Heat exchange – With vehicle feature – Heating and cooling
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-20
2002-10-08
Ford, John K. (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
With vehicle feature
Heating and cooling
C165S043000, C454S121000, C454S156000, C454S160000, C454S161000, C237S01230A, C237S01230B
Reexamination Certificate
active
06460607
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application relates to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application Nos. 10-369090 filed on Dec. 25, 1998 and 11-284746 filed on Oct. 5, 1999, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a vehicle air conditioner, and particularly to an air passage of an air conditioning unit in which a heater core is disposed in a substantially horizontal direction.
2. Related Art
JP-A-9-123748 discloses a vehicle air conditioner in which a heater core is disposed in a substantially horizontal direction. As shown in
FIG. 4
, the air conditioning unit has a case
50
and a warm air guide
110
for guiding warm air heated by a heater core
100
to a downstream air side. The case
50
has a face opening
120
, a defroster opening
130
and a foot opening
140
provided above the warm air guide
110
. Each of the openings
120
,
130
and
140
communicates with an air outlet formed in a passenger compartment of a vehicle, and is selectively opened and closed by a face door
150
and a defroster door
160
. When the face door
150
fully opens the face opening
120
, an air port
170
through which air flows toward the defroster opening
130
and the foot opening
140
is closed. When the face door
150
fully opens the air port
170
, the face opening
120
is closed.
The air port
170
is disposed at an upstream air side of the defroster opening
130
and the foot opening
140
. Therefore, when a defroster air mode or the like is selected, air is introduced into the defroster opening
130
through the air port
170
. However, since the air port
170
is opened and closed by the face door
150
, a sealing wall portion
180
needs to be formed to extend from the warm air guide
110
to the case
50
, so that a peripheral portion of the face door
150
contacts the sealing wall portion
180
for sealing when the face door
150
closes the air port
170
. Therefore, an opening area of the air port
170
is decreased due to the sealing wall portion
180
. As a result, an amount of air flowing into the defroster opening
130
is decreased, and a windshield of the vehicle may be fogged.
Further, as shown in
FIG. 5A
, when the face opening
120
has a center face opening
120
a
and a side face opening
120
b,
and the side face opening
12
b
is constantly open so that side windows of the vehicle are sufficiently defrosted, the face door
150
only opens and closes the center face opening
120
a
. Therefore, a width of the face door
150
(i.e., a length of the face door
150
in a right-left direction in
FIG. 5A
) is decreased from that of the face door
150
which opens and closes both the center face opening
120
a
and the side face opening
120
b.
As a result, as shown in
FIG. 5B
, a width of the air port
170
is decreased corresponding to the width of the face door
150
, thereby further decreasing an opening area of the air port
170
. As a result, an amount of air introduced into the defroster opening
130
is further decreased.
The opening area of the air port
170
may be simply increased by increasing the width of the air port
170
or a height of the air port
170
(i.e., a length of the air port
170
in a vertical direction in FIG.
5
B). However, when the width of the air port
170
is increased, a width of the vehicle air conditioner is increased. When the height of the air port
170
is increased by enlarging the air port
170
upwardly, a height of the vehicle air conditioner is increased. When the height of the air port
170
is increased by enlarging the air port
170
downwardly, the warm air guide
110
may need to be moved downwardly. When the warm air guide
110
is moved downwardly, a warm air passage
190
formed between the warm air guide
110
and the heater core
100
is narrowed, thereby increasing flow resistance in the warm air passage
190
. As a result, an amount of warm air flowing through the warm air passage
190
is decreased, and an amount of air introduced into the defroster opening
130
is decreased.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle air conditioner which has a sufficient amount of air blown from a defroster air outlet without increasing a size of an air conditioning unit.
According to the present invention, a vehicle air conditioner has a case for forming an air passage, a heating heat exchanger disposed in the case in a substantially horizontal direction for heating air, a warm air guide disposed above the heating heat exchanger for guiding air heated by the heating heat exchanger and a switching door. The case has a first air opening and a second air opening through which air flows in different directions. The air passage includes an air port disposed at an upstream air side of the second air opening. Warm air passing through the heating heat exchanger is guided by the warm air guide into an air mixing space in which the warm air is mixed with cool air bypassing the heating heat exchanger. The air mixing space is formed next to the heating heat exchanger in a vehicle front-rear direction in the air passage. The warm air guide is disposed at a substantially same height as the air port, and has an end portion for defining the air port. The switching door selectively opens and closes the first air opening and the air port, and has an end portion which contacts the end portion of the warm air guide to close the air port.
As a result, an opening area of the air port is readily increased by decreasing a length of the warm air guide in the vehicle front-rear direction, and a sealing wall portion extending from the warm air guide to the case to contact the switching door is not required. Therefore, an amount of air flowing through the air port is increased without increasing a size of the air conditioner, and an amount of air flowing into the second air opening is increased.
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patent: 5711369 (1998-01-01), Ito et al.
patent: 5755107 (1998-05-01), Shirota et al.
patent: 5836380 (1998-11-01), Takeshita
patent: 5884689 (1999-03-01), Takechi et al.
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patent: 2299855 (1996-10-01), None
patent: 61-122022 (1986-06-01), None
patent: A 9-11730 (1997-01-01), None
patent: A 10-114209 (1998-05-01), None
patent: A 10-297248 (1998-11-01), None
Denso Corporation
Ford John K.
Harness Dickey & Pierce PLC
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