Air conditioning apparatus for use in automobile

• US 4,958,504 A
• Filed: 06/16/1989
• Issued: 09/25/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ito, Shotarou, Ichikawa, Toru, Nishihata, Hideo, Kagoroku, Nobuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Tapolcai, William E.
• Application Number:
  US07/368,997
• Time in Patent Office: 466 Days
• Field of Search: 62/DIG. 10, 62/426, 62/419, 62/244, 62/259.1, 98/2.11, 415/53.1, 415/53.3, 165/122
• US Class Current: 62/244
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00471 The ventilator being of the radial type, i.e. with radial expulsion of the air
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/247 Disposition of several air-diffusers in a vehicle for ventilation-air circulation in a vehicle cabin
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 17/04 of transverse-flow type
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 29/422 Discharge tongues F04D17/04 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 29/4226 Fan casings

Abstract

The present invention provides an air conditioning apparatus for use in an automobile which employs a cross-flow fan as a ventilator, so that the apparatus is made thinner. The apparatus of the present invention is provided with a first and a second stabilizer, and accordingly a compulsory vortex of the air which is effective to feed the air is able to be stabilized. Moreover, a rear guider and an upper diffuser are provided in the surface opposite to the stabilizers with respect to the cross-flow fan, with enhancing the stabilization of the air flow. The reduction of the air flow amount and/or the generation of noises because of the vortex of the air can be consequently prevented. In the automobile air conditioning apparatus of the present invention, an evaporator has its upper end arranged to be inclined towards the cross-flow fan, so that the air flow into the cross-flow fan runs smoothly. Because of the arrangement of the above-described first and second stabilizers and the cross-flow fan, according to the present invention, the compulsory vortex of the air is generated at the optimum position and positively, thereby to make it possible to secure sufficient air amount and also to reduce noises, while realizing smooth and continuous flow of the air inside the room of the automobile.

Claims

1. An air conditioning apparatus for an automobile, comprising:

an upper casing and a lower casing, said casings being assembled together and having a downstream end portion with a discharge port therein and an upstream end portion with an intake port therein;

said lower casing having;

a horizontal cross-flow fan rotatably mounted therein between the ends thereof and for rotation around a horizontal axis transversely of the direction from the intake port to the discharge port and for receiving air through a portion of the outer periphery thereof facing the upstream end portion and discharging the air, after it has passed through said fan, out of the other side of the fan,

a lower diffuser extending from said fan to the discharge port,

a first stabilizer provided below said fan and on the side thereof toward said lower diffuser,

a second stabilizer provided below said fan and on the side thereof toward said upstream end portion, said first and second stabilizers defining between them a recessed portion open toward said fan;

said upper casing having a downstream guide having a curved surface having a center of the radius of curvature to the side of said fan and extending from said fan toward said discharge port, and

an upper diffuser forming a continuation of said downstream guide and extending on an extension line of said downstream guide to said discharge port and, together with said lower diffuser, defining a discharge passage from said fan to said discharge port which is gradually divergent toward said discharge port.

2. An air conditioning apparatus for an automobile and having a suction port in one end surface of said apparatus and a discharge port in the other end surface thereof,

a flat planar evaporator having a lower end toward said suction port and inclined upwardly toward said discharge port to an upper end;

a cross-flow fan mounted in said apparatus and having a rotary shaft thereof extending in a widthwise direction of said apparatus;

a discharge guide having a curved surface in the upper part of said apparatus and extending from said cross-flow fan toward said discharge port;

an upper diffuser forming a continuation of said discharge guide and extending to said discharge port;

a first stabilizer provided inside said apparatus below said cross-flow fan and positioned on the discharge port side of a vertical plane through the axial center of said cross-flow fan; and

a second stabilizer provided inside said apparatus below said cross-flow fan and positioned on the suction port side of said vertical plane;

said evaporator, cross-flow fan, said second and first stabilizers, said discharge guide and said upper diffuser being in the recited order from the suction port to the discharge port of said apparatus.

3. An air conditioning apparatus for an automobile and having a suction port in one end surface of said apparatus and a discharge port in the other end surface thereof;

a cross-flow fan mounted in said apparatus and having a rotary shaft thereof extending in a widthwise direction of said apparatus;

a discharge guide having a curved surface in the upper part of said apparatus and extending from said cross-flow fan toward said discharge port;

an upper diffuser forming a continuation of said discharge guide and extending to said discharge port;

a first stabilizer and a second stabilizer each having a cross-sectional shape with a peak extending toward and spaced from said cross-flow fan, and extending in the widthwise direction of said apparatus below said cross-flow fan within said apparatus and spaced from each other in the direction from the discharge port to the suction port, the angle between a plane including the axial center of said cross-flow fan and the peak of said first stabilizer and a horizontal plane is in the range 5°

≦

a≦

40°

.

4. An air conditioning apparatus for an automobile and having a suction port in one end surface of said apparatus and a discharge port in the other end surface thereof;

a cross-flow fan mounted in said apparatus and having a rotary shaft thereof extending in a widthwise direction of said apparatus,

a discharge guide having a curved surface in the upper part of said apparatus and extending from said cross-flow fan toward said discharge port;

an upper diffuser forming a continuation of said discharge guide and extending to said discharge port;

a first stabilizer and a second stabilizer each having a cross-sectional shape with a peak extending toward and spaced from said cross-flow fan, and extending in the widthwise direction of said apparatus below said cross-flow fan within said apparatus and spaced from each other in the direction from the discharge port to the suction port, the angle between a plane including the axial center of said cross-flow fan and the peak of said second stabilizer and a vertical plane is in the range 0°

m≦

b≦

30°

.

5. An air conditioning apparatus for an automobile having a casing with a suction port in one end surface and a discharge port in the other end surface thereof;

a cross-flow fan mounted in said apparatus and having a rotary shaft thereof extending in a widthwise direction of said apparatus;

a discharge guide having a curved surface in the upper part of said apparatus and extending from said cross-flow fan toward said discharge port;

an upper diffuser forming a continuation of said discharge guide and extending to said discharge port;

a first stabilizer and a second stabilizer each having a cross-sectional shape with a portion extending toward and spaced from said cross-flow fan, and extending in the widthwise direction of said apparatus below said cross-flow fan within said casing and spaced from each other in the direction from the discharge port to the suction port, the stabilizers having a recessed portion defined between them having a flat bottom surface portion which is level with a surface of said casing on the other side of said second stabilizer from said recess toward said suction port.

6. An air conditioning apparatus for an automobile and having a suction port in one end surface of said apparatus and a discharge port in the other end surface thereof;

a cross-flow fan mounted in said apparatus and having a rotary shaft thereof extending in a widthwise direction of said apparatus;

a discharge guide having a curved surface in the upper part of said apparatus and extending from said cross-flow fan toward said discharge port;

an upper diffuser forming a continuation of said discharge guide and extending to said discharge port;

a first stabilizer and a second stabilizer each having a cross-sectional shape with a peak extending toward and spaced from said cross-flow fan, and extending in the widthwise direction of said apparatus below said cross-flow fan within said apparatus and spaced from each other in the direction from the discharge port to the suction port, said first stabilizer having a cross-section which is a generally right-angled triangle and having said peak constituted by a vertex of said triangle and the side toward the discharge port of the apparatus as the hypotenuse of said triangle.

7. An air conditioning apparatus for an automobile and having a suction port in one end surface of said apparatus and a discharge port in the other end surface thereof,

a cross-flow fan mounted in said apparatus and having a rotary shaft thereof extending in a widthwise direction of said apparatus;

a discharge guide having a curved surface in the upper part of said apparatus and extending from said cross-flow fan toward said discharge port;

an upper diffuser forming a continuation of said discharge guide and extending to said discharge port;

a first stabilizer provided inside said apparatus below said cross-flow fan; and

a second stabilizer provided inside said apparatus below said cross-flow fan and spaced toward the suction port from said first stabilizer and defining with said first stabilizer a recess below said fan.