Heat exchange – With timer – programmer – time delay – or condition responsive... – Having heating and cooling capability
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-18
2001-07-03
Lazarus, Ira S. (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
With timer, programmer, time delay, or condition responsive...
Having heating and cooling capability
C165S042000, C237S01230B, C454S145000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06253841
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application relates to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 10-307522 filed on Oct. 28, 1998, 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 first air passage and a second air passage partitioned from each other. The air conditioner can set an inside/outside air double flow mode in which heated high-temperature inside air is blown from a foot air outlet, and low-humidity warm outside air is blown from a defroster air outlet.
2. Related Art
In a conventional vehicle air conditioner, when maximum heating is set in a foot or foot/defroster mode in which air is blown from both a foot air outlet and a defroster air outlet, an inside/outside air double flow mode (hereinafter referred to as inside/outside air mode) is automatically set by a control unit. When the air conditioner is designed to be manually operated by a passenger to reduce its manufacturing cost, the air conditioner needs to have an inside/outside air mode switching lever disposed in an air-conditioning operation panel. The mode switching lever has three air mode positions, that is, an inside air mode, an outside air mode and the inside/outside air mode. The passenger selects one of the three air modes by manual operation.
However, as shown in
FIG. 3
, when the passenger manually changes from the outside air mode to the inside/outside air mode while an air temperature adjusting lever for adjusting a temperature of conditioned air is set to a middle temperature position (i.e., a middle temperature area in spring and fall), a temperature of air blown from the foot outlet abruptly changes from Tf
2
to Tf
1
, although a position of the air temperature adjusting lever does not change. As a result, a gap &Dgr;T
2
between a temperature Td of air blown from the defroster outlet and Tf
2
abruptly increases to a gap &Dgr;T
1
between Td and Tf
1
. In
FIG. 3
, &Dgr;T
1
is 21° C. with an outside air temperature of 10° C., an inside air temperature of 25° C. and an average air outlet temperature of 35° C., and &Dgr;T
2
is 15° C. with an outside air temperature of 10° C. and an average air outlet temperature of 35° C. Thus, when the outside air mode is changed to the inside/outside air mode by the passenger while outside air has a relatively low temperature, the gap &Dgr;T
2
abruptly increases to &Dgr;T
1
, thereby worsening air conditioning feeling. Further, since the passenger needs to select one from the three air mode positions of the mode switching lever, a manual operation of the air conditioner by the passenger is complicated in comparison with the operation of an air conditioner having an inside/outside air switching lever with only two air mode positions, that is, the inside air mode and the outside air mode.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle air conditioner setting an inside/outside air double flow mode, which restricts the gap between the temperature of air blown from a foot outlet and the temperature of air blown from a defroster outlet from abruptly changing and simplifies manual operation.
According to the present invention, an air conditioner for a vehicle having a passenger compartment has a case forming an air passage through which air flows and having defroster and foot openings, a heating heat exchanger disposed in the case, a partition member for partitioning the air passage into a first air passage through which outside air is blown toward the defroster opening and a second air passage through which inside air is blown toward the foot opening during an inside/outside air double flow mode in which both inside air and outside air is introduced into the case, an inside/outside air switching member for setting the inside/outside air double flow mode and an operation panel. The inside/outside air switching member includes a first inside/outside air switching door for switching between inside air and outside air to be introduced into the first passage, and a second inside/outside air switching door for switching between inside air and outside air to be introduced into the second passage. The operation panel includes an air outlet mode operation member for operating the air outlet mode switching door, and an inside/outside air mode operation member for operating the first inside/outside air switching door. When an air outlet mode in which air is blown from both the foot opening and the defroster opening is selected by the air outlet mode operation member, the second inside/outside air switching door is operated with an operation of the air outlet mode operation member so that inside air is introduced into the second air passage. As a result, when outside air has a relatively low temperature in winter, and the first inside/outside air switching door is operated so that outside air is introduced into the first air passage in the air outlet mode in which air is blown from both the foot opening and the defroster opening, only the inside/outside air double flow mode can be set. That is, an outside air mode can not be set under the above-mentioned condition. As a result, a gap between a temperature of air blown from the foot opening and a temperature of air blown from the defroster opening is prevented from abruptly changing, thereby restricting air conditioning feeling from worsening. Further, the inside/outside air mode operation member has only two air mode positions, that is, an inside air mode position and an outside air mode position. Therefore, a manual operation of the air conditioner by a passenger is simplified.
Preferably, the second inside/outside air switching door is operated so that outside air is introduced into the second air passage only in a defroster mode in which air is blown from only the defroster opening, and inside air is introduced into the second air passage in any air outlet modes other than the defroster mode. As a result, an operation of the second inside/outside air switching door is simplified.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5582234 (1996-12-01), Samukawa et al.
patent: 5699960 (1997-12-01), Kato et al.
patent: 5839506 (1998-11-01), Honda et al.
patent: 5857905 (1999-01-01), Uemura et al.
patent: 6079484 (2000-06-01), Uemura et al.
patent: 6092592 (2000-07-01), Toyoshima et al.
patent: 6135201 (2000-10-01), Nonoyama et al.
patent: 6138749 (2000-10-01), Kawai et al.
patent: 6145754 (2000-11-01), Uemura et al.
patent: 57-130815 (1982-08-01), None
Ito Koichi
Obara So
Ciric Ljiljana V.
Denso Corporation
Harness Dickey & Pierce PLC
Lazarus Ira S.
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