Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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1 sAcKGRouND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air induction
system for automotive air-conditioners and, more particular-
ly, to an improved construction of a switching deviceoperative to switch over to or from indoor or recirculated
air from or to outdoor or fresh air.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
A typical conventional air induction system for
automotive air conditioners has, as shown in Japanese
Utility Model Publication No. 24566/1982, a box-like intake
housing having a fresh-air induction opening and a recir-
culated-air induction opening which are selectively opened
and closed by a single or a pair of dampers or doors. In
- 15 this air induction system, therefore, the areas of the air
induction openings are determined by the area of the door
or doors and the width and height of the box-like housing
are determined or limited by the arrangement for opening
and closing the doors, which determines the overall size
of the box-like housing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to
reduce the height of the box-like hou3ing without reducing
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1 the areas of the fresh-air induction opening and the
recirculated-air induction opening.
To this end, according to the invention, an
auxiliary opening is formed in a wall of the box-like housing
other than the wall in which the openings for fresh air and
recirculated air are formed and the auxiliary opening is
opened and closed simultaneously with the operation of a
door for switching over the fresh-air induction opening
and the recirculated-air induction opening.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of an embodi-
ment of an air induction system in accordance with the
invention;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the whole of
the air induction system shown in Fig. l;
Figs. 3A and 3B are enlarged illustrations of
operation of a foldable door used in the air induction
system of the invention; and
Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of an
example of an accordion-type shutter used in the air induc-
tion system of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT
Referring to the drawings, an air induction system
of the invention includes a box-like housing 1 having a
; 25 wall lC in which is formed a main recirculated-air or indoor
air induction opening 4. A shaft 30 carrying the base end
, 2 --
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1 of a foldable door 29 is rotatably attached to the inner
upper end of the wall lC. The foldable door 29 has a
pair of door panels 26 and 27 which are pivotally connected
to each other as will be described later in connection
with Fig. 3. When the foldable door 29 is folded, i.e.,
when two door panels are brought together, one 26 of these
two door panels closes the main recirculated-air induction
opening 4. However, when the foldable door 29 is stretched,
i.e., when the door panels 26 are 27 are extended into a
substantially planar position, these door panels cooperate
to close a fresh-air or outdoor air induction opening 2
formed in the top lA of the box-like housing 1. The ar-
rangement is such that, when the fresh-air induction
opening 2 is closed by the door panels 26 and 27, the main
recirculated-air induction opening 4 is opened, whereas,
when the main recirculated-air induction opening 4 is
closed by the door panel 26, the fresh-air induction passage
2 is opened.
Auxiliary recirculated-air induction openings 15
are formed in the walls lE and lF adjacent to the wall lC
having the main recirculated-air induction opening 4 and
in the wall lD opposing the wall lC.
An accordion-type shutter 28 is pivotally connect-
ed at an end through a rotary shaft 25 to the portion of
the upper inner surface of the wall lC. Thus, the accordion-
type shutter 28 is designed to selectively open and close
at least two of the auxiliary recirculated-air induction
openings 15. The details of the accordion-type shutter 28
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1 will be described later.
The foldable door 29 will be described in detail
hereinunder with specific reference to Figs. 3A and 3B.
The door 29 is a flap door which is constituted, as
mentioned before, by two door panels 26 and 27 pivotally
connected to each other. These door panels 26 and 27 have
almost equal lengths so that the door 29 can be flexed or
folded substantially at the mid portion thereof. More
specifically, the end of the door panel 26 remote from the
rotary shaft 30 is provided at its both lateral sides with
pegs 16, while the adjacent end of the door panel 27 is
provided with eyes 17 which rotatably engage the pegs 16.
The eyes 17 are retained on the pegs 16 by E rings 18. Pegs
21 project from both lateral side edges of the door panel
27 and are received in grooves 19 formed in rails disposed
adjacent to the inner surfaces of both walls lE and lF
disposed at both sides of the door panel 27. The arrange-
ment is such that, when the door panel 26 is swung about
the axis of the shaft 30, the pegs 21 on the door panel 27
slide along the grooves 19 in the rails. The rails are
so curved that, when the door panel 26 has been swung away
from the wall lC to a position substantially perpendicular
thereto, both door panels 26 and 27 are extended substan~
tially linearly to provide a substantially flat wall of a
large area Sl to fully close the fresh-air induction opening
2. The foldable door 29 can be folded to provide a small
area S2 when it is swung to the position for closing the
main recirculated-air induction opening 4.
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1 The accordion-type shutter 28 for selectively
closing the auxiliary recirculated-air induction openings
15 has a flat plate or frame 22 connected to the shaft 25
and made of a comparatively rigid material such as an iron
or a hard resin, and a double-walled accordion-like parti-
tion 32 sealingly securd at its lower end 28B to the upper
surface of the flat frame 22. The partition 32 is formed
of a flexible elastomeric material such as rubber or a soft
plastic material. The upper end 28A of the accordion-like
partition 32 is sealingly secured to the inner surface of
the top wall lA of the box-like housing 1. The arrangement
is such that the frame 22 of the accordion-type shutter 28
is swingable about the axis of the shaft 25 up and down
between an upper position in which the shutter is folded
into a substantially flat position and a lower or stretched
position in which the shutter 28 as a whole exhibits a
substantial triangular side elevation, as viewed in Fig. 1.
When the frame 22 is in the upper position, the accordion-
type shutter 28 opens the auxiliary recirculated-air induc-
tion openings 15 whereas, when the frame 22 is in the lowerposition, the shutter 28 covers and closes the auxiliary
recirculated-air induction openings 15.
An aperture or passage 28C of an area greater
than that of the foldable door 29 is defined by the
accordion-like partition 32 and the flat frame 22 to
provide a fluid-flow communication between the fresh-air
induction opening 2 and a suction opening 3 formed in the
top of a blower housing 14 in which a fan 14a is provided
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1 so as to be driven by a motor 13. A portion of the ac-
cordion-like partition is double-walled to form a pressure
chamber or pneumatic actuator 23 which is communicated
with a vacuum source (not shown) through a pipe 24 pro-
jecting upwardly from the upper end 28A of the accordion-
type partition 28. The arrangement is such that a vacuum
or atmospheric pressure is selectively introduced into the
actuator 23 via the pipe 24 through a solenoid valve which
may be of the type disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication
No. 70807/1981.
In the illustrated embodiment of the invention,
the Actuator 23 is so formed as to possess a resiliency
which, when the atmospheric pressure is introduced into the
actuator, expands the actuator to the position shown in
Fig. 1 in which the accordion-type shutter 28 closes the
auxiliary recirculated-air induction openings 15 formed in
the side walls lD, lE and lF of the box-like housing 1.
However, a spring member or members may auxiliary be used
to keep the shutter 28 closed when vacuum is not introduced
into the actuator 23.
Referring to Fig. 2, the rotary shaft 25 of the
accordion-type shutter 28 and the rotary shaft 30 of the
foldable door 29 are operatively connected by a link mechan-
ism so that the foldable door 2g can be operated in relation
to the operation of the accordion-type shutter 28 when
the same is actuated by vacuum or atmospheric pressure
introduced into the actuator 23. This arrangement, however,
is not exclusive. For instance, it is possible to arrange
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1 such that the rotary shaft 30 of the foldable door 29
is driven by a suitable power source to drive the accordion-
type shutter 28 through the link mechanism 31. In such a
case, the actuator 23 can be omitted. It is also possible
to drive the shafts 25 and 30 by independent power sources.
In this case, the link mechanism 31 is unnecessary.
In operation, for inducing fresh air, the foldable
door 29 is folded such that both door panels 26 and 27 are
superposed to each other so that the main recirculated-air
induction opening 4 is closed by the door panel 26 and
the fresh-air induction opening 2 is opened, while the
auxiliary recirculated-air induction openings 15 formed in
the walls lD, lE and lF are blocked by the accordion-type
shutter 28 which, at this time, is stretched. Therefore,
fresh air is sucked at a high rate from the fresh-air induc-
tion opening 2 through the aperture 28C in the accordion-
type shutter 28.
For inducing recirculated or indoor air, the
actuator 23 is pneumatically operated to contract the
accordion-like partition 32 for thereby opening all the
auxiliary recirculated-air induction openings 15. At this
time, the foldable door 29 is moved to a position in which
the door panels 26 and 27 are stretched to provide a sub-
stantially planar continuous wall to close the fresh-air
induction opening 2, while opening the main recirculated-air
induction opening 4. In consequence, the recirculated or
indoor air is induced at a high rate through the induction
openings 4 and 15, while the fresh air is blocked by the
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1 foldable door 29.
The described embodiment of the air-induction
system for automotive air-conditioner has a foldable door
and an accordion-type shutter operatively connected to
each other such that the door can be moved to selectively
open and close the main recirculated-air induction opening
and the fresh-air induction opening simultaneously with
the movement of the accordion-type shutter which selectively
opens and closes the auxiliary recirculated-air induction
openings. With this arrangement, it is not necessary to
use a separate actuator for the door, so that the size and
the weight of the air-induction system can be decreased
without lowering the performance of the automotive air-
conditioner. In addition, the combined use of the foldable
door and the accordion-type shutter is effective to reduce
the height of the box-like housing 1 of the air-induction
system without reducing the areas of the air induction
openings and thus the flow-rate of the air, so ~hat the
space is saved to improve the comort in the occupant
compartment of the automobile. The reduction in the size
and weight in turn permits a standardization of the air-
induction system to increase the applicability of the system
to a variety of classes of automobiles.
