Heating-medium heating unit and vehicle air conditioner using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10024575-B2
Application number	US-201113499994-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2011
Priority date	Apr 14, 2010
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

In a heating-medium heating unit equipped with a first heating-medium circulation box and a second heating-medium circulation box which are in close contact with both surfaces of a PTC heater, in which heating-medium circulation passages are formed in the interior, and which are joined to each other in a liquidtight manner, wherein joining surfaces are sealed with liquid gaskets, the heating-medium circulation passages are provided with joining-surface cooling channels that cool the joining surface which is sealed with a liquid gasket and on which the heat from the PTC heater acts. The joining-surface cooling channels are provided at positions closer to the joining surface than to the PTC heater.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A heating-medium heating unit, comprising:
a flat PTC heater;
a first heating-medium circulation box having at least a first box component and a second box component; and
a second heating-medium circulation box having at least a third box component and a fourth box component are stacked on one another;
a plurality of first heating-medium circulation passages formed in an interior of the first heating-medium circulation box; and
a plurality of second heating-medium circulation passages formed in an interior of the second heating-medium circulation box,
wherein the first heating-medium circulation box is in contact with a first surface of the flat PTC heater,
wherein the second heating-medium circulation box is in contact with a second surface of the flat PTC heater,
wherein the first heating-medium circulation box is stacked on the second heating-medium circulation box,
wherein a heating medium that circulates through the plurality of first heating-medium circulation passages and the plurality of second heating-medium circulation passages in the first heating-medium circulation box and the second heating-medium circulation box is heated by heat from the PTC heater,
the heating-medium heating unit further comprising a liquid gasket for sealing at least one of a stacked portion of the first box component and the second box component, a stacked portion of the third box component and the fourth box component, and a stacked portion of the first heating-medium circulation box and the second heating-medium circulation box,
wherein at least one of the plurality first heating-medium circulation passages or at least one of the plurality second heating-medium circulation passages is for cooling the at least one of the stacked portions,
wherein the flat PTC heater and the first heating-medium circulation box and second heating-medium circulation box are formed in a rectangular shape,
wherein, in a plan view of the first box component of the first heating-medium circulation box, at least one of the stacked portion of the first box component and the second box component and the stacked portion of the third box component and the fourth box component has a first part consisting of a pair of sides opposing to each other in parallel to a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the first heating-medium circulation box at the stacked portion and a second part consisting of a pair of sides opposing to each other in parallel to a longitudinal direction of the first heating-medium circulation box at the stacked portion, the second part crossing the sides of the first part on a same surface as the stacked portion provided with the first part,
wherein, in a plan view of the first box component of the first heating-medium circulation box, one end in the longitudinal direction of the first part is provided with a hole having a substantially rectangular shape through which a harness passes for connecting a board for controlling the PTC heater, and a distance between the plurality of first heating-medium circulation passages and a side of the hole, the side being nearest to the plurality of first heating-medium circulation passages, is larger than the width of the second part,
wherein the second part seals a space between the plurality of first heating-medium circulation passages and the outside.

2. The heating-medium heating unit according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first heating-medium circulation passages for cooling the at least one of the stacked portions is provided at a position closer to the stacked portion sealed with the liquid gasket than to the flat PTC heater.

3. The heating-medium heating unit according to claim 1 , wherein a contact surface of at least one of the first heating-medium circulation box and the second heating-medium circulation box, the contact surface-being in close contact with the flat PTC heater, and the stacked portion between the first heating-medium circulation box and the second heating-medium circulation box are formed as a continuous flat surface between the contact surface and the stacked portion.

4. The heating-medium heating unit according to claim 1 , a wiring member of the flat PTC heater extends from an end of the flat PTC heater in the longitudinal direction.

5. The heating-medium heating unit according to claim 4 , wherein PTC devices that constitute the flat PTC heater are disposed in a plurality of rows along the channel direction of the heating-medium circulation passages, the PTC devices have different widths, and ON/OFF states of the PTC devices can be individually controlled.

Assignees

• Adachi Tomoyasu
• Nakagawa Nobuya
• Matsubara Shiro
• Kunieda Naoto
• Mitsubishi Heavy Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Adachi Tomoyasu
• Nakagawa Nobuya
• Matsubara Shiro
• Kunieda Naoto

Classifications

• F24H1/121

  using electric energy supply · CPC title

• B60H2001/2265

  related to the quantity of heat produced by the heater · CPC title

• F24H3/085

  The tubes containing an electrically heated intermediate fluid, e.g. water · CPC title

• F24H9/1827 Primary

  Positive temperature coefficient [PTC] resistor · CPC title

• B60H2001/2268

  Constructional features · CPC title