JPS5977918A - Air conditioner for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To miniaturize an air conditioner as well as reduce the fitting space in the car room by a method in which an evaporator is set above a heater core using cooling water of engine, and both air pathways arranged in parallel are set at the inside central part of a meter board. CONSTITUTION:A case 10 for air conditioning is provided near the center of the inside of a vehicular meter board, and the case 10 is divided into upper and lower two stages. On the lower stage, a heater core 11 using the cooling water of engine is set, and on the upper stage, an evaporator 12 is set. A blower 14 is set in the vicinity of the case 10 for air conditioning. Air sent from the blower 14 passes through the heater core 11 or the evaporator 12, flows into an air mixing chamber 13, and is blown into the car room through a band blow-out port 17, etc. The air conditioner can thus be housed in a compact form into the dashboard, and the fitting space can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an air conditioner for a vehicle, and particularly to the structure of a vehicle interior air conditioning unit that includes an evaporator, which is a component of a refrigeration cycle, and a heater core that uses engine cooling water.

In a conventional automobile air conditioner, a blower 3 and an evaporator 1 are installed inside the instrument panel on the passenger seat side, as shown in Figure 1.
A heater unit 2 with a built-in heater core 2a is arranged inside the instrument panel near the center of the vehicle, and a portion of the cold air cooled by the evaporator 1a is reused at the heater core 2a. Temperature control is performed by heating to produce warm air, and mixing this warm air with cold air that does not pass through the heater core 2a in an air mixing chamber 2b within the heater unit 2 to achieve an appropriate temperature. In this conventional structure, most of the space from the center of the instrument panel to the passenger seat side is occupied by the air conditioner, which causes the problem that the storage space for various other devices is significantly obstructed. Ta. In particular, in recent years, there has been a tendency for the number of devices to be stored around instrument panels to increase, so there has been a strong demand for solutions to the above-mentioned problems.

In view of the above points, the present invention enables the vehicle interior air conditioning unit to be compactly stored inside the instrument panel in the center of the vehicle interior, thereby eliminating the need for installation space at the bottom of the instrument panel on the passenger seat side, and significantly reducing the installation space in the vehicle interior. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an automotive air conditioning system that can reduce air pollution.

According to the present invention, the air passage through the evaporator and the air passage through the heater core are made parallel, and the evaporator is placed above the heater core. ii! The above object is achieved by configuring one air conditioning unit as a two-tiered upper and lower structure, and further arranging this air conditioning unit inside the instrument panel in the center of the vehicle.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, in which the inside of the air conditioning case 10 provided near the center inside the vehicle instrument panel is separated into two upper and lower stages, and the lower stage uses engine cooling water as a heat source. A heater core 11 and an evaporator 12 are installed on the upper stage. The air sent by the blower 14 passes through the heater core 11 or the evaporator 12 within the air conditioning case 10, then flows into the air mixing chamber 13, from where it is sent to the vent outlet 17, etc. The blower 14 is arranged adjacent to the left side of the air conditioning case 10 in this example.

Furthermore, an internal/external air switching box 14a is integrally provided above the blower 14 to selectively introduce internal/external air.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram specifically showing the installation location of the unit of the present invention in the vehicle interior. The evaporator 12 and the heater core 11 are installed inside the central part of the vehicle instrument panel 15 in the air conditioning case 10 in two directions, upper and lower. It shows that the air conditioning unit A housed in the tiers is attached.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the vehicle interior unit of the automotive air conditioner according to the present invention, viewed from the side (the blower 14 side in FIG. 2), and each arrow indicates the flow direction of air passing through the heater core 11. The air passage 30 passing through the evaporator 12 and the air passage 31 passing through the evaporator 12 are parallel to each other. The air sent from the blower 14 by the temperature control damper 16 in the figure is transferred to mll&30 on the heater core 11 side and the evaporator 1.
2 (111+) passages 31 at an arbitrary air volume ratio.

Furthermore, the cold air that has passed through the evaporator 12 and the warm air that has passed through the heater core 11 are mixed in the air mixing chamber 13 in the air conditioning case 10 to become air at an appropriate temperature, which is then distributed through various air outlets, ie, the Ghent air outlet. 17, it is discharged from the differential air outlet 18 and the foot air outlet 19. The vent outlet 17 consists of three outlets, one in the center, one on the left, and one on the right, as shown in FIG. In addition, each of the air outlets 17 is
゜18,. By opening and closing 19 passages, heater mode, differential mode, pie level mode, and tara/
This is to obtain each blowout mode of the vent mode.

23 is a partition wall that partitions the inside of the air conditioning case 10 into upper and lower stages;
On this partition wall 23, the evaporator 12 and the condensed water receiver are placed on the tray 1.
It is placed through 2d. 24 is a passage 19 that communicates with the hot air passage 30a downstream of the heater core 11 and the foot outlet 19.
This is a partition wall that separates the

Further, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. The air conditioning case 10 of the air conditioning unit A of this embodiment has an external appearance as schematically shown in FIG. That is, the case 10 is usually molded from resin, and has holes at the joint hole 10a with the blower 14 and at the 17° 18.19 part of each outlet, and in addition, the evaporator 12 is inserted into the side surface. A hole 10b and a hole 10G into which the heater core 11 is inserted are provided.

Normally, when it comes to automotive air conditioning systems, not all vehicles are equipped with a refrigeration system, and the vehicle is sold with only a heater unit installed, and the evaporator 12, which is a part of the refrigeration system, is installed in the vehicle. The cooling unit, including the cooling unit, is installed separately in the market after the vehicle is sold. Therefore, in this embodiment, when the evaporator 12 is not installed, the heater core insertion hole 10C is inserted as shown in FIG.
The heater core 11 is inserted into the evaporator unit 12, and the insertion hole 10b of the evaporator unit 12 is inserted with a lid 25 made of resin or metal.
Seal it tightly to prevent air leakage. Lid 25
is detachably attached to the case 10 with screws 26. On the other hand, the evaporator 12 part is shown in FIG.
It is configured as a ring unisoto B as shown in FIG. That is, the cooling unit B is composed of an evaporator 12 to which a sealing gasket 12a is attached, and a resin holding plate 12b that holds the evaporator 12. This holding plate 12b holds the lid 12C and the evaporator 12. The condensed water receiver is composed of a plate 12d portion.

Further, the evaporator 12 and the holding plate 12b are assembled together by a metal bracket 12e.

This bracket 12e is made of a single metal plate so as to be water-static in FIG. be.

FIG. 8 is a diagram configuring an air conditioning unit 8 by attaching the cooling unit shown in FIG. 7 to the unit shown in FIG.
Insert cooling unit B from b, and then install evaporator 1.
The lid 12C of the second holding plate 12b is fixed to the air conditioning case 10 with screws 26. As mentioned above, in consideration of the fact that the 8 parts of the cooling unit are generally installed separately from the heater unit after the vehicle is sold, this embodiment adopts the above configuration to improve the cooling unit B. The installation work can be made very easy. In this case, the upper part of the air conditioning case 10 seals the evaporator 12 with a sealing gasket (seventh
By pressing and fixing it through (Fig.), it becomes a sealing part that prevents air leakage.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show a concrete installation state of the air conditioning unit according to the present invention to the vehicle instrument panel 15, and the air conditioning case 10 is constructed as shown in FIG. It is attached to the dash hood 34 of the vehicle with bolts 32 and 33 at points. Further, a defroster nozzle 35 is connected to the differential air outlet 18, and hot air is blown from the nozzle 35 onto a front window glass 36 of the vehicle.

A blowout nozzle 17a is connected to the vent outlet 17 so as to be located above the meter 115, and an air conditioning control panel 37 is installed below the blowout nozzle 17a. At the bottom of this panel 37 is an ashtray 38 and a radio 3.
9. Stereos 40 are installed one after another. Further, an expansion valve 41 is connected to the inlet side refrigerant pipe 12g of the evaporator 12. In the example of FIG. 9, the refrigerant pipe 12f,
The position of 12g is slightly brighter than in the above-mentioned FIGS. 7 and 8. As shown in FIG. 10, the air conditioning case 10 has a dividing line 42 at the center on the left and right sides, and is divided into two parts on both the left and right sides, and is joined together by a plate spring 43.

Furthermore, cold air ducts 44 and 45 are connected to the left and right vent outlets 17, respectively. A driver seat side air outlet 46, a passenger seat side air outlet 47, and a rear heater duct 4B are open to the footwell air outlet 19. 49.50 is a hot water pipe that circulates engine cooling water to the heater core 11, and 51 is a condensed water receiver of the evaporator 12, which is a drain hose that discharges the condensed water collected in the dish 12d to the outside of the vehicle.

FIG. 11 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the blower 1
4, the blower 14 is installed adjacent to the air conditioning unit A in the engine room 57 with a dash hood 43 separating the vehicle compartment 52 and the engine room 53 interposed therebetween. In this example, the inside/outside air switching box 14a
are also provided in the engine room 57, and are connected to the 1st air intake 14C and the inside air intake 14d by the inside/outside air switching damper 14b.
It is designed to open and close.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, both the heater core 11 and the evaporator 12 were inserted into one air conditioning case 10, but as shown in FIG. Heater unit C
In addition, as shown in Fig. 13, the evaporator 12 is housed in another cooler case 61 to form a cooling unit B, and these two units B and C are combined vertically as shown in Fig. 14 to form one air conditioning unit. It is also possible to configure it as Unit 8. In this example, the hole 61a of the case 61 of the cooling unit B, which is not shown in FIG. Although not shown, similar holes are drilled in the parts.

Further, a similar hole (not shown) is made in the case 61 of the cooling unit B corresponding to the air flow path connection hole 10d shown in the case 60 of the heater unit c shown in FIG. Air enters the heater unit case 60 through the hole 10a, then enters the cooling unit case 61 through the connection hole 10d, and then enters the evaporative lake 1.
2, it returns to the heater unit case 60 through the air passage hole 61a.

In the examples shown in FIGS. 12 to 14 above, if the cooling unit B is not assembled or if the Zunawara heater unit C is used alone, a resin cover (not shown) is used instead of the cooling unit B. , connection hole 1 in Figure 12.
It may be installed so that the space above 0d is sealed.

As understood from the following description, in the present invention, the air passage 31 passing through the evaporator 12 and the air passage 30 passing through the heater core 11 are arranged in parallel, and the evaporator 12 is disposed above the heater core 11. It has a two-bottom, two-branch structure, which forms one compact air conditioning unit 1-A.Since this air conditioning unit 1-A is installed near the center of the 81 unit panel, most of the space occupied by conventional cooling units can be This is an excellent feature in that the space inside the instrument panel on the passenger side, which used to be occupied by the passenger seat, can be used effectively as ample storage space for a glow box (70 in Figure 3), or as a space for arranging other automotive equipment. effective.

Moreover, by arranging the heater core 11 and the evaporator 12 in a two-tiered structure, the depth dimension (dimension in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle) to the air conditioning unit can be made relatively small. It is also possible to install equipment (37, 3B, 39, 40) as shown in Figure 9, and the extremely limited space inside the vehicle can be used even more effectively.

Furthermore, by arranging the evaporator 12 above the heater core 11, the vent outlet 17 for blowing out cold air can be provided immediately after the evaporator 12 blows out, and as a result, the ventilation resistance in the cooling mode is reduced, and the ventilation resistance in the cooling mode is reduced. This also has the effect of increasing the amount of air.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overview of a conventional device, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an overview of the device of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a vehicle instrument panel showing the mounting position of the device of the present invention, and FIG. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the air conditioning unit of the device of the present invention, Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the air conditioning case shown in Fig. 4, and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the case shown in Fig. 5 with the heater core assembled. , Fig. 7fa) is a perspective view of the cooling unit according to the present invention, and Fig. 7b
FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 7 (al); FIG.
FIG. 9 is a side view illustrating a specific installation state of the air conditioning unit inside the instrument panel according to the present invention, FIG. 1O is a front view of FIG. 9, and FIG. The cross-sectional views shown in FIGS. 12 to 14 show still other embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 112 is a perspective view of the heater unit.
The figure is a perspective view of the cooling unit, and FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing a state where the heater unit and cooling unit are assembled. Representative Patent Attorney Takashi Okabe Fig. 1 Fig. 7 + 2 Δ Fig. 3 Fig. 7 (b) 2c Fig. 8 Fig. 9 Fig. 10 Fig. 11 Fig. 6 Fig. 13 i et al. 14

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) By having an evaporator, which is a component of a vehicle refrigeration system, and a heater core that uses engine cooling water, the cold air obtained from the evaporator and the warm air obtained from the heater core are mixed. In an automotive air conditioner that controls the temperature of blown air, an air passage passing through the heater core and an air passage passing through the evaporator are configured in parallel, and the evaporator is arranged above the heater core to form one air conditioner. An air conditioning unit is configured, the air conditioning unit is installed near the center inside the instrument panel inside the vehicle, and a blower for blowing air into both the air passages is installed adjacent to the air conditioning unit. Automotive air conditioner. (2) The air conditioner for an automobile according to claim 1, wherein both the evaporator and the heater core are housed in the same air conditioning case in a two-stage structure, upper and lower. (3) Assemble the above-mentioned evaporator into a cooling unit by assembling the condensed water receiver together with a holding plate having a dish and a lid, and insert this cooling unit into the inside of the case through the insertion hole on the side surface of the air-conditioning case. 3. The air conditioner for an automobile according to claim 2, wherein the insertion hole is hermetically sealed by the lid. (4) The evaporator is separately housed in a cooler case, and the heater core is housed in a heater case, and the cooler case is placed on top of the heater case, and the air passages are combined to form one air conditioning unit. An air conditioner for an automobile according to claim 1, characterized in that the air conditioner comprises: (5) The air conditioner for an automobile according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the blower is installed adjacent to the side of the air conditioning unit in a vehicle interior. (6) The automobile according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the blower is installed adjacent to the front blind side of the vehicle of the air conditioning unit with a dashboard interposed in the engine room. air conditioning equipment.