Patent Application
20070275649
The present invention relates in general to ventilation and in particular to ventilation directed to heating and/or cooling the interior space of a vehicle.
Air vents are commonly deployed in vehicles to provide air flow to either heat, cool, or merely circulate fresh air through the interior space, or passenger compartment, of a vehicle. In most such air vents, air flow through the air outlets is controlled by manipulating the positions of a plurality of louvers within the air vent housing and/or by manipulating the air vent housing itself. However, the range of adjustment of the air flow direction is quite limited in such existing systems.
Moreover, the air outlets are generally permanently exposed to and viewable from the passenger compartment. Air outlets may possess undesirable aesthetic characteristics, such as by presenting a visual non-uniformity with surrounding portions of an instrument panel. And, existing air vents generally do not provide means for covering the air outlets.
One existing system provides a pivoting air outlet housing, in which the air outlets are exposed to the passenger compartment when the air vent is open and are concealed from view when the air outlet is closed. While this approach provides better aesthetic characteristics than air vents having permanently exposed air outlets, a portion of the air outlet housing is still immediately adjacent to portions of the instrument panel surface even when the air vent is closed. Moreover, air flow direction control within a horizontal plane of the passenger compartment is implemented by manipulating the orientation of a plurality of louvers and is thus limited to a narrow range of angular motion.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an air vent that enables improved concealment of the air outlet when the air vent is closed, while enabling an improved range of air flow direction control when the air vent is open.
According to one aspect, the invention may provide an air vent for a vehicle that may include a sleeve coupled to a recessed flange which terminates at a surface of an instrument panel; a tube disposed within the sleeve, being operable to move substantially linearly within the sleeve, and including an air outlet; and a spring assembly operable to bias the tube toward an interior of the vehicle.
Preferably, when the air vent is closed, an end cap of the tube is retracted further from an interior of the vehicle than the instrument panel surface and the air outlet is retracted within the sleeve, thereby blocking air flow through the air outlet. Preferably, when the air vent is open, the tube is located within the sleeve such that the air outlet is extended beyond a junction of the sleeve and the recessed flange, thereby enabling air flow through the air outlet. Preferably, the tube is rotatable within the sleeve. Preferably, the tube is rotatable to any angular position about a longitudinal axis thereof.
Other aspects, features, advantages, etc. will become apparent to one skilled in the art when the description of the preferred embodiments of the invention herein is taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
For the purposes of illustrating the various aspects of the invention, there are shown in the drawings forms that are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
Reference is made to
Instrument panel 100 may include two air vent assemblies 200 as shown in
Air vent assembly 200 will now be described in greater detail with reference to
In a preferred embodiment, air vent assembly 200 may include sleeve 210 (
Herein, the term “extending,” as applied to tube 220, generally corresponds to moving tube 220 toward vehicle interior 20, and the term “retracting,” as applied to tube 220, generally corresponds to moving tube 200 away from vehicle interior 20.
Preferably, spring assembly 300 imposes a bias force against tube 220 tending to urge tube 220 toward vehicle interior 20. This bias force direction is preferably present whether air vent assembly 200 is open or closed.
In the open position depicted in
When air vent assembly 200 is open, tube 220 may be extended toward vehicle interior 20 such that air outlet 224 is extended beyond junction 214 (
When air vent assembly 200 is open as shown in
In one or more embodiments, when air vent assembly 200 is closed as shown in
In one or more embodiments, when starting with air vent assembly 200 in a closed position, air vent assembly 200 may be opened by pressing on and then releasing end cap 222 of tube 220, either manually or by other means, and allowing tube 220 to extend to its open position, thereby exposing air outlet 224 to vehicle interior 20. Similarly, when starting with air vent assembly 200 in the open position, air vent assembly 200 may be closed by pressing on end cap 222 of tube. 220, either manually or by other means, and pushing end cap 222 through its range of motion within sleeve 210 to a point slightly beyond its “closed” latching point and then releasing end cap 222 to allow spring assembly 300 to latch tube 220 into its closed position.
Tube 220 may move substantially linearly within sleeve 210 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane of instrument panel surface 110. However, in other embodiments, linear motion in other directions may be implemented. Moreover, the motion of tube 220 within sleeve 210 may include motion in one or more rotational dimensions either in addition to or in place of the above-described linear movement directions.
In one or more embodiments, the deployment of recessed flange 212 and the linear motion of tube 220 within sleeve 210 preferably combine to enable the desirable feature of enabling retracting end cap 222 of tube 220 beyond the level of instrument panel surface 110, thereby recessing end cap 222 within instrument panel 100. Where, as in
In one or more embodiments, tube 220 and sleeve 210 have at least substantially circular cross-sectional geometries. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and a variety of other cross-sectional geometries may be employed such as, but not limited to square, rectangular, oval and so forth.
In one embodiment, push-push latch mechanism 350 may include casing 302 and slider 310. Casing 302 may include spring 304 and pin 314. Slider 310 may include swing plate 306, torsional spring 308, and stopper 312. Swing plate 306 may include latch portion 316, sloped portion 318, and locking means 320. Swing plate 306 may be mobile along a small distance in the linear direction parallel to the axis of the shaft 322 about which it rotates. In the embodiment of
According to one or more embodiments, push-push latch mechanism 350 may be latched in its compressed (retracted) position (
In one or more embodiments, as slider 310 is pushed (usually manually) into casing 302, the edge of the swing plate 306 makes contact with pin 10 such that swing plate 306 swings counter-clockwise against the force of torsional spring 308. As the latch portion 316 of swing plate 306 passes pin 314, that part of swing plate 316 which is opposed to latch portion 316 may strike pin 314, thereby operating to oppose further progress of slider 310 into casing 302. At this point, the pushing force (which is directed upward in the view of
At the same time, swing plate 306 may be caused, by torsional spring 308, to rotate clockwise until latch portion 316 catches pin 314 to lock slider 310 in place, thereby latching push-push latch mechanism 350 in its retracted position. Where tube 220 (
According to one or more embodiments, push-push latch mechanism 350 may be placed in its extended position employing the steps described below.
In one or more embodiments, if slider 310 is pushed while latched in the retracted position, swing plate 306, together with slider 310, may move a short distance toward the upper end (in the view of
The movement of swing plate 306 toward the upper end of casing 302 preferably moves pin 314 closer to the raised end of sloped portion 318. Preferably, this action causes the raised end of the slope portion 318 to be positioned over pin 314. When the front end of the sloped portion 318 moves over pin 314, and the compressive (push) force urging slider 310 in the inward direction is removed, slider 310 is urged in the outward direction (downward in the view of
Swing plate 306, which it will be recalled is moveable in the direction parallel to the axis of shaft 322, guided by the sloped portion 318, gets displaced away from the base of pin 314 (i.e. toward the viewer of
One embodiment of a push-push latch mechanism 350 that is adaptable for use as spring assembly 300 in conjunction with air vent assembly 200 described above. However, it will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art that air vent assembly 200 is not limited to being used with the latch mechanism described above. Any latch mechanism that is effective to latch in a retracted position upon being pushed and released a first time and to move to an extended position upon being pushed and released a second time may be adapted for use with one or more of the air vent embodiments described herein.
In one or more other alternative embodiments, the opening and/or closing of air vent assemblies 200 may be effected using means other than conventional metal springs, such as with compressed air, pressurized fluid, or other mechanism. Moreover, in one or more embodiments, electric motors and/or other automated means may be substituted for the manually operated systems discussed herein for opening and/or closing air vent assembly 200.
Although the invention herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerous modifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
