Heat exchange – With vehicle feature – Heating and cooling
Patent
1996-07-29
1999-03-09
Ford, John K.
Heat exchange
With vehicle feature
Heating and cooling
165 43, 165103, 237 123A, 454318, 454319, 454334, F25B 2900
Patent
active
058788069
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a heating and/or air-conditioning installation, especially for a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, having a housing containing at least one heater and one vaporizer, inlet and outlet openings and air channels connecting the latter for causing air to flow selectively through the vaporizer, the heater or both of them, and control means associated with the channels for closing or opening them and for determining the free cross-section for the air volume passing therethrough.
Heating and/or air-conditioning installations of this type are already known. The basic structure of such installations is illustrated in FIG. 2. These known installations employ hinged flaps as control means, which flaps are arranged in such a way that they function as double-armed lever whose two parts, that project from the pivot axis, act to open or close, respectively, correspondingly arranged channels. The system is designed in such a way that, for example for cooling purposes, the air arriving from the vaporizer is directed immediately into the passenger compartment of the car, when the control flap occupies the corresponding position, or--for heating and/or drying purposes--the air is directed in its entirety first through the heater and then into the passenger compartment of the car, it being understood that intermediate positions of the flaps are also possible, depending on their opening angle. Heating and/or air-conditioning installations of this kind require by design a certain built-in depth, designated by L.sub.2 in FIG. 2.
DE-41 19 474 A1 discloses a heating or air-conditioning system for a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, where in order to enhance the intermixing of hot and cold air louver-like flaps are provided as control elements for the intake of fresh air and hot air. As stated in this publication, the described design is capable of making available, in a comparatively small mixing chamber, air of homogeneous temperature for transmission into the passenger compartment. However, the illustrated arrangement does not contribute towards reducing the overall installed dimensions of the heating or air-conditioning system. In addition, the arrangement of a plurality of hinged flaps, which are intended to work together as louvers but which must be installed separately, is a relatively complex process.
The same applies to other known heating and air-conditioning installations for a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle (DE 32 03 927 A1), where a heat exchanger is preceded in the area of the motor compartment by a flap register which is coupled with a closure member for a return line that can be moved in opposite sense. In the case of this installation, almost all other control elements still required for the control of the air flow are designed as hinged flaps as before.
Now, it is the object of the present invention to provide a solution for heating and/or air-condition installations of the before-described type, which solution allows a considerably reduction of the overall installed dimensions, without however considerably increasing the constructional input or having to accept any disadvantages regarding the functioning of the installation.
This object is achieved with a heating and/or air-conditioning installation of the before-described type by means of an arrangement where the control means are designed as mounting frames adapted to the cross-section of the channels, with a plurality of lamellae guided in the frame, whose dimensions are conveniently selected to procure that in the closed position they cover the entire cross-section of the frame. As a result of this arrangement, the space required for the pivotal movement of the flap is no longer needed so that considerably smaller installed lengths can be achieved, equal to only 60% of the length of a designed comprising a hinged flap, as is indicated by L.sub.1 in FIG. 1, which will be described in more detail further below. Moreover, the air outlet openings from the mixing chamber may also be equipped with such mount
REFERENCES:
patent: 3366141 (1968-01-01), Foster
patent: 3894481 (1975-07-01), Alley
patent: 4518012 (1985-05-01), O'Hara
patent: 4534507 (1985-08-01), Matsuda
patent: 4852639 (1989-08-01), Horiguchi et al.
patent: 5162020 (1992-11-01), Asano et al.
Denk Walter
Kniele Wolfgang
Martin Ralf
Neumann Vladimir
Rauland Werner
Behr GmbH & Co.
Ford John K.
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