Ventilation – Vehicle – Condensation preventer
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-04
2002-02-19
Ciric, Ljiljana V. (Department: 3743)
Ventilation
Vehicle
Condensation preventer
C165S042000, C049S362000, C454S324000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06347988
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to automotive air conditioners, and more particularly to automotive air conditioners of a type employing a slide type air mixing door which, when sliding, varies a flow rate between heated air and cooled air which are mixed in an air mixing chamber before being led into a passenger compartment of the vehicle. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with a slide door unit or cassette detachably installed in the automotive air conditioner, which generally comprises a door housing, a slide door proper slidably held by the door housing and a driving mechanism for driving the slide door proper relative to the door housing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to clarify the task of the present invention, an automotive air conditioner
100
using a known slide door arrangement will be briefly described with reference to
FIG. 16
, which is shown in Japanese Patent First Provisional Publication 11-254942.
The air conditioner
100
comprises a case
102
which defines therein an upstream air passage
104
, a first downstream air passage
106
, a second downstream air passage
108
and an air mix chamber
110
. The first and second downstream air passages
106
and
108
have respective upstream mouth portions exposed to a downstream end of the upstream air passage
104
and have respective downstream portions merged with the air mix chamber
110
. Air outlet openings
112
and
114
are formed at a downstream end of the air mix chamber, whose opening degrees are controlled by pivotal mode doors
116
and
118
. An evaporator
120
is installed in the upstream air passage
104
and a heater unit
122
is in the first downstream air passage
106
, as shown. Although now shown in the drawing, an air intake unit is arranged beside the case
102
, by which outside/inside air is led into the upstream air passage
104
, which then flows downward in such a manner as is indicated by thicker arrows.
A slide door mechanism SDM is provided in front of the mouth portions of the first and second downstream air passages
106
and
108
for varying the opening degree of the mouth portions of the passages
106
and
108
.
The slide door mechanism SDM comprises generally a slide door proper
124
, two pairs of guide pins
126
a
and
126
b
fixed to front and rear side ends of the slide door proper
124
, and two pairs of arcuate guide grooves
128
a
and
128
b
formed in opposed side walls of the case
102
to slidably receive therein the guide pins
126
a
and
126
b
. The slide door proper
124
has at lateral lower sides respective racks (no numeral) which are meshed with respective pinion gears
130
which are coaxially connected through a shaft
132
whose both ends are rotatably held by the opposed side walls of the case
102
. Although not shown, an electric actuator is arranged near the pinion gears
130
to drive the same. Thus, when the electric actuator is energized for a given time, the pinion gears
130
are rotated in one or other direction moving the slide door proper
124
to a desired position along a given way defined by the two pairs of guide grooves
128
a
and
128
b.
However, due to inherent construction, the above-mentioned conventional air conditioner
100
has several drawbacks which are as follows. First, movement of the slide door proper
124
along the given way tends to produce a rattling noise due to a rough sliding mating of the guide pins
126
a
and
126
b
with the guide grooves
128
a
and
128
b
. In fact, a certain clearance needed between each guide pin
126
a
or
126
b
and walls of the corresponding guide groove
128
a
or
128
b
for the movement of the guide pin relative to the groove causes a play of the slide door proper
124
during its movement, which induces the production of rattling noise. This undesired phenomenon become much severe when the guide pins
126
a
and
126
b
and the case
102
by which the guide grooves
128
a
and
128
b
are defined are constructed of same plastic materials. In this case, smoothed movement of the slide door proper
124
is not expected. Second, it needs a skilled and time-consuming assembling work for assembling the slide door proper
124
in a proper position of the case
102
. That is, since the guide grooves
128
a
and
128
b
to which the guide pins
126
a
and
126
b
of the slide door proper
124
are to be engaged are formed in the inner walls of the case
102
, the assembling work should be made awkwardly in such a limited space in the case
102
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an automotive air conditioner which is free of the above-mentioned drawbacks.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a slide door unit which is suitable for the automotive air conditioner.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a slide door unit which is characterized by smoothed movement of a slide door member relative to a door housing.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a slide door unit in which, due to usage of a resilient structure defined by a pinion gear unit, a slide door member is constantly biased toward the door housing thereby to suppress undesired play of the slide door member.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a slide door unit which can be assembled with ease.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a slide door unit for use in an automotive air conditioner, which comprises a door housing having a concave inner surface and laterally opposed side walls, the side walls having arcuate guide grooves respectively; a slide door member having a convex outer surface slidable on and along the concave inner surface of the door housing, the slide door member having a concave inner surface; racks provided on laterally opposed sides of the concave inner surface of the slide door member; guide pins secured to laterally opposed ends of the slide door member, the guide pins being slidably engaged with the arcuate guide grooves of the door housing; a pinion gear unit including two pinion gears and a shaft by which the pinion gears are connected, the pinion gear unit is rotatably held by the laterally opposed side walls of the door housing having the two pinion gears meshed with the racks respectively; and a resilient structure defined by each of the pinion gears of the pinion gear unit, the resilient structure biasing the pinion gears against the racks thereby pressing the guide pins against bottom walls of the corresponding arcuate guide grooves when the pinion gear unit is properly held by the door housing.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a slide door unit for use in an automotive air conditioner, which comprises a barrel door housing having a concave inner surface and laterally opposed side walls each having a crescent shape; an arcuate guide groove formed at an inner surface of each side wall of the door housing; a guide pin entrance groove formed at the inner surface of each side wall of the door housing, the entrance groove extending from the arcuate guide groove to the outside of the side wall; a barrel slide door member having a convex outer surface slidable on and along the concave inner surface of the door housing, the slide door member having a concave inner surface; racks integrally formed on laterally opposed sides of the concave inner surface of the slide door member; two upper guide pins secured to upper portions of laterally opposed ends of the slide door member respectively, the two upper guide pins being slidably engaged with one zones of the arcuate guide grooves of the opposed side walls respectively; two lower guide pins secured to lower portions of the laterally opposed ends of the slide door member respectively, the two lower guide pins being slidably engaged with the other zones of the arcuate guide grooves of the opposed side walls respectively; a pinion gear unit including two
Kurokawa Katsuhiro
Tanaka Yukio
Tsurushima Akihiro
Calsonic Kansei Corporation
Ciric Ljiljana V.
Foley & Lardner
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