JPS62166146A - Windshield defroster structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure a flow of conditioning air for a defroster by disposing a defroster duct along the lower surface of a instrument panel and forming said defroster duct like a flat box extending in the direction of vehicle width. CONSTITUTION:A defroster duct 10 is formed like a flat box bending along the lower verge of a front duct 5. Conditioning air supplied in the defroster duct 10 loses dynamic pressure because flow passage section area is abruptly enlarged, and is blown like a curtain by means of equal pressure from a blowout hole 12. Therefore, conditioning air is applied to that from the lower verge of the front window 5 in the fixed direction. Since the flow passage section area of the defroster duct 10 is enlarged, flow resistance which conditioning air receives in the defroster duct 10 does not increase almost, and conditioning air of sufficient flow is applied to the front window 5.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention enables the height of an instrument panel to be reduced;
Moreover, the present invention relates to a windshield defroster structure that can secure a sufficient amount of air conditioning air for the defroster.

[Prior art]

2. Description of the Related Art Vehicles such as automobiles are usually provided with a windshield defroster that blows conditioned air guided from an air conditioner onto the front window in order to remove or prevent fogging on the front window.

Conventional windshield defroster structures, for example,
As disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 57-125619, a defroster duct is provided at the rear of a cowl box provided at the front of the passenger compartment, and has an outlet on the top surface for blowing out conditioned air. There is. A conventional defroster duct has a flow passage cross-sectional area that is substantially uniform, and is configured so that the conditioned air is blown out in the direction in which dynamic pressure is applied. Therefore, the directionality of the conditioned air blown out from the outlet of the defroster duct is the direction of the run-up path immediately in front of the outlet, or the direction of the conditioned air blown out from the outlet is formed on the instrument panel so that it is directed toward the front window. The ventilation openings are covered with a decorative member having louvers, and the direction of the louvers is controlled.

Incidentally, in order to improve the basic style or proportions of an automobile, the lower edge of the front window may be positioned further forward than before to increase the slope of the front window. Therefore, when using the space inside the cowl box as a ventilation air passage, the lower edge of the front window must be placed at the upper front part of the cowl box to ensure the necessary size for the ventilation air passage. It is customary for the cowl box to be fixed and arranged so that the cowl box largely protrudes from the lower edge of the front window toward the passenger compartment. In addition, when the above-mentioned cowl box is not used as a ventilation air passage, the rear surface of the cowl box is placed forward in accordance with the forward dimension of the lower end of the front window, but in this case, the cowl box It is customary for a harness to be temporarily fixed at the rear or for a steering support member to be placed. If the harness is temporarily fixed or the steering support member is disposed behind the cowl box in this way, it is practically impossible to dispose the defroster duct immediately behind the cowl box.

In the end, the defroster duct becomes thicker from the lower edge of the front window toward the rear of the passenger compartment (either behind the protruding cowl box, or behind the harness or cowl box that is temporarily attached to the rear of the cowl box). It is arranged further rearward than the steering support member arranged on the side.

Therefore, in conventional windshield defroster structures in which the air outlet is located further behind the cowl box, the harness located at the rear of the cowl box, the steering shaft support member, etc., It becomes impossible to blow conditioned air from a predetermined direction at the location.

Therefore, the defroster duct was extended to near the lower edge of the front window through the upper side of the space behind the cowl box where the harness and steering support member are arranged, and the air outlet was installed near the lower edge of the front window. It is conceivable to configure the air conditioner so that it opens toward a predetermined position on the window and blows out the conditioned air from the outlet toward a predetermined position on the front window.

However, if a windshield defroster structure is adopted in which directionality is given to the air-conditioned air by dynamic pressure of the air-conditioned air, as in the case of conventional windshield defroster structures, an opening near the lower edge of the front window is used. It is necessary to form the run-up path below the air outlet so as to be oriented vertically or backwardly, and it is necessary to curve the run-up path in front of the air outlet into a ■-shape. As a result, the height of the defroster duct that extends above the cowl box, its rear harness, and steering support member becomes higher, and the height of the instrument panel that covers this defroster duct needs to be increased. will arise. However, increasing the height of the instrument panel is disadvantageous when it comes to expanding visibility near the vehicle body.In addition, the shape of the run-up track becomes complicated, making it difficult to manufacture, and the flow of the run-up track becomes difficult. There is a risk that the road resistance will increase and the volume of air conditioned air blown out will be insufficient.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and it is possible to secure a sufficient amount of air-conditioned air for the defroster without changing the position of the instrument panel to a high position, and further,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a windshield defroster structure that allows a defroster duct to be manufactured simply and easily.

[Structure of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, a windshield defroster structure according to the present invention has a defroster duct that blows out conditioned air supplied from an air conditioner from below the front window toward the front window. In the structure, the defroster duct is arranged along the lower surface of an instrument panel provided at the front of the vehicle interior, and is formed in the shape of a flat box extending in the vehicle width direction, and the front edge of the upper surface of the defroster duct It is characterized by having an outlet for blowing out air conditioned air.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

As shown in FIG. 1, a darts lower 3 is provided at the front of the vehicle compartment 1 to partition the vehicle compartment 1 and the engine compartment 2.
A cowl box 4 is provided above the darts lower 3. This cowl box 4 includes a cowl front panel 4a raised flush with the darts lower 3, and a cowl whose front edge is connected to the lower edge of the cowl front panel 4a, and which extends toward the passenger compartment l side in an L-shape. It consists of a panel lower 4b, a cowl panel upper 4c whose rear edge is joined to the rear upper edge of the cowl panel lower 4b, and a reinforcement 4d fixed to the rear of the cowl panel lower 4b. The lower edge of the front window 5 is fixed to the cowl panel upper 4c of the cowl point 7x4 using a known method. Above cowl front panel 4
A sealing member 7 is provided between the upper edge of a and the rear edge of the bonnet 6.
is sealed by.

On the rear side of the cowl box 4, there is a steering support member 8 fixed to both left and right hinge pillars (not shown).
It is arranged so that its upper surface is flush with the upper surface of the cowl box 4. Above the cowl box 4 and the steering support member 8, an instrument panel 9 is arranged at a predetermined interval. A picture-shaped defroster duct 10 is arranged.

As shown in FIG. 2, each defroster duct 10 extends in the vehicle width direction, has a front edge curved in a semi-arched shape along the lower edge of the front window 5, and has an upper wall. The air outlet 12 is opened over the entire length of the front edge of the air blower 11 .

As shown in FIG. 3, the instrument panel 9 has a ventilation opening 13 that does not obstruct the flow of the conditioned air blown out from the air outlet 12, and a ventilation opening 13 that allows the air conditioned air led from the air conditioner to flow through the air conditioned air. A pair of left and right side defroster 17 are provided to remove fog from the center and left and right side air distribution grilles 14 and 15 and side windows 16, which blow air into the vehicle interior 1.

In the above configuration, the conditioned air supplied from the air conditioner into the defroster duct 10 loses dynamic pressure and directionality because the flow path cross-sectional area of the conditioned air is suddenly expanded. and,
The air is blown out from the air outlet I2 in a curtain shape in a predetermined direction with uniform pressure. As a result, as shown by the arrow in FIG. is blown up.

The cross-sectional area of the flow path in the defroster duct 10 is larger than that of the flow path from the air conditioner to this, so there is almost no increase in flow resistance that the conditioned air encounters in the defroster duct 10, and a sufficient flow rate is maintained. The air-conditioned air is blown onto the front window 5.

In addition, since the defroster duct 1-10 is formed in a flat shape, the cowl box 3, the steering support member 8 disposed behind it, the harness, etc., and the instrument panel disposed above it. The height of the space formed for accommodating the defroster duct 10 between the instrument panel 9 and the instrument panel 9 can be reduced, and the height of the instrument panel 9 can be kept low. Furthermore, since the defroster duct 10 is formed into a flat surface shape, the defroster duct 10 is easy to manufacture.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the windshield defroster structure of the present invention, the defroster duct is formed in a flat pattern arranged along the lower surface of the instrument panel. The distance between the duct, the harness, the steering support member, etc. is small, and the instrument panel can be placed low. In addition, the dynamic pressure of the air conditioner is
The conditioned air is blown out from the outlet of the defroster duct with even pressure horns after it is dissolved in the duct and the directionality of the air conditioned air is eliminated, so there is almost no increase in flow resistance in the defroster duct and it is sufficient. A large amount of air conditioned air can be blown out towards the front window. Further, since the defroster duct has a simple flat box shape, the defroster duct can be easily manufactured by synthetic resin injection molding or the like.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the distribution of the air around the air blown out from the defroster duct, and Fig. 3 is a built-in defroster duct. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the instrument panel. In the figure, 1 is a vehicle interior, 5 is a front window, 9 is an instrument panel, 10 is a defroster duct, and 12 is an air outlet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a windshield defroster structure having a defroster duct that blows conditioned air supplied from an air conditioner toward the front window from below the front window, the defroster duct is installed along the lower surface of an instrument panel provided at the front of the vehicle interior. arranged in a flat box shape extending in the vehicle width direction,
This windshield defroster structure is characterized in that an air outlet for blowing out conditioned air is opened at the front edge of the upper surface of the defroster duct.