Heat exchange – With vehicle feature – Heating and cooling
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-12
2001-01-30
Lazarus, Ira S. (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
With vehicle feature
Heating and cooling
C165S043000, C062S244000, C236S013000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179044
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is related to Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 8-342278 and Hei 9-309002, incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a dual air conditioner type vehicle air-conditioning device installed at the front and rear inside a vehicle compartment and in particular to air-conditioning units at the vehicle rear, for instance, suited for use in vans.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, vehicles with a long passenger compartment air space in the front and rear as, for instance, in vans, have an air-conditioning unit installed at the front near the instrument panel inside the passenger compartment and also an air-conditioning unit installed at the rear of the compartment to provide a pleasant environment inside the passenger compartment.
In such cases, the passengers do not normally ride in the rear seat in the passenger compartment, so the rear air-conditioning unit serves as supplementary equipment for passenger compartment air-conditioning and the front air-conditioning unit normally provides the main air-conditioning for the passenger compartment.
The rear air-conditioning unit therefore must not only have an extremely simple design and low cost but must also have a compact structure to allow installation in a small space at the rear of the passenger compartment.
A type of air-conditioning device with the front air-conditioning unit performing temperature control of the air for the entire interior passenger compartment and the rear air-conditioning unit not having a temperature control device (for example a mechanism of the mixed cooling type using an air mix door) in order to meet the need for a rear air-conditioning unit both simple and compact has been tested.
Consequently, in the foot mode of this type, when the fan is set to Lo mode (low speed mode) the hot air temperature becomes extremely high due because the fan speed is small and the inner air is suctioned. This high temperature air is forced upwards inside the passenger compartment causing the faces of the passengers to become hot and flushed and creating an undesirable warm air-conditioning sensation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a rear air-conditioning unit not having a temperature control device which nonetheless prevents excessive hot air temperatures when the fan speed is low.
The above object is achieved according to a first aspect of the present invention by providing a vehicle air-conditioning device with a rear air-conditioning unit which does not having a temperature control device, yet which prevents excessive hot air temperatures when the fan speed is low. A heat exchanger for heating the air from the blower is installed in the case of the air-conditioning unit at the rear of a dual air-conditioning type vehicle air-conditioning device along with a cooling air bypass path to allow cool air to bypass the heat exchanger. A cool air bypass door is installed in the cool air bypass path to open and close it as needed. When the blower is set in low speed mode and hot air heated by the heat exchanger is blown out from the blow path in foot mode, the cool air bypass door is set to a position to open the cool air bypass path in a process that mixes cool air and warm air in the blow path and lowers the temperature of the hot air.
The cool air bypass door may be provided upstream of the heat exchanger; alternatively, it may be provided downstream thereof.
Other objects and features of the present invention will appear in the course of the description thereof, which follows.
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Denso Corporation
Harness Dickey & Pierce PLC
Lazarus Ira S.
McKinnon Terrell
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