Door mechanism of automotive air conditioning device

Heat exchange – With vehicle feature – Heating and cooling

Reexamination Certificate

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C165S042000, C165S103000, C165S201000, C454S156000, C454S160000, C454S161000, C454S121000, C454S126000, C237S01230A, C237S01230B, C137S875000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06659167

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a door mechanism of an automotive air conditioning device, which can slide in a limited space to smoothly control an air flow.
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
In general, an automotive air conditioning device comprises an intake unit for introducing outside and inside air, a cooler unit for cooling the introduced air and a heater unit for heating the introduced air, these three units being combined in series and installed in a limited space of a vehicle cabin, such as a space defined below an instrument panel.
However, due to the in-line connection of the three units, the automotive air conditioning device is compelled to have an enlarged size. Thus, when such device is mounted in a small car, the smaller vehicle cabin space is further limited, which is undesirable.
In view of the above, as is shown in
FIG. 16
, there has been proposed a device in which a cooler unit
101
and a heater unit
102
are positioned close to each other and aligned along a fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle thereby to reduce not only a longitudinal size “L” of the vehicle but also a lateral size of the same. Furthermore, in this device, for reduction of size, the distance between an evaporator
103
and a heater core
104
is reduced and a mix door (which will be referred to as just “door” hereinafter)
105
for producing cooler and/or warmer air is reduced in size.
As is known, the evaporator
103
is a device through which a low temperature low pressure refrigerant, which flows in a refrigerating cycle, flows for producing a cooled air by conducting a heat exchange between the refrigerant and an induced air. While, the heater core
104
is a device through which a highly heated engine cooling water flows for producing a heated air by conducting a heat exchange between the cooling water and an induced air.
However, in the unit having the above-mentioned construction, the reduction in size of the door
105
tends to cause a difficulty with which distribution of cooled air and warmed air is controlled. Thus, in some devices, as is illustrated by a broken line in the drawing, an auxiliary door
105
a
is provided for controlling the amount of air led to the heater core
104
. However, in this case, the addition of such auxiliary door causes a complicated and highly expensive construction, which is of course undesirable.
However, in the unit having the above-mentioned construction, the reduction in size of the door
105
tends to cause a difficulty with which distribution of cooled air and warmed air is controlled. Thus, in some devices, as is illustrated by a broken line in the drawing, an auxiliary door
105
a
is provided for controlling the amount of air led to the heater core
104
. However, in this case, the addition of such auxiliary door causes a complicated and highly costing construction, which is of course undesirable.
Accordingly, recently, there has been proposed, as is shown in
FIG. 17
, a much compact automotive air conditioning device (see Japanese Utility Model Provisional Publication 6-71222).
In the device, for achieving the compact construction, a cooler unit
101
and a heater unit
102
are integrated, and an evaporator
103
and a heater core
104
are positioned close to each other. That is, since, like in case of the mix door
105
arranged between the evaporator
103
and the heater core
104
and supported at one fulcrum as shown in
FIG. 17
, turning the door
106
about the fulcrum needs a relatively larger mounting, a flat plate door
109
(the door shown in the drawing comprises two doors
109
a
and
109
b
which are connected through pins “pa” and “pb” to a door actuating mechanism comprised of a link mechanism) is employed, the flat plate door being slid up-and-down along a rail
109
c
for effecting the temperature control.
However, a door mechanism possessed by the above-mentioned vertically sliding type tends to have a higher resistance against air passage and thus tends to show weak points in operability. That is, since the above-mentioned door
109
disclosed by the publication is of a flat and straight type, the air flow is forced to collide against the door at right angles, which brings about a higher air flow resistance causing reduction in air flow. When this air flow reduction occurs under a cooling condition of the air conditioner, the passengers can not get a satisfactorily cooled air.
In order to prevent air leakage around the door
109
, it is necessary to remove or minimize a clearance provided between the rail
109
c
and the door
109
. However, if the clearance is too small, the sliding resistance of the door becomes increased causing a non-smoothed movement of the door
109
. This undesired phenomenon equally occurs even when a sealing member is arranged between the door
109
and the rail
109
c
. While, if, for achieving a smoothed movement of the door, a larger clearance is provided between them, the undesired air leakage tends to occur. That is, in this case, antinomic matters take place.
Furthermore, in a case wherein, like the door
9
of the above-mentioned publication, the sliding mechanism is composed of a link mechanism, the connection between the pin and the link tends to produce a play upon operation of the door. When the door is applied with a certain wind pressure, noises caused by the play tend to be produced, which are transmitted to the vehicle cabin to make passengers uncomfortable.
The present invention is provided for eliminating the above-mentioned drawbacks possessed by the conventional techniques. That is, a first object of the invention is to provide an excellent door mechanism of an automotive air conditioning device, which assures a compact construction of the unit, reduction in air flow resistance, smoothed operation, satisfied sealing and satisfied air temperature controlling without producing noises.
Furthermore, as is seen from
FIG. 16
, in general, in a heater unit, around a mixing chamber
111
, there are arranged a defroster opening
106
a,
a ventilation opening
107
a
and foot opening
108
a.
To these openings, there are connected mode doors, such as a defroster door
106
and a ventilation door
107
. When one of the mode doors is actuated, the same is projected into the mixing chamber
111
. If the mode doors are designed to pivot in a direction away from the mixing chamber
111
, the size of the entire construction of unit becomes increased, which is not preferable.
Each time one of the mode doors is actuated, the direction of air flowing in the mixing chamber
111
is forced to change and thus desired and stable mixing between cooled air and warmed air is not obtained. Furthermore, the presence of the mode doors causes a marked increase in air flow resistance and production of noises.
For example, in a ventilation mode, by the function of the mix door
105
, part of the cooled air from the evaporator
103
is led into a bypass passage “B” and remaining part of the cooled air is led toward the heater core
104
to be warmed. The cooled air and warmed air are mixed in the mixing chamber
111
for blowing from the ventilation opening
107
a
an air having a predetermined temperature.
However, when the defroster door
106
takes a position to open the defroster opening
106
a,
the defroster door
106
is projected into the mixing chamber
111
and thus the flow of the cooled air in the bypass passage “B” is disturbed by the projected defroster door
106
, which changes the air distribution region in the mixing chamber
111
. Thus, stable mixing between the cooled air and warmed air is not achieved and thus stable air temperature controlling becomes difficult. In view of this drawback, some conventional devices are equipped with a fixed temperature controlling rib in the mixing chamber
111
for obtaining a stable air temperature controlling.
However, in case wherein the air temperature controlling rib is employed, it is difficult to determine the size of the temperature controlling rib and the positioning of the same. Furthermore, due to employment of the temperature c

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