Vehicular air conditioner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9434233-B2
Application number	US-201213545350-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2012
Priority date	Jul 13, 2011
Publication date	Sep 6, 2016
Grant date	Sep 6, 2016

Abstract

A vehicular air conditioner capable of reducing high-frequency sounds generated when an air mix damper is slightly opened and finely adjusting the temperature around the maximum heating position for improving the temperature controllability is provided. The vehicular air conditioner including an air mix damper that adjusts a flow rate of air delivered into a heating passage including a heater core after being passed through an evaporator and a flow rate of air delivered into a bypass passage that bypasses the heater core. In the vehicular air conditioner, a plurality of asperity portions are formed on a distal-end-side surface of the damper in the width direction of the damper, at which the damper is in contact with a seal surface on a unit case at the maximum heating position, and an elastic insulator having a predetermined thickness is attached to the asperity portions to form asperities similar thereto.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicular air conditioner, comprising a unit case and an air mix damper that is disposed in the unit case and that adjusts a flow rate of air delivered into a heating passage including a heater core after being passed through an evaporator and a flow rate of air delivered into a bypass passage that bypasses the heater core,
wherein a distal end portion of the air mix damper is in contact with a seal surface of the unit case,
the distal end portion has a plurality of asperity portions which are formed on a surface thereof which is in contact with the seal surface of the unit case at a maximum heating position, and are disposed along the width direction of the air mix damper transverse to a direction of air flow,
wherein an elastic insulator having a predetermined thickness, which is attached along the asperity portions and which forms asperities similar to the asperity portions at a side thereof which exists prior to coming in contact with the seal surface of the unit case,
wherein where the elastic insulator is in contact with the seal surface on the unit case, a gap is created between a portion of the seal surface and two adjacent asperity portions of the elastic insulator, and
wherein the gap is decreased by compressing the elastic insulator between a projecting portion of the asperity portion and the seal surface,
wherein, when the elastic insulator is brought in contact with the seal surface at the movement to the maximum heating position, the elastic insulator is deformed and compressed until the asperities are vanished and there is no gap between the seal surface and the air mix damper.

2. The vehicular air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein at least two lines of the asperity portions on the distal-end-side surface of the air mix damper are provided at predetermined intervals in a direction of air flow, and a protrusion provided on the seal surface on the unit case is contactable with a portion between the lines.

3. The vehicular air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the elastic insulator is larger than a vertical difference of the asperity portions formed on the distal-end-side surface of the air mix damper.

4. The vehicular air conditioner according to claim 3 , wherein the thickness of the elastic insulator is at least twice as large as the vertical difference of the asperity portions.

Assignees

• Hara Junichiro
• Mitsubishi Heavy Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Hara Junichiro

Classifications

• B60H2001/00714

  Details of seals of damper doors · CPC title

• B60H2001/006

  Noise reduction · CPC title

• B60H1/00678 Primary

  the axis of rotation being in the door plane, e.g. butterfly doors · CPC title