the open / closed state of the shutter 50. Therefore, the engine peripheral devices that require constant cooling are effective. Cooling can be achieved.

  In addition, the always-open path 200 is disposed below the intake adjustment path 100, and the exhaust system catalyst 7 that is an overheated engine peripheral device is located below the engine 6. The open path 200 can be realized with a more compact pipe line configuration.

  Furthermore, the air that always passes through the open path 200 does not pass through the heat exchanger 35 that exchanges heat with the engine 6 and does not cool the heat exchanger 35. Therefore, when the shutter 50 is closed to perform the warm-up operation, not only the air that has cooled and diffused the engine peripheral devices is directed to the engine 6, but also the air introduced from the front of the vehicle is the engine 6 The engine 6 is not cooled by cooling the heat exchanger 35 that exchanges heat with the cooled heat exchanger 35, so that the warming-up operation of the engine 6 when the shutter 50 is closed is further improved. It can be effective.

  In addition, the upper shutter 52 and the lower shutter 54 provided respectively in the upper duct portion 32 and the lower duct portion 34 can be integrally operated, and the device configuration for operating the shutter 50 is made an integral part, thereby reducing costs. It becomes possible to make it.

  In the above-described embodiment, the pipe line 31 extends to the position in the vehicle front-rear direction corresponding to the lower position of the heat exchanger 35. However, as shown by the phantom line in FIG. It is good also as a structure extended to the exhaust system catalyst 7 vicinity which is the downward position.

  According to this configuration, the air taken into the duct portion 30 from the front grill 20 and the bumper grill 22 by the always open path 200 is guided to the position near the exhaust system catalyst 7 at the lower position of the engine 6 by the extended pipe line. Therefore, it becomes possible to continue cooling the exhaust system catalyst 7 which is a superheated engine peripheral device located below the engine 6 more effectively.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, in the above embodiment, two openings, the front grill 20 and the bumper grill 22, are located on the front surface of the engine room 3 of the vehicle 2, and the upper duct portion connected to the shutter device 40 from each of these openings. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. That is, the opening located in the front of the engine room 3 of the vehicle 2 is only the front grille, and only one cylindrical duct is provided to connect the upper end and lower end of the front grill to the upper end and lower end of the shutter device 40. It is good.

  According to this configuration, in the vehicle air intake structure including the intake adjustment path 100 via the shutter and the normally open path 200 not via the shutter, the constantly open path 200 has a configuration toward the superheated engine peripheral device in the engine room. The configuration of the air intake structure at the front of the vehicle can be simplified while enjoying the advantages of the above-described invention.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the upper shutter 52 and the lower shutter 54 are integrally operated by the driving force transmission mechanism 62 configured as an endless belt 56, but the upper shutter 52 and the lower shutter are not limited to the endless belt. It is also possible to use a link mechanism or the like that enables the integral operation of 54.

2 Vehicle 3 Engine room 6 Engine 10 Air intake structure 20 in front of vehicle 20 Front grill 22 Bumper grill 30 Duct portion 31 Pipe 32 Upper duct portion 34 Lower duct portion 35 Heat exchanger 38 Outlet portion 40 Shutter devices 42a and 44a Openable and closable openings Area 44b Always open area 50 Shutter 52 Upper shutter 54 Lower shutter 100 Uptake adjustment path 200 Always open path

Claims (2)

An air intake structure that introduces air taken from the front of the vehicle into the engine room,
In an air intake structure having an intake adjustment path that can adjust the amount of air intake by opening and closing the shutter, and a normally open path that is always open,
The normally open path is disposed below the intake adjustment path at the front of the vehicle, and the inflow direction of intake air is directed to engine peripheral devices in the engine room,
Wherein the intake adjustment path, which heat exchanger is provided for heat exchange with the engine,
The normally open path is not provided with the heat exchanger,
An engine is located in front of the outlet at the rear end of the intake adjustment path,
The exhaust system catalyst that is the engine peripheral device is located below the engine,
The exhaust system catalyst is located at the rear in the vehicle front-rear direction at substantially the same height position of the pipe line of the normally open path ,
An air intake structure at the front of a vehicle , wherein the engine is positioned at the rear in the vehicle front-rear direction at a height above the conduit of the normally open route .   The air intake structure at the front portion of the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the pipe line of the normally open path extends to the vicinity of the exhaust system catalyst.

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