Cooling structure for cooling vehicle electronic unit

• US 20040074248A1
• Filed: 08/29/2003
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Ito, Koichi, Tanaka, Hisashi, Ikuta, Haruki
• Granted Patent: US 6,912,863 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 62/244
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00514 Details of air conditioning housings
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 2001/00614 Cooling of electronic units in air stream

Abstract

A vehicle air conditioner includes an air conditioning case, a blower fan for blowing conditioned air into a passenger compartment, and an evaporator disposed in the air conditioning case. The air conditioning case has a cooling opening upstream from the evaporator, so that at least inside air is blown by the blower fan to vehicle electronic units through the cooling opening. Thus, heat radiation of the electronic units can be facilitated by air blown from the blower fan. Further, because at least inside air, without being cooled by the evaporator, is blown to the electronic units, the electronic units can be prevented from being excessively cooled. Accordingly, it can restrict the surface temperature of the electronic units from reducing less than a dew point, thereby effectively reducing condensed water on the electronic units.

Claims

1. A cooling structure for cooling an electronic unit mounted in a vehicle, the cooling structure comprising

an air conditioning case for defining an air passage through which air flows into a passenger compartment of the vehicle, the air conditioning case having an inside-air introduction port from which inside air inside the passenger compartment is introduced, and an outside-air introduction port from which outside air outside the passenger compartment is introduced;

a blower for blowing air introduced from at least one of the inside-air introduction port and the outside-air introduction port into the passenger compartment; and

a cooling heat exchanger disposed in the air conditioning case, for cooling air blown by the blower, wherein;

the air conditioning case has a cooling opening at a position upstream from the cooling heat exchanger; and

the cooling opening is provided in the air conditioning case such that air including at least inside air is blown from the cooling opening to the electronic unit by the blower.

2. The cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein:

the inside-air introduction port is constructed of first and second inside-air introduction ports; and

the air conditioning case has a partition member for partitioning the air passage into a first air passage through which air from the first inside-air introduction port and the outside-air introduction port flows into the passenger compartment, and a second air passage through which air from the second inside-air introduction port flows to the electronic unit and the passenger compartment.

3. The vehicle electronic-part cooling structure according to claim 2, wherein the blower includes a first fan disposed in the first air passage, and a second fan disposed in the second air passage.

4. The cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein the partition member is disposed at least upstream from the cooling heat exchanger.

5. The cooling structure according to claim 1, further comprising

an air duct connected to the cooling opening, through which at least inside air flows to the electronic unit.

6. The cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein the electronic unit includes an electronic member that generates heat when being operated.

7. The cooling structure according to claim 1, further comprising

a heating heat exchanger for heating air, the heating heat exchanger being disposed in the air conditioning case downstream from the cooling heat exchanger;

and

a temperature adjustment unit for adjusting temperature of air to be blown into the passenger compartment so that conditioned air is obtained, wherein;

the air conditioning case has an air outlet opening through which conditioned air is blown into the passenger compartment.

8. A module structure of vehicle cockpit components, comprising:

a function module assembly formed by modularizing an air conditioning unit and a peripheral member of the air conditioning unit, the air conditioning unit being for adjusting an air temperature and for blowing the adjusted air into a passenger compartment of the vehicle;

a structure module assembly formed by modularizing a steering support member for supporting a steering shaft, and the air bag unit for protecting a passenger in a vehicle collision; and

a design module assembly formed by modularizing a dashboard and at least one of a display unit and a meter unit in the vehicle.

9. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the steering support member is supported by a vehicle A-pillar.

10. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein:

the dashboard is an upper dashboard of the vehicle;

the structure module assembly is modularized with a lower dashboard part of the vehicle;

the upper dashboard part and the lower dashboard part are connected to form a design surface in the passenger compartment when the design module assembly and the structure module assembly are assembled to the vehicle;

the upper dashboard part defines an upper portion of the design surface; and

the lower dashboard part defines a lower portion of the design surface.

11. The module structure according to claim 10, wherein the lower dashboard part is disposed to be used as the steering support member.

12. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the design module assembly is modularized with an air-conditioning duct, through which conditioned air from the air conditioning case flows into the passenger compartment.

13. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the air bag unit is at least one of an upper air-bag unit for protecting the upper body of a passenger on a front seat and a knee air-bag unit for protecting the knee portion of the passenger.

14. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein at least any one of the steering shaft and a glove box is modularized with the structure module.

15. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the peripheral member is at least one of a container case for containing an electronic control unit, a junction box, a wire harness and an air-conditioning duct.

16. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein:

the air conditioning unit includes a resinous air conditioning case for defining an air passage therein;

the peripheral member is at least one of a container case for containing an electronic control unit and a junction box; and

at least one of the container case and the junction box is integrated to the resinous air conditioning case by resin molding.

17. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the steering support member has a support portion for supporting the steering shaft, and the support portion is disposed below the steering shaft.

18. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein:

the steering support member has an insertion hole into which the steering shaft is inserted; and

the steering shaft is inserted into the insertion hole to be supported by the steering support member.

19. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the steering support member has a center portion substantially at a center area in a vehicle width direction, and the center portion of the steering support member is located below an upper end of an audio system disposed substantially at a center in the dashboard in the vehicle width direction.

20. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the steering support member is a pipe member extending in a vehicle width direction.

21. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the steering support member is a plate member extending in a vehicle width direction and having an opening opened in a direction perpendicular to the vehicle width direction.

22. The module structure according to claim 21, wherein the steering support member has reinforcement ribs that are provided in the opening to extend in a direction perpendicular to the vehicle width direction.

23. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the steering support member is made of at least one of an aluminum alloy and a magnesium alloy.

24. The module structure according to claim 23, wherein the steering support member is formed by die-casting.

25. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the steering support member includes a metal portion for supporting the steering shaft, and a resin portion that is the other part of the metal portion in the steering support member.

26. The module structure according to claim 8, wherein the steering support member supports at least one of a side bracket for fixing the steering support member to a vehicle body, a brace for supporting the steering support member from below of the steering support member, a brake pedal, an accelerator pedal and a clutch pedal.