Vehicle air conditioner

Details Vehicle air conditioner Vehicle air conditioner

2000-04-19

2001-11-06

Tapolcai, William E. (Department: 3744)

Heat exchange

With vehicle feature

Heating and cooling

C062S244000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06311763

ABSTRACT:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is related to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Applications No. Hei. 11-122470 filed on Apr. 28, 1999, and No. 2000-45138 filed on Feb. 17, 2000, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner having a front air-blowing structure for blowing air toward a front seat side of a passenger compartment and a rear air-blowing structure for blowing air toward a rear seat side of the passenger compartment.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional vehicle air conditioner, for improving both heating performance for heating air blown toward the foot area of a passenger and defrosting performance of a windshield in the winter, an inside/outside air double layer flow mode (hereinafter, referred to as “double layer flow mode”) is set so that circulated inside air having a high temperature is blown from a foot opening and outside air having a low-humidity is blown from a defroster opening.
For example, in an air conditioner described in JP-A-10-109520 by the applicant of the present invention, a warm air bypass opening and a warm air bypass door are disposed at an immediately downstream position of a heating heat exchanger, and a front foot opening and a rear foot opening are provided at a downstream air side of the warm air bypass opening in an air flow direction. When the double layer flow mode is set during a maximum heating, the warm air bypass opening is opened by the warm air bypass door, and an air passage immediately downstream from the heating heat exchanger is partitioned by the warm air bypass door into a first air passage through which outside air flows and a second air passage through which inside air flows.
However, during a temperature control area, the double layer flow mode is removed, and the warm air bypass door closes the warm air bypass opening. In this case, warm air having passed through the heating heat exchanger flows upwardly and is mixed with cool air bypassing the heating heat exchanger, and thereafter, mixed air is blown toward the foot opening. Thus, during the temperature control area, pressure loss is increased due to a bent air flow. Because a duct having a relative small sectional area is used as a rear foot duct connected to a rear foot opening due to an arrangement space in a vehicle, an air amount blown toward a rear seat side in a passenger compartment is greatly decreased during the temperature control area. Further, because the rear foot duct is necessary to have a long distance pipe from an air conditioning unit disposed at a vehicle front side to a rear seat side, heat loss becomes larger in a rear foot duct, and temperature of air blown toward the rear seat side becomes lower. As a result, heating capacity for the rear seat side of the passenger compartment becomes insufficient. On the other hand, even during a cooling mode, because a long rear face duct from the air conditioning unit to a rear seat side is also necessary, cooling capacity for the rear seat side of the passenger compartment becomes insufficient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle air conditioner having a front air-blowing structure and a rear air-blowing structure, which improves heating capacity and cooling capacity for a rear seat side of a passenger compartment.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a vehicle air conditioner includes a blower unit for blowing inside air inside a passenger compartment and outside air outside the passenger compartment while partitioning inside air and outside air from each other, a partition member for partitioning an air passage into a first air passage through which outside air flows by the blower unit and a second air passage through which inside air flows by the blower unit, and a heating heat exchanger for heating air flowing through the first air passage and the second air passage. The partition member is disposed in such a manner that outside air in the first air passage flows into a front air opening and inside air in the second air passage flows into a rear air opening while partitioning the rear air opening and the front air opening, during a double layer flow mode. Thus, outside air in the first air passage can be blown toward a front seat side of the passenger compartment from the front air opening, while inside air in the second air passage can be blown toward a rear seat side of the passenger compartment. Therefore, it is possible to increase temperature of inside air sucked into the second air passage until the temperature of inside air inside the passenger compartment, and pressure loss due to an inside air suction can be reduced. Further, the heating heat exchanger is disposed to heat outside air in the first air passage and to heat inside air in the second air passage, during the double layer flow mode. As a result, temperature and an amount of air blown toward the rear seat side are increased, and heating capacity for the rear seat side is improved. Further, because outside air in the first air passage is blown toward the front seat side, defrosting performance of the windshield is improved. In the present invention, a partition state between the first air passage and the second air passage generally indicates an approximate perfect partition state. However, the partition state includes a slight mixing state between outside air in the first air passage and inside air in the second air passage.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a vehicle air conditioner, a partition member is disposed for partitioning an air passage into a first air passage from which outside air flows toward a front seat side of the passenger compartment through a front air opening and a second air passage from which inside air flows toward a rear seat side of the passenger compartment through a rear air opening, and a cooling heat exchanger is disposed to form a bypass passage in the second air passage, through which air bypasses the cooling heat exchanger in the second air passage. Therefore, the pressure loss in the second air passage is reduced, and an air amount blowing toward the rear seat side is increased. Further, during a cooling mode, low-temperature inside air having been cooled can be sucked into the second air passage. Thus, during the cooling mode, cooling capacity for the rear seat side of the passenger compartment is improved.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a vehicle air conditioner includes a blower unit for blowing inside air into a first air passage through which inside air flows and for blowing outside air into a second air passage through which outside air flows, a heating heat exchanger for heating air flowing from the first air passage and the second air passage, a first partition member for partitioning an air-flowing passage of the heating heat exchanger into a front air passage through which outside air from the first air passage and inside air from the second air passage flow and a rear air passage through which inside air from the second air passage flows, and a second partition member for further partitioning the front air passage into a front outside air passage through which outside air from the first air passage flows and a front inside air passage through which inside air from the second air passage flows. The first and second partition members are disposed in such a manner that: outside air from the first air passage flows into a defroster opening through the front outside air passage of the heating heat exchanger, inside air from the second air passage flows into a front foot opening through the front inside air passage of the heating heat exchanger, and inside air from the second air passage flows into a rear air opening through the rear air passage of the heating heat exchanger. Thus, during a heating mode, high-temperature inside air is blown from the front foot opening, and low-humid

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