Refrigeration – With vehicle feature – Occupant-type vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-14
2001-09-04
Tapolcai, William E. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
With vehicle feature
Occupant-type vehicle
C454S129000, C454S143000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06282911
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioning system for a motor car.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, automobiles are equipped with air conditioning systems for making drivers far more comfortable in hot or cold. Such an air conditioning system has air outlets disposed at a plurality of locations in the passenger compartment through which heated or cooled conditioning air blows into the passenger compartment. These air outlets, which are typically formed in the instrument panel located in front of the driver, include defroster air outlets through which conditioning air blows towards the front wind shield, side air outlets opening at opposite sides of the front of the instrument panel, a center air outlet opening at the center of the instrument panel and foot air outlet through which conditioning air blows towards feet of the driver. An air conditioning systems of this type such as described in, for example, Japanese Utility Patent Publication No. 5-408 has an air outlet opening in the ceiling of the passenger compartment. In this air conditioning system, conditioning air is introduced into a space between a sunroof and a sunshade which is formed with a plurality of openings as sunshade air outlets so that the conditioning air blows into the passenger compartment through the sunshade air outlets. This type of air conditioning system is enabled to blow conditioning air into the passenger compartment through a number of air outlets without complicating duct arrangement. There have been also proposed an air conditioning system which can discharge hot air out of the passenger compartment through a sunroof while the interior of the room temperature of the passenger compartment is high system as described in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-306120 and an air conditioning system which can blow conditioning air through air outlets in the instrument panel and a ceiling air outlet so as to eliminate a temperature difference of the room temperature from a selected temperature while the solar radiation intensity is high as described in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-220922.
In the prior art air conditioning system which controls air blow into the passenger compartment only through air outlets formed in the instrument panel and the ceiling of the compartment, there is such a fear that the passenger compartment is difficult to be kept far more comfortable. For example, although the passenger compartment is evenly cooled by causing conditioning air to blow from the ceiling of the passenger compartment with an effect of making the passengers comfortable while it is at a desired temperature setting, air conditioning rather gives uncomfortable feelings if conditioning air blows too much from the ceiling of the passenger compartment in the case where the passenger compartment is at a high temperature and is necessary to be rapidly cooled, in other words, where the outlet air temperature is controlled to be considerably lower than the room temperature. In such the case, cold wind blows against the neck of the passenger according to wind directions, which gives the passenger an uncomfortable feeling more strongly than a feeling of cool.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an automobile air conditioning system which can supply conditioning air from a ceiling of a passenger compartment of an automobile without giving the passenger uncomfortable feelings so as thereby to provide improved comfort of the passenger compartment.
According to a concept of the present invention, the air conditioning system for an automotive vehicle equipped with a sunroof which is automatically tilted up and down and a ceiling of a passenger compartment which has a ceiling opening located below the sunroof and automatically opened and closed, the air conditioning system which comprises a conditioning air path in which conditioning air flows, blower means for drawing in at least recirculated air recirculating inside the passenger compartment and discharging the recirculated air as conditioning air into the conditioning air path, air temperature controlling means for controlling a temperature of the conditioning air flowing in the conditioning air path, front air outlets to which the conditioning air path leads and through which the conditioning air blows toward passengers in the passenger compartment from the front of the passenger compartment, a roof air path formed between the sunroof and the ceiling opening so as to lead to the ceiling opening from the conditioning air path, a room temperature sensor for monitoring a room temperature in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, room temperature setting means for setting a desired room temperature, and control means for switching the air conditioning system in operation from a first operation mode wherein the air conditioning system opens the sunroof and closes the ceiling opening according to differences of the room temperature from the desired room temperature so that the conditioning air flowing in the conditioning air path is partly introduced into the roof air path and then forced out of the vehicle through the sunroof and partly cooled by the air temperature controlling means and forced to blow into the passenger compartment through the front air outlets to a second operation mode wherein, subsequently to operation in the first operation mode, the conditioning air is forced to blow into the passenger compartment through the front air outlets only when the difference of the room temperature from the desired room temperature is larger than a specified value and an amount of the conditioning air blowing into the passenger compartment through the front air outlets is reduced and an amount of the conditioning air introduced into the roof air path and then forced out of the vehicle through the sunroof is increased when the difference of the room temperature from the desired room temperature is smaller than the specified value.
In the air conditioning system, incoming air, recirculated or outside, that is passed through the conditioning air path by the blower means, blows into the passenger compartment after controlled, i.e. heated or cooled, to a desired outlet air temperature. The conditioning air path is provided with the front air outlets and the ceiling opening as a ceiling air inlet/outlet through which conditioning air blows into the passenger compartment. In this operation mode, while the recirculated air is discharged through the sunroof, the conditioning air at a low temperature blows into the passenger compartment. For example, when starting air conditioning a passenger compartment at a high room temperature while the vehicle stands in very hot whether, the air conditioning system operates in that operation mode, so as to forces out hot air out of the passenger compartment. Thereafter, proportions of amounts of conditioning air blowing into the passenger compartment through the front air outlets and the ceiling opening are regulated according to temperatures of the passenger compartment.
According to another concept of the present invention, the air conditioning system for an automotive vehicle comprises a conditioning air path through which at least one of recirculated air recirculating inside a passenger compartment of the vehicle and outside air introduced from the outside of the vehicle is introduced and flows, blower means for drawing in air through the conditioning air path and discharging the air as conditioning air into the conditioning air path, air temperature controlling means for controlling a temperature of the conditioning air flowing in the conditioning air path, a ceiling opening formed in a ceiling of the passenger compartment and in communication with the conditioning air path, front air outlets to which the conditioning air path leads and through which the conditioning air blows toward passengers in the passenger compartment from the front of the passenger compartment, an
Ikegami Takako
Watanabe Masaya
Mazda Motor Corporation
Nixon & Peabody LLP
Studebaker Donald R.
Tapolcai William E.
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