Vehicle air-conditioning discharge port structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9764621-B2
Application number	US-57886609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2009
Priority date	Oct 15, 2008
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

A vehicle air-conditioning discharge port structure wherein the airflow direction of air-conditioning drafts can be adjusted by changing the orientation of a plurality of fins provided to a discharge port. The fins include an outermost fin and an adjacent fin adjacent to the outer fins. The outer fin has a first regulating part for regulating the air-conditioning drafts flowing through an inter-fin flow passage between the outer fin and the adjacent fin, and a second regulating part for regulating the air-conditioning drafts flowing through a flow passage between the outer fin and a wall part.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle air-conditioning discharge port structure comprising: a discharge port for discharging air-conditioning drafts blown from an air-conditioning duct; and a plurality of fins provided in parallel at predetermined intervals from a first wall part of the discharge port to a second wall part of the discharge port opposite the first wall part, the fins being capable of adjusting an airflow direction of air-conditioning drafts by changing an orientation thereof,
wherein the fins include an outer fin adjacent to an adjacent wall part which is one of the first wall part and the second wall part, and an adjacent fin adjacent to the outer fin,
wherein the adjacent wall part has a protrusion with a distal end protruding toward the outer fin, and the outer fin is substantially sheet-shaped and includes a first regulating part and a second regulating part positioned closer to a passenger compartment than the first regulating part, said first and second regulating parts being swingably supported on a fin support part provided between the first regulating part and the second regulating part and said first and second regulating parts being bent about the fin support part at an obtuse angle in a direction away from the distal end of the protrusion to form a dogleg shape, said first regulating part being configured to regulate the air-conditioning drafts flowing through an inter-fin flow passage between the outer fin and the adjacent fin and issuing from said discharge port, said second regulating part being configured to regulate the air-conditioning drafts flowing through an inter-wall flow passage defined between the outer fin and the adjacent wall part, said inter-wall flow passage having an inlet and an outlet downstream of said inlet, the air-conditioning drafts flowing through said inter-wall flow passage flowing through said outlet and issuing from said discharge port,
wherein the distal end of the protrusion is positioned closer to the passenger compartment than the fin support part swingably supporting the first and second regulating parts of the outer fin,
wherein the outer fin is movable to a first position and a second position relative to the discharge port, and the outer fin is formed such that in the first position the inter-fin flow passage and the inter-wall flow passage are opened for air-conditioning drafts to flow therethrough, and in the second position the air-conditioning draft flowing through the inter-fin flow passage and the air-conditioning draft flowing through the inter-wall flow passage are regulated simultaneously, where the inter-fin flow passage is closed-off by the first regulating part in cooperation with the adjacent fin and the inter-wall flow passage is closed-off by the second regulating part in cooperation with the distal end of the protrusion, and
wherein the first regulating part closes-off the inter-fin flow passage as the outer fin is moved to the second position, and the second regulating part closes-off the inter-wall flow passage as the outer fin is moved to the second position.

2. The discharge port structure of claim 1 , wherein the protrusion of the adjacent wall part protrudes into an opening of the discharge port defined between the first wall part and the second wall part.

3. The discharge port structure of claim 1 , wherein the discharge port is formed such that a distal end thereof is inclined along a surface of a vehicle interior material, wherein the fins comprise: a plurality of interior fins disposed in the distal end of the discharge port in parallel at predetermined horizontal intervals, and also disposed along an inclined direction of the surface; and a plurality of inner fins disposed inward of the interior fins in parallel at predetermined vertical intervals, and also disposed in a direction that intersects the inclined direction of the surface, and wherein the plurality of inner fins comprise the outer fin that is adjacent to the wall part of the discharge port.

4. The discharge port structure of claim 1 , wherein the discharge port is formed such that a distal end thereof is inclined along a surface of a vehicle interior material, wherein the fins include: a plurality of interior fins disposed in the distal end of the discharge port in parallel at predetermined longitudinal intervals, and also disposed along an inclined direction of the surface; and a plurality of inner fins disposed inward of the interior fins in parallel at predetermined transverse intervals, and also disposed along the inclined direction of the surface, and wherein the plurality of inner fins comprise the outer fin that is adjacent to the wall part of the discharge port.

5. The discharge port structure of claim 1 , wherein the outer fin is formed and the protrusion is positioned such that the second regulating part abuts the protrusion when the outer fin is in the second position.

6. The discharge port structure of claim 1 , wherein:
a distance between the adjacent wall part and the outer fin increases along a length of the outer fin from a first end of the outer fin to a second distal end of the outer fin, and
the distal end of the protrusion extends parallel to the outer fin along the length of the outer fin such that a distance between the outer fin and the protrusion is uniform along the length of the outer fin.

7. The discharge port structure of claim 1 , wherein the adjacent wall part is the first wall part, the outer fin is a first outer fin and is adjacent to the first wall part, and the adjacent fin is a first adjacent fin and is adjacent to the first outer fin, the discharge port structure further comprising:
a second outer fin adjacent to the second wall part,
a second adjacent fin adjacent to the second outer fin,
wherein the second outer fin is substantially sheet-shaped and includes a front regulating part and a back regulating part, the front regulating part being positioned closer to the passenger compartment than the back regulating part, the front and back regulating parts of the second outer fin being bent about a swingable support part at an obtuse angle in a direction away from the distal end of the protrusion to form a dogleg shape, the back regulating part being configured to regulate the air-conditioning drafts flowing through a second inter-wall flow passage defined between the second outer fin and the second wall part.

8. The discharge port structure of claim 7 , wherein the second outer fin is movable to a first position and a second position relative to the discharge port, and the second outer fin is formed such that in the first position the second inter-wall flow passage is opened for air-conditioning drafts to flow therethrough, and in the second position the second inter-wall flow passage is closed-off by the back regulating part in cooperation with the second wall part.

9. The discharge port structure of claim 8 , wherein the second outer fin is formed such that, as the second outer fin is moved to the second position, the back regulating part comes into close proximity to the second wall part, whereby the inter-wall flow passage is closed-off by the back regulating part and the second wall part.

10. The discharge port structure of claim 1 , wherein the protrusion of the adjacent wall part protrudes inwardly into an opening of the discharge port defined between the first wall part and the second wall part.

Assignees

• Sakaguchi Mitsuaki
• Miyagawa Masayuki
• Inoue Hiroyuki
• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sakaguchi Mitsuaki
• Miyagawa Masayuki
• Inoue Hiroyuki

Classifications

• B60H1/3421 Primary

  using only pivoting shutters · CPC title