Ventilation – Vehicle – Condensation preventer
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-18
2001-02-13
Ferensic, Denise L. (Department: 3749)
Ventilation
Vehicle
Condensation preventer
C454S156000, C237S01230R, C237S046000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06186885
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for automotive vehicles, and more particularly to an integrated, modular HVAC system for automotive vehicles.
2. Disclosure Information
FIG. 1
shows a typical HVAC system, steering column support assembly, and cross-car beam as presently used in most automotive vehicles. Those familiar with such currently known systems will realize that these systems involve a multiplicity of individual (and sometimes redundant) parts that must be assembled together, which makes such approaches expensive, difficult to assemble, and so forth.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a single system for an automotive vehicle which provides the functions served by the individual HVAC, steering column support, and cross-car beam systems while simplifying and improving upon the prior art designs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art approaches by providing an integrated HVAC system for an automotive vehicle, including mating forward and rearward shells each have mating portions of left and right duct arms for delivering conditioned air therethrough. The mating shells define a central enclosure within which a drop-in heater core module may be operatively placed.
It is an object and advantage that the HVAC system of the present invention provides a generic forward/rearward shell structure which can fit into a wide variety of cars, with a drop-in heater core module that can be custom-designed to accommodate specific car models. Thus, customization for any given car can be accomplished by designing a special drop-in heater core module for that car and installing such module into the generic forward/rearward shell.
Another advantage is that the integrated HVAC system of the present invention is non-handed; that is, it may be used on either left-hand drive or right-hand drive vehicles.
These and other advantages, features and objects of the invention will become apparent from the drawings, detailed description and claims which follow.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5358300 (1994-10-01), Gray
patent: 5687790 (1997-11-01), Trame et al.
patent: 5706170 (1998-01-01), Glovatsky et al.
patent: 5712764 (1998-01-01), Baker et al.
patent: 5927380 (1999-07-01), Scoccia
patent: 5934361 (1999-08-01), Parisi et al.
patent: 5934988 (1999-08-01), Fischer
Ahn Kenneth K.
Richardson Mark A.
Ferensic Denise L.
Ford Motor Company
Mattera Michelle A.
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