Heating systems – Heat and power plants – Vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-08
2002-04-16
Wilson, Pamela (Department: 3749)
Heating systems
Heat and power plants
Vehicle
C122S026000, C126S247000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06371381
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a heat generator, for a vehicle, having an operation chamber defined in a housing, a viscous fluid contained in the operation chamber, and a rotor which is driven and rotated by a drive power supplied from an external drive source.
BACKGROUND ART
German Unexamined Patent Publication 3832966 (DE3832966A1 published on Apr. 5, 1990) discloses a heating system for occupant spaces in power vehicles with liquid-cooled internal combustion engines. The heating system will be briefly discussed below with reference to
FIG. 12
which corresponds to FIG. 2 in the German publication.
The heating system has a housing which defines therein a working chamber
48
(corresponding to an operation chamber), a ring chamber
62
(corresponding to a heat receiving chamber) which surrounds the working chamber
48
, and a supply chamber
58
in front of and adjacent to the working chamber
48
. The supply chamber
58
and the working chamber
48
are almost completely separated from one another by a partition
60
. The partition
60
is provided with a throughgoing opening
66
extending therethrough, which connects the working chamber
48
and the supply chamber
58
. A connecting passage
68
is formed in the peripheral wall of the housing and at the upper edge of the partition
60
to bypass the upper portion of the partition
60
. The throughgoing opening
66
is opened and closed by a lever
72
provided in the supply chamber
58
. The lever
72
is biased by a coil spring
73
in a direction to open the opening
66
and is also biased by a bimetallic leaf spring
76
in a direction to close the opening
66
. Namely, the open degree of the opening
66
is determined in accordance with a balance, of the biasing forces, between the springs
73
and
76
.
The housing rotatably supports a drive shaft
52
at the rear portion of the housing. The drive shaft
52
is provided on its inner end with a wheel
50
(corresponding to a rotor) which is rotatable together with the drive shaft within the working chamber
48
, and on the outer end thereof with a belt pulley
44
secured thereto. The belt pulley
44
is functionally connected to an engine of the vehicle through a belt. The working chamber
48
and the supply chamber
58
contain therein a predetermined amount of viscous liquid
78
with which a space defined between the outer peripheral surface
80
of the wheel
50
and the cylindrical inner wall
82
of the working chamber
48
opposed thereto is filled. Note that, as can be seen in
FIG. 12
, approximately the lower half of the supply chamber
58
whose opening
66
is closed by the lever
72
is filled with the viscous liquid. When the drive force of the engine is transmitted to the drive shaft
52
, the wheel
50
is rotated in the working chamber
48
, so that the viscous liquid reserved in the space between the outer peripheral surface
80
of the wheel and the cylindrical inner wall
82
of the working chamber is sheared, thus resulting in a generation of heat due to fluid friction. The heat generated in the working chamber
48
is transmitted to the circulation fluid (engine coolant) circulating in the ring chamber
62
through the separation wall of the housing. The heated circulation fluid is supplied to a heat exchanger of a heater for a vehicle to heat a vehicle compartment.
In the heating system mentioned above, the feed-back control of the ability to generate heat is carried out in accordance with the opening or closing operation of the opening
66
by the lever
72
whose position is controlled by the two springs
73
and
76
. Concretely, when the high temperature viscous liquid is recovered in the supply chamber
58
from the working chamber
48
through the connecting passage
68
, the biasing force of the bimetallic leaf spring
76
overcomes the biasing force of the coil spring
73
due to an increase in the temperature around the spring
76
, so that the lever
72
closes the opening
66
. Consequently, the supply of the viscous liquid from the supply chamber
58
to the working chamber
48
is suspended and, accordingly, the amount of the viscous liquid in the working chamber
48
is gradually reduced, thus leading to a reduction of the amount of heat generated by the shearing. The tendency of a decrease in temperature of the viscous liquid to be recovered from the working chamber
48
to the supply chamber
58
causes the biasing force of the bimetallic leaf spring
76
to be weakened, so that the lever
72
is moved in a direction to open the opening
66
. As a result, the supply of the viscous liquid from the supply chamber
58
to the working chamber
48
starts again and hence the amount of the viscous liquid in the working chamber
48
is increased to thereby increase the amount of heat to be generated.
In order to enable the viscous liquid to flow between the supply chamber
58
and the working chamber
48
to thereby achieve the expected operation and effect of the heating system, it is necessary to mount the heating system to a vehicle body at a correct attachment angle.
FIG. 11
schematically shows a cross section of the supply chamber
58
of the heating system. The correct attachment angle refers to an angle at which the opening
66
is always below the surface level L of the viscous liquid within the supply chamber
58
and the connecting passage
68
is located above the surface level L. This positional relationship between the opening
66
, the passage
68
and the surface level L is a necessary condition to ensure that the opening
66
functions as a viscous fluid supply passage and that the connecting passage
68
functions as a viscous liquid recovery passage, respectively. Note that the sufficient condition to cause the movement of the viscous liquid from the supply chamber
58
to the working chamber
48
through the opening
66
is the surface level L of the viscous liquid in the supply chamber
58
being higher than the surface level of the viscous liquid in the working chamber
48
. Namely, in the heating system, the drive force to move the fluid relies only upon the difference in the surface level between the two chambers
58
and
48
.
However, if the heating system must be always attached to the vehicle body so as to meet the above-mentioned positional relationship of the opening
66
and the connecting passage
68
, the attachment angle of the heating system has a certain limit. Namely, as shown in
FIG. 11
, an ideal attachment angle of the heating system is an angle (upright position) at which an imaginary plane P including the opening
66
and the connecting passage
68
is perpendicular (normal) to the surface level L, and an allowable inclination of the heating system is approximately in the range of ±70 degrees with respect to the upright position. Namely, the allowable attachment angle range of the heating system is limited to approximately 140 degrees about the axis C. Taking into account a possible inclination of the vehicle body itself in forward/rearward and right/left directions, the allowable attachment angle range would be smaller than 140 degrees to practically guarantee reliable operation. In the structure in which, assuming that the opening
66
and the connecting passage
68
function only as a viscous liquid supply passage and only as a viscous liquid recovery passage, respectively, in connection with other elements or members (lever
72
, etc.), the single supply passage and the single recovery passage are provided, there is a drawback that the allowable attachment angle of the heating system (heat generator) is very narrow, as mentioned above, and this is not necessarily convenient for a user (car maker, etc.).
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a heat generator for a vehicle in which an allowable attachment angle range of a heat generator body is increased in comparison with the prior art, the freedom of attachment to the vehicle body is enhanced, and the attachment can be facilitated.
According to the present invention, the
Hoshino Tatsuyuki
Mori Hidefumi
Niwa Masami
Suzuki Shigeru
Boles Derek S.
Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho
Woodcock & Washburn LLP
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