Heating apparatus for vehicle

Details Heating apparatus for vehicle Heating apparatus for vehicle

1999-04-05

2001-07-17

Joyce, Harold (Department: 3744)

Heating systems

Heat and power plants

Vehicle

C237S01230B, C126S247000, C122S026000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06260766

ABSTRACT:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is related to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 10-94875 filed on Apr. 7, 1998, No. Hei. 11-20521 filed on Jan. 28, 1999, and No. Hei. 11-59255 filed on Mar. 5, 1999, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heating apparatus for a vehicle. The heating apparatus is suitable for a vehicle having a diesel engine or a lean burn engine, for example.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional heating apparatus for a vehicle, a passenger compartment is heated using cooling water for cooling an engine of the vehicle as a heating source. However, in a vehicle having a diesel engine or a lean burn engine, the passenger compartment cannot be sufficiently heated by cooling water of the engine.
To overcome this problem, in a heating apparatus disclosed in JP-U-63-50713, a pump is operatively linked with a vehicle wheel, a throttle member is disposed at a fluid-discharge portion of the pump in a loop-like fluid passage, and throttle state of the throttle member is switched by a manually operated lever. In the heating apparatus, because the lever for changing the throttle state of the throttle member is manually operated, the lever operation is troublesome and is difficult to be accurately controlled. Further, because an opening degree of the throttle member is decreased so that the temperature of fluid is increased, an amount of fluid flowing through the throttle member is decreased, thereby decreasing heating capacity of the heating apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing problems, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a heating apparatus for a vehicle, which can provide a sufficient heating capacity without using a manually operated lever, even when temperature of fluid circulating in a fluid circuit is low.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a heating apparatus having a first pump and a second pump, which can prevent a flow amount of fluid circulating in a fluid circuit from being greatly decreased while effectively improving heating capacity.
According to the present invention, a heating apparatus for a vehicle includes a pump unit for circulating fluid in a fluid circuit, a heat exchanger for heating air blown into a passenger compartment of the vehicle by using the fluid for cooling a driving source of the vehicle as a heating source, a throttle member for adjusting an opening degree of a fluid passage of the fluid circuit, a determining unit for determining whether or not it is necessary to change temperature of fluid circulating in the fluid circuit, and a throttle control unit for controlling the throttle member. In the heating apparatus, when the determining unit determines that it is necessary to increase the temperature of fluid in the fluid circuit, the throttle control unit controls the throttle member to reduce the opening degree of the fluid passage of the fluid circuit. Thus, even when the temperature of fluid circulating in the fluid circuit is low, the heating apparatus can provide a sufficient heating capacity without using a manually operated lever.
Preferably, the pump unit includes a first pump driven by the driving source of the vehicle, and a second pump disposed separately from the first pump. Therefore, the heating apparatus can improve heating capacity while preventing fluid circulating in the fluid circuit from being greatly decreased.
More preferably, the throttle member is disposed at a fluid discharge side of the second pump. Therefore, fluid circulating in the fluid circuit is effectively increased while the temperature of fluid is increased.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4726325 (1988-02-01), Itakura
patent: 4993377 (1991-02-01), Itakura
patent: 5775583 (1998-07-01), Braatz et al.
patent: 58-33508 (1983-02-01), None
patent: 63-50713 (1988-04-01), None
patent: 3-57877 (1991-03-01), None

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