Heat exchange – With timer – programmer – time delay – or condition responsive... – Having heating and cooling capability
Reexamination Certificate
1996-12-11
2001-04-10
Ford, John K. (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
With timer, programmer, time delay, or condition responsive...
Having heating and cooling capability
C165S203000, C165S222000, C165S042000, C165S043000, C062S003610, C062S003300, C062S003400, C454S161000, C237S01230A
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213198
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO THE RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is based on and claims priority of Japanese Patent Application Nos. Hei. 7-324810 filed on Dec. 13, 1995, Hei. 8-4964 filed on Jan. 16, 1996, Hei. 8-32409 filed on Feb. 20, 1996, Hei. 8-163413 filed on Jun. 24, 1996, the content of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, capable of improving the defrosting performance of the windshield as well as the heating performance for the passenger compartment.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, an air conditioner for a vehicle, of the above type, has been disclosed in JP-A-5-124426. In an air conditioning case of this air conditioner for a vehicle, there are formed an inside air inlet and an outside air inlet on one end side and formed on the other end side a foot air outlet, a defroster air outlet, and a face air outlet.
In the air conditioning case, there is provided a partitioning plate which partitions an interior thereof into a first air passage extending from the inside air inlet to the face air outlet and the foot air outlet and a second air passage extending from the outside air inlet to the defroster air outlet.
When the heating of the passenger compartment is performed while defrosting the windshield, there is selected a foot/def mode in which the outside air sucked from the outside air suction inlet is blown out from the defroster air outlet toward the windshield through the first air passage, and inside air sucked from the inside air suction inlet is blown out from the foot air outlet toward the foot of the passenger in the passenger compartment through the second air passage.
In this way, since the outside air having a low humidity is blown out to the windshield, the defrosting performance of the windshield is improved. Further, since the inside air having been already heated is sucked into the second air passage, the heating load of a heating heat exchanger provided in the second air passage is reduced, and as a result the heating performance is improved.
Recently, in vehicles (such as diesel vehicles, electric motor vehicles, etc.) which are hard to secure the sufficient heating performance, it is strongly demanded that the heating load in the heating heat exchanger should be further reduced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above problem, an object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, capable of satisfying the aforementioned demand.
Generally, for defrosting the windshield, it is necessary to blow out a predetermined amount of air having a low humidity toward the windshield from the defroster opening.
Accordingly, in the air conditioning apparatus where the outside air is blown out to the windshield through a first air passage, and inside air is blown out to feet of a passenger through a second air passage, it is necessary to blow out a predetermined amount of air having a low humidity toward the windshield through the first air passage.
To satisfy the above-described demand, according to the present invention, the predetermined amount of air is not formed by only the outside air having a low humidity, but is formed by the outside air having a low humidity in a first air passage and the inside air having a low humidity having been dehumidified by dehumidifying means, which is mixed into the first air passage through an inside air mixing passage. In the present invention, a ventilation load can be reduced while maintaining the defrosting performance of the windshield, and as a result the heating capacity can be increased.
Further, in the present invention, only the inside air in the inside air mixing passage is dehumidified by the dehumidifying means, and therefore the dehumidifying means can be downsized as compared with the case where the inside air in the inside air mixing passage and the second air passage are respectively dehumidified.
The dehumidifying means may be constituted by an electric element. In this way, even if a temperature difference between the inside air in the inside air mixing passage and the outside air in the first air passage is small, the dehumidifying capacity on the heat absorbing side of the electric element can be fully performed by adjusting an amount of electric current charged to the electric element.
Further, determining means may determine conditions for blowing out a low humidity conditioned air from the defroster opening. When the conditions are determined by the determining means, the electric element is operated.
In this way, when the dehumidification is necessary, the electric element is automatically operated. Therefore, the operating burden for the passenger is eliminated, and the dehumidifying operation is automatically performed by the electric element, when the dehumidification is necessary.
The dehumidifying means may include water adsorbing means for adsorbing water in the inside air.
Further, a sub-passage leading to the outside of the first air passage may be formed, and the water adsorbing means of the dehumidifying means may be provided so as to face the inside air mixing passage and the sub-passage. In addition, heating means for heating air may be provided at a part on an upstream air side of the water adsorbing means provided in the sub-passage, and switching means for switching so that water adsorbing means provided in the inside air mixing passage is provided in the sub-passage and for switching so that water adsorption means provided in the sub-passage may be provided in the inside air mixing passage.
In this way, the water adsorption means provided in the first inside air passage keeps on adsorbing water of air in the inside air mixing passage, and an amount of adsorbed water gradually increases, and the adsorption capacity gradually lowers. The switching means switches the water adsorption means provided in the inside air mixing passage to be provided in the sub-passage.
Then, when the water adsorbing means is switched to be provided in the sub-passage, since heating means is provided at an upstream side of the water adsorbing means, air heated by the heating means passes through the water adsorbing means. The water adsorbed to the water adsorbing means is evaporated by heat exchange with heat of the high temperature air and is emitted. Thus, the water adsorbing means switched to be provided in the sub-passage is again reproduced to the adsorbable state.
Since the water adsorbing means reproduced to the adsorbable state in the sub-passage is switched to be provided in the first inside air passage by the switching means, it can again adsorb water in air in the inside air mixing passage.
As described above, in the present invention, the switching of the position of the water adsorbing means is repeatedly performed by the switching means, and therefore a water adsorbing operation in the inside air mixing passage by the water adsorbing means can be repeatedly performed. Since only the air in the sub-passage is heated by the heating means, the capacity of the heating means can be reduced as compared with the case where all the air to be blown out into the passenger compartment are heated.
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ATZ Automobiltechnische Zeitschrift 97 (1995) 2, pp. 72-77.
Miyata Manabu
Nonoyama Hiroshi
Shikata Kazushi
Shirota Yuichi
Sugi Hikaru
Denso Corporation
Ford John K.
Harness Dickey & Pierce PLC
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