Heat exchange – With timer – programmer – time delay – or condition responsive... – Having heating and cooling capability
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-07
2001-12-25
Ciric, Ljiljana (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
With timer, programmer, time delay, or condition responsive...
Having heating and cooling capability
C165S043000, C062S243000, C062S244000, C454S144000, C454S156000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332497
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular air conditioner mounted in vehicles such as automobiles.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicular air conditioner which can provide comfortable vehicle cabin environment to passengers by conditioning air in the vehicle cabin of automobiles comprises equipment such as: a cooling apparatus comprising a compressor which uses the engine as a drive source, a condenser, an expansion valve, an evaporator, and piping for connecting these in a circuit and which is filled with operating gas; a heater core using an engine coolant as a heating source; a casing for housing the evaporator and the heater core and forming a predetermined air flow path; an air mix damper for adjusting the air quantity passing through the evaporator and the heater core; and a blower for blowing air.
In an upstream portion of the casing, there is provided an inside air/outside air changeover damper which can change over from an outside air intake to an inside air intake, and vice versa.
As a matter of course, there is also provided a blower along of the air flow path, and suitable air outlets are fitted for blowing air towards the windshield, the driver and the feet of the driver.
If the cooling apparatus is driven so as to only operate the evaporator, cooling is effected, and if only the heater core is operated, heating is effected. If the evaporator and the heater core are both operated at the same time, cooled air can be heated to effect dehumidification.
Temperature adjustment is performed by adjusting the ratio of the air quantity passing through the evaporator to the air quantity passing through the heater core, by means of the air mix damper. If the inside air/outside air changeover damper is changed to the inside air position, air conditioning is performed by circulation taking in air in the vehicle cabin from the air intake port. If the inside air/outside air changeover damper is changed to the outside air position, air conditioning is performed by taking in outside air and blowing the conditioned air into the vehicle cabin.
For example with the above described air conditioner, in the case of a standard front-engine type sedan passenger vehicle, the air conditioner is installed in the engine room below the dashboard on an assistant driver's side as seen from inside of the vehicle cabin. In this case, the inside air intake for drawing in air from the vehicle cabin opens below the dashboard on the assistant driver's side.
With the above described air conditioner, the following operation modes can be selected by opening and closing various dampers.
“Face blowing mode” is for blowing cool air from a face air outlet toward a passengers' upper body at the time of operating the air conditioner, mainly in the summer season.
“Foot blowing mode” is for blowing warm air from a foot air outlet toward the feet of passengers at the time of heating, mainly in the winter season.
The above described conventional air conditioner can be operated by selecting either of an inside air circulating operation for drawing in air in the vehicle cabin (inside air) and blowing the conditioned air into the vehicle cabin, or an outside air introducing operation for introducing air outside the vehicle cabin (outside air) and blowing the conditioned air into the vehicle cabin, by opening or closing the inside air/outside air changeover damper.
With the above described conventional air conditioner, conditioned air can only be blown to the front seat side, and air conditioning of the rear seat side is effected by circulating air blown toward the front seat side by air currents.
Therefore, on the front seat side, air can be blown directly toward the upper body or the feet of passengers, but it is not possible to blow air directly to passengers in the rear seat.
Moreover, since the air intake port for drawing in inside air is disposed in the front lower part in the vehicle cabin, generally under the dashboard on the assistant driver's side, sufficient circulation of air may not be effected over the whole region in the vehicle cabin at the time of the inside air circulating operation. In particular, at the time of heating when, in many cases, the inside air circulating operation is performed, warm air is circulated only on the front seat side, and hence stagnation occurs on the rear seat side.
On the rear seat side there is therefore a problem in that air conditioning is insufficient, so that comfort in the rear seat is compromised.
Furthermore, in the above description, an air conditioner mounted in a front-engine type vehicle has been described. In the case of mounting the air conditioner in a rear-engine type vehicle however, it is necessary to arrange the compressor in a rear part of the vehicle body together with the engine. Therefore, the refrigerant must be piped to the front part of the vehicle from the rear part, requiring more refrigerant and piping therefor. There is thus the problem of an increase in vehicle weight.
Moreover, in the case of the rear-engine type vehicle, there is a rear-blowing type in which a cooling apparatus is installed in the trunk and an air outlet is provided in the trunk. In this case, there is a problem in that the blown air does not reach the driver's seat, and the vehicle cabin cannot be uniformly air-conditioned.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above situation, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicular air conditioner which can uniformly condition air in a vehicle cabin. Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicular air conditioner which can reduce the vehicle weight of a rear-engine type vehicle.
The vehicular air conditioner of the present invention is a vehicular air conditioner mounted in a vehicle having a drive source for a compressor arranged in a rear part of the vehicle body, and is characterized in comprising:
a compressor arranged in a rear part of the vehicle body;
an air intake unit comprising an inside air intake for drawing in air from a vehicle cabin interior, an outside air intake for drawing in air from outside of the vehicle cabin, an inside air/outside air changeover damper for selectively determining from which of either the inside air intake or the outside air intake, air is to be drawn in, and a blower device disposed on a downstream side of the inside air/outside air changeover damper;
an air conditioning unit into which air is introduced from the air intake unit, provided along an introduced air distribution path with a cooling apparatus heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the introduced air and air outside the vehicle cabin and an engine heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the introduced air and the engine; and
a duct into which air is introduced from the air conditioning unit for distributing the introduced air from the rear part of the vehicle to the front part thereof, provided with air outlets for discharging the introduced air into the vehicle cabin.
With this vehicular air conditioner, when an engine is used as a drive source for the compressor, and also when a drive source combining the engine and electrical power is used, refrigerant is compressed by the compressor provided in the vicinity of the engine arranged in the rear part of the vehicle, and heat is exchanged between the refrigerant and the introduced air by the cooling apparatus heat exchanger. Therefore, conditioned air is produced in the rear part of the vehicle. That is, conditioned air is not produced in the front part of the vehicle by sending the refrigerant to the front part, but is produced in the rear part and sent to the front part by the duct. Therefore, the quantity of refrigerant can be reduced, and an air outlet can be arranged along the duct to blow out air to the rear seat. Hence, there is no longer the problem as in the conventional design that air conditioning in the rear seat is insufficient.
For the drive source, there may be a motor driven by electricity, in addition to the one driven by the
Akimoto Ryosaku
Major Gregory A.
Matsuda Kenji
Niwa Kazuki
Zeng Xin
Ciric Ljiljana
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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