JPS61135813A - Air conditioner for automobiles - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve outflow temperature control performance in an air conditioner with both blower part and heater unit integrated into one body by so constituting that conditioned room air can be blown out either from an upper outlet or from a lower outlet near the occupant's feet by means of an air mixing flap. CONSTITUTION:A flap 29 and a flap 30 are opened and/or closed by operating an outflow mode setting knob not shown in the drawing. In the outflow mode the flap 29 opens the upper outflow air take-out port 19 only, in the heat mode the flap 29 closes the upper outflow air take-out port 19 and opens both defroster air take-out port 20 and lower outlet 21, and in the defroster mode the defroster air take-out port 20 only is opened. In the B/L (bi-level) mode the flap 29 is placed in the medium position and the flap 30 is opened too in order to blow out the air from a fan 12 from both upper and lower outlets with lower outlet temperature rather higher. Thus, air conditioning for keeping occupant's head cool and feet warm is obtained. With this construction a comfortable temperature distribution is obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an improvement in a mechanism for adjusting the temperature of air blown into a vehicle interior in an air conditioner for an automobile.

(Prior Art) Conventional air conditioners for automobiles are divided into two types: a separate type in which the blower is installed separately from the cooler unit and the heater unit, and an integrated type in which the blower is integrated with the heater unit. It is broadly divided into Eve's.

The latter one-piece type, for example, is
This is described in Publication No. 9, and since the blower section is integrated with the heater unit, the entire air conditioner can be made smaller than the former separated type.
It has the advantage of being flexible and can be manufactured at low cost.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the latter one-piece type, as shown in the above-mentioned publication, the air from the blower is directly passed through the upward air outlet during the upward blowout (VENT) mode, and Since the air is blown into the cabin from the Suita grill above the panel, the temperature-adjusted air by the air mix damper cannot be blown into the cabin from the Suita grill above, making it difficult to control the air temperature. There is a problem.

In view of the above-mentioned points, the present invention provides a type of automobile air conditioner in which a blower section is integrated with a heater unit, in which air whose temperature is adjusted by an air mix damper can also be blown out from an upper blowing grille. The purpose is to

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes: a heater case; a blower and a heating heat exchanger installed in the heater case; a first passage that guides air blown by the blower to the heating heat exchanger; an upper air outlet provided at the top of the heater case and communicating with an upper air outlet grille of the instrument panel; and the heater case. a fourth passage formed within the heater case that guides air blown by the blower to the outlet; and a fourth passage formed within the heater case that guides warm air heated by the heating heat exchanger to the middle of the fourth passage. a second passage; an air mixing chamber formed in the heater case to mix the air in the fourth passage and the air in the second passage; a foot outlet opening at the bottom of the heater case; a third passage formed in the heater case and guiding the air mixed in the air mixing chamber to the foot outlet; and an air mix damper that opens and closes the first passage and the fourth passage at arbitrary opening degrees. A technical means is adopted in which a damper opens and closes the upper air outlet and the third passage, and a damper opens and closes the foot air outlet.

(Function) According to the above technical means, the air (warm air) that flows into the first passage and is heated by the opening degree of the air mix damper, and the
A desired air temperature is obtained by adjusting the proportion of the air (cold air) passing through the passageway, and by mixing the air (cold and hot air) from both roads in the air mixing chamber. Thereafter, the mixed air flows to the upper air outlet or the third passage by the passage switching action of the damper, and is blown into the passenger compartment from the upper air outlet grille of the instrument panel or the foot air outlet.

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

1 to 6 show the first embodiment, where ■ is a resin-made internal/external air switching box which incorporates an internal/external air switching damper 2, and this damper 2 connects the internal/external air inlet 3. The outside air intake port 4 is selectively opened and closed. Reference numeral 5 denotes a tala unit, which has a cooling heat exchanger 6 built in its case 5a. This heat exchanger 6 consists of a refrigerant evaporator of a refrigeration cycle having a compressor driven by an automobile engine.

Incidentally, the Tala unit 5 is often installed in place of the connecting duct 7 shown in Part 2) after the car is sold on the market by removing the connecting duct 7. 10 is a resin heater case, and a scroll casing 11 for the blower.
is integrally molded.

In this example, a blower is constituted by the scroll casing 11, a Shirofuko fan 12 disposed inside the scroll casing 11, and a motor 13 that drives the fan 12.

The air outlet portion of the cooler unit case 5a or the connecting duct 7 is connected to the suction port 11a of the scroll casing 11.

A heating heat exchanger 18 is comprised of a heater core (hot water radiator) that uses the cooling water of an automobile engine as a heat source, and is housed in the heater case 1 below the scroll casing 11 . Reference numeral 19 denotes an upward air outlet provided in the upper part of the heater case 10, which is arranged at three locations at the center of the upper part of the automobile's instrument panel (not shown) and on both left and right sides so as to blow air toward the upper body of the passenger. It communicates via a branch duct with an upper blow-off grill provided in the Reference numeral 20 denotes defroster air intake ports provided on both left and right sides of the lower part of the heater case 1, and a number of defroster air intake ports are provided on the upper surface of the instrument panel and adjacent to the window glass so as to blow air toward the front window glass of the vehicle. It communicates with defroster nozzles (not shown) provided at certain locations via defroster ducts. 21
is a foot outlet provided at the bottom of the heater case 10,
It blows air towards the passengers' feet. 22 and 23 are partition walls inside the heater case 1; Second. It forms a third three passages 24, 25, 26. A fourth passage 27 communicates the blowing side of the fan 12 with the upper blowing air outlet 19. Reference numeral 28 denotes an air mix damper that opens and closes the first passage 24 and the fourth passage 27 at arbitrary opening degrees, and is used to adjust the temperature of the blown air.

29 is a damper that opens and closes the upper air outlet 19 and the third passage 26, and 30 is a damper that opens and closes the foot outlet 21.

FIG. 3 shows an air conditioning control panel 40 installed on or around the instrument panel of an automobile, where 41 is an inside/outside air switching knob, and the inside/outside air switching damper 2 is located at the outside air intake position indicated by the broken line in FIG. 2. (FR3) and the internal air intake position (REC) shown by the solid line in FIG. 42 is a temperature adjustment knob, which continuously adjusts the position of the air/nox damper 2B between the lowest temperature position (COOL> indicated by the broken line A in Figure 1) and the highest temperature position (WARM) indicated by the broken line in Figure 1. A blowout mode setting knob 43 is used to set the following four blowout modes by controlling the opening and closing of the dampers 29 and 30 via a link mechanism (not shown). ) upward blowing (VENT) mode, (2) pie level (B/L) mode, (3) heat (HEAT) mode, and (4) defroster (DEF) mode are set by a knob 43.4.
4 is a blower control knob, which controls the energizing circuit to the fan drive motor 13 to turn off the blower;
Low speed (Lo), medium speed (Me), and high speed (Hi) are set. Reference numeral 45 denotes a compressor operation switch, generally called an air conditioner switch, which turns off and on the power supply to the electromagnetic crank knob for the compressor of the refrigeration cycle, thereby turning on and off the operation of the compressor. Therefore, when this switch 45 is turned on and the compressor is operated, a cooling effect by the cooling heat exchanger 6 is obtained.

Next, the operation of this embodiment in the above configuration will be explained. First, in the upper Suita mode, the knob 43 is operated to the VENT position, the dampers 29 and 30 are respectively operated to the positions shown in FIG. 1, and only the upper air outlet 19 is opened. and,
When the blower top IS is operated by the knob 44, the cold air cooled by the cooling heat exchanger 6 of the Tala unit 5 or the outside air introduced from the outside air intake port 4 is blown by the fan 12, and the air mix damper 28 is blown by the fan 12. The airflow is divided into two airflows A and B depending on the opening degree. One of the airflows A passes through the heating heat exchanger 18 from the first passage 24, is heated there and becomes warm air, then passes through the second passage 25, and then passes through the heating heat exchanger 18.
It reaches an air mixing chamber 31 formed in the middle of the passage 27. In this air mixing chamber 31, the warm air from the second passage 25 and the other air flow B (cold air) flowing into the fourth passage 27 are mixed.
The air is mixed to become air at a desired temperature, which passes through the upper air outlet loe 9 and is blown out from an upper air outlet grille (not shown) toward the upper body of the occupant. The temperature of the blown air can be arbitrarily adjusted by continuously changing the opening degree of the air mix damper 28.

Next, when the knob 43 is operated to the HEAT position to set the heat mode, the dampers 29 and 30 are operated to the positions shown in FIG. 4, so that the defroster air outlet 20 and the foot outlet 21 are opened.

Therefore, the air blown by the fan 12 is transferred to the air mix damper 2.
8, the hot air and cold air are mixed in the air mixing chamber 31 to form the desired hot air, which then passes through the third passage 26 and is delivered to the passenger from the footwell outlet 21. It squirts out at my feet. Here, a part of the warm air flows from the defroster air outlet 2o to the defroster nozzle side, but since the ventilation resistance of the air passage on the defroster side is large, the air outlet 2o
Only a portion of the warm air flows to the 0 side.

Next, when the knob 43 is operated to the DEF position to set the defroster mode, the dampers 29 and 30 are respectively operated to the positions shown in FIG.
Only the opening is open. Therefore, the air blown by the fan 12 flows only to the defroster air outlet 20 and is blown out from a defroster nozzle (not shown) toward the window glass of the automobile.

In this case as well, the temperature of the blown air can be adjusted as desired depending on the opening degree of the air mix damper 28.

Next, when the knob 43 is operated to the B/L position to set the pie level mode, the dampers 29 and 30 are respectively operated to the positions shown in FIG. open at the same time. Therefore, the air blown by the fan 12 is simultaneously blown into the vehicle interior from both the upper outlet grille and the foot outlet 21, which communicate with the outlet 19. In this case, since the damper 29 is operated to the intermediate position shown in FIG. 6, the temperature of the air blown on the foot outlet 21 side is higher than the temperature of the blown air on the outlet 19 side, so that a comfortable blowout with a cold head and warm feet is achieved. Air temperature distribution can be obtained.

FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment, in which a communication port 32 is provided in the middle of the partition wall 22, and a damper 33 for opening and closing the communication port 32 is provided.
It opens and closes in conjunction with the operation in step 2. That is, the communication port 32 is closed by the damper 33 only when the knob 42 is operated to the highest temperature position (W A RM), and the communication port 32 is always opened at other operating positions.
The airflow A flowing into the passage 24 is further divided into airflows AI and A2 by the damper 33, and only the airflow AI is heated by the heat exchanger 18 to become hot air A3, and this hot air A3 and the airflow are (cold air) A2 is mixed in the air mixing chamber 34 formed in the middle of the second passage 25, and this mixed air is
The air is mixed again with the air flow B (cold air) in the air mixing chamber 31 of the passage 27. In this way, by mixing the cold and hot air twice, the cold and hot air can be mixed uniformly, which has the advantage of reducing variations in the temperature of the blown air.

FIG. 8 shows a third embodiment, in which a communication port 35 and a damper 36 are provided in the partition wall 23, the knob 42 is operated to the maximum temperature position (WA RM), and the air mix damper 28 is moved as shown in FIG. As shown, when the fourth passage 27 is operated to the fully closed position, the communication port 35 is opened by the damper 36, and the heat exchanger 1
By guiding the warm air heated in step 8 directly to the foot outlet 21 or the defroster air outlet 20, ventilation resistance during maximum heating is reduced.

(Effects of the Invention) As detailed above, according to the present invention, in an automobile air conditioner in which both a blower and a heating heat exchanger are integrally housed in a heater case, both the upper outlet grille and the foot outlet Temperature-adjusted air can be blown out by the air mix damper from the air mixer, which has the great effect of improving temperature control and efficiency while maintaining the advantages of compactness and low cost due to the integrated blower section.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings all show embodiments of the present invention, and FIGS. 1 to 6 are the first embodiment, and FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the heater case portion, and FIG. A partial cross-sectional configuration diagram showing the connection relationship between the inside/outside air switching box 1, the Tara unit 5, and the heater case 10 (in Figure 2) is a state in which the connection duct 7 is used instead of the Tara unit 5 in Figure 2 (a). FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6 are longitudinal sectional views for explaining the operation, and FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are respectively the second and third embodiments. FIG. 10... Heater case, 12... Blower fan,
1st... Heating heat exchanger, 19... Upper air outlet, 21... Feet outlet, 24.25.26.27
... 1st passage to ff14 passage, 28... Airmi Tsukusu damper, 29.30... Damper.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A heater case; a blower and a heat exchanger for heating installed in the heater case; an upper air outlet that is provided in the upper part of the heater case and communicates with an upper air outlet grill of the instrument panel; and an upper air outlet that is formed in the heater case and that directs the air blown by the blower to the air outlet. a second passage formed in the heater case and guiding the warm air heated by the heating heat exchanger to the middle of the fourth passage; a second passage formed in the heater case and guiding the warm air heated by the heating heat exchanger to the middle of the fourth passage; an air mixing chamber that mixes the air in the fourth passage and the air in the second passage; an air outlet opening at the bottom of the heater case; an air mix damper that opens and closes the first passage and the fourth passage at an arbitrary opening degree; and an air mix damper that opens and closes the upper air outlet and the third passage. An air conditioner for an automobile, comprising: a damper that opens and closes the foot air outlet.