The present invention relates to a housing intended to be mounted on a motor vehicle door. This device is part of an air distribution device for a vehicle of the motor vehicle type.
Generally, a motor vehicle is equipped with a heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning system that makes it possible to thermally treat the air and then send it into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning system is configured to reach a thermal comfort setpoint fulfilling a request from a user, and for example a given temperature of the air present in one zone or another of the passenger compartment of the vehicle. To do this, the heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning system draws in outside air and/or air from the passenger compartment and then treats it by passing it successively through heat exchangers in particular so that it reaches determined ventilation speed and/or temperature conditions that make it possible to approach the thermal comfort setpoint. The treated air is then projected into the passenger compartment by means of air vents disposed so as to supply a particular zone of the passenger compartment with treated air. Depending on whether it is desired to supply the front seats or the rear seats with treated air, these air vents may be disposed in the dashboard, the central console or the lateral uprights of the vehicle.
The heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning system is caused to treat a significant amount of air before reaching the thermal comfort setpoint. However, nowadays users require this thermal comfort setpoint to be reached more rapidly, without altering the quality of the air in the passenger compartment. Motor vehicle manufacturers and equipment fitters must then propose heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning systems that fulfill these requirements, without this generating excessively high costs, while still having a system that is compact, lightweight and easy to install. Another constraint is the standardization of vehicles, wherein the manufacturers have to be able to adapt to the needs of the consumer and to implement or not implement such a system depending on the wishes of the purchaser of the vehicle.
The aim of the present invention is therefore to provide a solution for improving both the distribution of the air and the thermal comfort in the passenger compartment, without oversizing the heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning system, which may be easily mounted or removed.
In this context, one subject of the invention is a housing, in particular a removable housing, intended to be mounted on a motor vehicle door comprising
the second air inlet, the chamber and the air outlet being fluidically connected.
Thus, the invention allows the two streams of air to mix, this ensuring better blending of the air in the passenger compartment thus improving user comfort.
Specifically, by increasing the amount of blended air, the thermal mixing between the various streams of air takes place more rapidly. The housing corresponds to an element that can be gripped easily and that can be easily mounted on or removed from a vehicle door.
According to one or more features of the invention, which may be taken alone or in combination, it may be provided that:
The invention also relates to an assembly of a vehicle door comprising a support for a housing and of a housing as described above.
According to the invention the door comprises at least one trim panel and a door bodywork that together form the door.
Further features, details and advantages of the invention will emerge upon reading the description given below by way of indication with reference to drawings, in which:
It should first of all be noted that the figures set out the invention in a detailed manner in order to implement the invention, it being, of course, possible for said figures to serve to better define the invention if necessary.
In the following description, relative concepts such as “internal”, “external”, “upper”, “lower”, “front” or “rear” are defined with respect to a passenger compartment of the motor vehicle and to the vehicle itself. The concept of “internal” according to this frame of reference means that the element in question is situated or directed toward the passenger compartment, while the concept of “external” according to this frame of reference means that the element in question is situated or directed toward the outside of the motor vehicle, moving away from the passenger compartment. The concept of “upper” according to this frame of reference means that the element in question is situated or directed toward the roof of the motor vehicle, while the concept of “lower” according to this frame of reference means that the element in question is situated or directed toward the floor of the motor vehicle. A longitudinal axis L is defined as the axis along which the motor vehicle extends along its length, the longitudinal axis L being parallel to an axis of forward movement of the motor vehicle when the latter is running. In the following description, reference will also be made to an orientation as a function of a vertical axis V, defined as being the axis perpendicular to the floor of the vehicle when the latter is running, and of a transverse axis T, defined as being the axis perpendicular to both the longitudinal axis L and the transverse axis T. It will therefore be appreciated that the concepts of “internal” and “external” are understood along the transverse axis T, the concepts of “upper” and “lower” are understood along the vertical axis V and the concepts of “front” and “rear” are understood relative to the longitudinal axis L, the “front” of the vehicle being defined as the part of the vehicle in front of the driver under running conditions and the “rear” being the part situated behind the backrest of the driver's seat. The terms “upstream” and “downstream” are defined with respect to the flow of a stream of air.
The housing 30 according to the invention also comprises a chamber 37, delimited by at least one partition 38, arranged inside the housing 30 in the internal volume 32. The housing 30 also comprises a second air inlet 39 for directly admitting a second stream of air FE into the chamber 37. The channel 42 corresponds to the internal volume 32 of the housing 30 situated outside the chamber 37, in other words the channel 42 is delimited by the walls 31 of the housing 30 and by said partition 38 of the chamber 37. The chamber 37 has at least one surface that coincides with a wall 31 of the housing 30, the second air inlet 39 being arranged on this surface.
The housing 30 according to the invention is arranged such that the first air inlet 35, the chamber 37 and the air outlet 36 are fluidically connected. In other words, the chamber 37 has an opening 40 arranged so as to allow the second stream of air FE to flow out of the chamber 37 and mix with the first stream of air FR in the internal volume 32 and the channel 42. In other words, the first stream of air FR enters the housing via the air inlet 35 and flows in the housing 30 in the direction of the air outlet 36, the second stream of air FE directly enters the chamber 37 and then flows through the opening 40 in the housing 32 in the channel 42. The chamber 37 opens into the channel 42 so as to allow the second stream of air FE to mix with the first stream of air FR. In other words, the housing 30 comprises a channel 42 for the flow of the first and second streams of air FE, FR and extends from the first air inlet 35 as far as the outlet 36 is delimited by the walls 31 of the housing 30 and said at least one partition 38 of the chamber 37.
According to the invention, the first stream of air FR may for example come from the passenger compartment of the vehicle while the second stream of air FE may for example come from a heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning system (not shown) situated upstream of the housing. In order to fulfill a request from a user regarding the thermal comfort setpoint of the passenger compartment 5, the temperature of the second stream of treated air FE may vary, in particular between hot, cold and temperate, as may the speed of the second stream of treated air FE by varying the speed of the fan of the heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning system. The housing 30 according to the invention allows the air in the passenger compartment 5 to mix with treated air coming from the heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning system, this ensuring better blending of the air in the passenger compartment thus improving user comfort, by ensuring the air in the passenger compartment is renewed and by reaching a thermal comfort setpoint more rapidly. Specifically, by increasing the amount of blended air, the thermal mixing between the various streams of air takes place more rapidly.
In order to allow better mixing between the two streams of air FE, FR, the chamber 37 the chamber comprises a blading 46 extending in its internal space. This blading 46 corresponds to an internal partition, in other words a rib, gutter, protuberance or protrusion, that extends partially inside the chamber 37. The blading 46 has the shape of a quarter of a circle and deviates the trajectory of the second stream of air FE thus inducing turbulence. The second stream of air FE enters the chamber 37 via the second air inlet 39 in the upper part 48 of the chamber 37 situated above the blading 46. Said stream of air FE is then oriented toward the opening 40 so as to be able to open into the channel 42, the opening being arranged in the lower part 49 of the chamber situated below the blading 46.
As illustrated in
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According to one embodiment, the duct 52 comprises bellows 54 as illustrated in
In order to adapt to the shape of the door, the housing 30 may have a straight or rectilinear shape, or a curved or bent shape.
The trim panels 21, 23 and the door bodywork 22 are at least partially connected by walls extending transversely relative to these faces. More particularly, there are defined a first transverse wall supporting the hinge allowing the door 2 to move relative to the vehicle, and a second transverse wall comprising a system for locking the door 2. It will therefore be appreciated that the first transverse wall is situated at the front of the vehicle compared with the second transverse wall that is situated further back in the vehicle, according to the frame of reference defined above.
In general, each outlet mouth 6,7 is situated in an upper part of the door 2 according to the frame of reference defined above. In other words, each outlet mouth 7 is situated closer to the roof than to the floor of the motor vehicle. The outlet mouths 6, 7 are not coaxial.
According to the invention, and as is illustrated by
The principle of the suction of a stream by the flow of another stream is called stream induction, the first stream of air FR coming from the passenger compartment then forming a stream induced by a drop in pressure of the second stream of air FE coming from the heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning system in the housing 30. The second stream of air FE and the first stream of air FR that have been mixed then form the stream of air FS that is emitted through the one or more outlet mouths 6, 7.
In order to ensure better blending of the mixing between the second stream of air coming from the HVAC and the first stream of air FR coming from the passenger compartment, the hollow body 10 may be equipped with a mixing channel arranged to collect these two streams downstream of the inlet mouth 8 and to guide them as far as the outlet mouths 6, 7, with, for example, one or more stream disruptors disposed in this mixing channel in order to optimize the mixing of the stream of air FE with the stream of air FR inside the hollow body 10.
The inlet mouth 8 is configured in terms of size, disposition or physical features such that the second stream of air FE entering the channel 42 of the housing cannot leave via the inlet mouth 8. The speed of the second stream of air FE entering the channel 42 may also participate in avoiding leaving via the inlet mouth 8.
Without departing from the scope of the invention, a plurality of inlet mouths 8 may be provided. It should be noted that the one or more inlet mouths 8 are situated in a lower part of the door 2. In other words, each inlet mouth 8 is situated closer to the floor than to the roof of the motor vehicle. More specifically, the one or more inlet mouths 8 are situated closer to the lower face of the door 2, or even beneath the armrests 63, than the housing 30 is. Thus, according to the frame of reference defined above, the one or more inlet mouths 8 are disposed beneath the housing 30 along the vertical axis V.
The inlet mouth 8 corresponds in this case to a porous wall able to allow a stream of air coming from the passenger compartment to pass through enter the hollow body 10 present in the door 4. The stream of air FR enters the housing 30, optionally by passing through the support 61, through the first air inlet 35.
The invention as has just been described is not limited to the means and configurations exclusively described for a particular exemplary embodiment, and also applies to all combinations of these means or configurations and to equivalents and to any combination of such means or configurations with the equivalents. Specifically, although the invention has been described and illustrated according to various embodiments in the context of a vehicle door, it goes without saying that other elements forming hollow bodies in the passenger compartment may be envisaged without this negatively affecting the invention.
In an embodiment that is not illustrated, at least one heat exchanger may be arranged in the housing 30. For example, an electric heating device, or electric air radiator, may be arranged inside the housing, said heating device comprising at least one heating element, such as a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) stone, disposed in a frame and able to allow a stream of air to pass through so as to heat the stream of air. This electric radiator may be arranged inside the housing level with the first air inlet 35 so as to heat the first stream of air FR. More specifically the heating device may be arranged downstream, relative to the first stream of air FR, of the first air inlet 35 and upstream, relative to the first stream of air FR, of the opening 40. According to another embodiment, the heating device may be arranged downstream, relative to a stream of air, of the opening 40. According to another embodiment, the heat exchanger may be arranged between the support 61 and the housing 30. According to another embodiment, the heat exchanger may be arranged between the support 61 and the housing 30. According to another embodiment, the heat exchanger may be arranged between the trim panels 21, 23 and the door bodywork 22 inside the hollow body 10 so as to heat the first stream of air FR and/or the second stream of air FE.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1851057 | Feb 2018 | FR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/FR2019/050266 | 2/6/2019 | WO | 00 |