JP2000225835A - Air conditioner for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify the constitution of a coolant piping to an evaporator. SOLUTION: At a center part of vehicle left and right directions of an instrument panel inside part at the front part within a compartment, an air conditioning unit 10 is arranged. Within this air conditioning unit 10, an evaporator 12 is arranged so that the heat exchange surface may be extended in vehicle upper and lower directions. The evaporator 12 is arranged so as to be inclined to vehicle left and right directions so that a driver's seat side tip part 12g of this evaporator 12 may be located at a vehicle front side and a front-seat passenger's seat side tip part 12h may be located at a vehicle rear side. At the driver's seat side tip part 12g of the evaporator 12, piping connecting parts 12f, 21 are arranged. By these arrangements, the driver's seat side tip part 12g of the evaporator 12 can be made adjacent to a dash panel 100 on a vehicle side by the inclined arrangement of the evaporator 12. Therefore, the piping connecting parts 12f, 21 are only required to be arranged on a compartment 102 side and a connection piping within the compartment having a length of about 300 to 400 mm in a conventional technique can be abolished.

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 a vehicle in which a piping structure for a cooling heat exchanger (evaporator) is simplified.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Usually, an indoor unit of a vehicle air conditioner is installed inside a dashboard at a front portion of a vehicle interior. At that time, in recent years, as an installation method of the indoor unit, an air-conditioning unit incorporating a heat exchanger for cooling and heating has been recently arranged in the center of the vehicle in the left-right direction (instrument panel width direction), and the blower unit has a passenger seat. A type that is offsetly arranged on the front side is often used.

In the prior art having such an arrangement layout, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 9-175157, a cooling heat exchanger (evaporator) is made parallel to the left and right direction of the vehicle, and the heat exchange surface thereof is formed. Are arranged in the air conditioning unit so as to extend in the vertical direction of the vehicle.

[0004]

In this case, the conditioned air blown from the blower unit in a direction parallel to the left and right direction of the vehicle is redirected to the rear side of the vehicle at the front portion (the front portion of the vehicle) of the cooling heat exchanger. Then, it is necessary to allow the air to pass through the cooling heat exchanger from the vehicle front side to the vehicle rear side.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a space having a predetermined size (about 100 to 150 mm) in the front-rear direction of the vehicle on the front surface of the cooling heat exchanger.

[0005] Therefore, the cooling heat exchanger is inevitably located rearward of the vehicle by an amount corresponding to the installation space of this space when viewed from the front of the air conditioning unit case. As a result, the distance between the dash panel that separates the vehicle interior from the engine room and the refrigerant inlet / outlet part of the cooling heat exchanger (often an expansion valve is connected to the refrigerant inlet / outlet part) is 300.
It is necessary to connect with a connection pipe having a length of about 400 mm.

As a result, there arises a problem that a piping space for the connection piping must be secured on the vehicle interior side. In addition to the cost of manufacturing the connection pipe and the cost of pipe work, the low pressure side pipe of the connection pipe is provided with an insulator for preventing dew condensation made of a sponge-like heat insulating material, and the high pressure side pipe is used for preventing burns. It is necessary to attach the respective insulators, which causes an increase in product cost.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above points,
An object of the present invention is to simplify a piping configuration to a cooling heat exchanger in a vehicle cabin.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an air conditioning unit (1) is provided at a central portion in a lateral direction of a vehicle inside an instrument panel at a front portion of a vehicle compartment.
0), a cooling heat exchanger (12) is arranged in the air conditioning unit (10) such that a heat exchange surface thereof extends in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and the cooling heat exchanger (12) is arranged.
The cooling heat exchanger (12) is inclined with respect to the left-right direction of the vehicle such that one end (12g) of the cooling heat exchanger is located on the front side of the vehicle and the other end (12h) is located on the rear side of the vehicle. The one end (12) of the cooling heat exchanger (12).
g) is provided with a piping connection portion (12f, 21).

According to this, one end (12g) of the cooling heat exchanger (12) can be brought close to the dash panel (100) on the vehicle side by the inclined arrangement of the cooling heat exchanger (12). . Therefore, it is only necessary to dispose the pipe connection part (12f, 21) on the vehicle cabin (102) side, and it is possible to eliminate the connection pipe in the vehicle cabin having a length of about 300 to 400 mm in the related art. . Therefore,
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the effect of reduction of the piping space of a vehicle interior side, cost reduction accompanying abolition of connection piping, etc. can be exhibited.

[0010] As in the second aspect of the invention, one end (12g) of the cooling heat exchanger (12) is located on the driver's seat side in the vehicle interior, and the other end (12h) is in the vehicle interior. Can be located on the passenger seat side of the vehicle. As in the third aspect of the present invention, the pipe connection portion is specifically formed by a cooling heat exchanger (1).
2) an entrance / exit joint (12f) integrally provided at one end (12g) of this entrance / exit joint (12g);
f) and a pipe joint (21) detachably connected to the pipe joint (21).

[0011] In particular, in the invention according to claim 4, a vehicle compartment (102) is formed behind the engine room (101), and a dash panel (100) is formed between the engine room (101) and the vehicle room (102). ), Wherein the cooling heat exchanger is an evaporator (12) of a refrigeration cycle, and the evaporator (12) has gas-liquid decompressed by an expansion valve (24). An opening (104) is opened in the dash panel (100) in the vicinity of the pipe joint (21), and the two-phase refrigerant flows into the dash panel (100).
f) through the opening (104) to the engine compartment (10).
1), the expansion valve (24) is arranged in the engine room (101), the expansion valve (24) is connected to the piping joint (21) from the engine room (101) side, and the expansion valve ( 24) to the pipe joint (2
It is characterized by communicating with the passage holes (21e, 21f) of 1).

According to this, the expansion valve (24) can be directly connected to the piping joint (21) on the vehicle interior side from the engine room side, and the expansion valve is located closer to the engine room side than the lower part of the instrument panel in the vehicle interior. Since it is easy to secure a working space for the coupling operation, the expansion valve coupling operation can be easily performed in a short time. In addition, since the refrigerant flow noise generated in the expansion valve throttle section is less likely to propagate into the vehicle interior, it is also advantageous for reducing vehicle interior noise.

The reference numerals in parentheses attached to the respective means indicate the correspondence with specific means described in the embodiments described later.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. The ventilation system of the vehicle air conditioner according to this embodiment is roughly divided into two parts, a blower unit 1 and an air conditioning unit 10. The air-conditioning unit 10 is disposed at a substantially central portion in the vehicle left-right direction in the inside of the instrument panel at the front of the vehicle interior, while the blower unit 1 is offsetly disposed on the passenger seat side of the air-conditioning unit 10 in the vehicle interior. You. Note that this example is a case where the present invention is applied to a right-hand drive vehicle, and the blower unit 1 and the air conditioning unit 10 are mounted in the directions of arrows in FIG.

The blower unit 1 has a well-known structure, and includes a scroll case 2 and a centrifugal multi-blade blower fan 3 disposed in the scroll case 2, and the blower fan 3 is driven by a motor (not shown) by an arrow A. The air is blown toward the air conditioning unit 10 through the outlet portion 4 of the scroll case 2 as shown by the arrow B by being driven to rotate in the direction.

A suction port (not shown) of the blower fan 3 is disposed on the upper side, and an inside / outside air switching box (not shown) is provided above the blower fan 3, and the inside air (vehicle) introduced from the inside / outside air switching box is provided. The blower fan 3 blows indoor air) or outside air (vehicle outside air). Next, the air-conditioning unit 10 will be specifically described. The air-conditioning unit 10 integrally includes an evaporator (cooling heat exchanger) 12 and a heater core (heating heat exchanger) 13 in an air-conditioning case 11. Type.

Here, the air-conditioning case 11 is composed of a plurality of resin-made divided cases, such as polypropylene, having a certain degree of elasticity and excellent strength. By housing the heat exchangers 12 and 13 and devices such as doors described later in the plurality of divided cases, the plurality of divided cases are integrally connected by fastening means such as metal spring clips and screws. 10 units of the air conditioning unit are assembled.

In the air conditioning case 11, an evaporator 12 is disposed at a position on the vehicle front side, and a heater core 13 is disposed at a position on the vehicle rear side with respect to the evaporator 12. Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the evaporator 12 has a heat exchange core portion 12c composed of a combination of a flat tube 12a and a corrugated fin 12b. The flat tubes 12a are formed by joining thin metal plates made of an aluminum alloy in the middle to form a refrigerant passage having a flat cross section. Tank portions 12d, 1d, which connect refrigerant passages between the tubes to both ends thereof.
2e is integrally molded, and the entire evaporator 12 is assembled by integral brazing. Reference numeral 12f denotes an inlet / outlet joint for allowing the refrigerant to enter and exit the evaporator 12, which is made of an aluminum alloy, and has a refrigerant inlet 12i and a refrigerant outlet 12j.

The evaporator 12 cools the conditioned air by injecting a low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant of a refrigeration cycle and absorbing the latent heat of evaporation from the conditioned air, as is well known. It is arranged so as to cross the entire area of the air passage in the case 11. Explaining the arrangement of the evaporator 12 more specifically, the evaporator 12 is configured such that the heat exchange surface of the heat exchange core portion 12c shown in FIG. In the up and down direction)
It is arranged in the air conditioning case 11.

Moreover, one end of the evaporator 12 in the width direction, that is, the driver's seat side end (the right end in FIGS. 1 and 2).
12g is located on the front side of the vehicle, and the other end in the width direction, that is, the passenger seat side end (left end in FIGS. 1 and 2) 12h
The evaporator 12 is inclined at a predetermined angle θ with respect to the left-right direction of the vehicle such that the. Here, the angle θ is about 20 ° to 60 °. The above-mentioned entrance / exit joint 12f is connected to the driver side end 12 of the evaporator 12.
g.

In the air-conditioning case 11, an air inlet 14 is opened at a position on the vehicle front side of the evaporator 12 and on the side of the passenger seat, and the air inlet 14 is connected to the scroll case of the blower unit 1. 2 is connected to the outlet 4, and the air blown from the blower unit 1 is supplied to the evaporator 12.
Flows into the front side of. Evaporator 1 in air conditioning case 11
A stepped wall surface 15 for uniformizing the wind speed distribution of the air passing through the evaporator 12 is formed at a portion facing the front surface of the evaporator 12. In the air-conditioning case 11, an opening 16 is opened on the side surface on the passenger seat side.
The opening area is set to have a width sufficiently larger than the width W of the evaporator 12 so that the evaporator 12 can be taken out to the passenger seat side. A cover member 17 for closing the opening 16 is attached to the side surface of the air conditioning case 11 on the passenger seat side.

The lid member 17 is a plate-shaped member formed of resin, and a packing material (seal material) 17a for preventing air leakage is adhered to an inner surface thereof. Lid member 17
Is detachably attached to the air-conditioning case 11. In this example, the end 17b on the vehicle rear side of the cover member 17 is engaged with a hook claw 18 formed on the air-conditioning case 11. The end 17c of the cover member 17 on the vehicle front side is fixed to the wall of the outlet 4 of the scroll case 2 by a screw (tapping screw) 19. Therefore, according to the mounting structure of this example, the lid member 17 constitutes a part of the duct at the air inlet 14 of the air conditioning case 11.

On the other hand, in the air-conditioning case 11, an opening 20 is opened on the side surface on the driver's seat side.
Is for projecting an entrance / exit joint 12f provided at the driver's seat side end 12g of the evaporator 12 to the outside of the case. The refrigerant pipe connector 21 is detachably connected to the inlet / outlet joint 12f. FIG. 3 shows the shape of the refrigerant pipe connector 21 alone. The refrigerant pipe connector 21 is formed by cold forging or cutting a metal such as aluminum into the shape shown in FIG. A rectangular first flange portion 21a is formed. A mounting hole 21b is opened near the center of the first flange portion 21a, and one bolt 22 (FIG. 1) is inserted into the mounting hole 21b.
Through which the refrigerant pipe connector 21 is inserted.
Are fastened and fixed to the entrance joint 12f.

The pipe portions 21c, 21 for connecting the refrigerant passages on the inlet and outlet sides from the plate surface of the first flange portion 21a.
d, the pipe portions 21c and 21d are connected to the refrigerant inlet 12i and the refrigerant outlet 12 on the inlet / outlet joint 12f side.
It is airtightly connected to the passage hole of j via a sealing O-ring (not shown). In addition, the first flange portion 21a has inlet-side and outlet-side refrigerant passage holes 21e, 21f.
Is integrally provided, and a second rectangular flange portion 21h is integrally provided on the other end side of the connector main body 21g. On the outer side of the second flange portion 21h, a rectangular projecting portion 21i having a slightly smaller outer dimension than the second flange portion 21h is integrally formed. The protruding portion 21i has the refrigerant passage holes 21e and 21f opened therein.
Two screw holes 21j are formed in an intermediate portion between 1e and 21f.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a dash panel of the vehicle.
It is what separates. Since the evaporator 12 is inclined at the predetermined angle θ as described above, the driver's seat side end 12 g of the evaporator 12 is arranged close to the dash panel 100. Accordingly, the entrance joint 12f
And the refrigerant piping connector 21 can also be arranged close to the dash panel 100.

The dash panel 100 has an opening 103 in the vicinity of the refrigerant pipe connector 21 so as to face the second flange 21h. This opening 10
3 through the second flange portion 21 of the refrigerant pipe connector 21
h into the engine compartment 1 directly.
01 side. Therefore, the refrigerant passage holes 21 e and 21 f of the refrigerant pipe connector 21 are directly connected to the engine room 10.
It can be exposed to one side.

Here, the projecting portion 2 of the refrigerant pipe connector 21
A packing material 23 for sealing is mounted on the outer peripheral side of 1i, and the packing material 23 is pressed against the dash panel 100 by the second flange portion 21h to seal the peripheral portion of the opening 103. Thereby, the engine room 10
1 can be prevented from flowing into the vehicle interior 102 from the opening 103.

The temperature type expansion valve 24 is provided in the engine room 101.
And is connected to the refrigerant pipe connector 21 from the engine room 101 side, and in this example, as a temperature-type expansion valve 24, a temperature sensing part that senses the refrigerant temperature at the outlet of the evaporator 12. Is built in the valve housing 24a. Here, the valve housing 24
a is a metal such as aluminum and is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape as shown in FIG. 4, and a diaphragm mechanism 24b is arranged at one end of the valve housing 24a.

A pressure difference corresponding to the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator 12 acts on the diaphragm mechanism 24b, and the diaphragm built in the diaphragm mechanism 24b is displaced in accordance with the pressure difference. The opening of a valve body (not shown) in the valve housing 24a is adjusted according to the amount of displacement. By adjusting the valve opening, the flow rate of the refrigerant to the evaporator 12 is adjusted, and the degree of superheat of the refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator 12 is maintained at a set value.

Second flange 2 of refrigerant pipe connector 21
Since the protrusion 21i of 1h projects toward the engine room 101, the valve housing 24a of the thermal expansion valve 24 can be pressed against the plate surface of the protrusion 21i from the engine room 101 side. Then, the two bolts 24c shown by broken lines in FIG. 4 are screwed into the screw holes 21j of the projecting portions 21i (FIG. 3).
, The temperature-type expansion valve 24 can be detachably fastened and fixed to the refrigerant pipe connector 21.

In the valve housing 24a of the temperature type expansion valve 24, a piping joint 25 is connected to a surface opposite to the refrigerant piping connector 21. The pipe joint 25 is made of a metal such as aluminum, and the ends of the high-pressure side liquid pipe 26a and the low-pressure gas pipe 26b in the engine room 101 are previously joined to the passage hole of the pipe joint 25 by brazing. A mounting hole (not shown) at the center of the pipe joint 25
Is inserted into a screw hole (not shown) of a valve housing 24a of the thermal expansion valve 24, thereby connecting the pipe joint 25 to the valve housing 24a of the thermal expansion valve 24. It can be fixed by being detachably attached to it.

By attaching the pipe joint 25, the high-pressure liquid pipe 26 a and the low-pressure gas pipe 26 b can communicate with the inlet and outlet refrigerant passages (not shown) of the thermal expansion valve 24. High-pressure liquid refrigerant from a not-shown receiver flows into the inlet-side refrigerant passage of the temperature-type expansion valve 24 via a high-pressure-side liquid pipe 26a, and gas refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator 12 is supplied to the temperature-type expansion valve 24. After passing through the outlet-side refrigerant passage, the refrigerant is introduced into the compressor suction side through the low-pressure gas pipe 26b.

The refrigerant pipe connector 2 exposed in the cabin 102 in the refrigerant pipe path of the evaporator 12
An insulator (not shown) made of a sponge-like heat insulating material is attached to the outer surface of the door joint 1 and the entrance / exit joint 12f to prevent dew condensation. Next, the heater core 13 is arranged downstream of the evaporator 12 on the air flow side (rear side of the vehicle) and adjacent to a portion on the driver's seat side (the right side in FIG. 1). The heater core 13 reheats the cold air that has passed through the evaporator 12, and high-temperature hot water (engine cooling water) flows therein, and heats the air using the hot water as a heat source.

The heater core 13 of this embodiment has a well-known structure. A flat tube and a corrugated fin formed by molding a thin metal plate such as aluminum into a flat cross section are provided between a hot water inlet side tank and a hot water outlet side tank. The heat exchange core portions alternately stacked are arranged and brazed integrally.
The heater core 13 has, for example, a hot water inlet-side tank arranged at a lower side, a hot water outlet-side tank arranged at an upper side, and hot water from the hot water inlet-side tank flowing all the flat tubes of the heat exchange core portion from below. It can be configured as a one-way flow type (all-pass type) that flows in one direction.

FIG. 1 shows only the hot water inlet pipes 27 and 28 of the hot water pipes connected to the heater core 13, and the hot water outlet pipe is not shown. One end of the hot water inlet pipe 27 is connected to an inlet pipe 13a of the tank on the inlet side of the heater core 13 by a caulking connection portion 27a. A hot water valve 29 is detachably connected between the hot water inlet pipe 27 and the hot water inlet pipe 28 by clamps 30a and 30b. The hot water valve 29 is a bracket 29
It is held and fixed to the air conditioning case 11 via a. An opening 104 for hot water piping is opened in the dash panel 100 adjacent to the above-described opening 103, and the hot water inlet pipe 28 and a hot water outlet pipe (not shown) project toward the engine room 101 through this opening 104. Is connected to a hot water circuit of a vehicle engine (not shown) through a hot water pipe (not shown) in the engine room 101. Here, a rubber grommet (seal material) 31 is fitted to the hot water inlet pipe 28 and the hot water outlet pipe to seal the opening 104.

As described above, the hot water valve 29 is provided to the heater core 13.
The hot water of the vehicle engine circulates through the This hot water valve 2
9 is a valve body (not shown) capable of adjusting the opening area of the hot water flow path.
The flow rate of the hot water flowing into the heater core 13 is adjusted by adjusting the opening of the valve body, thereby adjusting the temperature of the air blown into the vehicle interior. The operating portion of the valve body of the hot water valve 29 is mechanically connected to a temperature adjusting operation member (for example, a lever-type member) of an air-conditioning operation panel via a link mechanism, a cable, and the like (not shown), and is manually operated. .

As shown in FIG. 1, the heater core 13 has a width in the vehicle left-right direction smaller than the evaporator 12 by a predetermined amount.
It is arranged on the rear side of the evaporator 12 in the vehicle and at the driver's seat side. Thereby, the cool air bypass passage 32 can be formed in the passenger seat side portion of the heater core 13 in the air conditioning case 11. The cool air bypass door 33 for opening and closing the cool air bypass passage 32 is connected to the heater core 13.
Is located at the passenger seat side of the vehicle. In this embodiment, the cool air bypass door 33 is constituted by a plate-like door that is rotatable about a rotation shaft 34.

The rotating shaft 34 of the cool air bypass door 33 is mechanically connected to a temperature adjusting operation member of the air conditioning operation panel via a link mechanism, a cable, and the like (not shown). That is, in this example, both the hot water valve 29 and the cold air bypass door 33 are connected to the temperature adjusting operation member via the mechanical connection mechanism (link mechanism, cable, etc.). Therefore, the warm water valve 29 can be
And the cold air bypass door 33 can be operated in conjunction with each other.

On the other hand, in the air-conditioning case 11, a defroster opening 35 is provided at a position on the vehicle rear side (downstream of the air flow) with respect to the heater core 13 and the cool air bypass passage 32.
The face opening 36 and the foot opening (not shown) are open. Here, the defroster opening 35 is opened on the upper surface side of the air conditioning case 11, and blows wind toward the inside of the vehicle window glass through a defroster duct and a defroster outlet (not shown). In addition, the face opening 36 is further opened to the vehicle rear side than the defroster opening 35,
The air is blown toward the occupant's head via a face duct and a face outlet (not shown). The foot opening is opened at a lower portion of the air conditioning case 11, and blows wind toward the feet of the occupants on the left and right sides of the passenger compartment through a foot duct and a foot outlet (not shown).

The defroster opening 35 is connected to the rotating shaft 3
The opening 7 is opened and closed by a plate-shaped defroster door 38 that can be rotated by the rotary shaft 7, and the face opening 36 is opened and closed by a plate-shaped face door 40 that can be rotated by a rotation shaft 39.
Similarly, the foot opening is opened and closed by a foot door (not shown), and the blowing mode can be selected by opening and closing these openings.

Next, the operation of this embodiment in the above configuration will be described. By operating the blower fan 3 of the blower unit 1, air is blown into the case 11 of the air conditioning unit 10 as shown by the arrow B. When a compressor (not shown) is driven by a vehicle engine, a refrigeration cycle operates, and a low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant decompressed and expanded by a temperature type expansion valve 24 flows into the evaporator 12.

Then, the refrigerant absorbs latent heat of evaporation from the blown air in the evaporator 12 and evaporates, so that the blown air is cooled and dehumidified to become cool air. Next, the cold air is reheated by the heater core 13 to a desired temperature, and
The air blows into the vehicle interior through the air outlets 35 and 36 selected by 0 or the like. Here, the temperature of the air blown into the vehicle cabin can be adjusted by adjusting the flow rate of hot water to the heater core 13 by the hot water valve 29 and adjusting the amount of cool air in the passage 32 by the cool air bypass door 33. At the time of maximum heating (at the time of maximum temperature), the hot water valve 29 is fully opened, and the cold air bypass door 33 is fully closed. Conversely, at the time of maximum cooling (at the time of minimum temperature), the hot water valve 29 is fully closed, and the cold air bypass door 33 is fully opened.

When the opening of the hot water valve 29 reaches the intermediate opening and reaches an intermediate temperature range between the maximum heating time and the maximum cooling time, the cool air bypass door 33 opens, and thereafter, the air conditioning operation panel is opened. Is operated toward the maximum cooling position (minimum temperature position), the opening of the cool air bypass door 33 gradually increases toward the fully open position. In this way, the outlet temperature between the maximum heating position (highest temperature position) and the maximum cooling position (lowest temperature position) can be linearly (continuously) adjusted.

Next, the work of piping the refrigerant to the evaporator 12 in the present embodiment will be described. The driver seat side end 12g of the evaporator 12 is brought closer to the dash panel 100 on the vehicle side by the inclined arrangement of the evaporator 12. Can be. Therefore, the inlet / outlet joint 1 of the evaporator 12 is
It is only necessary to arrange the refrigerant pipe joint 21 connected to 2f. The refrigerant pipe joint 21 may have a relatively simple shape as illustrated in FIG. 3 and can be easily manufactured by cold forging or cutting of aluminum.

Therefore, on the side of the cabin 102, the evaporator 1
Refrigerant joint 21 to the inlet / outlet joint 12f
Is fixed by one bolt (fastening means) 22, and the expansion valve 24 is connected to the refrigerant pipe joint 21 on the engine room 102 side by two bolts (fastening means).
The refrigerant pipe work can be completed only by tightening and fixing the pipe joint 24c with the expansion valve 24 and further fixing the pipe joint 25 to the expansion valve 24 with a single bolt (fastening means) 25a. That is, it is not necessary to connect an expansion valve to the refrigerant inlet / outlet of the evaporator and to arrange a connection pipe having a length of about 300 to 400 mm between the expansion valve and the opening of the dash panel as in the related art.

Next, the operation of attaching and detaching the evaporator 12 in the present embodiment will be described. When it is necessary to remove the evaporator 12 for inspection and repair or replacement of the evaporator 12 after mounting the air conditioner on the vehicle, first, the cabin 10
2, the bolt 22 is loosened and the inlet / outlet joint 12 f of the evaporator 12 and the refrigerant pipe connector 2 are loosened.
Release the bond with 1.

Thereafter, in the passenger seat space in the passenger compartment 102, the screw 19 is loosened and the front end 17c of the lid member 17 is removed from the outlet 4 of the scroll case 2,
Next, the vehicle rear end portion 17b of the lid member 17 is removed from the hooking claw portion 18 of the air conditioning case 11, and the lid member 17 is removed.
Is removed from the air conditioning case 11. As a result, the opening 16 of the evaporator 12 in the passenger seat side of the air-conditioning case 11 is formed.
Is released. Since the opening 16 is designed to have an opening area sufficiently larger than the width W of the evaporator 12, the evaporator 12 can be pulled out from the opening 16 to the passenger seat side. Moreover, since the evaporator 12 is not parallel to the left and right direction of the vehicle but is inclined at a predetermined angle θ,
The evaporator 12 can be pulled out obliquely rearward on the foot side of the passenger seat as shown by the arrow C through the opening 16.

Further, the inclined arrangement of the evaporator 12 according to the present embodiment also has an advantage that the wind speed distribution of the air passing through the evaporator 12 can be made uniform. That is, in a layout in which the blower unit 1 is offset toward the passenger seat with respect to the air conditioning unit 10, the blow direction at the outlet 4 of the scroll case 2 of the blower unit 1 is substantially parallel to the vehicle left-right direction as shown by the arrow B. When the evaporator 12 is arranged in parallel with the vehicle left-right direction, the main flow of the blown air is directed to the driver's seat side. , The wind speed in the passenger seat side region (left side in FIG. 1) decreases, and the wind speed distribution becomes uneven.

However, according to the present embodiment, the evaporator 12
Because the passenger seat side end portion 12h of the evaporator 12 is shifted rearward of the vehicle by the inclined arrangement of the evaporator 12, the air blown from the outlet portion 4 of the scroll case 2 easily flows into the passenger seat side region of the evaporator 12. . As a result, the combination of the inclined arrangement of the evaporator 12 and the air guiding action of the stepped wall surface 15 of the air-conditioning case 11 can make the wind speed distribution of the air passing through the evaporator 12 uniform.

(Other Embodiments) In the first embodiment described above, a sealing packing material 23 is fitted on the outer peripheral side of the protruding portion 21i of the refrigerant pipe connector 21, and this packing material 23 is fixed by the second flange portion 21h. By pressing the dash panel 100, the opening 10
3 is sealed, but instead of the packing material 23, the refrigerant pipe connector 21 is formed by using a grommet that penetrates the opening 103 like a rubber grommet 31 used for sealing on the hot water pipe side. And the opening 103 may be sealed.

In the first embodiment, the hot water valve 29 and the cold air bypass door 33 are connected to the temperature adjusting operation member of the air conditioning operation panel by a purely mechanical connection mechanism such as a link mechanism. The case where the hot water valve 29 and the cold air bypass door 33 are linked by the operation has been described, but the opening degree of the hot water valve 29 and the cold air bypass door 33 may be electrically linked and adjusted.

For example, the hot water valve 29 and the cold air bypass door 3
3 is driven by one common electric actuator (a motor or the like) via an appropriate link mechanism or the like, and an electric signal corresponding to the set temperature is generated by a temperature adjusting operation member. The operation amount of the electric actuator is controlled by the electric signal, and the hot water valve 29
And the opening degree of the cool air bypass door 33 may be electrically interlocked and adjusted.

In the first embodiment described above, the vehicle air conditioner of the hot water flow rate system in which the temperature of the blown air is adjusted by the hot water flow rate adjusting action of the hot water valve 29 has been described. Adjust the air flow ratio with the cool air to bypass by the air mix door,
Of course, the present invention may be applied to an air-mix type air conditioner for a vehicle that adjusts the temperature of the blown air.

In the first embodiment described above, the air conditioning unit 10 is arranged at the approximate center of the inside of the instrument panel in the lateral direction of the vehicle, while the blower unit 1 is located in the passenger compartment of the air conditioning unit 10 in the passenger compartment 102. Although the vehicle air conditioner of the offset arrangement type (semi-center type) has been described, the present invention is applied to a complete center type vehicle air conditioner in which the blower unit 1 is arranged further forward of the air conditioning unit 10. Is possible.

In this case, the blower unit 1 is
Instead of being disposed inside the engine room 101, the blown air of the blower unit 1 can be blown to the front side of the evaporator 12 through the opening of the dash panel 100.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a vehicle air conditioner showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating a specific structure of the evaporator shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the piping connector shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the temperature type expansion valve shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... blower unit, 10 ... air conditioning unit, 11 ... air conditioning case, 12 ... evaporator (cooling heat exchanger), 12f ... inlet / outlet joint, 21 ... refrigerant piping joint, 24 ... expansion valve, 100 ... dash panel, 101 ... Engine room, 102 ... car room.

Claims (4)

[Claims] An air conditioning unit (10) is arranged in the center of the inside of the instrument panel at the front of the vehicle interior in the lateral direction of the vehicle, and a cooling heat exchanger (12) is provided in the air conditioning unit (10).
Is arranged so that its heat exchange surface extends in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and one end (12g) of the cooling heat exchanger (12) is located on the front side of the vehicle, and the other end (12
h) is located at the rear side of the vehicle, the cooling heat exchanger (12) is arranged inclined with respect to the vehicle left-right direction, and the one end (12) of the cooling heat exchanger (12) is arranged.
An air conditioner for a vehicle, wherein a pipe connection part (12f, 21) is arranged in g). 2. The one end (12g) of the cooling heat exchanger (12) is located on the driver's seat side in the passenger compartment, and the other end (12g) of the cooling heat exchanger (12). 12
The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein h) is located on the passenger seat side in the vehicle interior. 3. An inlet / outlet joint (12f) integrally provided at one end (12g) of the cooling heat exchanger (12), and the pipe connection portion is detachable from the inlet / outlet joint (12f). The air conditioner for a vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a piping joint (21) coupled to the air conditioner. 4. A vehicle compartment (102) is formed behind the engine room (101), and is applied to a vehicle in which the interior of the engine room (101) and the interior of the vehicle compartment (102) are separated by a dash panel (100). In the air conditioner, the cooling heat exchanger is an evaporator (12) of a refrigeration cycle, and a gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant decompressed by an expansion valve (24) flows into the evaporator (12). An opening (104) is opened in a portion of the dash panel (100) near the pipe joint (21), and a passage hole (21e, 21) of the pipe joint (21) is formed.
f) is exposed in the engine room (101) through the opening (104), and the expansion valve (24) is provided in the engine room (101).
And the expansion valve (24) is connected to the pipe joint (21) from the engine room (101) side, and the passage of the expansion valve (24) is connected to the passage hole ( The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein the air conditioner is connected to the air conditioners (21e, 21f).