JPH10244820A - Car air conditioning unit and car air conditioning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a car air conditioning unit and a car air conditioning device having small resistance to ventilation and showing merits of an integral expansion valve. SOLUTION: This unit is provided with an evaporator 32 and a heater core 33 and an air intake 40 is formed in the lower part of one side wall of a vehicle. The evaporator 32 is arranged below the heater core 33 and air passing planes 32 thereof are disposed above and below itself. The evaporator 32 is provided slantwise such that air passing planes 32b are slant 10 to 40 degrees to the right or the left with respect to the downstream side of the air introduced from the intake 40.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner for an automobile, and more particularly, to an evaporator (condenser, cooling heat exchanger) and a heater core (heating heat exchanger) which are vertically arranged in an integrated unit. It relates to a vertical integrated air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With an increase in the cooler mounting rate, it has been studied to house an evaporator and a heater core in one unit and abolish the conventional cooler unit, especially in a passenger car air conditioner. In contrast to a conventional horizontal air conditioner in which an intake unit, a cooler unit, and a heater unit are arranged in a horizontal line in the left-right direction of the vehicle, this type of automotive air conditioner is often called a vertical integrated air conditioner. .

[0003] Combining the cooler unit and the heater unit into one unit not only increases the foot space in the vehicle interior, but also reduces the material, manufacturing and assembly costs by integrating the units.

As a conventional vertical integrated air conditioner, an evaporator and a heater core are arranged substantially upright and arranged in the front-rear direction of a vehicle (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-156570) or an evaporator and a heater core. A vehicle that is arranged substantially horizontally and arranged vertically in the vehicle (for example, see
No. 104,129).

In the former air conditioner, air taken in from an intake unit is introduced into the unit from the front of the vehicle, and the air flows down toward the rear of the vehicle in the order of an evaporator and a heater core. On the other hand, the latter air conditioner introduces intake air from an intake unit into a lower portion of a side surface of the unit, and causes air to flow upward in the order of an evaporator and a heater core.

[0006]

In such a vertical integrated air conditioner, since the evaporator and the heater core originally provided in the two units cannot be accommodated in one unit, the ventilation resistance in the unit is low. It has the potential problem of growing. In the above-described conventional vertical integrated air conditioner, the arrangement of the evaporator, the heater core, and the flow path have been devised, but are still insufficient.

Further, when considering the arrangement of the evaporator and the heater core, it is necessary to take into consideration the arrangement of these pipes. In the case of the evaporator, the refrigerant tank and the engine room are used, and in the case of the heater core, the hot water tank and the engine room are used. Is important.

[0008] For example, in the latter air conditioner, the refrigerant tank of the evaporator is not close to the dash panel (approx. 90 ° from the dash panel surface), so the refrigerant piping connecting the refrigerant tank to the cooling cycle in the engine room. However, even if an integral type expansion valve which is particularly excellent in assemblability is adopted, there is a disadvantage that the effect cannot be sufficiently exhibited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has as its object to provide a vertical integrated air conditioner which has a small airflow resistance and can fully exhibit the advantages of the integrated expansion valve. And

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automotive air conditioning unit, comprising an evaporator and a heater core, wherein an inlet of intake air is provided at a lower portion of one side wall in a lateral direction of the vehicle. In an air conditioning unit for an automobile, wherein the evaporator is formed on the lower side, the heater core is arranged on the upper side, and the evaporator is arranged with the air passing surface in a substantially vertical direction, the evaporator is provided with air introduced into the inlet. The air passage surface is provided so as to be inclined rightward or leftward with respect to the downward flow direction.

[0011] In the vehicle air conditioning unit according to the first aspect, the inclination angle of the evaporator is not particularly limited.
It is characterized by 40 °.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the automotive air conditioning unit, the inlet of the intake air is opened on one side surface of a space formed by an air passage surface below the evaporator and a bottom surface of the casing. It is characterized by being.

In the air conditioning unit for a vehicle according to the first to third aspects, the intake air is introduced from the lower part of the side of the unit, and passes through the evaporator and the heater core upward in the order of the vehicle. At this time, if the evaporator is tilted to the right or left with respect to the flowing direction of the air, even if the evaporator is arranged close to the bottom surface of the casing, the air passage surface on the lower side of the evaporator and the bottom surface of the casing will only be inclined Is formed between them. In the present invention, this space is used as an air introduction space.

However, if the angle of inclination is too small, the volume of the space itself or the opening area of the air inlet to the space becomes small, so that the airflow resistance may be increased, which is not preferable. Conversely, if the inclination angle is too large, the evaporator will rise by that much, so that not only the height of the air conditioning unit will increase, but also the air flow path will be curved, which may increase the ventilation resistance. Not preferred.

Therefore, in the automotive air conditioning unit of the present invention, by setting the inclination angle of the evaporator in the range of 10 ° to 40 °, the ventilation resistance is sufficiently small and the unit can be miniaturized most.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioning unit for an automobile, wherein an evaporator and a heater core are provided, and an inlet for intake air is formed at a lower portion of one side wall in a lateral direction of the vehicle. In an automotive air-conditioning unit in which the heater core is arranged on the lower side and the evaporator is arranged with the air passing surface substantially vertically, the refrigerant tank of the evaporator is located on the engine room side of the vehicle. Features.

In the vehicle air conditioning unit according to the present invention, since the refrigerant tank of the evaporator is located on the engine room side of the vehicle, the connection length with the cooling cycle in the engine room is shortened, and the refrigerant piping is routed. Is significantly simplified.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automobile air conditioning unit,
An expansion valve is attached to the refrigerant tank through a dash panel of a vehicle and a casing of an air conditioning unit. As described above, when the so-called integral expansion valve is employed, it can be configured to penetrate both the dash panel and the casing, so that the refrigerant piping on the air conditioning unit side becomes unnecessary.

In the automotive air conditioning unit of the present invention,
Although the layout of the heater core is not particularly limited, the air conditioning unit for a vehicle according to claim 8 is characterized in that the air passage unit is arranged with the air passage surface substantially vertically. By doing so, the height of the air conditioning unit can be minimized, and the air flow path is extremely smooth, so that the ventilation resistance is reduced.

In the automotive air conditioning unit of the present invention,
Although the setting positions of the various outlets are not particularly limited,
The above described air conditioning unit for a vehicle is characterized in that a vent outlet, a defrost outlet and a foot outlet are formed above the heater core.

The above-described functions and effects can be achieved by combining the automotive air-conditioning unit according to any one of claims 1 to 9 with an intake unit provided with a blower and arranging these along the vehicle left-right direction. An air conditioner is provided.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of an automotive air conditioner of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, and FIG.
Is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the evaporator according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a graph showing the ventilation resistance with respect to the inclination angle of the evaporator according to the present invention.

The vehicle air conditioner 100 includes an intake unit 10 and an air conditioning unit 30.
Each has an intake unit casing 11 and an air conditioning unit casing 31, which are connected by a duct 20. As shown in FIG.
30 is mounted in the left-right direction along the dash panel DP of the vehicle. Although not particularly limited, intake unit 10 is attached to the back of the instrument panel located at the foot of the passenger seat, and air conditioning unit 30 is attached to the back of the center console located at the center of the vehicle.

The intake unit casing 11 includes:
An outside air intake 12 for taking in air outside the vehicle compartment and an inside air intake 13 for circulating room air are formed. The inside air inlet 13 is formed directly in the intake unit case 11 while the outside air inlet 12 is
It communicates with an inlet formed in the cowl panel of the vehicle body through an air duct (both not shown).

Although not shown, the intake unit case 11 has an intake door rotatably provided at a position where the outside air intake 12 is fully closed (inside air circulation mode).
And a position (the outside air intake mode) where the inside air intake 13 is fully closed, and stops at an intermediate position (the inside / outside air intake mode) as necessary. This rotation of the intake door is performed by an intake door actuator attached to the intake unit case 11 or a manual wire.

The intake of inside air and / or outside air is performed by a fan 15 rotated by a fan motor 14.

As shown in FIG. 3, an inlet 40 of the air blown from the intake unit 10 via the duct 20 is formed in a lower portion of the side surface of the casing 31 in the air conditioning unit casing 31.

An evaporator 32 for cooling intake air is provided near the inlet 40. The evaporator 32 includes a compressor, a condenser (evaporator), an expansion valve EX, a liquid tank, and the like. It is an element of a cooling cycle that is connected by refrigerant piping. Further, since the main components such as the compressor, the condenser, and the liquid tank are provided in the engine room, these components are connected to the evaporator 32 through the dash panel DP by refrigerant piping. The operation and stop of the cooling cycle are performed by an air conditioner switch of a control panel provided on an instrument panel in the vehicle compartment.

A heater core 33 is provided above the evaporator 32 of the air conditioning unit case 31 so as to form a bypass 35. This heater core 33
Also, the air passage surface 33a is disposed so as to face up and down. Then, the ratio between the amount of air passing through the heater core 33 and the amount of air passing through the bypass passage 35 is adjusted between the heater core 33 and the evaporator 32, that is, by the mix door 34 provided on the front surface of the heater core 33.

The engine coolant of the vehicle circulates through the heater core 33, and the air is heated by heat exchange between the engine coolant and the air. The mix door 34 is rotated by a mix door actuator or a manual wire between a position where the front surface 33a of the heater core 33 is fully closed (full cool) and a position where the bypass passage 35 is fully closed (full hot).

The air conditioning unit 30 of the present embodiment cools the air blown from the intake unit 10 by the above-described evaporator 32, then controls the temperature by the heater core 33, and adjusts the vehicle interior from a desired outlet. It has a function to distribute air. For this purpose, an air mixing chamber is formed at the uppermost portion (downstream side) of the air conditioning unit case 31, in which a vent outlet 37, a defrost outlet 38 and a foot outlet 39 are formed.

The vent outlet 37 is connected to a vent grill provided on the front of the instrument panel in the vehicle interior through an air duct or directly, and blows out conditioned air mainly toward the upper body of the occupant. The defrost outlet 38 is communicated with a defrost grill provided on the upper surface of the instrument panel through an air duct or directly, and blows low humidity air or warm air toward the inner surface of the windshield to remove the fogging. Foot outlet 39
Opens below the occupant's feet in the passenger compartment through an air duct extending downward from the air conditioning unit case 31, and mainly blows warm air toward the occupants' feet.

Each of the outlets 37, 38, 39
, A vent door 37D, a differential door 38D, and a foot door 39D are provided so as to be able to open and close respective air outlets. These doors 37D, 38D, 39D are operated by a mode door actuator or a manual wire via a link mechanism or the like. .

That is, by selecting various blow-out modes such as a vent mode, a defrost mode, a bi-level mode, and a foot mode, the three doors 37D, 38D, and 39D are selected.
These doors operate according to the combination of opening and closing. For example, in the bi-level mode, the vent outlet 3
7 and the foot outlet 39 are each half-opened, and cool air is blown out from the vent outlet 37 and warm air is blown out from the foot outlet 39, so that a so-called head-to-foot temperature control is performed.

The air conditioner 100 for a vehicle according to the present embodiment.
In the air conditioning unit 30, a submix door 36 is provided on the back surface of the heater core 33.
It is connected by a link mechanism or the like so as to operate in conjunction with. The submix door 36 is provided to enhance the mixing property between the hot air and the cold air in the air mix chamber. For example, in a temperature control region where the mix door 34 rotates to an intermediate position, the submix door 36 is also at the intermediate position. As a result, a portion of the warm air that has passed through the heater core 33 is guided by the cool air that has flowed down the bypass passage 35, thereby improving the mixing property.

In particular, in the air conditioning unit 30 of the present embodiment,
The evaporator 32 is disposed such that the air passage surface 32b is inclined right or left with respect to the flowing direction of the air introduced into the inlet 40. Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a perspective view as viewed from the back side of FIG. 3, in which the upper left side is the engine room, and the lower left side is the intake unit 1.
0. The air taken in by the intake unit 10 flows through the duct 20 through the air conditioning unit casing 31.
To the entrance 40 in the direction of arrow A1. The evaporator 32 of the present embodiment is arranged such that when the evaporator 32 is viewed in the direction of the arrow A1, the air passage surface 32a of the evaporator 32 is lowered to the right.

The inclination angle θ of the evaporator 32 in this embodiment is preferably set to 10 ° to 40 °. This is because, as shown in FIG. 4, the intake air is introduced from the side of the evaporator 32 and passes through the evaporator 32 upward. Therefore, when the inclination angle of the evaporator 32 is smaller than 10 °, that is, near the horizontal. This is because the opening area of the inlet 40 becomes smaller accordingly, and the ventilation resistance increases.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the results of an experiment in which the ventilation resistance was measured when the inclination angle of the evaporator 32 was changed. It was confirmed that the ventilation resistance was significantly increased when the inclination angle of the evaporator 32 was small. However, this experiment does not show the combined ventilation resistance with the heater core 33 shown in FIG.

If the inclination angle of the evaporator 32 is large, that is, if the evaporator 32 is raised too much, the opening area of the inlet 40 increases, but the dimension in the height direction associated with the rising of the evaporator 32 increases. The air flow path introduced from the inlet 40 and passing through the evaporator 32 is curved, and the ventilation resistance increases accordingly.

Further, in the air conditioning unit 30 of the present embodiment, when the evaporator 32 is inclined, the refrigerant tank 32a is positioned on the engine room side. If only the ventilation resistance and the height of the unit 30 are considered,
The refrigerant tank 32a may be either on the engine room side or the outdoor side, but by arranging the refrigerant tank 32a on the engine room side, as shown in FIG.
The effect when X is adopted is remarkable.

That is, in the present embodiment, the air-conditioning unit casing 31 is formed with the cylindrical projection 31a penetrating the dash panel DP, and the integral expansion valve EX is attached thereto so as to penetrate the dash panel DP. I have. The integral expansion valve EX has a refrigerant inlet from the cooling cycle and a refrigerant outlet to the same cycle, and these are communicated with the refrigerant tank 32a. Further, since the expansion valve body and the temperature sensing part are also built in, piping for operating the expansion valve and the temperature sensing part is significantly simplified. By employing this type of integrated expansion valve EX, the air conditioning unit 3 according to the present embodiment is provided.
In the case of 0, the refrigerant piping on the indoor side is simplified, and the connection work with the cooling cycle may be performed only from the engine room side.

Next, each operation of the full cool mode, the full hot mode and the temperature control mode will be described. 6 shows the air flow in the full cool mode, FIG. 7 shows the air flow in the full hot mode, and FIG. 8 shows the air flow in the temperature control mode.

First, in the full cool mode, FIG.
As shown in (2), the defrost outlet 38 and the foot outlet 39 are fully closed, and the vent outlet 37 is fully opened. Further, the mix door 34 fully closes the heater core 33.
The submix door 36 is not particularly limited.

By doing so, the intake unit 10
The intake air introduced into the inlet 40 from the evaporator 3
Ascending while passing through the second air passage surface 32b, the air passes through the bypass passage 35 and reaches the vent outlet 37 as it is. As described above, in the full cool mode, since the air flow path from the inlet 40 to the vent outlet 37 is formed in a substantially straight line, the airflow resistance is extremely small, and a large amount of cold air can be supplied to the room. it can.

In the full hot mode, FIG.
As shown in (2), the defrost outlet 38 and the vent outlet 37 are fully closed, and the foot outlet 39 is fully opened. Further, the mix door 34 fully opens the heater core 33.

By doing so, intake unit 10
The intake air introduced into the inlet 40 from the evaporator 3
2 rises while passing through the air passage surface 32b, and is guided to the heater core 33 by the mix door 34,
3 to the foot outlet 39 as it is. As described above, even in the full hot mode, since the air flow path from the inlet 40 to the foot outlet 39 is formed in a substantially straight line, the ventilation resistance is extremely small, and a large amount of warm air can be supplied to the room. Can be.

Further, in the temperature control mode in which air at an intermediate temperature is supplied and in the bilevel mode, as shown in FIG. 8, the defrost outlet 38 is fully closed, and the vent outlet 37 and the foot outlet 39 are closed. Half open. The mix door 34 is set at a substantially middle position, and the submix door 36 is set at a substantially middle position.

By doing so, the intake unit 10
The intake air introduced into the inlet 40 from the evaporator 3
Although it rises while passing through the second air passage surface 32 b, it is branched by the mix door 34 into air guided to the heater core 33 and air guided to the bypass 35. The warm air that has passed through the heater core 33 further flows into the submix door 36.
As a result, the air is branched into the warm air that reaches the foot outlet 39 and the warm air that is deflected to the bypass passage 35 side. The hot air deflected toward the bypass passage 35 collides with the cool air rising in the bypass passage 35 to be mixed to reach an appropriate temperature, and then reaches the vent outlet 37.

As described above, even in the temperature control mode, since the air flow path from the inlet 40 to the vent outlet 37 or the foot outlet 39 is formed in a substantially straight line, the air flow resistance is extremely small, and Temperature-controlled air can be supplied indoors. In addition, since the warm air collides with the cool air in a substantially right angle direction by the sub-mix door 36, the mixing property is enhanced, and the uncomfortable feeling of head and foot heat is suppressed. Further, if the submix door 36 is configured to be operable independently, the temperature difference between head and foot heat can be freely changed.

The embodiments described above have been described in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and are not described to limit the present invention. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment is intended to include all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a small air conditioning unit for a vehicle and a small air conditioner for a vehicle, which have sufficiently small ventilation resistance.

Further, the arrangement of the refrigerant pipes for the cooling cycle in the engine room is remarkably simplified, and the effect is particularly remarkable when an integrated expansion valve is employed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a vehicle air conditioner of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an evaporator according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the ventilation resistance with respect to the inclination angle of the evaporator of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an air flow in a full cool mode of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing an air flow in a full hot mode of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing an air flow in the temperature control mode of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Intake unit 14 ... Fan motor (blower) 15 ... Fan (blower) 20 ... Duct 30 ... Air conditioning unit 31 ... Casing 31a ... Cylindrical protrusion 32 ... Evaporator 32a ... Refrigerant tank 32b ... Air passage surface 33 ... Heater core 33a ... Air passage surface 34 mix door 35 bypass path 36 submix door 37 vent outlet 38 defrost outlet 39 foot outlet 40 inlet EX expansion valve DP dash panel

Claims (10)

[Claims] An evaporator (32) and a heater core (33) are provided, an intake air inlet (40) is formed in a lower portion of one side wall of the vehicle in the left-right direction, the evaporator is on a lower side, and the heater core is on an upper side. In the automotive air conditioning unit (30) arranged and the evaporator arranged so that the air passage surface (32b) is substantially up and down, the evaporator (32) is configured to flow down the air introduced into the inlet (40). An air conditioning unit for a vehicle, wherein the air passage surface (32b) is provided to be inclined rightward or leftward with respect to a direction (A1). 2. The inclination angle of the evaporator (32) is as follows:
The automotive air conditioning unit according to claim 1, wherein the angle is 10 ° to 40 °. 3. The intake air inlet (40) is opened on one side of a space formed by an air passage surface (32b) below the evaporator and a bottom surface of the casing (31). The automotive air conditioning unit according to claim 2, wherein: 4. A refrigerant tank of the evaporator (32a).
The vehicle air conditioning unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the air conditioning unit is located on the engine room side of the vehicle. 5. An expansion valve (EX) is attached to the refrigerant tank (32a) through a dash panel (DP) of a vehicle and a casing (31) of an air conditioning unit. The air conditioning unit for a vehicle according to the above. 6. An evaporator (32) and a heater core (33) are provided, an intake air inlet (40) is formed in a lower portion of one side wall of the vehicle in the left-right direction, the evaporator is on a lower side, and the heater core is on an upper side. In the vehicle air conditioning unit (30) arranged and the evaporator arranged with the air passage surface (32b) substantially vertically, the refrigerant tank (32a) of the evaporator is located on the engine room side of the vehicle. An air conditioning unit for automobiles. 7. The vehicle according to claim 6, wherein an expansion valve (EX) is attached to the refrigerant tank through a dash panel (DP) of the vehicle and a casing (31) of the air conditioning unit. Air conditioning unit. 8. The air conditioning unit for an automobile according to claim 1, wherein said heater core (33) is arranged with an air passage surface (33a) substantially vertically. 9. A heater according to claim 1, wherein a vent outlet (37), a defrost outlet (38) and a foot outlet (39) are formed above the heater core (33). The automotive air conditioning unit according to any one of the above. 10. An automotive air conditioning unit (30) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, and an intake unit (10) provided with blowers (14, 15) are arranged along the left-right direction of the vehicle. Automotive air conditioner.