JPH10119545A - Right/left independent temperature adjusting/air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner miniaturizing a unit and capable of realizing right/left independent temperature adjustments and dispense with or simplify a partition wall partitioning the air passage in an air conditioner duct to the right and left when the rightleft independent temperature adjustments are realized. SOLUTION: A heater core 10 is arranged on the downstream side of an evaporator 8 in an air conditioner duct 7, and the heat core 10 is constituted of two heat exchanging elements 13, 14 having the same heat exchanging capability characteristic. The left heat exchanging element 13 is provided to the middle of the air passage 9 from the left side wall 11, the right heat exchanging element 14 is provided to the middle of the air passage 9 from the right side wall 12, and these heat exchanging elements 13, 14 are arranged to cover the whole passage width in parallel with the width direction of the air passage 9. The hotwater quantities of the heat exchanging elements 13, 14 are independently controlled by separate hot-water flow adjusting valves 27, 28.

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 controlling the temperature of a space to be conditioned, such as a vehicle, and more particularly to a device capable of controlling the temperature of the left and right sides of the space to be conditioned independently.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A typical conventional air conditioning unit capable of independent left and right temperature control has a heater core disposed downstream of an evaporator, an air mixing door provided between the evaporator and the heater core, and air passing through the evaporator. Is divided into air passing through the heater core and air bypassing the heater core, the downstream side of the evaporator is completely separated left and right by a partition wall, and the air mixing door and the mode door for changing the blowing mode are divided into two systems, left and right, The door shaft is shared and two sets of doors are installed on the left and right of the partition wall.

However, according to such a structure,
In addition to the necessity of the air mixing door, a mixing chamber for mixing the air passing through the evaporator and the air bypassing the evaporator is required behind the heater core, which makes it difficult to reduce the size of the air conditioning unit itself. There is also a disadvantage that the structure of the air mix door or the mode door is complicated.

[0004] In view of the point of meeting the demand for miniaturization and the simplification of the structure of the door, considering the point of view, the Japanese Utility Model Application No. 53-6314.
No. 6, JP-A-7-315037, etc. are advantageous. These have a function of adjusting the flow rate of hot water to a heater core disposed downstream of the evaporator, thereby removing an air mixing door disposed between the evaporator and the heater core. As long as the door can be removed,
The size of the air conditioning unit can be reduced. Further, since the temperature control is performed by the heater core, it is not necessary to secure a mix chamber behind the heater core.

[0005]

However, a closer look at these conventional structures reveals that the former (actually disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No.
No. 3146) discloses that two heating heat exchangers are installed in parallel on the downstream side of an evaporator, and that each heat exchanger is connected in parallel to a hot water path, and the hot water flow rate is set in each heat exchanger pipe. By providing a regulating valve and flowing hot water uniformly through the two heat exchangers, the heat exchange capacity is increased, and at the same time, the temperature of the blown air is made uniform. That is, a plurality of standard heat exchangers are juxtaposed and used as one heat exchanger as a whole. Even though the flow rate of hot water is adjusted, the flow rate of hot water is not controlled independently for each heat exchanger. Heat exchangers also have the technical idea of allowing hot water to flow equally.

The latter (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-315037) discloses a hot water flow control valve in which an upper heater and a lower heater are vertically arranged downstream of an evaporator, and the heating capacity of each of them is adjusted. And a cool air bypass passage for bypassing the upper layer heater, and the air flowing through the bypass passage is adjusted by a damper. With such a configuration, it is possible to arbitrarily adjust the outlet temperature of the face outlet and the foot outlet in the bi-level mode, and to increase the air volume during the maximum cooling by the cool air bypass flow path. Can also be downsized.

As described above, according to the conventional configuration, the air-conditioning unit that satisfies the requirement of the left and right independent temperature control tends to be large, and when the demand for the downsizing is given a high weight, the left and right independent temperature control cannot be realized. However, the simple combination of the two cannot simultaneously satisfy the requirements for right and left independent temperature control and the requirement for miniaturization of the unit.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner capable of realizing right and left independent temperature control while reducing the size of the unit. It is another object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner that achieves independent left and right temperature control but does not require or has a simple structure for partitioning an air passage in an air conditioning duct to the left and right. It is another object of the present invention to reduce the number of manufacturing steps of the heat exchanger for heating used for right and left independent temperature control and to simplify the assembly.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a left and right independent temperature control air conditioner according to the present invention has a structure in which a space between an air inlet for sucking air and an air outlet for blowing air to a space to be air-conditioned is provided. In an air conditioner in which an air conditioning duct serving as an air passage is provided with a cooling heat exchanger for cooling suction air and a heating heat exchanger for heating air at a downstream side thereof, the heating heat exchanger Is constituted by two first and second heat exchange elements having the same heat exchange capacity characteristics, and the first heat exchange element is provided from one of the side walls defining the width of the air passage to the middle of the air passage. The second heat exchange element is provided from the other of the two side walls to the middle of the air passage, and the first and second heat exchange elements are juxtaposed in the width direction of the air passage so that the entire passage width is reduced. Placed so that the first heat exchange The hot water supplied to the second heat exchange element is controlled independently by the first flow rate adjusting means, and the hot water supplied to the second heat exchange element is controlled independently by the second flow rate adjusting means. 1).

Therefore, the air sucked from the suction port is cooled when passing through the cooling heat exchanger, and thereafter, is cooled.
The air passing on the left side of the cooling heat exchanger is
Of the heat exchange elements, the air that has passed through the heat exchange element disposed on the left side and is blown out from the outlet, and the air that has passed on the right side of the cooling heat exchanger passes through the heat exchange element disposed on the right side And blow out from the outlet. Since the heat capacity of each heat exchange element is independently adjusted by the corresponding flow rate adjusting means, each air passing through the left and right heat exchange elements is individually heated, and the air temperature blown to the left side of the space to be air-conditioned. And the temperature of the air blown to the right side can be made different.

This eliminates the need for an air mix door disposed between the cooling heat exchanger and the heating heat exchanger,
The same function as that of the air mixing door can be realized by controlling the flow control means. Therefore, such temperature control is particularly effective in a full reheat air conditioning unit in which all the air passing through the cooling heat exchanger passes through the heating heat exchanger (claim 2).

In the above-described heating heat exchanger, the first heat exchange element and the second heat exchange element may be separate bodies and may be juxtaposed and juxtaposed with each other. The first and second heat exchange elements are formed so as to extend from one side wall to the other side wall, and independently form hot water paths on the left side and the right side of the approximate center, thereby forming the first and second heat exchange elements. The hot water supplied to the heat exchange element may be controlled by the first flow control means, and the hot water supplied to the second heat exchange element may be controlled by the second flow control means. 3).

The specific configuration of each heat exchange element is as follows.
Is constituted by a tank portion provided on one side wall side and a passage portion extending from the tank portion into the air passage, and the second heat exchange element is provided on the other side wall side. It is desirable that it is constituted by a tank portion and a passage portion extending from the tank portion into the air passage from the viewpoint of avoiding an increase in ventilation resistance (claim 4).

By the way, in the conventional configuration using the air mix door, the air sent from the upstream becomes turbulent by the air mix door, and if there is no partition wall, the first heat exchange element and the second heat exchange element are connected. The passed air is mixed, and the control accuracy of the left and right independent temperature control is reduced. On the other hand, according to the present invention, since the air mixing door is not required, the flow of air in the unit can be made laminar to some extent, and the first heat exchange element has one of the left and right outlets. By making the second heat exchange element desirably the other side of the left and right outlets, independent left and right temperature control can be reliably achieved without providing a partition wall. .

Of course, the absence of the partition wall does not prevent the air passing through each heat exchange element from being mixed with each other at all. However, since the turbulence of the air is small, even if the partition wall is provided, the heating is not performed. It suffices to partition the left and right sides of the air passage from the heat exchanger for use to just before the outlet (claim 6), and it is sufficient to provide a simpler partition wall than in the past.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 or 2 (a) schematically shows an air conditioning unit mounted on a vehicle. This air conditioning unit 1 has an inside / outside air switching device in which a suction port 2 for introducing outside air or inside air is formed at the most upstream side. 3 is provided, and a blower 4 facing the intake port 2 via an intake door (not shown) is provided following the inside / outside air switching device 3.

The blower 4 is composed of, for example, a sirocco fan 6 rotated by a motor 5. The sirocco fan 6 rotates to suck air introduced from the suction port 2, and the air is supplied to a downstream side of the air conditioning duct 7. To be pumped to

An evaporator 8 is provided on the downstream side of the blower 4 so as to cover the entire air passage 9, and a heater core 10 is further provided on the downstream side.

The evaporator 8 is connected to a pipe together with a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve and the like (not shown) to form a cooling cycle, and cools air passing therethrough.

The heater core 10 includes an evaporator 8
And is provided not too far away, at right angles to the ventilation direction,
And it is attached in parallel with the evaporator 8. The heater core 10 is integrally formed as a whole from the left side wall 11 to the right side wall 12, and the hot water paths are independently formed on the left side and the right side from a substantially center, and the left side and the right side are formed. It has two heat exchange elements 13,14.

As a more specific configuration of the heater core 10, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, two forming plates 15, 15 are joined face-to-face, and two return passages 16 are formed in the longitudinal direction with the center as a boundary. , 16 are formed symmetrically, and an end plate 18 and a bowl-shaped tank plate 19 are fitted to form a tank portion 20,
The tube elements 17 are stacked in a plurality of stages via the fins 21, and both ends of each tube element 18
That is, the opening of the return passage 15 is connected to the end plate 18.
And is inserted into the fitting hole formed in the above. Further, the inside of the tank portion is partitioned in the longitudinal direction to define an inflow space and an outflow space (indicated by reference numerals 22 and 23 in FIG. 1). These pipes are assembled to the tank plate 19 so as to open the outlet pipes 25 to the outflow space 23, respectively, and the whole is brazed in this state.

With such a configuration, each heat exchange element 13,
14 arranges the tank section 20 on the side wall side and
6 is attached to the air conditioning duct 7 so as to protrude into the air passage, and an inlet pipe 24 and an outlet pipe 25 provided in each tank section 20 are connected in parallel to a pipe 26 of engine cooling water. I have.

The inlet pipe 24 of each heat exchange element 13, 14
The hot water flow control valves 27 and 28 are provided in the middle of each of the branched pipes connected to the
The amount of hot water of No. 3 can be independently controlled by one hot water flow control valve 27, and the amount of hot water of the right heat exchange element 14 can be independently controlled by the other hot water flow control valve 28. The hot water flow control valves 27 and 28 are connected to the control unit 2
9 to control the vehicle interior temperature,
It is controlled in accordance with a program predetermined according to environmental conditions such as the outside air temperature.

Further, since the left and right heat exchange elements 13 and 14 are formed integrally, when the heating capacity is made different by changing the flow rate of hot water of each heat exchange element, the temperature difference at the boundary is reduced. In consideration of minimizing the size as much as possible, all the tank portions are arranged so that the inflow space 22 is on the leeward side and the outflow space 23 is on the leeward side. Hot water flowing through each heat exchange element flows from the tank portion to the leeward side, After turning over, it flows on the windward side. Here, the reason why the flow of the hot water of each heat exchange element is turned from the leeward side to the leeward side is that gradually heating the passing air along the flow is more effective in terms of heat exchange efficiency. .

Above the heater core 10, a defrost outlet 30 for sending the temperature-controlled air to the window glass is formed, and on the downstream side of the heater core 10, a vent outlet 31 for sending the temperature-controlled air to the upper body of the occupant and a foot are provided. And a foot outlet 32 for sending temperature-regulated air to the outside. In addition, mode doors 33 to 35 are provided in front of the respective air outlets. In particular, the mode door 33 that opens and closes the defrost air outlet 30 rotates about one side of the upstream side as a support shaft, and opens the defrost air outlet 30. Sometimes the space above the heater core is closed.

The above-mentioned mode door 33 is in the closed position shown by the solid line in the blowing mode in which the cool air needs to be sent from the vent outlet 31 such as the bi-level mode, and the space for bypassing the heater core 10 (bypass passage). ) Is formed, but in the heat mode or the heat differential mode, the so-called full reheat state is formed in which the bypass passage is closed and all the air passing through the evaporator 8 passes through the heater core 10 by closing the bypass passage. I am trying to do it.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vent outlet 31 has central outlets 31a, 31b and left or right outlets 31c, 31d. The right side of the passage, which communicates with the central outlet 31a and the left outlet 31c and faces the right heat exchange element 14, is the central outlet 3
1b and the right outlet 31d. Also, the defrost outlet 30 and the heat outlet 32 are not shown in the figure, but are divided into left and right.

In the above configuration, the air sucked from the suction port 2 is cooled by the evaporator 8, passes through the heater core 10, is appropriately temperature-controlled, and is supplied to the passenger compartment from the air outlets 30 to 32. At this time, the air that has passed through the evaporator 8 proceeds downstream without changing the ventilation direction because there is no air-missing door, and the heat exchange element 13 on the left side
The air heated here passes through the vent outlet 30
Are opened, the main outlet 31a and the left outlet 31c are mainly blown out from the respective left outlets if the defrost outlet 30 and the foot outlet 32 are open. Similarly, the air that has passed through the heat exchange element 14 on the right side and is heated here is mainly supplied to the central air outlet 31b and the right air outlet 31d if the vent air outlet 31 is open. If the outlets 32 are open, the air is mainly blown out from the respective right outlets.

Therefore, in the heater core 10, since the heat exchange elements 13 and 14 separately adjust the heating capacity by the hot water flow control valves 27 and 28 while using a common heat source,
It is possible to independently control the temperature of the left and right sides of the cabin, eliminating the need for an air mix door, and eliminating the need for a conventionally required mix chamber downstream of the heater core 10. The size can be reduced to save space.

As described above, since the laminar air flow is maintained, the air passing through the left heat exchange element 13 (right heat exchange element 14) blows out from the right (left) air outlet. Is almost eliminated, and it is not necessary to provide a partition wall for separating the left and right sides of the air passage, which is conventionally required. Even if a partition wall is provided to increase the control accuracy of the left and right independent temperature control, as shown in FIG.
The partition wall 36 is provided on the downstream side of the heater core 10 with the mode door 3.
A simple structure that does not interfere with 4, 35 is sufficient.
It is not necessary to partition the left and right sides of the air passage tightly.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Of the air that has passed through the cooling heat exchanger, the air that has passed through the first heat exchange element is heated from the outlet after being heated with a heating capacity determined according to the opening of the first flow control valve. Since the air blown into the air-conditioned space and passing through the second heat exchange element is heated with a heating capacity determined according to the opening degree of the second flow control valve and then blown out from the air outlet into the air-conditioned space, Can be realized by controlling the first and second flow control valves. This eliminates the need for an air mix door and reduces the space between the cooling heat exchanger and the heating heat exchanger,
Further, there is no need to secure a mix chamber downstream of the conventional heat exchanger for heating, and the size of the air conditioning unit can be reduced.

Since the air flow can be prevented from being greatly disturbed by eliminating the air mixing door, the left heat exchange element corresponds to the left outlet and the right heat exchange element corresponds to the right outlet. As a result, the air passing through the left heat exchange element is supplied to the space to be air-conditioned from the left outlet, and the air passing through the right heat exchange element is supplied to the air-conditioned space from the right outlet. This can be realized, and it is not necessary to provide a partition wall that separates the air passage from side to side, which has been conventionally required. Even if a partition wall is provided, it is sufficient to provide a simple structure downstream of the heating heat exchanger,
It is not necessary to completely separate the air passage from left to right as in the related art.

Further, the heat exchanger for heating is constituted by arranging two heat exchange elements having the same heat exchange capacity characteristics in parallel, so that the right and left control accuracy is equalized, and the tank of each heat exchange element is air-conditioned. By arranging it on the side wall of the duct, it is possible to suppress an increase in ventilation resistance of the air passage.

In addition, if the first and second heat exchange elements of the heating heat exchanger are integrally formed, the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced and the assembly can be reduced, as compared with a case where the heating heat exchanger is formed by abutting separate heat exchange elements. Can be simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a left and right independent temperature control air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the left and right independent temperature controlled air conditioner shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the side, and FIG. 2A shows a configuration in which no partition wall is provided; b) shows a configuration example in which a partition wall is provided downstream of the heater core.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a heater core used in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a tube element used for the heater core of FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air-conditioning unit 2 Inlet 7 Air-conditioning duct 8 Evaporator 9 Air passage 10 Heater core 11 Left side wall 12 Right side wall 13 Left-side heat exchange element 14 Right-side heat exchange element 16 Folding passage 20 Tank part 27, 28 Hot water flow control valve 30, 31 , 32 outlets 31a, 31b central outlet 31c left outlet 31d right outlet 36 partition wall

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A cooling heat exchanger for cooling suction air and air downstream of the cooling heat exchanger in an air-conditioning duct having an air passage between an air suction port for sucking air and an air outlet for blowing air into a space to be air-conditioned. An air conditioner in which a heating heat exchanger for heating the heat exchanger is provided, wherein the heating heat exchanger is composed of two first and second heat exchange elements having the same heat exchange capability characteristic; The first heat exchange element is provided from one of the side walls defining the width of the air passage to the middle of the air passage, and the second heat exchange element is provided from the other of the both side walls to the middle of the air passage. First and second heat exchange elements are arranged side by side in the width direction of the air passage so as to pass over the entire width of the passage, and hot water supplied to the first heat exchange element is supplied to first flow rate adjusting means. Hot water supplied to the second heat exchange element by Are independently controlled by a second flow rate adjusting means. 2. The air passing through the cooling heat exchanger,
The left and right independent temperature control air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein all the air passes through the heating heat exchanger. 3. The heating heat exchanger is integrally formed as a whole and provided from one side wall to the other side wall, and a hot water path is independently formed on a left side and a right side of a substantially center boundary. Forming the first and second heat exchange elements, controlling the hot water supplied to the first heat exchange element by the first flow rate adjusting means, and supplying the hot water to the second heat exchange element. The left and right independent temperature control air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the hot water to be supplied is controlled by a second flow rate adjusting means. 4. The first heat exchange element includes a tank provided on one side wall and a passage extending from the tank into an air passage. The second heat exchange element includes: The left and right independent temperature control air conditioner according to claim 1 or 3, comprising a tank provided on the other side wall and a passage extending from the tank into the air passage. 5. The first heat exchange element supplies passing air to one side of the left and right outlets, and the second heat exchange element supplies passing air to the other side of the left and right outlets. The left and right independent temperature control air conditioner according to claim 1 or 3. 6. The right and left independent temperature control air conditioner according to claim 5, wherein the air passage is provided with a partition wall that partitions the left and right sides of the air passage from the heat exchanger for heating to just before the outlet.