Air conditioner for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9290078-B2
Application number	US-201213591544-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2012
Priority date	Sep 3, 2011
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

An air conditioner for a vehicle includes an electric heater arranged downstream of a heat exchanger in an air flow direction, a defroster air outlet, a driver-foot air outlet through which air is blown toward a foot area of a driver, a knee air outlet through which air is blown toward a knee area of the driver, a door device which controls an air amount blown into a vehicle compartment by opening or closing the air outlets. When an immediate heating operation is performed by an operation of an immediate heating switch, the door device opens the defroster air outlet and at least one of the driver-foot air outlet and the knee air outlet, and the electric heater heats a total amount of air that is to be blown through the at least one of the driver-foot air outlet and the knee air outlet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising:
an air-conditioning heat exchanger arranged in a duct inside the vehicle, the air-conditioning heat exchanger being configured to exchange heat with air blown by a blower;
an electric heater arranged downstream of the air-conditioning heat exchanger inside the duct in an air flow direction, to heat air passing through the electric heater;
a defroster air outlet provided downstream of the air-conditioning heat exchanger in the air flow direction to serve as a port through which air, passed through the air-conditioning heat exchanger, is blown out of the duct into a vehicle compartment toward an inner surface of a windshield of the vehicle;
a driver-foot air outlet provided downstream of the electric heater in the air flow direction to serve as a port through which air, passed through the air-conditioning heat exchanger and the electric heater, is blown out of the duct into the vehicle compartment toward a foot area of a driver;
a knee air outlet provided downstream of the electric heater in the air flow direction to serve as a port through which air, passed through the air-conditioning heat exchanger and the electric heater, is blown out of the duct into the vehicle compartment toward a knee area of the driver;
a door device configured to control an air amount blown into the vehicle compartment through the defroster air outlet, the driver-foot air outlet and the knee air outlet by opening or closing the defroster air outlet, the driver-foot air outlet and the knee air outlet;
an immediate heating switch operative to command an immediate heating operation; and
a driver-foot door arranged upstream of the driver-foot air outlet and the knee air outlet in the air flow direction within the duct to open or close the driver-foot air outlet and the knee air outlet, wherein
when the immediate heating switch is operated to perform the immediate heating operation, the door device opens the defroster air outlet, the driver-foot door closes the driver-foot air outlet and opens the knee air outlet, and the electric heater heats air that is to be blown into the vehicle compartment through only the knee air outlet.

2. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the driver-foot door opens the knee air outlet to cause a total amount of air passed through the electric heater to flow only toward the driver when the immediate heating operation is performed.

3. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the door device is configured, so that air passed only through the air-conditioning heat exchanger is blown into the vehicle compartment through the defroster air outlet, and air passed through the air-conditioning heat exchanger and the electric heater is blown into the vehicle compartment through the knee air outlet, when the immediate heating operation is performed.

4. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , further comprising an air flow amount control portion configured to control a flow amount of air passing through the electric heater and flowing out of the duct so that the air flow amount is smaller in the immediate heating operation than that before the immediate heating operation is performed.

5. The air conditioner according to claim 4 , wherein the air flow amount control portion reduces the flow amount of air passing through the electric heater and flowing out of the duct by reducing a rotation speed of the blower or by reducing a flow amount of conditioned air blown into the vehicle compartment through control of the door device.

6. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein
when the immediate heating operation is performed, the air, which passes through the air-conditioning heat exchanger and is blown out of the duct through the defroster air outlet, is outside air that is air outside the vehicle, and the air, which passes through the air-conditioning heat exchanger and the electric heater, is inside air that is air inside the vehicle compartment.

7. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a partition plate arranged inside the duct to partition an inside space of the duct into an upper space communicating with the defroster air outlet, and a lower space communicating with the driver-foot air outlet and the knee air outlet;
a communication passage provided in the partition plate, the upper space and the lower space communicating with each other through the communication passage; and
a foot passage provided downstream of the lower space in the flow direction, the lower space communicating with both of the driver-foot air outlet and the knee air outlet through the foot passage, wherein
the air-conditioning heat exchanger penetrates through the partition plate to be located in both the upper space and the lower space,
the electric heater is located in the lower space,
the door device includes a communication door arranged in the communication passage and arranged upstream of the foot passage to open or close the foot passage and the communication passage,
the communication door closes the communication passage when the communication door opens the foot passage, and the communication door opens the communication passage when the communication door closes the foot passage, and
the communication door closes the communication passage, and the door device opens the defroster air outlet, when the immediate heating operation is performed.

8. The air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the air flowing out of the duct through the knee air outlet is blown toward a range of leg of the driver from a top surface of a thigh of the driver downward by a distance when the driver sits on a driver seat of the vehicle.

9. The air conditioner for a vehicle, according to claim 1 , wherein the knee air outlet faces downwardly toward the knee area of the driver.

Assignees

• Ota Koji
• Maeda Manabu
• Kawazoe Yuji
• Iwama Shinji
• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Ota Koji
• Maeda Manabu
• Kawazoe Yuji
• Iwama Shinji

Classifications

• B60H2001/2237

  supplementary heating, e.g. during stop and go of a vehicle · CPC title

• B60H1/00842 Primary

  the system comprising a plurality of damper doors; Air distribution between several outlets · CPC title

• B60H2001/225

  related to an operational state of another HVAC device · CPC title

• B60H1/2218

  controlling the operation of electric heaters · CPC title