JPH09188123A - Air conditioner for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner for automobiles which has miniaturized the whole unit, reduced ventilation resistance, and enhanced the heat exchange efficiency. SOLUTION: When an evaporator 33 for cooling air, and a heater core 34 for heating air, are housed in one unit case 30, the evaporator 33 and the heater core 34 are arranged so as to be sloped in a horizontal position with their portions overlapped in an up and down direction. A fan 31 is arranged in the upper part of the unit case 30.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner provided with an evaporator and a heater core, and more particularly to a compact vehicle air conditioner in the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal directions of the vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional air conditioner for a vehicle has a fan for taking in outside air or inside air, an evaporator for cooling air, and a heater core for heating air. The fan is provided in an intake unit and an evaporator. Is housed in the cooler unit, and the heater core is housed in the heater unit, respectively. The intake unit, the cooler unit and the heater unit are connected in series in this order in the left-right direction of the vehicle.

However, if the fan, evaporator, and heater core are housed in separate unit cases and connected in series, a large installation space is required in the left-right direction of the vehicle, and three unit cases are required separately. However, the number of parts is large, which is also disadvantageous in terms of cost.

For this reason, attempts have been made to accommodate the fan, the evaporator and the heater core in one unit case to reduce the size and cost.

[0005]

When the evaporator and the like are housed in one unit case as described above, the evaporator and the heater core generally have a shape in which the air passage direction is thin and the air passage surface is close to a square. Since they are rectangular cuboids, to lay them out in the unit case, stack the evaporator and the heater core on top of each other so that the air passage surfaces are horizontal (hereinafter also referred to as horizontal placement), To make the unit case thinner, or to stack the evaporator and the heater core in front of and behind each other so that the air passage surface is vertical (hereinafter also referred to as vertical placement), and to make the unit case thinner in the front-back direction of the vehicle. Conceivable.

However, regardless of whether the evaporator and the heater core are placed horizontally or vertically, the length in the front-rear direction of the vehicle becomes long in the case of horizontal placement, and the vertical direction of the vehicle in the case of vertical placement. The problem of increased length remained, and it was not possible to downsize the entire unit.

Further, when designing an air conditioner for an automobile, it is necessary to exert an original function of supplying appropriate conditioned air as a problem before solving the layout problem. However, it is indispensable to disperse the evaporator and the heater core evenly over the entire surface, and to arrange them to minimize the ventilation resistance in the unit case.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems associated with the above-mentioned prior art, and has reduced the size of the entire unit and reduced the number of parts, and has also reduced the ventilation resistance and increased the heat exchange efficiency. An object is to provide an air conditioner for an automobile.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention as set forth in claim 1 stores an evaporator for cooling air and a heater core for heating air in one unit case, In an air conditioner for a vehicle, in which air taken in from the upper part of a unit case is made a U-turn at the lower part of the unit case and conditioned air is supplied from the upper part of the unit case to the vehicle interior, the evaporator and the heater core are inclined horizontally, Moreover, it is characterized in that a part of them is arranged in the vertical direction. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that a fan is provided on an upper portion of the unit case.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the evaporator and the heater core are inclined horizontally, and a part of them are vertically overlapped. Therefore, the evaporator and the heater core are arranged horizontally or vertically. Compared with the conventional air conditioning unit, it is possible to achieve space saving not only in the lateral direction of the vehicle but also in the vehicle vertical direction and the vehicle longitudinal direction. Therefore, the entire air conditioning unit can be downsized, and the air conditioning unit can be compactly stored inside the instrument panel in the central portion of the vehicle compartment. In addition, the air taken in from the upper part of the unit case is made a U-turn at the lower part of the unit case, and the conditioned air is supplied from the upper part of the unit case to the passenger compartment. In addition, since the evaporator and the heater core are tilted and a part of them are arranged so as to be vertically overlapped with each other, the air can efficiently and uniformly hit the evaporator and the heater core in terms of air conditioning performance. According to the second aspect of the invention, since the fan is provided on the upper part of the unit case, the fan, the evaporator and the heater core are housed in one unit, which is more compact.
Moreover, it has excellent mountability.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment of the Invention) FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an air conditioning unit of an automobile air conditioner according to a first embodiment of the present invention, showing a vent mode.
2 is a sectional view showing the air conditioning unit in a bi-level mode, FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the air conditioning unit in a foot mode, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the air conditioning unit in a defrost mode.

The air conditioner for an automobile according to the first embodiment is an air conditioner in which a fan, an evaporator, and a heater core are housed in one unit case, and moreover, it is possible to perform only the cooling mode and temperature control. Thus, the air conditioning unit 30 is downsized in any of the up, down, left, right and front directions of the vehicle to reduce the installation space in the vehicle compartment. In addition, the upper and lower parts described below,
The concepts of front side, rear side, and left and right indicate the top, bottom, front, and rear, and left and right of the vehicle when the air conditioner is mounted on the vehicle.

A fan 31 rotatably driven by a motor (not shown) is provided on the front side of the upper portion of the air conditioning unit 30, and an air introduction portion 32 for taking in outside air or inside air is formed.

Below the air introducing portion 32, an evaporator 33 for cooling the introduced air is provided so as to be inclined rearward and downward. Here, "rearward" means rearward in the state of being attached to the vehicle.

A U-turn for turning the air passing through the evaporator 33 is provided under the air conditioning unit 30.
The turn passage 35 is formed, and the intake air rises from the lower front side of the air conditioning unit 30 toward the upper rear side of the turn passage 35.

On the upper rear side of the U-turn passage 35, a heater core 34 for heating the introduced air is provided so as to be inclined rearward and downward.

A detour 37 is formed on the front side of the heater core 34 so that the air rising in the U-turn passage 35 bypasses the heater core 34.

Further, on the rear side of the upper portion of the air conditioning unit 30, after mixing the air passing through the heater core 34 and the bypass 37, the mix chamber 3 for supplying the mixed air into the passenger compartment.
6 is formed, and various air outlets that blow out conditioned air toward a predetermined position in the vehicle interior are provided here.

The air conditioning unit 30 can be formed, for example, by a unit case divided into two parts in the left-right direction of the vehicle butting each other. In particular, the air conditioning unit 30 is constituted by one unit by integrating a series of elements of an air conditioning device which starts from the air introduction portion 32 and reaches an evaporator 33 and a heater core 34 having a temperature control function and a mix chamber 36.

Further, an air introduction part 32 and an evaporator 33 are provided in order from the upper front side of the air conditioning unit 30 toward the lower front side, and the air passing through the evaporator 33 moves from the lower rear side to the upper rear side of the air conditioning unit 30. The U-turn passage 35 is provided at the bottom of the air conditioning unit 30 so as to flow toward
The heater core 34, the bypass 37, and the mix chamber 36 are provided in this order from the lower rear side to the upper rear side.

Although not shown, the air introducing portion 32 is formed with an outside air introducing port and an inside air introducing port, and each of these introducing ports has an intake door for selectively introducing the outside air or the inside air. It is openable and closable, and by rotating this intake door to an appropriate position, only the outside air,
Only the inside air or both the inside and outside air is introduced.

The fan 31 of the air introduction section 32 is a fan scroll 3 which is generally used in the field of automobile air conditioners.
It is composed of a centrifugal multi-blade fan provided in 2a. The centrifugal multi-blade fan 31 is arranged such that its rotation axis extends in the left-right direction of the vehicle, and a fan motor for driving the fan 31 is attached to a side position of the air introduction portion 32. When the centrifugal multi-blade fan 31 is rotationally driven by the fan motor, outside air or inside air is introduced into the air introduction portion 32.
Is taken into the fan scroll 32a through a bell mouth provided in the fan scroll 32a, and the discharge port 32b of the fan scroll 32a.
Is discharged toward the evaporator 33.

The evaporator 33 is incorporated in a cooling cycle (not shown) so that a low temperature refrigerant circulates. The air is cooled by exchanging heat between the refrigerant and the intake air.

As shown in the figure, the evaporator 33 is provided so as to be inclined rearward and downward. The first purpose of doing so is to reduce the size of the air conditioning unit 30, and the second purpose. Is for uniformly applying the air from the fan 31 to the surface of the evaporator 33.

The miniaturization of the first unit is combined with the arrangement of the heater core 34 described later, that is, the heater core 34 is also inclined rearward and downward like the evaporator 33, and the rear end of the evaporator 33 and the heater core 34 are arranged. By providing the front end of 34 so as to be overlapped, it is possible to reduce not only the lateral direction of the vehicle but also the vertical and longitudinal directions.

Further, the uniform application of the second air is achieved for the following reason. That is, the centrifugal multi-blade fan 31
The dynamic pressure of the air discharged from the discharge port 32b of the fan scroll 32a is a low dynamic pressure region on the nose portion 32c side of the discharge port 32b of the fan scroll 32a and a high dynamic pressure region on the opposite side to the nose portion 32c side. ing. Therefore, a large amount of air tends to flow along the front side wall of the air conditioning unit 30, but since the evaporator 33 is arranged so as to incline downward to the rear, the air blown toward the evaporator 33 is the front surface of the evaporator 33. Along with, the difference in height of the dynamic pressure will be relaxed as much as possible, and will flow evenly over the entire surface of the evaporator 33. As a result, the heat exchange efficiency is improved, and a smaller evaporator 33 can be used.

The U-turn passage 35 formed in the lower part of the air conditioning unit 30 is connected to the fan 31 and the evaporator 3 by the U-turn passage 35.
It has a streamlined shape so that the air that has passed through 3 and descended can smoothly make a U-turn and rise with minimum ventilation resistance.

The heater core 34 is incorporated in an engine cooling system (not shown) to circulate engine cooling water. The air is heated by exchanging heat between the engine cooling water and the air.

In order to adjust the ratio of the amount of air passing through the heater core 34 and the amount of air bypassing the heater core 34 and flowing through the bypass 37, a mix door 38 is rotatably provided on the front surface of the heater core 34. ing.

The ratio of the amount of warm air passing through the heater core 34 to the amount of cool air passing through the bypass 37 is adjusted by the opening of the mix door 38, and the temperature of the air blown into the vehicle compartment is controlled.

The control panel inside the vehicle is
A temperature setting lever and a temperature setting button for setting the vehicle interior temperature are provided, and the mix door 38 is controlled to be opened and closed according to the temperature set by the occupant.

As described above, the heater core 34 is also provided so as to be inclined rearward and downward, and the air that has passed through the U-turn passage 35 and has risen has a high dynamic pressure region behind the air conditioning unit 30. Nevertheless, the air flows along the front surface (lower surface in the installed state) of the heater core 34 so that the difference in height of the dynamic pressure is reduced as much as possible, and the air is evenly distributed over the entire surface of the heater core 34. It will flow. As a result, the heat exchange efficiency is improved and a smaller heater core 34 can be used.

Further, in order to reduce the space in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, the rear end of the evaporator 33 and the heater core 34 are arranged.
Is laid out so that the front end of the heater core 34 partially overlaps, and the bypass 37 is formed by utilizing the dead space of the fan nose portion 32c on the front side of the heater core 34. By providing the bypass 37 on the front side of the heater core 34, the dead space of the fan nose portion 32c can be effectively utilized, and as will be described later in detail, it becomes easy to guide the cool air to the vent outlet 65 in the vent mode or the bi-level mode. .

A mix chamber 36 is formed on the downstream side of the heater core 34, that is, on the upper rear side of the air conditioning unit 30, and the air passing through the heater core 34 and the bypass 3 are formed.
The air that has passed through 7 is mixed sufficiently to make the temperature of the air blown into the passenger compartment uniform.

A vent outlet 65 and a defrost outlet 66 are formed on the upper end of the mix chamber 37, and a foot outlet 67 is formed on the rear side wall. A vent duct (not shown) is connected to the vent outlet 65,
Air is blown toward the upper half of the occupant from the vent grill provided on the front surface of the instrument panel through the vent duct.

A diff duct (not shown) is connected to the defrost outlet 66, and air is blown toward the inner surface of the windshield or the inner surface of the side glass from the defrost grill provided on the upper surface or the side portion of the instrument panel through the diff duct. , Is designed to remove the fogging of the glass.

A foot duct is connected to the foot outlet 67, and air is distributed and blown toward the feet of an occupant seated in the driver's seat and the passenger seat through the foot duct.

A vent / differential door 70 for opening and closing the vent outlet 65 and the defrost outlet 66 is provided at the top of the air conditioning unit 30 so as to be openable and closable, and a foot door 71 for opening and closing the foot outlet 67 is opened and closed. It is provided freely. Hereinafter, the vent / differential door 70 and the foot door 71 are collectively referred to as a mode door.

A predetermined air conditioning mode is realized by opening and closing the mode doors 70 and 71 at appropriate positions. The air conditioning mode includes a vent mode (VENT) for blowing air toward the upper body of the occupant to cool the passenger compartment, a foot mode (FOOT) for blowing air toward the feet of the occupant to heat the passenger compartment, and glass. And a bi-level mode (B / L) for controlling the temperature of a head-and-foot type.

Next, the operation will be described for each air conditioning mode.

(1) Vent Mode Since the vent mode is a mode for supplying cool air to the upper half of the occupant's upper body, the refrigerant is normally circulated through the evaporator 33, and in FIG. 1, the mix door 38 completely closes the heater core 34. The vent / deflection door 70 is set to a position where only the vent outlet 65 is fully opened.

In this state, when the centrifugal multi-blade fan 31 is rotationally driven by the fan motor, outside air or inside air is taken into the fan scroll 32a through the bell mouth depending on the rotating position of the intake door, and the fan scroll is carried out. It is discharged downward from the discharge port 32b of 32a.

At this time, a region opposite to the nose portion 32c becomes a high dynamic pressure region in which high dynamic pressure air is distributed, and a large amount of air tends to flow along the front side wall of the air conditioning unit 30, In the first embodiment, since the evaporator 33 is provided so as to incline rearward and downward, the air blown toward the evaporator 33 is likely to have a high and low dynamic pressure along the front surface of the evaporator 33. The flow will be relaxed, and will flow evenly over the entire surface of the evaporator 33.

The air that has passed through the evaporator 33 and becomes the cold air passes through the U-turn passage 35 and flows down to the heater core 34, and all flow through the bypass 37 to reach the mix chamber 36. At this time, the vent outlet 65 is connected to the air conditioning unit 3
Since the opening is on the upper front side of 0, the air passing through the bypass 37 is smoothly guided to the vent outlet 65 along the wall surface of the fan scroll portion 32a.

(2) Bi-level mode In the bi-level mode, as shown in FIG. 2, cold air is supplied from the vent outlet 65 toward the upper half of the occupant's body, and warm air is supplied from the foot outlet 67 to the passenger's feet. Supply,
In this mode, the ventilating / differential door 70 fully opens only the vent outlet 65, the foot door 71 is in a half-open position, and the mix door 38 is in a half-open position.

When the centrifugal multiblade fan 31 is operated in this state, it passes through the evaporator 33 and the U-turn passage 3
The cold air that makes a U-turn in 5 flows down to the heater core 34, and a part of the heater core 34 is caused by the half-opened mix door 38.
And the remaining air passes through the bypass 37,
Each reaches the mix chamber 36.

In the mix chamber 36, the heater core 3
The hot air that has passed through No. 4 is directly introduced into the foot outlet 67 that is open to the upper rear side of the air conditioning unit 30, while the cool air that has passed through the bypass 37 and has flowed along the wall surface of the fan scroll portion 32a. The air is directly introduced into the vent outlet 65 that is open on the front side of the upper portion of the air conditioning unit 30. Therefore, the cold air and the hot air are not completely mixed,
Since the air is guided to the desired outlets 65 and 67, respectively, it is possible to realize a cold-headed heat type air conditioning.

(3) Foot Mode As shown in FIG. 3, the foot mode is the foot outlet 67.
Is a mode in which warm air is supplied to the feet of the occupant, and the foot door 71 is set to a position in which only the foot outlet 67 is fully opened and the mix door 38 is in a position to fully open the heater core 34.

When the centrifugal multiblade fan 31 is operated in this state, it passes through the evaporator 33 and the U-turn passage 3
The cold air that makes a U-turn in 5 flows down to the heater core 34, and all the air passes through the heater core 34 by the fully opened mix door 38 and reaches the mix chamber 36.

In the mix chamber 36, only the foot outlet 67 is fully opened, so the warm air that has passed through the heater core 34 is directly introduced into the foot outlet 67 that is open at the upper rear side of the air conditioning unit 30, and the passengers are not exposed. Supplied at your feet.

(4) Defrost Mode As shown in FIG. 4, the defrost mode is a mode in which warm air is supplied from the defrost outlet 66 to the inner surface of the windshield, and the vent / differential door 70 is used for the defrost outlet 6.
It is set to a position in which only 6 is fully opened, a position in which the foot door 71 fully closes the foot outlet 67, and a position in which the mix door 38 fully opens the heater core 34.

When the centrifugal multiblade fan 31 is operated in this state, it passes through the evaporator 33 and the U-turn passage 3
The cold air that makes a U-turn in 5 flows down to the heater core 34, and all the air passes through the heater core 34 by the fully opened mix door 38 and reaches the mix chamber 36.

In the mix chamber 36, since only the defrost outlet 66 is fully opened, the warm air that has passed through the heater core 34 rises along the upper rear wall surface of the air conditioning unit 30, and the upper part of the air conditioning unit 30. It is introduced into the defrost outlet 66, which is opened to the inside, and is supplied to the inner surface of the windshield.

(Second Embodiment of the Invention) The present invention is not limited to the above-described first embodiment, but can be modified in various ways. FIG. 5 (A) is a cross-sectional view showing an automobile air conditioner according to another embodiment of the present invention.
(B) is a rear view, and in the first embodiment of the invention described above, the fan 31, the evaporator 33, and the heater core 34 are provided in one air conditioning unit 30, but in the second embodiment, the fan 31 is provided. Is composed of a separate unit 32. That is, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, an introduction opening 39 for the air taken in by the fan 31 is provided on the upstream side of the evaporator 33, from which the evaporator 3 is introduced.
After passing through the U-turn passage 35 to the heater core 34 or the bypass 37, the mix chamber 36 is led to the outlets 65, 66 and 67.

Even with this configuration, the air conditioning unit 30
The evaporator 33 and the heater core 34 are horizontally inclined, and the rear end of the evaporator 33 and the heater core 3 are inclined.
Since it is provided so as to overlap the front end of the vehicle 4, the unit is compact not only in the left-right direction of the vehicle but also in the up-down direction and the front-back direction.

[0057]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the evaporator and the heater core are tilted, and a part of them are vertically overlapped, so that the evaporator and the heater core are arranged horizontally or vertically. Compared with the conventional air conditioning unit, space saving can be achieved not only in the left-right direction of the vehicle but also in the vehicle up-down direction and the vehicle front-rear direction. Therefore, the entire air conditioning unit can be downsized, and the air conditioning unit can be compactly stored inside the instrument panel in the central portion of the vehicle compartment. In addition, the air taken in from the upper part of the unit case is made a U-turn at the lower part of the unit case, and the conditioned air is supplied from the upper part of the unit case to the passenger compartment. In addition, since the evaporator and the heater core are tilted and a part of them are arranged so as to be vertically overlapped with each other, the air can efficiently and uniformly hit the evaporator and the heater core in terms of air conditioning performance. According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the fan is provided on the upper portion of the unit case and the fan, the evaporator and the heater core are housed in one unit, the unit is more compact and has excellent mountability. Furthermore, by making the unit symmetrical with respect to the center in the vehicle width direction, it can be mounted in common on both right-hand drive vehicles and left-hand drive vehicles. It can be expected to reduce the price through.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the present invention in a vent mode.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the first embodiment in a bilevel mode.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the first embodiment in a foot mode.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the first embodiment in a defrost mode.

FIG. 5 (A) is a sectional view of a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 (B) is a rear view of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

30 ... Air conditioning unit, 31 ... Fan, 33 ... Evaporator, 34 ... Heater core.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A unit case comprising an evaporator (33) for cooling air and a heater core (34) for heating air.
The air stored in the unit case (30) and taken in from the upper part of the unit case (30) is made a U-turn at the lower part of the unit case (30), and conditioned air is supplied from the upper part of the unit case (30) into the vehicle interior. The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the evaporator (33) and the heater core (34) are horizontally inclined and a part of the heater core (34) is vertically overlapped. 2. A fan on the top of the unit case (30)
The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, characterized in that (31) is provided.