JPS6185213A - Air conditioner for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an air conditioner for an automobile, particularly a device that automatically adjusts the temperature inside a vehicle to an arbitrary set temperature, and which includes an air mix damper and an auxiliary damper (max cool damper). ) The present invention relates to an improvement of an automobile air conditioner equipped with the following.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in an automotive air conditioner, the temperature of the blown air is controlled by adjusting the ratio of the amount of hot air heated by a heater core to the amount of cold air that does not pass through the heater core by adjusting the opening degree of an air mix damper. However, with this type of air conditioner, if the cold air and warm air are not evenly mixed,
The temperature of the air blown from each outlet varies, and temperature controllability deteriorates.

Therefore, an air conditioner equipped with an auxiliary damper that operates to make the mixture of hot air and cold air as uniform as possible and to prevent the ventilation resistance from increasing even when the air volume increases during maximum cooling or ventilation is proposed in the patent application filed in 1983- It has been proposed in the No. 2508 application.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in this air conditioner, the air mix damper and the auxiliary damper are driven independently of each other, so if the auxiliary damper is suddenly opened or closed near maximum cooling, the air inside the vehicle will If the temperature sensor that detects the temperature is installed near the air outlet, it will not be able to accurately detect the temperature inside the vehicle, and as a result, the air mix damper will cause a hunting phenomenon. There is a problem.

In addition, when the supply of cooling water to the heater core is intermittent near maximum cooling, the opening and closing of the air mix damper and the opening and closing of the water valve, which intermittent the supply of cooling water, are not synchronized, resulting in an opening/closing error between the two. This poses a problem in that temperature controllability deteriorates.

[Means for solving problems]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks and provides an automotive air conditioner equipped with a link mechanism that gradually drives an auxiliary damper from its fully open position to its fully open position after the air-mix damper blocks the hot air passage. The purpose is to

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an air duct for guiding air for cooling and heating of an automobile air conditioner; Intake port 1a and inside air intake port 1 for circulating air inside the vehicle
b at its upstream end. Reference numeral 2 denotes an inside/outside air switching damper which manually switches between the outside air intake port 1a and the inside air intake port 1b, and the outside air introduction state is shown by a solid line, and the inside air circulation state is shown by a broken line. A blower motor 3 blows air from the outside air intake port 1a or the inside air intake port 1b toward the vehicle interior.

A cooler core 4 serves as a cooler through which air blown by the blower motor 3 is cooled, and is disposed across the air duct 1.

5 is a compressor that compresses and circulates the refrigerant. It is connected by a belt to the engine, which is the drive source of the vehicle, and is operated by the rotational driving force of the engine. The compressor 5 compresses the refrigerant and sends it to the condenser (not shown) at high pressure. The refrigerant is liquefied, and the liquefied refrigerant is converted into a low-pressure, low-temperature liquid through an expansion valve (not shown) and sent to the cooler core 4, and the heat is absorbed from the blown air to become a low-pressure, low-temperature gas, which is then circulated. Reference numeral 6 denotes a heater core as a heater disposed within the evaporator lake, which introduces engine cooling water and uses the heat thereof to heat the blown air. 7 is an air mix damper, which dehumidifies and cools the air that has passed through the cooler core 4.
The ratio of the amount of air introduced into the heater core 6 side to be heated and the amount of air that does not pass through the heater core 6 is adjusted, and the temperature is adjusted by mixing the cold air of the cooling air and the warm air of the heated air, and the mixture is blown into the vehicle interior. There is. The opening degree of the air mix damper 7 is intransitively controlled to maintain the indoor temperature at the control target set temperature based on various information such as inside air temperature, outside air temperature, set temperature, and feedback of the damper opening degree.

8 is an auxiliary damper called a Max Cool Damper, which is in the position shown by the broken line during maximum cooling or ventilation to minimize ventilation resistance, and is in the position shown by the solid line during operations other than the above, where it passes through the heater core 6. It has a function of guiding the cold air in the direction of the hot air in order to uniformly mix the hot air and the cold air that does not pass through the heater core 6. The specific configuration and operation of the air mix damper 7, auxiliary damper 8, etc. will be described later. Further, on the downstream side of the heater core 6, a lower outlet 9, a defroster outlet 10, and an upper outlet 11 are arranged, and dampers 9a, 10a, ll, respectively.
The opening and closing of the air outlet is controlled by a, and the details thereof will be described later.

12 is a single chip Φ that executes software digital calculation processing according to a predetermined air conditioning control program.
A microcomputer constitutes the arithmetic processing means, and a several megahertz (MHz) crystal oscillator is connected to it, as well as a stabilizing power supply circuit (not shown) that generates a stabilized voltage based on the power supply from the vehicle battery. ) is activated by supplying a stabilized voltage.

13 is an inside temperature sensor that detects the temperature inside the vehicle interior and generates a room temperature signal; 14 is an outside temperature sensor that detects the outside air temperature outside the vehicle interior and generates an outside temperature signal; 15 is a solar radiation sensor that detects sunlight entering the vehicle interior. A solar radiation sensor 16 detects the amount of solar radiation and generates a solar radiation signal; 16 is a water temperature sensor 17 that detects the temperature of engine cooling water supplied to the heater core 6 and generates a water temperature signal;
18a is an opening sensor that detects the opening of the air mix damper and generates an opening signal; 18a is a cold air temperature sensor that detects the cold air temperature at the outlet of the cooler core 4 and generates a cold air temperature signal; 18b is a cold air temperature sensor of the heater core 6; This air-conditioning salt sensor is arranged on the downstream side and detects the temperature of air-conditioned air by mixing hot air that has passed through the heater core 6 with cold air that has not passed through the heater core 6.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a control switch, which is used to manually set (NO) various operating modes such as heater mode, defroster mode, and cooler mode in the air conditioner. Reference numeral 20 denotes a temperature setting device for determining the indoor temperature as a control target, and the occupant manually sets the desired temperature.

Signals from the various sensors 13 to 18, control switch 19, and temperature setting device 20 are input to the computer 12, and the computer 12 performs digital arithmetic processing according to a predetermined control program.

21 is a blower motor drive circuit, which controls the rotation speed of the blower motor 3 based on the output from the computer 12. 2
2 is a compressor actuator, and computer 1
Based on the output from 2, ON-OFF control of the compressor 5 and/or control of the compression capacity of the compressor is performed. A damper opening actuator 23 adjusts the opening of the air mix damper 7 based on the output from the computer 12 to control the temperature. A water pulp actuator 24 opens and closes a water valve 30 that controls the supply of engine cooling water to the heater core 6 based on the output from the computer 12. Damper actuators 25 and 26 open and close the dampers 9a to 11a of the respective air outlets 9 to 1, and are similarly controlled by the output of the computer 12.

Next, the specific configuration of the air duct 1 will be explained based on the attached FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows the state in which the device of the present invention is mounted on an automobile, where 100 is the windshield of the automobile, 102 is the bonnet,
103 is an engine room, 104 is a vehicle interior, and 105 is a cowl portion formed by a space surrounded by the vehicle interior 104, the engine room 103, and the bonnet 102.

In this embodiment, the blower unit of the air conditioner is
A portion 106 is installed within the cowl portion 105.

The blower unit 106 has a blower fan 107 driven by a motor (not shown), and an inside/outside air switching box is provided on the suction side of the blower fan 107 to selectively introduce air inside the vehicle and air outside the vehicle. There is.

An air conditioning main body unit 108 to which air is blown and introduced from the blower unit 106 is installed in the vehicle compartment 104, and for assembly purposes, this unit 108 has a case 109 formed by combining a plurality of divided bodies. There is. This case 10
A cooler core (
Evaporator) 4 is installed. This cooler core 4
consists of a refrigerant evaporator in a refrigeration cycle that is driven by an automobile engine. A drain port 111 for drain water generated in the cooler core 4 is formed at the lowest part of the case 109. Furthermore, a heater core 6 that uses the cooling water (hot water) of an automobile engine as a heat source is installed approximately in the center of the case 109, and a shaft 113 that rotates around a shaft 113 is installed on the air inlet side 6a of the heater core 6. An air mix damper 7 for flexible temperature control is provided. Further, a cold air passage 115 is formed between the air inlet side 6a of the heater core 6 and a case surface 109a facing thereto at a predetermined interval, and the amount of cold air passing through this cold air passage 115 and the heater core are The ratio of the amount of air (warm air) that flows into the air mixer 6 and is heated is adjusted by the opening degree of the air mix damper 7. Further, a hot air passage 116 is formed between the air outlet side 6b of the heater core 6 and a case surface 109b facing thereto at a predetermined interval, and this hot air passage 116 passes through the cold air passage 115. It also serves as a mixing chamber for mixing the cold air that has passed through the heater core 6 with the warm air that has passed through the heater core 6. Further, a guide plate 117 integrally formed with the case 109 protrudes from the air outlet side 6b of the heater core 6, and this guide plate 117 directs the hot air toward the cold air side and mixes the hot air and the cold air well. It is something.

On the other hand, at a position above the heater core 6, the cold air passage 1
An auxiliary damper 8 is disposed at a portion extending from the hot air passage 116 to the hot air passage 116, and the auxiliary damper 8 is rotatable around a shaft 118. The auxiliary damper 8 is formed in a U-shape so as to guide the cold air and improve the mixing properties of the cold and hot air.

A defroster outlet 10 for blowing warm air onto the front glass 100 is provided at the top of the case 109, and the defroster outlet 10 is opened and closed by a damper 10a that is rotatable around a shaft 126. . A central upper air outlet 11 is provided on the front side of the case 109 so as to be located below the defroster air outlet 10 and above the auxiliary damper 8 . This upper air outlet 1
1 blows wind toward the upper body of the occupant, and is opened and closed by a damper lla. The damper lla is configured to be rotatable around the shaft 127. Also,
Upper air outlets 123 on both sides are provided on both left and right sides of the case 109 so as to be located below the defroster air outlet 10 and above the auxiliary damper 8 . The upper air outlets 123 on both sides communicate with air outlet grilles provided on both left and right sides of an automobile instrument panel (not shown) via ducts (not shown), and dampers (
By manually opening and closing the openings (not shown), ventilation is intermittent to the upper air outlets 123 on both sides.

Further, a lower air outlet 9 is provided at a portion of both left and right side surfaces of the case 109 that communicates with the hot air passage 116 above the heater core 6, and this lower air outlet 9 has a lower air outlet duct (see FIG. (not shown) is connected, and this downward blowing duct is formed to blow wind toward the passenger's feet. Further, the lower air outlet 9 is opened and closed by a damper 9a.

Next, the main parts of the link mechanism for driving the air mix damper 7 and the auxiliary damper 8 will be explained based on FIG. In FIG. 3, a damper opening actuator 23 is controlled by the computer 12 and is composed of a servo motor. A first lever 201 having a ■-shape is fixed to the output shaft 200 of the actuator 23 and rotates together with the output shaft 200 . One end of the second lever 204 is connected to the end of the first leg 202 of the first lever 201, and the other end is connected to a shaft 113 that supports the air mix damper 7. It is connected to the other end of the 3 lever 205. Therefore, the rotational movement of the actuator 23 is transmitted to the shaft 113 via the first to third levers 201, 204, and 205, and the air mix damper 7 is driven to an arbitrary position (see FIG. 4).

A pin 20 is attached to the end of the second leg 203 of the first lever 201.
6 is fixedly provided and engages with an arcuate groove 208 formed at one end of the fourth lever 207.

The radius of the arcuate groove 208 is equal to the distance between the pin 206 and the output shaft 200, and the opening angle thereof is set to 82.5°. Therefore, while the first lever 201 rotates 82.5 degrees clockwise from the state shown in FIG. 201 (5th
(see figure). The other end of the fourth lever 207 is connected to the auxiliary damper 8
A fifth shaft having one end fixed to a shaft 118 that pivotally supports the
It is connected to the other end of the lever 209. A return spring 210 urges the fifth lever 209 to return to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. The position of the fifth lever 209 indicated by the solid line in FIG. 3 corresponds to the position of the auxiliary damper 8 indicated by the solid line in FIGS.
is located at this solid line position (fully closed position) (see Fig. 5).

As mentioned above, since the arcuate groove 208 is formed in an angular range of 82.5', the first lever 201 rotates clockwise in response to the cooling load, moving the air mix damper 7 from the solid line position. Even when driven in the direction of the dashed line position, the auxiliary damper 8 remains in the fully closed position shown by the solid line.When the first lever 201 rotates further and the pin 206 comes into contact with the other end of the groove 208, That is, when the first lever 201 rotates 82.5 degrees, the subsequent rotation of the first lever 201 is transmitted to the fifth lever 209 via the fourth lever 207, and the auxiliary damper 8 is gradually rotated from the fully open position. It is rotated toward the fully open position shown by the broken line (see Figure 5).

The first lever 201 is moved 73 degrees from the position shown by the solid line in FIG.
．． When rotated by 5 degrees, the air mix damper 7 is in the fully open position shown by the broken line in FIG. 2, and the output shaft 200,
Connecting pin 21 between the first lever 201 and the second lever 204
1, and the connecting pin 212 between the second lever 204 and the third lever 205 are positioned approximately on a straight line, and in this state, even if the first lever 201 is rotated by a smaller angle, this The air mix damper 7 is maintained at the fully open position described above (see FIG. 4). In this embodiment, the first lever 201 is configured to rotate 82.5'' from the position shown by the solid line in FIG. is 82.5°
It will gradually move from the fully closed position to the fully open position within a range of 98 degrees from .

The water valve 30 that controls the supply of cooling water to the heater core 6 detects the opening degree of the air mix damper 7 by the opening sensor 17 when the first lever 201 rotates 75 degrees and 5 degrees. Controlled from ON to OFF. Further, when the first lever 201 moves from the 98° position in the closing direction and reaches the 80.5° position, the water valve 30 is controlled from OFF to ON. (See Figure 6).

Next, the operation of this embodiment in the above configuration will be explained. The air selected by the occupant and sucked in from the inside air suction port and the outside air suction port provided in the blower unit 106 is sent to the cooler core 4, and is removed by the air filter 41! cooled down. Next, the dehumidified and cooled air that has exited the cooler core 4 is distributed to the heater core 6 and the cold air passage 115 according to the operating position of the air minx damper 7. For example, if the air minx damper 7 is at the position 7a, all the cold air is guided to the cold air passage 115, and the cold air is blown out from each outlet (10, 11, 123, 9). In addition, if the air mix damper 7 is at the position 7b, all the cold air enters the heater core 6, is heated here and becomes warm air, and each air outlet (10, 11, 123,
9) Blow out warmer air. Further, if the air minx damper 7 is located at any intermediate position between the above, the hot air and cold air are respectively adjusted to predetermined distribution amounts according to the damper opening degree. Therefore, the air minx damper 7 is 7a~
7b, and the auxiliary damper 8 is located at any position between 8 and 8.
When in position a (fully closed position), heater core 6
The cold air that has entered the room is heated by the heater core 6, becomes hot air, and enters a hot air passage 116 that also serves as a mixing chamber. In addition, the remaining cold air distributed by the air mix damper 7 passes through the cold air passage 115 and is guided by the auxiliary damper 8 as indicated by the arrow A.
The hot air passage 11 bypasses the side of the heater core 6 as shown in the figure.
6, mixes with the warm air that has passed through the heater core 6, adjusts it to a predetermined temperature, and then blows the air through each outlet (10, 11,
123,9). Here, the actual temperature adjustment of the air is carried out by the actuator 23 at the air mix damper 7.
By operating the damper and changing the opening degree of the damper to change the mixing ratio of cold air and hot air, any desired blowing air temperature can be obtained continuously from low to high temperatures. Next, to describe the function of the auxiliary damper 8, when the occupant requests only cold air, such as during maximum cooling, the air mix damper 7 is placed in position 7a, and the auxiliary damper 8 is moved to the link mechanism shown in FIG. By operating it to the position 8b, the cold air is directed to the arrow B,
As shown in C, the upper air outlet 11.123 for blowing out cold air can be reached in the shortest distance. Therefore, compared to the case where cold air flows bypassing the auxiliary damper 8 as shown by arrow E, arrow B,
When cold air flows as in case C, the ventilation resistance is much smaller, and a correspondingly larger amount of air can be obtained, and the blowing air speed can also be increased, improving the cooling effect. Here, even in the ventilation mode in which the cooler core 4 is not operated, it is preferable to operate the auxiliary damper 8 to the position 8b to increase the air volume.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the link mechanism shown in FIG.
It is also possible to connect one end of 04 and to fix the pin 206. It is also possible to form an arcuate groove in the first lever 201 and to fix a pin to one end of the fourth lever 207 to engage with this groove. Furthermore, return spring 2
10 can also be connected to the fourth lever, for example, instead of being connected to the fifth lever. It is also possible to make the arcuate groove 208 a straight groove.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the present invention, the air mix damper and the auxiliary damper are connected by a link mechanism, and after the air mix damper is fully open during maximum cooling, the auxiliary damper is moved to its fully open position via this link mechanism. Since the auxiliary damper is gradually driven from the position to the fully open position, the auxiliary damper does not open or close suddenly during maximum cooling, and as a result, the temperature sensor that detects the temperature inside the vehicle can accurately detect the temperature inside the vehicle. , it becomes possible to avoid the hunting phenomenon of the air minx damper and/or the auxiliary damper.

Furthermore, according to the link mechanism of the present invention, the fully open state of the air mix damper is not determined by a specific (single point) rotational position of the actuator, but the air mix damper is kept fully open within a certain rotation angle range of the actuator. In order to
Opening sensor that detects the opening of the air minx damper (
Even if there is some variation in the product (potentiometer), when the air mix damper is fully open, the water valve will be turned off reliably, improving temperature control performance near maximum cooling.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of an automotive air conditioner which is an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a 1° reduced cross-sectional view showing the air conditioner of the present invention installed in a vehicle. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the main parts of the link mechanism of the present invention, FIGS. 4 to 6 are operation explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the rotation angle of the first lever. Figure 5 shows the opening degree of the air minx damper, Figure 5 shows the opening degree of the auxiliary damper in relation to the rotation angle of the first lever, and Figure 6 shows the open/closed state of the water valve in relation to the rotation angle of the first lever. . 1...Air duct, 4...Cooler core, 6...
Heater core, 7... Air mix damper, 8...
- Auxiliary damper, 12.24... Control means, 13...
- Temperature sensor, 17... detection means, 23... actuator, 30... water valve, 115...
Cold air passage, 116... Hot air passage, 201 to 209.
...Link mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An air duct (1) attached to a vehicle; a cooler core (4) disposed within the air duct to cool the air flowing within the air duct; a heater core (6) disposed in the air duct and heating the cold air cooled by the cooler core; a water valve (30) controlling the supply of engine cooling water to the heater core; In order to adjust the air volume ratio between the cold air heated by the heater core and the cold air that does not flow into the heater core,
an air mix damper (7) rotatably disposed within the air duct; and a warm damper (7) formed within the air duct and downstream of the heater core through which warm air heated by the heater core flows. a wind passage (116); a cold air passage (115) formed within the air duct for flowing cold air that does not pass through the heater core; and a cold air passage (115) that is rotatable within the air duct and downstream of the air mix damper. An auxiliary damper (8) is provided and controls the amount of cold air flowing toward the hot air passage out of the cold air in the cold air passage and the amount of cold air flowing directly toward the upper air outlet without passing through the hot air passage. ), and an actuator that drives the air mix damper (
23), a temperature sensor (13) that detects the temperature inside the vehicle interior, and a temperature sensor (13) that controls the actuator to adjust the opening degree of the air mix damper according to the output from the temperature sensor. and a means (12) for controlling the temperature of the air to a desired value, the air-mix damper detecting that the air mix damper has reached a certain set position in which the cold air passage is substantially fully opened during maximum cooling. and a link mechanism (201 to 209) that gradually drives the auxiliary damper from its fully closed position to its fully open position after the air mix damper reaches the set position during maximum cooling.
and control means (12, 2) for driving the water valve and stopping the supply of engine cooling water to the heater core when the air mix damper reaches the set position.
4) An air conditioner for an automobile, further comprising: 2. The automobile air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the link mechanism holds the air mix damper in the fully open position while driving the auxiliary damper from the fully closed position to the fully open position. Device. 3 The link mechanism includes: a first lever (201) fixed to the output shaft (200) of the actuator; and a second lever (204) connected at one end to the first lever.
); a third lever (205) having one end connected to the other end of the second lever and the other end fixed to the shaft of the air mix damper; and a pin (206) fixed to the first lever. and a fourth lever (207) having one end formed with an arcuate groove (208) that engages with the pin, one end of which is connected to the other end of the fourth lever, and the other end of which is fixed to the shaft of the auxiliary damper. The fifth lever (209
) The air conditioner for an automobile according to claim 2, characterized in that it has the following. 4. The link mechanism is further connected to the fifth lever,
4. The air conditioner for an automobile according to claim 3, further comprising a return spring (210) that urges the auxiliary damper toward its fully closed position. 5. The automobile air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein the radius of the arcuate groove is equal to the distance between the output shaft and the pin. 6 The first lever is V-shaped and has a pair of legs (202, 203), one end of the second lever is connected to the first leg, and the second lever is connected to the second leg. 4. The air conditioner for an automobile according to claim 3, wherein the pin is fixed.