JP7044728B2 - Intake structure - Google Patents

Description

In the present specification, an intake structure for guiding cold air in a vehicle interior to an intake duct connected to an intake blower is disclosed.

Some automobiles are equipped with a heating element such as a large battery or a fuel cell. In such a vehicle, the heating element may be cooled by using the air (cold air) in the vehicle interior. In this case, an intake passage, an intake duct, or the like for guiding the cold air in the vehicle interior to the heating element is arranged in the vehicle interior. Such intake passages and the like need to be arranged so as not to impair the aesthetics and comfort of the passenger compartment.

Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which a seat for three people is provided at the rear of a vehicle interior, and an intake duct is built in a seat pad which is a component of the seat. According to this technology, since the intake duct is not visible to the occupants, the aesthetics and comfort of the passenger compartment are not impaired.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-155227

However, in the case of the technique of Patent Document 1, it is necessary to take a complicated manufacturing procedure in order to embed the intake duct in the seat pad, which is troublesome and causes an increase in cost. Further, the technique of Patent Document 1 requires a large number of members exclusively provided for the intake duct, such as an intake duct made of resin and a hard member that covers and protects the periphery of the intake duct, resulting in an increase in the number of parts. And increased the weight of the vehicle.

Therefore, this specification discloses an intake structure having a simpler configuration.

The intake structure disclosed in the present specification is an intake structure that guides cold air in the passenger compartment to an intake duct connected to the intake blower, and is described above in front of the underbody constituting the floor surface of the passenger compartment and the intake blower. Two seats provided side by side on the underbody in the width direction and a center plate arranged between the seating surfaces of the two seats and facing the underbody are provided, and the width directions of the two seats are provided. The space surrounded by the inner side surface, the underbody, and the center plate is characterized in that the front end is opened in the vehicle interior and the rear end functions as an intake passage leading to the intake duct.

By using the space surrounded by the seat, underbody, and center plate, which is naturally provided in the vehicle, as the intake passage, there is no need to provide a dedicated member for the intake passage, and the intake structure is lightweight and has a simple structure. can get.

In this case, the seating surface of each of the two seats has an R-shaped front corner portion, and the front end of the center plate becomes wider as it advances forward in accordance with the shape of the front side corner portion. It has a trumpet shape, and the front portion of the intake passage may also have a trumpet shape that becomes wider as it advances forward.

By using the R-shaped front corner, which is a general shape for the seat, a trumpet-shaped shape suitable for the entrance of the intake passage can be obtained without any special design change.

Further, a belt receiver attached to the rear end of the seat surface and the inner end surface in the width direction of the seat is provided, and the rear portion of the intake passage may be narrowed by the amount of the belt receiver. ..

By using a belt holder, which is a general accessory for the seat, the outlet cross section of the intake passage can be narrowed without making any special design change, and the intake passage can be made into a more desirable shape.

According to the intake structure disclosed herein, the structure can be simplified.

It is a schematic plan view around the intake structure. It is an exploded perspective view around the intake passage. FIG. 1 is an end view taken along the line AA of FIG.

Hereinafter, the intake structure 10 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view around the intake structure 10 mounted on the vehicle. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the vicinity of the intake passage 28, which will be described later, and FIG. 3 is an end view of AA of FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, the center plate 44 is hatched.

The intake structure 10 of this example is for sucking air (cold air) in the vehicle interior 12 by using an intake blower 24 in order to cool a heating element (not shown) mounted on the vehicle, for example, a battery or the like. Is. The intake structure 10 includes an intake blower 24 that sucks the cold air in the passenger compartment 12, an intake duct 26 that is connected to the intake blower 24, and an intake passage 28 that guides the cold air in the passenger compartment 12 to the intake duct 26. .. Prior to the description of the intake structure 10, the structure of the rear part of the vehicle will be briefly described.

In the rear part of the passenger compartment 12, right seats 30R and left seats 30L constituting the rear seats are installed side by side in the vehicle width direction. In the following description, when the left and right are not distinguished, the subscript alphabet is abbreviated and referred to as "sheet 30". Behind the two seats 30, a deck board 16 that separates the passenger compartment 12 and the luggage compartment 14 is provided. As shown in FIG. 3, the deck board 16 has an inclined portion 16a that rises diagonally rearward from the floor surface of the vehicle interior 12 and a horizontal portion 16b that extends diagonally rearward from the vehicle interior 12. The space behind the inclined portion 16a becomes the luggage compartment 14. Further, on the bottom surfaces of the passenger compartment 12 and the luggage compartment 14, an underbody 18 that functions as a floor surface thereof is provided. The underbody 18 is a thin plate made of a metal material.

The intake blower 24 is substantially centered in the vehicle width direction and is provided immediately behind the inclined portion 16a of the deck board 16. An intake duct 26 extends from the front surface of the intake blower 24. The intake duct 26 is a pipe member made of resin or the like, and extends forward and downward from the intake blower 24 to the vicinity of the underbody 18 along the inclined portion 16a. The front end of the intake duct 26 reaches the vicinity of the rear end of the seat cushion 32, which will be described later, that is, the vicinity of the rear end of the intake passage 28.

An intake passage 28 is provided between the intake duct 26 and the passenger compartment 12. It is usually desirable that such an intake passage 28 is arranged so as not to impair the aesthetics and comfort in the passenger compartment 12. In order to satisfy such a demand, in this example, the intake passage 28 is configured by using the seat 30, the underbody 18, and the center plate 44. This will be described in detail below.

First, the configuration of the seat 30 and the center plate 44 constituting the intake passage 28 will be described. The right seat 30R and the left seat 30L are installed side by side in the vehicle width direction with a predetermined interval. Each seat 30 is a seat for one person and has a seat cushion 32 on which the seated person is seated and a seat back 34 for supporting the state of the seated person. Of the underbody 18, the location where the seat 30 is installed is bulged upward in order to secure a sitting height.

The seat cushion 32 further has a cushion frame (not shown) fixed to the underbody 18 and a cushion pad 38 mounted on the cushion frame. The cushion pad 38 is made of a material having appropriate flexibility, for example, a flexible polyurethane foam.

As described above, the seat cushion 32 is a portion where the seated person is seated, and the upper surface thereof is the seating surface. The seat surface of the seat cushion 32 is mostly flat, but the vicinity of both ends in the width direction is raised upward so as to hold the buttocks of the seated person. Further, the seat cushion 32 has a substantially square shape in a plan view, and its front side corner portion has a gently rounded R shape. A belt receiver 46 into which a buckle metal fitting for a seat belt is detachably inserted is fixed to the rear side of the seat cushion 32 and near the inner corner in the width direction. As shown in FIG. 1, the side surface of the belt receiver 46 protrudes inward from the inner end surface in the width direction of the seat cushion 32.

A seat back 34 stands from the rear end of the seat cushion 32. Like the seat cushion 32, the seat back 34 also has a back frame (not shown) and a back pad 42 attached to the front surface of the back frame. The seat back 34 is inclined backward along the inclined portion 16a of the deck board 16.

A center plate 44 is provided between the seating surface of the right seat 30R and the seating surface of the left seat 30L. The center plate 44 is, for example, a plate member made of resin or the like. The center plate 44 is a plate member extending substantially in the waterside direction so as to close the gap between the seating surfaces of the two seats 30, and is made of, for example, resin. The center plate 44 functions as a table on which a seated person sitting on the seat 30 places luggage, drinks, and the like.

Both ends of the center plate 44 in the width direction are in close contact with the inner side surface of the seat cushion 32 in the width direction. Further, the rear end of the center plate 44 is connected to the inclined portion 16a of the deck board 16. Further, the front portion of the center plate 44 widens as it advances forward along the shape of the front side corner portion of the seat cushion 32, and hangs slightly downward so as to cover the front surface of the seat cushion 32. However, the amount of sagging of the center plate 44 is sufficiently smaller than the thickness of the seat cushion 32, and a sufficient gap is formed between the lower end of the front portion of the center plate 44 and the underbody 18.

As shown in FIG. 3, the center plate 44 faces the underbody 18 at a distance from the underbody 18. From another point of view, a space surrounded by the inner side surface in the width direction of the seat cushion 32, the center plate 44, and the underbody 18 is formed between the two seats. In this example, this space is used as an intake passage 28 that guides the vehicle interior air to the intake duct 26. The front end of the intake passage 28 is opened in the vehicle interior 12, and the rear end reaches the inclined portion 16a of the deck board 16. Further, the front portion of the intake duct 26 penetrates the inclined portion 16a and enters the intake passage 28. As a result, the rear portion of the intake passage 28 and the front portion of the intake duct 26 are fluidly connected. Therefore, the cold air that has flowed into the intake passage 28 from the vehicle interior 12 is sucked by the intake blower 24 through the intake duct 26.

As is clear from the above description, in this example, the underbody 18, the seat 30, and the center plate 44 constitute the intake passage 28. The reason for adopting such a structure will be described in comparison with the prior art. Conventionally, it has been proposed to provide a fluid aisle around the rear seats for guiding the cold air in the passenger compartment 12 to the luggage compartment 14. However, most of the conventional fluid passages utilize a pipe member made of resin or the like. Since such a pipe member has a poor appearance, when such a pipe member is used, a design member for hiding the pipe member is separately required in addition to the pipe member. That is, in the prior art, in addition to ordinary parts, special members such as pipe members and design members are required to provide the fluid passage. The use of such special members not only increases the number of parts and costs, but also increases the weight of the vehicle.

It has also been proposed in some cases to embed an intake duct within the pad of the seat. In this case, the intake duct is difficult to see from the outside, so that the appearance can be improved. However, if an attempt is made to embed an intake duct, which is a pipe member, in the pad of the seat, the manufacturing process becomes complicated and the production cost increases. Further, even in this case, it is necessary to separately prepare a dedicated part such as an intake duct, which causes a problem such as an increase in weight.

In this example, as described repeatedly, the space surrounded by the seat 30, the underbody 18, and the center plate 44 is used as the intake passage 28. The seat 30, the underbody 18, and the center plate 44 are all parts provided in the vehicle regardless of the necessity of intake. In other words, the seat 30, the underbody 18, and the center plate 44 are all parts having a role other than functioning as a part of the intake passage 28. By configuring the intake passage 28 with such parts, it is not necessary to provide dedicated parts for the intake passage 28, and the number of parts can be reduced. As a result, the cost and the weight of the vehicle can be reduced.

By the way, it is desirable that the intake passage 28 has a large cross-sectional area on the upstream side and a small cross-sectional area on the downstream side. The intake passage 28 of this example extends to the front end of the seat cushion 32. The front corner of the seat cushion 32 has an R shape that is gently rounded, and the front portion of the center plate 44 also has an R shape that is gently rounded to match the shape of the front corner. As a result, the front portion of the intake passage 28 has a substantially trumpet shape that becomes wider as it advances forward. As a result, the cross-sectional area on the upstream side of the intake passage 28 can be increased.

Further, as described above, a belt receiver 46 is provided near the rear end of the seat cushion 32. The inner side surface of the belt receiver 46 in the width direction protrudes inward from the inner side surface of the seat cushion 32. The presence of the belt receiver 46 narrows the width of the intake passage 28 and reduces the cross-sectional area on the downstream side of the intake passage 28.

The R shape of the front corner portion of the seat cushion 32 and the belt receiver 46 are not special configurations, but are naturally present in the normal seat 30. In this example, by relating such a naturally existing configuration to the shape of the intake passage 28, a desirable shape (trumpet shape on the upstream side and a deflated shape on the downstream side) can be obtained without any special design change. The intake passage 28 can be obtained.

Further, in this example, since the underbody 18 is used as a part of the intake passage 28, the degree of freedom in arranging various parts attached to the underbody 18 is improved. That is, an antenna 48 (see FIG. 3) for exchanging various information is fixed to the underbody 18 of this example. When a dedicated pipe member is provided as the intake passage 28, the antenna 48 must be installed at a position avoiding the pipe member (intake passage 28), and the degree of freedom in its arrangement is reduced. On the other hand, when the underbody 18 is used as a part of the intake passage 28 as in this example, the antenna 48 can be installed at a desired position regardless of the position of the intake passage 28.

The configuration described so far is an example, and if the space surrounded by the seat 30, the underbody 18, and the center plate 44 is used as the intake passage 28, the other configurations are appropriately changed. May be done. Therefore, the shape, number, and the like of each component may be changed as appropriate. For example, in this example, two seats for one person are provided, but a bench seat for two people and a seat for one person may be arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction. Further, the number of sheets 30 is not limited to two, and may be larger.

10 intake structure, 12 passenger compartment, 14 luggage compartment, 16 deck board, 16a inclined part, 16b horizontal part, 18 underbody, 24 intake blower, 26 intake duct, 28 intake passage, 30 seats, 32 seat cushions, 34 seat backs. , 38 cushion pad, 42 back pad, 44 center plate, 46 belt holder, 48 antenna.

Claims (1)

It is an intake structure that guides the cold air in the passenger compartment to the intake duct connected to the intake blower.
The underbody that makes up the floor of the passenger compartment and
Two seats provided side by side on the underbody in front of the intake blower, and
A center plate arranged between the seating surfaces of the two seats and facing the underbody, and
Equipped with
The space surrounded by the inner side surface in the width direction of each of the two seats, the underbody, and the center plate functions as an intake passage with the front end opened in the passenger compartment and the rear end leading to the intake duct. do,
The intake structure is characterized by that.

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