Patent Application
20210276395
The present disclosure relates to a combined stone guard and air conditioning condenser for a vehicle.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
Vehicles often include a stone guard positioned in the front of the vehicle to protect a radiator and/or condenser from being damaged by stones or other debris. While current stone guards are suitable for their intended use, they are subject to improvement. For example, current stone guards undesirably add weight to the vehicle and require installation of an additional separate component, thereby increasing assembly time and cost. The present disclosure includes an improved stone guard.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
The present disclosure includes a stone guard for a vehicle having a plurality of tubes arranged as a mesh configured to restrict passage of stones through the mesh. A plurality of channels are defined within the plurality of tubes for circulating refrigerant through the plurality of tubes. A refrigerant inlet is defined by at least one of the plurality of tubes through which refrigerant enters the stone guard. A refrigerant outlet is defined by at least one of the plurality of tubes through which refrigerant exits the stone guard. As the refrigerant circulates through the plurality of channels, heat is released from the refrigerant.
The present disclosure also includes a stone guard for a vehicle including a plurality of tubes arranged as a mesh configured to restrict passage of stones through the mesh. A plurality of channels is defined within the plurality of tubes for circulating refrigerant of a vehicle heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system through the plurality of tubes. A plurality of heat dissipaters are within the plurality of channels. The plurality of heat dissipaters are configured to maximize heat dissipation and facilitate refrigerant flow through the plurality of channels. A refrigerant inlet is defined by at least one of the plurality of tubes through which refrigerant enters the stone guard. A refrigerant outlet is defined by at least one of the plurality of tubes through which refrigerant exits the stone guard. The stone guard is configured for connection to a compressor and an evaporator of the HVAC system by way of the refrigerant inlet and the refrigerant outlet for circulation of the refrigerant between the compressor, the stone guard, and the evaporator. As the refrigerant circulates through the plurality of channels, heat is released from the refrigerant. The plurality of tubes differ in at least one of the following: modulus of elasticity, tensile strength, and yield strength.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.
With continued reference to
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With continued reference to
The stone guard 20 may be formed in any suitable manner, such as by way of any suitable additive manufacturing process, such as three-dimensional printing. The stone guard 20 may be formed of a metallic material, or any other suitable material. The stone guard 20 can be formed such that different tubes 50 have different properties and configurations. For example, different tubes 50 may differ with respect to one or more of the following: modulus of elasticity, tensile strength, and yield strength. As a result, areas of the stone guard 20 that are most susceptible to damage by stones or other debris may be made stronger than areas that are less likely to be damaged. The cross-sectional area of the channels 52 may also be different at different areas of the stone guard 20 to facilitate refrigerant flow and heat exchange between the refrigerant and the surrounding environment.
Different portions of the tubes 50 may be configured with different heat dissipaters 80, 82, 84 configured to maximize heat dissipation and facilitate refrigerant flow through the tubes 50, such as by increasing the surface area exposed to refrigerant flow, as described herein and illustrated in
Although
The present disclosure thus advantageously provides for stone guards 20 and 20′, which are configured to block stones and other debris from damaging, for example, a radiator 32. Furthermore, the stone guards 20 and 20′ have the added advantage of acting as condensers for circulating refrigerant therethrough to allow heat to be released from the refrigerant. The stone guards 20 and 20′ advantageously combine the functionality of a stone guard with that of a condenser, thereby reducing the weight of a vehicle in which the stone guards 20, 20′ are installed, and advantageously reducing assembly time and costs. To facilitate refrigerant flow, the stone guards 20, 20′ include various heat dissipaters within the tubes 50, 50′, such as heat dissipaters 80, 82, and 84.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms when used herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments.
Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.
