JPH10278563A - Structure for sealing connection part of pipeline for air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the sealing property of an opening part by inserting a pipeline connecting connector for air conditioner into an opening part of a partitioning wall, and fitting a sealing material so as to be pushed to the partitioning wall, and forming a seal surface of the seal material with a notch. SOLUTION: A seal material 6 is manufactured by punching a flat urethane having the predetermined thickness, and the center of the seal material is formed with an elliptic hole, and the peripheral surface thereof is formed into an elliptic shape similar with the hole, and the hole is formed into the similar shape equal to the outer diameter shape of a connector 5 for connecting pipeline. An outer surface as one of seal surface is formed with a similar notch 6b. When an air conditioner 1 is perfectly fitted, the seal material 6 is pushed to a partitioning wall 7 by the pushing force of an air conditioner case 13. Especially, the seal material 6 is pulled outside in the circumferential direction by the pinching force of the partitioning wall 7 and the air conditioner case 13, but the notch 6b is opened so as to form a V-shaped cross section, and the pulling force is cut, and since the hole is not enlarged, generation of clearance between the seal material and the connector 5 is prevented. Consequently, seal is perfectly maintained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sealing structure for a pipe connection portion of an air conditioner, and more particularly, a pipe connection connector is inserted into an opening of a partition wall from a vehicle cabin side and protrudes out of the vehicle cabin. The present invention relates to a structure of a seal for a gap between an opening of a partition wall and a connector for pipe connection, in an air conditioner configured to perform pipe connection from the outside of a vehicle compartment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a vehicle air conditioner, an evaporator for cooling air is disposed in an air conditioning case together with a heater core and the like, and is disposed below an instrument panel in a vehicle compartment. And the evaporator and the evaporator are connected by piping to form a cooling cycle. Therefore, the pipes are connected to each other through a partition wall that separates the engine room and the vehicle compartment from each other.

In recent years, in order to simplify the work of assembling the air conditioner, the connection of the refrigerant outlet / inlet pipe has been performed from the engine room side. The structure of the device is also changing. That is, as shown in our application (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-216668), a block type expansion valve 4 is directly disposed at one end of an evaporator 3 housed in an air conditioning case 13, and a pipe connection connector is provided at the expansion valve 4. The connector 20 projects from the opening 2 of the air conditioning case 13.

When assembling the air conditioner 1 having such a structure,
The connector 20 is made to protrude from the vehicle interior to the exterior of the vehicle compartment into the opening 8 of the partition wall 7.
The pipes 9 and 10 were connected to 0 from inside the engine room. Therefore, there is naturally a gap between the opening 8 and the connector 20, and if sealing is not performed, rainwater or waste heat enters, so a sealing device is required.

This known example (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8-216668)
In the sealing device described above, the sealing material 6 is externally fitted to the connector 20, and the flange 23 of the connector 20 comes into contact with the inner peripheral side outer surface (engine room side) of the sealing material 6. In addition, the outer surface is in contact with the edge of the opening 8 of the partition wall, and the inner surface is in contact with the air-conditioning case 13 and is pressed from the air-conditioning case 13 side, thereby keeping the opening 8 airtight.

[0006]

However, the edge of the opening 8 of the partition wall 7 gets into the sealing material 6 by the pressing force from the air conditioning case 13 into the sealing material 6, and as shown in FIG. The force indicated by the arrow acts to draw the hole 40 in the external direction, and a gap is formed between the connector 20 and the connector 20, as shown in FIG. I was

[0007] Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to improve the sealing performance of an opening by a sealing material externally fitted to a connector.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a seal structure for a pipe connection portion of an air conditioner according to the present invention, wherein a pipe connection connector is inserted through an opening of a partition wall, and a seal material is provided on the pipe connection connector. The seal material is externally fitted, the seal material is pressed against the partition wall via the air conditioning case, and a cut is formed in the seal surface of the seal material. For this reason, when the sealing material externally fitted to the connector is sandwiched between the partition wall and the air-conditioning case, the sealing material is deformed to generate a force acting toward the opposite side of the connector. The sealing performance is completely maintained without affecting the inner peripheral side of the connector and without creating a gap between the sealing material and the connector.

In addition, a hole is formed at the center of the sealing material (Claim 2), and when fitted to the connector, the flange of the connector comes into contact with the outer surface thereof (Claim 3). The cuts in the sealing surface are similar to the through holes (claim 4), and are made of urethane (claim 5).

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

1 and 2, the air conditioner 1 has a stack type evaporator 3 housed in an air conditioner case 13, a part of which is shown in FIG. The expansion valve 4 has an expansion valve mounting joint 22.
Is mounted through.

The expansion valve 4 is of a block type and is known per se.
A high-pressure pipe 9 for refrigerant inflow and a low-pressure pipe 10 for outflow are connected via a pipe connection connector 5 described later, and the high-pressure high-temperature refrigerant sent from the condenser side through the inflow pipe 9 is supplied to the evaporator 3. And evaporator 3
The refrigerant evaporated and vaporized by the above is sent to the compressor through the outflow pipe 10.

An opening is formed in the side wall of the air-conditioning case 13 at a position facing the block type expansion valve 4, and the block type expansion valve 4 and the pipes 9, 1 are formed through the opening 2.
A pipe connection connector 5 for connection to the connector 0 projects out of the case. As shown in FIG. 3, the pipe connection connector 5 is connected to the block type expansion valve 4 via screws 15, 15 through through holes 14, 14 formed on both sides of a central portion when viewed from above. The communication passages 16, 1 which are screwed to the expansion valve mounting joint 22, and through which the pipes 9, 10 are inserted.
7 and screw holes 17 and 18 for screwing the pipes 9 and 10 with flanges 11 and 12 are formed above and below the through hole 14, respectively.

A collar 5a extends around the pipe connection connector 5, and the tip of the collar 5a is
It is bent to the side.

On the side of the air conditioner 1, there is provided a partition wall 7 for partitioning the inside and outside of the vehicle compartment, and the partition wall 7 has an edge portion at a position matching the opening 2 of the air conditioning case 13. An opening 8 bent to the side is formed. A seal member 6 is fitted around the outer periphery of the pipe connection connector 5, and the seal member 6 is sandwiched between the partition wall 7 and the air conditioning case 13 while being in contact with the flange 5 a of the pipe connection connector 5.

As shown in FIG. 4, the sealing material 6 is manufactured by stamping a flat urethane having a predetermined thickness, has an oval hole 6a at the center, and has the same outer peripheral end. It has an oval shape similar to the hole 6a. The hole 6
a is a similar shape that is equal to or slightly smaller in dimension than the outer shape of the pipe connection connector 5 described above. A cut 6b similar in shape to the hole 6a is formed in an outer surface 6c which is one of the sealing surfaces. Note that no cut is shown on the inner surface 6d which is the other of the sealing surfaces.

In order to assemble and seal the seal member 6 as described above, the outer surface 6c of the seal member 6 is externally fitted to the flange 5a of the connector 5 before the connector 5 is attached to the expansion valve 4. The connector 5 and the sealing material 6 are securely adhered to each other due to the size of the hole 6a. Thereafter, the connector 5 is attached to the expansion valve 4 fixed to the evaporator 3 housed in the air conditioner 1 via the screws 15, 15. Thereby, the outer peripheral surface side of the inner surface 6 d of the sealing material 6 comes into contact with the air conditioning case 13.

When the air conditioner 1 is mounted at a desired position below the instrument panel, the connector 5 is inserted into the opening 8 formed in the partition wall 7, and the side opposite to the expansion valve faces the outside of the vehicle compartment. While being protruded. At this time, the outer periphery of the outer surface 6c of the sealing material 6 fitted to the connector 5 is
The opening 8 comes into contact with the edge of the opening 8.

That is, when the air conditioner 1 is completely mounted on the vehicle body, the sealing member 6 is pressed against the partition wall 7 by the pressing force of the air conditioner case 13. In particular, the sealing material 6 is pulled in the outer peripheral direction (the direction opposite to the connector) by the clamping force between the partition wall 7 and the air-conditioning case 13, but the cut 6b is opened in a V-shaped cross section as shown in FIGS. No force is transmitted, and no gap is generated between the connectors 5 without expanding the hole 6a. Thus, the seal is completely maintained.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the sealing material externally fitted to the connector is sandwiched between the partition wall and the air-conditioning case, the sealing material is deformed to generate a force acting toward the opposite side of the connector. However, this notch is opened to absorb this force, there is no effect on the inner peripheral side of the seal material, no gap is created between the seal material and the connector, and the sealing performance is completely maintained. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of the above.

FIG. 3 is a front view as seen from the pipe connection connector side before the air conditioner is mounted at an appropriate position on the instrument panel.

FIG. 4a is a front view of a sealing material, and 4b is a cross-sectional view thereof.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 air conditioner 3 evaporator 4 expansion valve 5 connector for pipe connection 5a flange 6 sealing material 6a hole 6b cut 6c outer surface 6d inner surface 7 partition wall 8 opening

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A pipe connection connector is inserted through an opening of a partition wall, and a seal member is externally fitted to the pipe connection connector. The seal member is pressed against the partition wall via an air conditioning case.
A sealing structure for a pipe connection part of an air conditioner, wherein a cut is formed in a sealing surface of a sealing material. 2. The sealing structure for a pipe connection part of an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein a hole is provided at the center of the sealing material. 3. The piping connection of an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein when the sealing material is externally fitted to the piping connection connector, the flange of the piping connection connector is brought into contact with the outer surface thereof. Seal structure. 4. The seal structure for a pipe connection part of an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the cut of the seal surface of the seal material has a shape similar to the through hole. 5. The sealing structure for a pipe connection part of an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the sealing material is urethane.