JPH042861B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an air outlet structure for an air conditioner.

In the case of air conditioning the interior of a vehicle, it is preferable to supply warm or cool air intensively to the occupants at the start of air conditioning to perform rapid heating and cooling.

The air outlet of conventional air conditioners has a simple structure with a louver installed at the open end of a cylindrical duct to change the direction of the air.
The air-conditioned air flow sent out from the outlet shows a substantially uniform flow velocity distribution, and the degree of diffusion thereof is constant, so that when air conditioning starts, there is not enough air-conditioned air to the occupants. To this end, the amount and direction of air flow are changed, but changing the amount of air will cause the temperature inside the vehicle to deviate from the optimum temperature, and there are limits to how much air direction can be changed.

By the way, when a free jet with a constant air volume is sent into a stationary fluid, the smaller the flow velocity at the outer periphery of the jet in contact with the stationary fluid, the smaller the viscous force generated between it and the stationary fluid, and the diffusion attenuation of the jet is prevented. .

Therefore, the present inventors focused on the above relationship, and formed a main flow passage for air-conditioned air in the central part of the inside of the blow-off duct, and formed a sub-flow passage in the outer periphery of the air-conditioned air. An earlier patent application filed in 1983 revealed that by slowing down the flow velocity, it is possible to prevent the air conditioned air from dispersing from the outlet, extend the temperature range of the air conditioned air, and provide the user with a sufficiently air-conditioned feeling.
-230937.

However, the inventors conducted more detailed research and found that when installing an air conditioner in an automobile or the like, the duct shape of the air conditioner is very often provided with a curved part due to the installation space constraints. As a result, the conditioned air passing through the duct becomes turbulent at the bend, and if the conditioned air is blown out from the outlet in this turbulent state, it tends to entrain surrounding still air and attenuate, causing damage to the occupants. It was discovered that sufficient air conditioned air could not be obtained.

Therefore, in view of the above points, the present invention provides a main flow path for conditioned air provided in a blow-off duct of an air conditioner;
By providing a rectifying means that rectifies the air flowing into the side flow passage, it is possible to prevent the diffusion attenuation of the jet flow blown out from the outlet, and to more effectively extend the temperature reach of the air conditioned air, thereby increasing comfort. The purpose is to provide comfortable air conditioning.

The present invention will be explained below with reference to illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows the first embodiment of the present invention, which is an example of use in a vehicle air conditioner, and FIG. 2 shows the A--
It is an A sectional view. A plurality of resin grille louvers 2, which change the airflow direction in the left-right direction in FIG. 1, are rotatably attached to the open end of the rectangular resin blow-off duct 1 via shafts 2a, respectively. Each shaft 2a is connected to a rod 3, which is connected to a recess 1 provided at the top of the open end of the duct 1.
a, it is housed movably in the left and right direction in FIG. One of the plurality of grill louvers 2 is provided with a resin knob 2b by integral molding, and by manually moving the knob 2b from side to side, it is linked to the rod 3. The other louvers 2 are also pivotable in the left and right directions. Incidentally, at the open end of the blow-off duct 1, an upper partition plate 1a and a lower partition plate 1b made of resin are respectively bent upward or downward and expanded, and are integrally molded with the blow-off duct 1. The upstream sides of the upper partition plate 1a and the lower partition plate 1b inside the blow-off duct 1 are formed parallel to each other as shown in FIG. , two vertical partition plates 1
d and 1e are provided so as to be parallel to each other, and are integrally molded with the partition plates 1a and 1b. That is, inside the blow-off duct 1, there is an upper partition plate 1a.
and a lower partition plate 1b and two vertical partition plates 1d, 1
e, and the inner wall of the blow-off duct 1 and each partition plate 1a, 1b, 1d, 1e.
A secondary flow passage A is formed between the two, and this state is best shown in FIG. 3, which is a sectional view taken along line B--B in FIG.

A stepped portion 1f is formed on the upstream side of the blow-off duct 1 in which the partition plates 1a, 1b, 1d, and 1e are provided so as to form a main flow passage A and a sub-flow passage B. , honeycomb rectifier grid 4
It is designed so that it can be fitted. Therefore, by fitting the airflow duct 1 into the ventilation duct 5, the rectifying grid 4 can be fitted to the stepped portion 1 of the airflow duct 1.
sandwiched between f and the open end of the ventilation duct 5,
Retained.

As shown in FIG. 4, this honeycomb-shaped rectifying grid 4 has a rectangular resin outer frame 4a, and inside this outer frame 4a is a smaller rectangular resin inner frame 4b. When the inner frame 4b is arranged and the outer frame 4a is fitted into the stepped portion 1f of the blow-off duct 1, the inner frame 4b comes into contact with the partition plates 1a, 1b, 1d, and 1e of the blow-off duct 1 without gaps. Outer frame 4a and inner frame 4b
In between, there is a fine aluminum side stream honeycomb part 4.
c is provided and bonded to the outer frame 4a and inner frame 4b with adhesive or the like. Similarly, inside the inner frame 4b, a large aluminum mainstream honeycomb part 4d is located inside the inner frame 4b.
It is attached with adhesive etc. The main flow honeycomb portion 4d and the subflow honeycomb portion 4c are configured to communicate with the main flow passage A and the subflow passage B, respectively.

Here, the flow velocity that has passed through the large-mesh main honeycomb portion 4d, that is, the flow velocity of the main flow passage A, is higher than the flow velocity that has passed through the fine-mesh secondary flow honeycomb portion 4c, that is, the flow velocity of the subflow passage A, and By adjusting the size, the flow velocity in the main flow passage a can be adjusted.
An arbitrary flow velocity distribution can be obtained by determining the flow velocity ratio Vo/Vi of Vi, the subflow path A, and the flow velocity Vo.

FIG. 5 schematically shows the above-mentioned outlet structure, and in the figure, ti indicates the passage width of the main flow passage A, and to indicates the passage width of the auxiliary flow passage B. Further, Vi indicates the flow velocity of the main stream, and Vo indicates the flow velocity of the side stream.

The present inventors determined the ratio to/ti of the passage width of the air outlet.
0.3 to 0.7, and the flow velocity ratio Vo/Vi to 0.3 to 0.7.
0.6, the distribution of temperature attainment in the vertical plane at a point 70 cm away from the air outlet was measured and compared with that of a conventional air outlet. This is shown in FIG. Note that the temperature attainment rate is expressed by the following formula.

Temperature attainment rate = Ambient temperature - Temperature at the measuring point / Ambient temperature - Outlet temperature Here, the ambient temperature is 60℃, the outlet cold air temperature is 12
℃, and the flow rate at the outlet was 150 m ³ /h with an 80×80 mm grill (including the side stream section). In addition, the line x in the figure is the air outlet of this embodiment, and the line y is the conventional air outlet.

According to this figure, when conditioned air is blown into an almost stationary atmosphere, the outlet of this embodiment, which divides the conditioned air into a main stream flowing through the center and a side stream flowing outside the main stream, As shown in Figure 6, by reducing the flow velocity and minimizing the mixing of the blowing wind and still air caused by viscous forces with the atmosphere, etc.
Diffusion attenuation of conditioned air is prevented, its temperature is maintained, and its reach is extended. Note that the rectifying grating 4 is
In addition to keeping the flow velocity ratio Vo/Vi of the main stream and side stream constant, it cancels flow velocity components other than the horizontal direction and eliminates flow turbulence so that only horizontal flow velocity components are obtained in the flow of air-conditioned air. . Therefore, the entrainment of surrounding still air by the jet is thus reduced, further increasing the temperature reach. Particularly in air conditioners installed in automobiles, the flow of conditioned air is disturbed at the bend in the connecting duct 5, but by providing a rectifying grid 4 as in this example, the disturbance of the conditioned air can be easily reduced. can.

Here, when the present invention and others investigated the temperature attainment rate when the above-mentioned rectifying grid 4 was provided in a conventional outlet without an internal partition plate, the temperature attainment rate without the regulating grid 4 was 0.42, It was found that by providing the rectifying grid 4, the temperature attainment rate was improved to 0.64.

Next, other embodiments of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment, in which a rectifying grid 6 is fitted between the step part 1f of the blow-off duct 1 and the end of the ventilation duct 5, which has the same structure as the previous embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, the rectifying grid 6 has aluminum honeycomb portions 6b having uniform mesh sizes fixed to the inside of a resin frame 6a with adhesive or the like. On the upstream side of the rectifying grid 6, one ends of dampers 7 and 8, which adjust the flow velocity ratio of the main flow and the sub-flow of the conditioned air, are rotatably hinged. A pinion gear 9 is provided at one end of each hinge shaft 7a, 8a integral with the dampers 7, 8.
a, 9b are installed, and each pinion gear 9a,
9b is meshed with a rack gear 10 disposed between the two. The rack gear 10 moves in the left-right direction in FIG. 9 by operating the lever 11. Along with this, the pinion gear 9 meshed with the rack gear 10
a and 9b rotate in opposite directions, and as a result, the dampers 7 and 8 rotate in mutually symmetrical directions.
The upstream opening of the main flow passage A is expanded or narrowed toward the upstream side.

The operation and effects of the outlet structure of the second embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

FIG. 10 shows a simulated cross-sectional structure of the air outlet, and a in this figure shows the upstream opening of the main flow passage A expanded by the dampers 7 and 8, and b in this figure shows the upstream side opening. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a narrowed opening.

In case a of the figure, the air-conditioning airflow that has passed through the rectifier grid 6 and reached the outlet at a uniform flow velocity v is divided into a main stream and a substream by partition plates 1a, 1b, 1d, and 1e. The main stream is narrowed into the main stream passage A through the widened inlet and accelerated, while the side stream, on the other hand, is decelerated as the passage becomes wider after passing through the narrowed inlet. As a result, the flow velocity ratio of the main flow and the side flow is Vo/Vi<
It becomes 1.

On the other hand, in case b of this figure, the main flow is decelerated,
The side stream is accelerated and the flow velocity ratio becomes Vo/Vi<1.

The present inventors determined the ratio to/ti of the passage width of the air outlet.
0.3 to 0.7, and the flow velocity ratio in the state shown in figure a.
When Vo/Vi was set to 0.3 to 0.6 and the flow velocity ratio Vo/Vi was set to 1.2 to 1.6 in the state shown in figure b, the distribution of the temperature attainment rate in the vertical plane at a point 70 cm away from the outlet was measured for each. , compared with a conventional air outlet. This is shown in FIGS. 11a and 11b, respectively. Note that the line x in the figure is the air outlet of this embodiment, and the line y is the conventional air outlet. According to a in this figure, when conditioned air is blown into an almost stationary atmosphere, the outlet of this embodiment divides the conditioned air into a main stream flowing through the center and a side stream flowing outside the main stream. By reducing the flow velocity of the air and suppressing the viscous force with the atmosphere, the diffusion attenuation of the air-conditioned air is prevented, the temperature is maintained, and the reach is extended, as shown in a in this figure.

On the other hand, if the flow velocity of the side stream is increased to actively generate viscous force with the atmosphere, the conditioned air will rapidly diffuse and spread uniformly, as shown in Figure b.

In this way, the air outlet of the second embodiment is provided with partitions 1a, 1b, 1d, and 1e in the air duct 1,
The conditioned air is divided into a main stream flowing through the center and a side stream flowing outside, and dampers 6 and 7 provided on the upstream side of the partition plates 1a, 1b, 1d, and 1e adjust the flow velocity ratio of the main stream and the side stream. By making the flow rate different, the flow velocity of the conditioned air blown out at a constant volume can be throttled at the start of air conditioning so that it reaches a distant place, and thereafter it can be uniformly diffused to perform suitable air conditioning.

In this embodiment, the opening end of the blow-off duct 1 does not necessarily have to be widened, but it is more effective to widen it at an angle of 20 degrees or less.

In addition, the bending of the ventilation duct 5 and the damper 6,
The turbulence of the airflow caused by 7 is rectified by the rectifying grid 6 as in the first embodiment, so the above effect is further enhanced.

In addition to the first and second embodiments described above, the present invention can be modified in various ways as described below.

(1) In the above embodiment, the rectifying grids 4 and 6 are made by attaching an aluminum honeycomb part to a resin frame with adhesive or the like.
Although they are fixed together, the honeycomb portion and the frame may be integrally molded with resin.

(2) The operation mechanism for the dampers 6 and 7 mentioned above is as follows:
A manual operation mechanism using a combination of a link mechanism and a control cable may also be used.

(3) The dampers 6 and 7 described above are driven by servo motors, diaphragm actuators, etc., and the operation of the servo motors, diaphragm actuators, etc. is controlled by a control circuit that detects room temperature and activates the air conditioner. The operation of the damper can be automatically controlled by using a timer circuit or the like that outputs an output for a certain period of time after the device is started.

(4) A flow rate adjusting means such as a damper can be installed not only at the upstream opening of the main flow passage A but also in the middle of the main flow passage A and the auxiliary flow passage B. In this case, instead of a damper, a variable throttle member may be provided in one or both of the flow paths A and B.

(5) Driver side air outlet 12 as shown in Figure 12
a, 13a and passenger side air outlet 12b, 13
If b has a structure capable of varying the flow rate of the outlet air as described above, and the driving device and control circuit of (3) above are applied, the air conditioned air at each outlet can be controlled independently.

(6) The rectifying gratings 4 and 6 are not limited to honeycomb shapes, but may have complex partitions parallel to each other in the vertical and/or horizontal directions of the air outlet. In this case, the rectifying grid frame may be formed into a cylindrical shape, and in that case, a plurality of concentric partitions may be provided inside the cylindrical frame.

(7) The rectifying grid has the same effect as above and can be realized not only at the outlet of an automobile air conditioner, but also at the outlet of an air conditioner that cools and ventilates a localized part of a large space such as a factory. It is possible.

As described above, the present invention divides the inside of the blow-off duct into a central main passage and a side flow passage by using a partition plate provided in the blow-off duct of an air conditioner, and also allows the flow of air flowing into the main flow passage and the side flow passage. By providing a rectifying means for rectifying the air, it is possible to effectively prevent the diffusion attenuation of the air conditioned air blown out from the outlet, and further extend the temperature range of the air conditioned air. It shows excellent performance when used.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a front view of an air outlet showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. The figure shows the first aspect of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a front view of the rectifying grid in the embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of the air outlet showing the first embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a characteristic diagram comparing the temperature attainment rate of the outlet of the present invention and the conventional outlet.
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing the outlet structure of the embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a front view of the rectifying grid in the second embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a side view showing the structure of the outlet of the second embodiment of the present invention, a and b of FIG. 10 are schematic cross-sectional views of the outlet of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10, where symbols a and b correspond to a and b in FIG. 10, respectively. FIG. 12 is an external view of the operation panel of the automobile driver's seat. 1...Blowout duct, 1a, 1b, 1d, 1e...
...Partition plate, A...Main flow passage, B...Subflow passage, 4
... Rectifier grid, 4a ... Outer frame, 4b ... Inner frame, 4
c...Substream honeycomb part, 4d...Mainstream honeycomb part, 6...Brighter grid, 6a...Frame, 6b...Honeycomb part, 7, 8...Damper.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A partition plate is provided in the air-conditioning duct along the inner wall of the air-conditioning duct, and the partition plate separates the main flow passage located in the center of the air-flow duct from the side flow passage on the outer periphery thereof. An air outlet of an air conditioner, comprising a rectifying means for rectifying air flowing into the main flow passage and the subflow passage. 2. The rectifying means is, compared to the main flow passage portion,
It is formed of a honeycomb-shaped rectifying grid provided in the secondary flow passage, and the mesh size of the honeycomb-shaped rectifying grid is smaller in the secondary flow passage part than in the main flow passage part. An air outlet for an air conditioner according to claim 1. 3. The outlet of the air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the rectifying means is a honeycomb-shaped rectifying grid with uniform mesh size provided in the main flow passage and the side flow passage. .