Ventilation – Vehicle – Having inlet airway
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-21
2001-05-15
Joyce, Harold (Department: 3749)
Ventilation
Vehicle
Having inlet airway
C454S156000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06231437
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to heating and/or air conditioning devices for motor vehicles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known to provide a device comprising a cold-air duct, a hot-air duct housing a heating radiator, a mixing chamber communicating with respective air outlets of said ducts, and mixing means suitable for controlling said air outlets in chosen proportions so as to set the temperature of the air in the mixing chamber.
Devices of this type make it possible to mix a flow of cold air originating from the cold-air duct and a flow of hot air originating from the hot-air duct in controlled proportions in order to obtain an airflow at an adjusted temperature in the mixing chamber.
This airflow is then distributed into the passenger compartment of the vehicle by appropriate distribution means, comprising ducts terminating in various vents arranged at chosen locations in the passenger compartment.
The mixing means generally comprise a mixing flap, of the butterfly type, mounted pivotably about a spindle situated close to the heating radiator and including two wings suitable for controlling the outlets of the cold-air and hot-air ducts respectively.
Such a flap can be deflected from one to the other of two extreme positions comprising a “hot” position (in which the outlet of the cold-air duct is closed and the outlet of the hot-air duct is open) and a “cold” position (in which the outlet of the hot-air duct is closed and the outlet of the cold-air duct is open).
Such a device, with a mixing flap of the butterfly type, has the particular drawback that, when the flap passes from the “hot” position to the “cold” position, cold air enters the mixing chamber from a region of the outlet of the cold-air duct which is located close to a free edge of the butterfly flap. This particular region lies exactly on the opposite side to the region of the outlet of the hot-air duct through which the hot airflow enters the mixing chamber, that is to say close to an opposite edge of the butterfly flap. It results therefrom that the cold airflow and the hot airflow have a tendency to be layered, so that mixing of them can occur only a long way from the heating radiator, which requires an increase in the volume of the mixing chamber and hence of the device.
The object of the invention is essentially to surmount such a drawback.
Hence the invention envisages promoting the meeting and the effective mixing of the cold airflow and of the hot airflow in a region closer to the heating radiator, so as to leave space, downstream of the heating radiator, for the distribution of the air.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided a motor-vehicle heating and/or air conditioning device comprising a cold-air duct, a hot-air duct housing a heating radiator, a mixing chamber communicating with respective air outlets of said ducts, and mixing means suitable for controlling said air outlets in chosen proportions so as to set the temperature of the air in the mixing chamber, wherein at least one mixing means consists of a flap of drum type including a shutter wall which, in the “hot” position, closes off the outlet of the cold-air duct, and, in the “cold” position, closes off the outlet of the hot-air duct, and wherein the wall of the flap exhibits at least one recess such that, when the flap is shifted from the “hot” position to the “cold” position, a cold airflow can pass through the recess so as to encounter a hot airflow.
Hence, the cold airflow and the hot airflow are mixed optimally and, that being so, the size of the mixing chamber can be reduced in comparison with the known devices.
Advantageously, the drum-type flap (
144
) is a single flap which, in the “hot” position, closes the outlet of the cold-air duct and, in the “cold” position, closes the outlet of the hot-air duct. The wall (
148
) of the flap is a substantially cylindrical wall which extends between two opposite edges (
154
,
156
). The recess or recesses formed in the wall opens or open out close to the opposite edges in such a way that, when the flap is shifted from the “hot” position to the “cold” position, a cold airflow can pass through the recess so as to meet the hot airflow.
Advantageously, the device includes at least one auxiliary flap suitable for closing off the hot-air duct when the single flap is in “cold” position.
In this case, it is particularly advantageous to provide two auxiliary flaps of the butterfly type, the movements of which are coordinated.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4157113 (1979-06-01), Karran et al.
patent: 5062353 (1991-11-01), Ostrand
patent: 6036594 (2000-03-01), Kwon et al.
patent: 34 22 182 (1984-12-01), None
patent: 33 44 562 (1985-06-01), None
patent: 38 26 182 (1989-10-01), None
patent: 197 50 381 (1998-05-01), None
patent: 197 49 104 (1998-05-01), None
patent: 2 703 305 (1994-10-01), None
Auvity Michel
Loup Didier
Queinnec Jean-Yves
Vincent Philippe
Joyce Harold
Morgan & Finnegan , LLP
Valeo Climatisation
LandOfFree
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