Ventilation – Vehicle – Having outlet airway
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-20
2002-10-22
Joyce, Harold (Department: 3749)
Ventilation
Vehicle
Having outlet airway
C454S162000, C137S858000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06468148
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an exhaust ventilator having a plate-shaped butterfly valve that is mounted on a frame to open and shut off a vent port formed on the frame. Particularly, it relates to an exhaust ventilator disposed on an automobile and having an improvement in a structure at an exit or outlet port for enabling an air to be exhausted from a cabin to an outside of the automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional exhaust ventilator, a quarter ventilator is disposed on a lateral rear side of a rear bumper of an automobile. The quarter ventilator has a plate-shaped butterfly valve, which is mounted on a frame having a vent port. The quarter ventilator permits an outside air to be introduced into a cabin through an air vent of an instrument panel. Moreover, the introduced air passed through the cabin and is exhausted via the quarter ventilator.
FIG. 5
shows an automobile on which an exhaust ventilator is provided.
FIG. 6
shows a main portion, partially cut away, of a conventional exhaust ventilator.
FIG. 7
shows a section of the conventional exhaust ventilator. The conventional art is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication 9-24729.
Referring to
FIGS. 5
to
7
, an opening
12
is formed at a rear lateral part
11
of a body of an automobile
1
. Specifically, the opening
12
is disposed at an inside of a rear bumper
2
as shown in FIG.
5
. An exhaust ventilator is provided in such opening.
A conventional exhaust ventilator has a main frame
113
that has a shape of short square pipe and that defines an outline of an overall structure of the exhaust ventilator. A flange
114
is formed at an outer end of the main frame
113
. The flange
114
has a square ring shape that extends in a radially outward direction. The flange
114
has holes for inserting screws
115
so that it is fixed on the body lateral part
11
of the automobile
1
by the screws
115
.
The main frame
113
has four inside surfaces: an inside upper surface
113
a
, inside lower surface
113
b
, inside left surface (not shown) and inside right surface
113
d
. The conventional exhaust ventilator has an upper partition
116
a
and lower partition
116
b
. The upper partition
116
a
and lower partition
116
b
are parallel to the upper surface
113
a
and lower surface
113
b
, respectively, and divide a space between the upper and lower surfaces
113
a
and
113
b
at equal intervals. The exhaust ventilator further has a left partition (not shown) and a right partition
116
d
. The left partition and right partition
116
d
are parallel to the left surface and a right surface
113
d
, respectively, and divide a space between the left and right surfaces
113
d
at equal intervals. The upper partition
116
a
, lower partition
116
b
, left partition and right partition
116
d
are crossed to each other. Thus, nine air vents
130
are formed. The air vents
130
have an equal opening area.
Moreover, the outer end surfaces
116
A of the partitions
116
a
,
116
b
,
116
d
are protruded longer toward an outside one by one as they go down. The outer end surfaces
116
A are positioned on an imaginary line Z shown by one-dot-chain line in
FIG. 6
, which is inclined at an angle &agr;=60 degrees.
A butterfly valve
118
has an upper side secured to an inside stepped part of the upper surface
113
a
of the main frame
113
so that it closes the corresponding air vents
130
. Similarly, butterfly valves
118
have upper sides secured to lower half part of outer end surfaces
116
A of the upper and lower partitions
116
a
and
116
b
, respectively, so that they close the corresponding air vents
130
. The butterfly valves
118
are fixed by screws
120
via pressure pieces
119
. Each of the butterfly valves
118
has its lower side tiltable. The pressure piece
119
has such rigidity that it uniformly transmits a pressure from the screw
120
to each butterfly valve
118
. Moreover, the pressure piece
119
has a vertical surface and an inclined surface. A head of the screw
120
is disposed on the vertical surface, and the inclined surface is in close contact with the outer end surface
116
a
. Thus, the pressure of the screws
120
is evenly transferred to the outer end surface
116
a
. The butterfly valve
118
is formed of a flexible material composed of EPDM such as a solid rubber sheet having a predetermined mass.
As mentioned above, the butterfly valves
118
are disposed over the air vents
130
, respectively. The outer end surfaces
116
A of the left and right partitions
116
d
are aligned on the imaginary line Z. The main frame
113
has inside stepped surfaces on the inside left surface and inside right surface
113
d
, respectively. Such stepped surfaces are disposed on the imaginary line Z of the angle &agr;=60 degrees. Thereby, each butterfly valve
118
has its inside surface planarly contacted with the end surfaces
116
A of the left and right partitions
116
d
and the stepped surfaces of the left and right surfaces
113
d
when the air in the cabin is not ventilated. Moreover, the main frame
113
has an inside stepped surface on the upper surface
113
a
. Such stepped surface is disposed on the imaginary line Z of the angle &agr;. The entire outer end surface
116
A of the lower surface
113
a
is disposed on the imaginary line Z of the angle &agr;=60 degrees. Thereby, each butterfly valve
118
has its inside surface planarly contacted with the entire outer end surface
116
A of the lower surface
113
b
when the air in the cabin is not ventilated. Moreover, the air in the cabin flows out of gaps formed between them or through the air vents
130
.
The conventional exhaust ventilator constructed as above operates as follows.
When ventilation is necessary in the cabin of the automobile
1
, an outside air is introduced into the cabin, for example, via an instrument panel. Then, an air pressure in the cabin increases. Accordingly, each butterfly valve
118
on each air vent
130
has its lower end moved outward, thereby forming a fixed gap. Thus, the inside air is exhausted to the outside through between the inside surfaces of the butterfly valves
118
, the upper partition
116
a
, lower partition
116
b
and lower surface
113
a
of the main frame
113
. At this time, the butterfly valve
118
opens in such a degree as to balance with the inside air pressure. When the inside air is not ventilated, the butterfly valve
118
closes each air vent
130
by its dead weight.
Consequently, even if the outside air pressure of the automobile
1
heightens, the butterfly valve
118
is never opened. Moreover, if a water pressure is applied from the outside when washing the car, the butterfly valve
118
keeps its closing state. Furthermore, since the water attached to an outside surface of the butterfly valve
118
can flow downward, the water during car wash never flows into the cabin.
To the contrary, the butterfly valve
118
maintains the closing state not by pressure by its elastic force but only by the dead weight. Therefore, there is no change in its elastic modulus by aged deterioration, so that it can operate stably. As a result, pressure loss due to the butterfly valve
118
decreases at the air vent
130
, thereby enabling ventilation of the inside air with a little pressure difference.
However, when recycling as resource, the conventional exhaust ventilator needs to be disassembled into each part and classified into each material. Namely, it must have all the parts divided: the screws
115
at the flange
114
, main frame
113
, butterfly valve
118
of EPDM, pressure piece
119
and metal screws
120
.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an exhaust ventilator that has all parts made of a same material so as to enable recycle of resource, while keeping or improving its property.
According to a first aspect of the invention, an exhaust ventilator is provided. The exhaust ventilator has a frame. The frame has an opening for ventilating
Furusawa Yasuhide
Kawashima Daiichiro
Mukai Hiroshi
Boles Derek S.
Joyce Harold
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
Toyoda Gosei Co,., Ltd.
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