Patent Application
20140273784
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle air extractor and more specifically to a vehicle air extractor dedicated to reducing the closing effort when closing a vehicle door.
Improvements in vehicle body sealing have now led to passenger compartments that are highly resilient to air flow between the passenger compartment and vehicle exterior when all doors and windows are closed. One consequence of this is that any introduction of air into the passenger compartment may lead to air pressure build up inside the passenger compartment. For instance, the routine opening of a vehicle door causes air to enter the passenger compartment and increase the air pressure therein. As a result, a higher closing effort is required to close the door, which may negatively impact the perceived quality of the vehicle. Therefore, there is a need for an air extractor that is optimized for exhausting air from the passenger compartment during a vehicle door-closing event in order to reduce closing effort.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a vehicle air extractor is provided that includes: an opening formed in a vehicle body; a closure member operably coupled to the opening and movable to an open position to allow air flow through the opening and a closed position to inhibit air flow through the opening; and an actuator operably coupled to the closure member to move the closure member between the open and closed positions.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle air extractor is provided that includes: a grating that allows air flow between a vehicle passenger compartment and the vehicle exterior; a closure member operably coupled to the grating and movable between an open position to allow air flow through the grating and a closed position to inhibit air flow through the grating; and an actuator operably coupled to the closure member to move the closure member between the open and closed positions.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle air extractor is provided for reducing the closing effort associated with a vehicle door, and includes: an opening formed between a passenger compartment of the vehicle and the vehicle exterior; and a closure member operably coupled to the opening and movable to an open position that allows air flow through the opening and a closed position that inhibits air flow through the opening.
These and other aspects, objects, and features of the present invention will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art upon studying the following specification, claims, and appended drawings.
In the drawings:
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to a detailed design and some schematics may be exaggerated or minimized to show function overview. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.
As used herein, the term “and/or,” when used in a list of two or more items, means that any one of the listed items can be employed by itself, or any combination of two or more of the listed items can be employed. For example, if a composition is described as containing components A, B, and/or C, the composition can contain A alone; B alone; C alone; A and B in combination; A and C in combination; B and C in combination; or A, B, and C in combination.
Referring to
To relieve the air pressure in the passenger compartment 6, an air extractor 10, also known as a closing effort exhauster (CEE), is exemplarily provided on the side panel of the door 8 to allow air to exhaust out of the passenger compartment 6 so less closing effort is required for an occupant to close the door 8. In doing so, the occupant may be less likely to slam the door 8, which also results in lessened pressure pulse waves created by the door-closing event. As should be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the vehicle 2 may be outfitted with more than one air extractor 10 and those skilled in the art should recognize the existence of a variety of other suitable air extractor 10 locations such as the rear of the vehicle 2, behind light fixtures, the wheel wells, and/or the undercarriage of the vehicle 2.
Referring to
To effectuate movement of the closure member 16, an actuator 18 is operably coupled to the closure member 16 and configured to move the closure member 16 to the open position when one or more doors 8 are opened so that air from the passenger compartment 6 can be exhausted through the grating 14 to the exterior of the vehicle 2. The closure member 16 remains in the open position until all doors 8 have been closed, at which point the actuator 18 moves the closure member 16 to the closed position to inhibit air from being further exhausted from the passenger compartment 6 and to also reduce noise ingress from the exterior of the vehicle 2. The actuator 18 may be controlled by a control mechanism (not shown) that senses whether each door 8 is in a closed or open state. For example, the actuator 18 may be driven by the same signal from preexisting systems such as a vehicle drop glass module. In addition, the actuator 18 may also be driven by the HVAC fan relay to assist the HVAC with a variety of operations such as defrosting of windows.
With specific reference to
In operation, the actuator 18, which may be a solenoid or a motor, slides the closure member 16 horizontally relative to the base of the grating 14 between the open and closed positions. As shown in
While the grating 14 and closure member 16 have been shown and described in a planar configuration having a first and second plurality of openings 12a, 12b, that extend vertically, those skilled in the art will recognize that a variety of grating configurations can be conceived that are operable with a closing member that slides. For example, as shown in
With particular reference to
Those skilled in the art will also recognize that a variety of grating configurations can be conceived that are operable with a closure member 16 that pivots. For example, the grating 14 and the closure member 16 may be semi-spherical to provide greater surface area and it follows that the first and second plurality of openings 12a, 12b may take on other desired shapes as well.
Accordingly, an air extractor 10 has been advantageously described herein. The air extractor 10 benefits from being powered and may be employed in a variety of configurations to provide reduction of closing effort during a door-closing event as well as unwanted sound entry.
It is to be understood that variations and modifications can be made on the aforementioned structure without departing from the concepts of the present invention, and further it is to be understood that such concepts are intended to be covered by the following claims unless these claims by their language expressly state otherwise.
