Patent Application
20130014913
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No.2011-155067, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an air-mixing-type vehicle air-conditioning apparatus having a heater core and an air mixing damper.
An HVAC unit (heating ventilation and air conditioning unit) of an air conditioning apparatus to be installed in a vehicle is structured such that an evaporator, an air mixing damper, and a heater core are disposed in an air flow path in a unit case, sequentially from the upstream side of the air flow path, and air whose temperature has been adjusted by these units is blown into the vehicle interior selectively from any of a face vent duct, a foot vent duct, and a defroster vent duct, which are formed at the downstream side thereof, via a plurality of blowing-mode switching dampers.
The air flow path is branched into a bypass flow path and a heating flow path at a downstream side of the evaporator, and the heater core is disposed in the heating flow path. The ratios of airflows to be separately circulated to the bypass flow path and the heating flow path can be adjusted by the rotation angle of the air mixing damper, and the airflow passing through the bypass flow path and the airflow passing through the heater core meet at a downstream area of the air mixing damper and are mixed, thereby producing air that is adjusted to a set temperature.
The heater core is disposed on the bottom face of the unit case so as to intersect the heating flow path, and an upper surface thereof is supported along the entire width by a heater-core upper-portion supporting part that extends from right and left side faces of the unit case along the entire width in the width direction. The heater-core upper-portion supporting part segments the air flow path at the upper portion of the heater core (for example, see PTLs 1, 2, and 3).
As described above, in the conventional HVAC unit, the lower portion of the heater core disposed in the heating flow path is supported on the bottom face of the unit case, and the entire upper surface thereof in the width direction is supported by the heater-core upper-portion supporting part, which extends from the right and left side faces of the unit case along the entire width in the width direction. Thus, it is necessary to integrally form, on the right and left side faces of the unit case, the heater-core upper-portion supporting part having at least a length equal to half the length of the unit case in the width direction.
Because this heater-core upper-portion supporting part is large in size in the width direction, the draft angle needs to be large during plastic molding, the wall thickness of a root portion thereof is increased, and the wall thickness of a tip portion thereof is reduced, there is a problem in that the wall is likely to lean (to be tilted), thereby leading to a poor molding accuracy. This problem is difficult to avoid with current plastic molding accuracy, and it is difficult to set a constant wall angle of the unit case. On the other hand, a certain space exists between the heater-core upper-portion supporting part and the rotating shaft of the air mixing damper, and cool air cooled by the evaporator flows through this space. Because it is difficult to set a constant wall angle of the unit case, the space becomes non-uniform, thus causing a non-uniform amount of bypass cool air and deterioration of the temperature control performance.
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a vehicle air-conditioning apparatus in which a space formed between the upper surface of the heater core and the rotating shaft of the air mixing damper can be set to a given axially-uniform space, thereby making the temperature adjustment easier and improving the temperature control performance.
In order to solve the above-described problems, the vehicle air-conditioning apparatus of the present invention employs the following solutions.
Specifically, an aspect according to the present invention is a vehicle air-conditioning apparatus in which an air flow path in a unit case is branched into a bypass flow path and a heating flow path at a downstream side of an evaporator; a heater core is disposed in the heating flow path; a rotating shaft is disposed above an upper portion of the heater core; and an air mixing damper that is made to turn about the rotating shaft to adjust the ratios of airflows to be circulated into the bypass flow path and the heating flow path is provided, in which heater-core supporting parts that support only upper right and left shoulders of the heater core are provided on right and left side faces of the unit case, and an upper surface of the heater core is supported by the heater-core supporting parts; and a space adjusting section that sets a space formed between the upper surface of the heater core and the rotating shaft of the air mixing damper to an axially-uniform space is provided on the air mixing damper.
According to the above-described aspect, in the vehicle air-conditioning apparatus that includes the air mixing damper having the rotating shaft disposed above the upper portion of the heater core, the heater-core supporting parts, which support only the upper right and left shoulders of the heater core, are provided on the right and left side faces of the unit case to support an upper surface of the heater core; and the space adjusting section, which sets the space formed between the upper surface of the heater core and the rotating shaft of the air mixing damper to the axially-uniform space, is provided on the air mixing damper. Therefore, since the heater-core upper surface is supported by the heater-core supporting parts, which are provided on the right and left side faces of the unit case and which support only the upper right and left shoulders of the heater core, a space is formed between the heater-core upper surface and the rotating shaft of the air mixing damper. The space adjusting section, provided on the air mixing damper, can set this space to a uniform space that is axially uniform and is made as small as possible. Therefore, the problem of conventional technologies in which the upper surface of the heater core is supported along the entire width by a heater-core upper-portion supporting part provided on the unit case, namely, deterioration of the temperature control performance caused by a non-uniform space formed when a wall constituting the heater-core supporting upper-portion part is tilted, is solved, thus stabilizing the amount of bypass air flowing from the space, thereby making it possible to make the temperature adjustment easier and to improve the temperature control performance.
Furthermore, in the vehicle air-conditioning apparatus according to the above-described aspect, the space adjusting section is structured such that an outer periphery thereof is an arc having the same center as a rotation center of the rotating shaft, so that the axial space can be set to the uniform space irrespective of a rotation angle of the air mixing damper.
According to the above-described aspect, the outer periphery of the space adjusting section is an arc having the same center as the rotation center of the rotating shaft, so that the axial space can be set to the uniform space irrespective of the rotation angle of the air mixing damper. Thus, the axial space formed between the upper surface of the heater core and the rotating shaft of the air mixing damper can be set to the uniform space by the space adjusting section irrespective of the rotation angle of the air mixing damper. Therefore, the axial space is prevented from becoming non-uniform depending on the rotation angle of the air mixing damper. Thus, it is possible to make the temperature adjustment easier and to improve the temperature control performance.
Furthermore, in one of the vehicle air-conditioning apparatuses according to the above-described aspect, the space adjusting section is integrally formed on the rotating shaft around the rotating shaft along the axial direction.
According to the above-described aspect, the space adjusting section is integrally formed on the rotating shaft around the rotating shaft along the axial direction. Since the space adjusting section is provided around the rotating shaft, the original function of the air mixing damper is not adversely affected, the structure thereof is not unnecessarily complicated, and molding thereof does not become difficult. Therefore, while simplifying the supporting structure for the heater core by eliminating the heater-core upper-portion supporting part for supporting the upper surface of the heater core along the entire width, the space formed between the upper surface of the heater core and the rotating shaft is set uniform, thus making it possible to make the temperature adjustment easier and to improve the temperature control performance.
Furthermore, in one of the vehicle air-conditioning apparatuses of the above-described aspect, the space adjusting section is provided at least over a rotation angle range of the air mixing damper from a maximum cooling position to a maximum heating position.
According to the above-described aspect, the space adjusting section is provided at least over the rotation angle range of the air mixing damper from the maximum cooling position to the maximum heating position. Thus, in the entire rotation range in which the air mixing damper provides a temperature adjustment function, the axial space formed between the upper surface of the heater core and the rotating shaft of the air mixing damper can be set to the uniform space by the space adjusting section. Therefore, an area where the space adjusting section is installed is made the requisite minimum, and the modified part of the air mixing damper is made small, thereby making it possible to suppress an increase in cost.
Furthermore, in one of the vehicle air-conditioning apparatuses of the above-described aspect, a protruding part that protrudes in a direction opposite to the air mixing damper with the rotating shaft therebetween is integrally provided on the space adjusting section; and a seal member that abuts on the upper surface of the heater core in a vicinity of the maximum heating position to close the axial space is provided on the protruding part.
According to the above-described aspect, the space adjusting section is integrally provided with the protruding part, which protrudes in the direction opposite to the air mixing damper with the rotating shaft therebetween, and the seal member, which abuts on the upper surface of the heater core in the vicinity of the maximum heating position to close the axial space, is provided on the protruding part. Thus, the seal member, provided on the protruding part protruding from the space adjusting section, is made to abut on the upper surface of the heater core in the vicinity of the maximum heating position, thereby making it possible to close the axial space formed between the upper surface of the heater core and the rotating shaft of the air mixing damper. Therefore, in the vicinity of the maximum heating position, the bypass of cool air flowing from the space can be eliminated, and the heating performance can be maximized.
According to the present invention, since the upper surface of the heater core is supported by the heater-core supporting parts, which are provided on the right and left side faces of the unit case and which support only the upper right and left shoulders of the heater core, a space is formed between the heater-core upper surface and the rotating shaft of the air mixing damper. However, the space adjusting section, which is provided in the air mixing damper, can set this space to a uniform space that is axially uniform and is made as small as possible. Thus, the problem of conventional technologies in which the upper surface of the heater core is supported along the entire width by the heater-core upper-portion supporting part provided on the unit case, namely, deterioration of the temperature control performance caused by a non-uniform space formed when a wall constituting the heater-core upper-portion supporting part is tilted, is solved, thus stabilizing the amount of bypass air flowing from the space, thereby making it possible to make the temperature adjustment easier and to improve the temperature control performance.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to
A vehicle air-conditioning apparatus (HVAC unit; heating ventilation and air conditioning unit) 1 includes a plastic unit case 2 made up by integrally joining a plurality of partial cases that are formed by separating them in vertical and horizontal directions.
In the unit case 2, an air flow path 7 is formed to allow an airflow blown from a blower unit 3, which is formed of a fan case 4, an impeller 5, and a fan motor 6 that are disposed at a side of the unit case 2, to flow in the front-to-back direction (horizontal direction in
The air flow path 7 is branched into a bypass flow path 9 and a heating flow path 10 at a downstream side of the evaporator 8. As shown in
The bypass flow path 9 and the heating flow path 10 meet in an air mixing area 14 located at a downstream side of the air mixing damper 11 and communicate with the following three vent ducts: a face vent duct 15; a foot vent duct 16; and a defroster vent duct 17 that are formed at a downstream side of the air mixing area 14. A defroster/face damper 18 that switches the blowing mode is provided between the face vent duct 15 and the defroster vent duct 17. Furthermore, a foot damper 19 that switches the blowing mode is provided at the entrance of the foot vent duct 16.
As shown in
Specifically, through opening and closing of the above-described two defroster/face damper 18 and foot damper 19, the blowing mode of hot air to be blown into the vehicle interior can be selectively switched to any of the following five blowing modes: a face mode in which hot air is blown out from the face vent duct 15; a bi-level mode in which hot air is blown out from both the face vent duct 15 and the foot vent duct 16; a foot mode in which hot air is blown out from the foot vent duct 16; a defroster/foot mode in which hot air is blown out from both the foot vent duct 16 and the defroster vent duct 17; and a defroster mode in which hot air is blown out from the defroster vent duct 17.
As described above, the heater core 13 is substantially vertically disposed in the heating flow path 10 in the unit case 2 so as to intersect the heating flow path. More specifically, as shown in
As shown in
With this structure in which the heater-core supporting parts 24 and 25 support only the upper right and left shoulders 13A and 13B of the heater core 13, a supporting wall for supporting an upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 along the entire width is eliminated. As a result, the heater-core supporting parts 24 and 25 are reduced in thickness, and, accordingly, the heater-core supporting parts 24 and 25 and the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11 are disposed close together. Incidentally, with this structure, the distances between the heater core 13 and the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11 in vertical and front-to-back directions are each reduced by about 10 mm, thus achieving a reduction in the size of the HVAC unit 1.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, by eliminating the supporting wall, which supports the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 along the entire width, an axial space is formed between the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 and the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11. In order to make this axial space as small as possible and to set the space to an axially-uniform space S, a space adjusting section 30 is integrally formed around the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11. As shown in
The space adjusting section 30 is structured such that an outer periphery 30A thereof is an arc having the same center as a center O of the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11, as shown in
Furthermore, the space adjusting section 30 is integrally provided with a protruding part 30B that protrudes toward the sub-damper 11A (in the direction opposite to the air mixing damper) with the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11 therebetween. As shown in
With the above-described structure, the following advantageous effects are afforded according to this embodiment.
An airflow blown from the blower unit 3 to the air flow path 7 is cooled through heat exchange with the refrigerant while passing through the evaporator 8. According to the degree of opening of the air mixing damper 11, part of the airflow circulates to the bypass flow path 9, and the other part thereof circulates to the heating flow path 10. Hot air heated by the heater core 13 in the heating flow path 10 and cool air passing through the bypass flow path 9 are mixed in the air mixing area 14 and adjusted to have a set temperature, and the temperature-adjusted air is blown out from any of the face vent duct 15, the foot vent duct 16, and the defroster vent duct 17, selected through opening and closing of the defroster/face damper 18 and the foot damper 19, into the vehicle interior to be used for air conditioning of the vehicle interior.
The heater core 13, which heats the airflow circulating to the heating flow path 10, performs heat exchange between the airflow and high-temperature cooling water circulating from the engine cooling-water circuit to heat the airflow and is substantially vertically disposed so as to intersect the heating flow path 10. The heater core 13 is installed by being placed on the heater-core installing part 23, which is provided on the bottom face of the heating flow path 10, and only the right and left shoulders 13A and 13B of the upper portions of the heater core 13 are supported by the heater-core supporting parts 24 and 25, provided on the right and left side faces 2A and 2B of the unit case 2, respectively.
In this way, the upper portions of the heater core 13 are supported via the heater-core supporting parts 24 and 25, which are provided on the right and left side faces 2A and 2B of the unit case 2, which have a C-channel shape in cross section, and which have the holding faces 26, 27, 28, and 29 for holding only the upper surfaces, the end surfaces, and the both front and back side surfaces of the right and left shoulders 13A and 13B of the heater core 13. As a result, the heater core 13 can be positioned at a predetermined position in the heating flow path 10 with at least four shoulder portions being supported, and can be fixedly supported.
Therefore, even though the supporting wall for supporting the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 along the entire width is not provided on the right and left side faces 2A and 2B of the unit case 2, the heater core 13 can be securely installed in the heating flow path 10. Thus, it is possible to simplify the structure of the unit case 2, to make molding thereof easier, and to reduce the weight and the cost due to a reduction in the amount of plastic used. Furthermore, since the supporting wall for supporting the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 along the entire width is unnecessary, and the heater core 13 and the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11 can be installed close together, it is possible to reduce, by the corresponding dimensions, the sizes of the unit case 2 and therefore the HVAC unit 1 in the vertical and front-to-back directions, thus making the HVAC unit 1 more compact and lighter, and to make installation in the vehicle easier.
Furthermore, by eliminating the supporting wall for supporting the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 along the entire width, an axial space is formed between the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 and the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11. In order to make the axial space as small as possible and to set the space to the axially-uniform space S, the space adjusting section 30 is integrally formed around the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11. Thus, with the space adjusting section 30, the space formed between the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 and the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11 can be set to the space S, which is axially uniform and is made as small as possible.
As a result, the problem of conventional technologies in which the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 is supported along the entire width by a heater-core upper-portion supporting part that is provided on the unit case 2, namely, deterioration of the temperature control performance caused by a non-uniform space formed when a wall of the heater-core upper-portion supporting part is tilted, is solved, thus stabilizing the amount of bypass air flowing from the space S, thereby making it possible to make the temperature adjustment easier and to improve the temperature control performance.
Furthermore, the outer periphery 30A of the space adjusting section 30 is an arc having the same center as the rotation center 0 of the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11, so that the axial space can be set to the uniform space S irrespective of the rotation angle of the air mixing damper 11. Thus, the axial space formed between the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 and the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11 can be set to the uniform space S by the space adjusting section 30 irrespective of the rotation angle of the air mixing damper 11. Therefore, the axial space S is prevented from becoming non-uniform depending on the rotation angle of the air mixing damper 11. Thus, it is possible to make the temperature adjustment easier and to improve the temperature control performance.
Furthermore, the space adjusting section 30 is integrally formed on the rotating shaft 12 around the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11 along the axial direction. Since the space adjusting section 30 is provided around the rotating shaft 12, the original function of the air mixing damper 11 is not adversely affected, the structure thereof is not unnecessarily complicated, and molding thereof does not become difficult. While simplifying the supporting structure for the heater core 13 by eliminating the heater-core upper-portion supporting part for supporting the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 along the entire width, the space S formed between the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 and the rotating shaft 12 is set uniform, thus making it possible to make the temperature adjustment easier and to improve the temperature control performance.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, the space adjusting section 30 is provided only over the rotation angle range of the air mixing damper 11 from the maximum cooling position (MAX COOL position) to the maximum heating position (MAX HOT position). Thus, in the entire rotation range in which the air mixing damper 11 provides a temperature adjustment function, the axial space formed between the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 and the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11 is set to the uniform space S by the space adjusting section 30. Thus, an area where the space adjusting section 30 is installed is made the requisite minimum, and the modified part of the air mixing damper 11 is made small, thereby making it possible to suppress an increase in cost.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, the space adjusting section 30 is integrally provided with the protruding part 30B, which protrudes in the direction opposite to the air mixing damper with the rotating shaft 12 therebetween, and the seal member 31, which abuts on the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 in the vicinity of the maximum heating position to close the axial space S, is provided on the protruding part 30B. Thus, the seal member 31, provided on the protruding part 30B integrally formed in the space adjusting section 30, is made to abut on the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 in the vicinity of the maximum heating position, thereby making it possible to close the axial space S formed between the upper surface 13C of the heater core 13 and the rotating shaft 12 of the air mixing damper 11. Therefore, in the vicinity of the maximum heating position, the heating performance can be maximized by eliminating the bypass of cool air flowing from the space S.
Note that the present invention is not limited to the invention according to the above-described embodiment, and appropriate modifications can be made without departing from the scope thereof. For example, in the above-described embodiment, a description has been given of an example case where the evaporator 8 and the heater core 13 are substantially vertically disposed. However, it is needless to say that the evaporator 8 and the heater core 13 are not necessarily disposed vertically and may be disposed at an angle.
Furthermore, the unit case 2 is made up by integrally joining a plurality of partial cases that are formed by separating them. However, the division method is not particularly limited, and the heater-core supporting parts 24 and 25 may be integrally formed on appropriate partial cases located corresponding to the position where the heater core 13 is installed. Furthermore, it is also needless to say that various modifications can be made to the arrangement of the HVAC unit 1 and the blower unit 3.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-155067 | Jul 2011 | JP | national |
