JP7359052B2 - Vehicle floor duct structure - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a floor duct structure for a vehicle.

Patent Document 1 below discloses an example of a vehicle floor duct structure. This floor duct structure includes a duct main body connected to an air outlet of an air conditioning unit provided in an instrument panel. The duct body extends along the floor panel to the rear of the vehicle and is configured as an air conditioning floor duct that guides conditioned air flowing in from the air outlet of the air conditioning unit toward the foot space of the rear seat occupant.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-225538

The air conditioning unit as described above generally includes a drain port at the bottom of the unit, and water is drained through a drain hose attached to the drain port. At this time, the drain pipe is configured to extend along the floor panel, and its tip end is inserted into the through hole of the floor panel.

By the way, in the case of a structure where the drain hose is installed near the air conditioning floor duct, the work of assembling the air conditioning floor duct to the air conditioning unit's outlet and the work of assembling the drain hose to the air conditioning unit's drain port are done separately. If this is done, the problem of poor work efficiency may arise. Therefore, in the design of this type of floor duct structure, a structure is required that can improve the ease of assembling the elements of both the air conditioning floor duct and the drain hose, which are arranged in close proximity to each other.

The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle floor duct structure that is easy to assemble.

One aspect of the present invention is
An air conditioning duct section having a conditioned air inlet connected to an air outlet of an air conditioning unit mounted on a vehicle, a conditioned air outlet through which the conditioned air flows out, and an air passage communicating from the conditioned air inlet to the conditioned air outlet. and,
a drain pipe section having a drain water inlet connected to the drain of the air conditioning unit, a drain water outlet through which the drain water flows out, and a water passage communicating from the drain water inlet to the drain water outlet;
Equipped with
A floor duct structure for a vehicle, in which the air conditioning duct part and the drain pipe part are constituted by an integrally molded body provided along the floor panel of the vehicle;
It is in.

In this vehicle floor duct structure, the air conditioning duct portion has a first function of guiding the conditioned air blown from the air outlet of the air conditioning unit along the floor panel of the vehicle. On the other hand, the drain pipe section has a second function of guiding drain water discharged from the drain port of the air conditioning unit along the floor panel of the vehicle. Since these air conditioning duct portions and drain pipe portions are constituted by an integrally molded body, it is possible to construct an integrally molded body that has both the first function and the second function.

For this reason, in a structure in which a drain hose having a second function is arranged near a duct member having a first function, these two components, the duct member and the drain hose, are replaced with an integrally molded body. be able to. As a result, the number of parts can be reduced compared to the case where the duct member and the drain hose are separately assembled to the air conditioning unit, and the number of man-hours required for assembling the integrally molded body can be reduced.

As described above, according to the above aspect, it is possible to provide a vehicle floor duct structure that is easy to assemble.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle floor duct structure according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1. A sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1. A sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 of a vehicle floor duct structure according to a second embodiment.

Preferred embodiments of the above aspects are described below.

In the above floor duct structure for a vehicle, the conditioned air inlet of the air conditioning duct portion and the drain water inlet of the drain pipe portion are opened in different directions, and either the conditioned air inlet or the drain water inlet is opened in different directions. It is preferable that one of the two is indirectly connected to the air outlet or the drain port of the air conditioning unit via a flexible connecting pipe.

According to this vehicle floor duct structure, even if the opening directions of the air-conditioned air inlet of the air-conditioning duct part and the drain water inlet of the drain pipe part are different from each other, the air-conditioned air inlet or the drain water inlet of the air-conditioned air inlet of the air-conditioning duct part and the drain water inlet of the drain pipe part are assembled after the integrally molded body is assembled. By using a flexible connecting pipe to connect the air conditioner and the air conditioning unit, this connection work can be easily performed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the ease of assembling the integrally molded body from deteriorating.

In the above floor duct structure for a vehicle, it is preferable that the air conditioning duct part and the drain pipe part are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

According to this vehicle floor duct structure, the thickness of the integral molded body in the vehicle width direction or vehicle height direction can be kept small.

In the above vehicle floor duct structure, the integrally molded body is provided with a seamless partition section for partitioning the air passage of the air conditioning duct section and the water passageway of the drain pipe section. is preferable.

According to this vehicle floor duct structure, by providing a seamless partition between the air passage of the air conditioning duct part and the water passage of the drain pipe part, the air passage can be opened without intervening another member such as a sealing member. It is possible to ensure sealing performance between the pipe and the water passage. In this case, in order to provide a seamless partition, it is typically preferable to form an integral molded body by blow molding.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a vehicle floor duct structure provided in a vehicle will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the drawings used in the description of this specification, unless otherwise specified, the front of the vehicle is indicated by an arrow FR, the upper part of the vehicle is indicated by an arrow UP, and the inside of the vehicle is indicated by an arrow IN. Further, the vehicle width direction is indicated by an arrow X, the vehicle longitudinal direction is indicated by an arrow Y, and the vehicle height direction is indicated by an arrow Z.

(Embodiment 1)
As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle floor duct structure (hereinafter simply referred to as "floor duct structure") 10 of Embodiment 1 includes an integral molded body 10a provided along a floor panel 1 of a vehicle, and a first It includes a connecting pipe 14, a second connecting pipe 15, and a fixing clip 16.

The floor panel 1 is configured as a front floor panel that extends from the lower end of the dash panel to the rear seat leg space among the panels on the floor surface of the vehicle. At the center of the floor panel 1 in the vehicle width direction X, a tunnel portion 2 is provided which projects from the flat plate portion 1a toward the vehicle interior and extends in the vehicle length direction Y.

The integral molded body 10a is provided between the floor panel 1 of a vehicle and a floor carpet (not shown) from the side of the tunnel portion 2 of the floor panel 1 to above the flat plate portion 1a. This integral molded body 10a has an upright part arranged along the side surface of the tunnel part 2 and a horizontal part arranged along the upper part of the flat plate part 1a. Both have a flat shape with the vehicle longitudinal direction Y as the longitudinal direction.

The integral molded body 10a has an air conditioning duct section 11 for flowing conditioned air and a drain pipe section 12 for draining drain water, and the air conditioning duct section 11 and the drain pipe section 12 are integrally molded with each other. It is an integrally molded part. In this integrally molded body 10a, the air conditioning duct portion 11 and the drain pipe portion 12 are arranged side by side in the vehicle longitudinal direction Y. As a result, both the thickness of the upright portion of the integral molded body 10a in the vehicle width direction X and the thickness of the horizontal portion of the integral molded body 10a in the vehicle height direction Z can be kept small. In this embodiment, the drain pipe section 12 is arranged ahead of the air conditioning duct section 11 in the integrally molded body 10a.

Although the material of the integrally molded body 10a is not limited, it is preferable to use a hard resin material in order to reduce the weight and ensure rigidity.

An air conditioning unit 4 mounted on a vehicle is arranged above the tunnel portion 2 of the floor panel 1. The air conditioning unit 4 is provided with an air outlet 4a and a drain outlet 4b on the same side. In this air conditioning unit 4, a drain port 4b is arranged in front of the air outlet 4a. The air outlet 4a is an opening for blowing out conditioned air such as hot air or cold air generated by the air conditioning unit 4. The drain port 4b is an opening for draining drain water condensed inside the air conditioning unit 4.

The air conditioning duct section 11 includes a conditioned air inlet 11a connected to the air outlet 4a of the air conditioning unit 4, a conditioned air outlet 11b through which the conditioned air flows out toward the foot space of the rear seat occupant, and a conditioned air outlet 11b through which the conditioned air flows out from the conditioned air inlet 11a. It has a ventilation path 11c, which is an internal space that communicates with the outlet 11b.

The drain pipe section 12 includes a drain water inlet 12a connected to the drain port 4b of the air conditioning unit, a drain water outlet 12b from which drain water flows out, and a communication space that is an internal space communicating from the drain water inlet 12a to the drain water outlet 12b. It has a waterway 12c. The water passage 12c extends along the ventilation passage 11c, and is configured such that its passage cross-sectional area is smaller than the passage cross-sectional area of the ventilation passage 11c.

The conditioned air inlet 11a of the air conditioning duct section 11 and the drain water inlet 12a of the drain pipe section 12 are open in different directions. That is, the conditioned air inlet 11a opens toward the inside of the vehicle, and the drain water inlet 12a opens toward the upper side of the vehicle. In this case, the normal direction of the Y-Z cross section of the air-conditioned air inlet 11a roughly matches the vehicle width direction X, and the normal direction of the X-Y cross section of the drain water inlet 12a roughly matches the vehicle height direction Z. .

The conditioned air inlet 11a of the air conditioning duct portion 11 is configured to be directly connected to the outlet 4a of the air conditioning unit 4. On the other hand, the drain water inlet 12a of the drain pipe section 12 is indirectly connected to the drain port 4b of the air conditioning unit 4 via the first connecting pipe 14 by inserting the first connecting pipe 14. It is configured as follows.

The first connecting pipe 14 is preferably made of a flexible material to facilitate connection work. Typically, the first connecting pipe 14 can be made of a rubber material or a soft resin material.

The conditioned air outlet 11b of the air conditioning duct section 11 and the drain water outlet 12b of the drain pipe section 12 open in different directions. That is, the air-conditioned air outlet 11b opens toward the rear of the vehicle, and the drain water outlet 12b opens toward the outside of the vehicle. In this case, the normal direction of the Z-X cross section of the air-conditioned air outlet 11b roughly matches the vehicle length direction Y, and the normal direction of the Y-Z cross section of the drain water outlet 12b roughly matches the vehicle width direction X. .

The air conditioning duct portion 11 has an end portion provided with the air conditioned air outlet 11b inserted into an elongated hole 3a passing through a beam member 3 joined to the floor panel 1 so as to extend in the vehicle width direction X. , and is configured to be temporarily assembled to the floor panel 1.

One end of the second connecting pipe 15 is inserted into the drain water outlet 12b of the drain pipe section 12. The second connecting pipe 15 has a first pipe part 15a made of a rubber material and a second pipe part 15b made of a hard resin material, and the first pipe part 15a and the second pipe part 15b are joined to each other. ing. The second tube portion 15b is configured such that its tip end is inserted into the through hole 1b of the floor panel 1. Therefore, the drain water flowing out from the drain water outlet 12b of the drain pipe section 12 flows through the second connecting pipe 15 from the first pipe section 15a side to the second pipe section 15b side and is discharged outside the vehicle.

Note that, if necessary, the first tube section 15a and the second tube section 15b of the second connecting tube 15 can be made of the same material. In this case, it is preferable that the first tube section 15a and the second tube section 15b be made of a flexible material in order to facilitate the connection work.

The integrally molded body 10a having the above structure is preferably formed by known blow molding using a resin material. A detailed explanation of this blow molding will be omitted, but by extruding heat-softened resin into a cylindrical shape, blowing compressed air into the cylinder, and pressing the resin against a mold to cool and solidify it, it is possible to create a hollow shape. An integral molded body 10a having an air conditioning duct portion 11 and a drain pipe portion 12 is molded.

By using blow molding, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a seamless partition section 13 for partitioning the air passage 11c of the air conditioning duct section 11 and the water passage 12c of the drain pipe section 12 can be created. can be provided. Here, FIG. 2 shows the cross-sectional structure of the upright part of the integral molded body 10a, and FIGS. 3 and 4 both show the cross-sectional structure of the horizontal part of the integral molded body 10a. .

As shown in FIG. 3, the integrally molded body 10a has a through hole 11d that penetrates in the vehicle height direction Z. By aligning the through hole 11d of the integral molded body 10a with the through hole 1c provided in the flat plate portion 1a of the floor panel 1, the resin fixing clip 16 is inserted into the through hole 11d and the through hole 1c. It becomes possible.

Next, an example of the assembly of the components of the floor duct structure 10 will be outlined with reference to FIG.

First, the integral molded body 10a is assembled. In this integral molded body 10a, the end portion of the air conditioning duct portion 11 where the conditioned air outlet 11b is provided is inserted into the elongated hole 3a of the beam member 3, and the portion where the conditioned air inlet 11a is provided is inserted into the air conditioning unit 4. directly into the air outlet 4a. Thereby, the air conditioning duct section 11 is temporarily assembled to the floor panel 1.

After that, the first connecting pipe 14 and the second connecting pipe 15 are attached. One end of the first connecting pipe 14 is inserted into the drain water inlet 12a of the drain pipe section 12, and the other end of the first connecting pipe 14 is inserted into the drain port 4b of the air conditioning unit 4. Thereby, the drain water inlet 12a of the drain pipe section 12 is indirectly connected to the drain port 4b of the air conditioning unit 4 via the first connecting pipe 14. Further, the first pipe part 15a constituting one end of the second connecting pipe 15 is inserted into the drain water outlet 12b of the drain pipe part 12, and the second pipe part 15b constituting the other end of the second connecting pipe 15 is inserted into the drain water outlet 12b of the drain pipe part 12. Insert into the through hole 1b of the floor panel 1.

Finally, the integral molded body 10a is fixed. With the through hole 11d of the integral molded body 10a aligned with the through hole 1c of the floor panel 1, the fixing clips 16 are inserted into the through holes 11d and 1c, thereby attaching the integral molded body 10a to the floor panel 1. Fixed to. This completes the assembly of the components of the floor duct structure 10.

Upon completion of the assembly, a ventilation path is formed that extends from the air outlet 4a of the air conditioning unit 4 through the air passage 11c of the air conditioning duct portion 11 to the conditioned air outlet 11b. Further, a water passage is formed that extends from the drain port 4b of the air conditioning unit 4 through the first connecting pipe 14, the water passage 12c of the drain pipe section 12, and the second connecting pipe 15 to the through hole 1b of the floor panel 1.

According to the first embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.

In the floor duct structure 10 described above, the air conditioning duct section 11 has a first function of guiding the conditioned air blown out from the air outlet 4a of the air conditioning unit 4 along the floor panel 1 of the vehicle. On the other hand, the drain pipe section 12 has a second function of guiding drain water discharged from the drain port 4b of the air conditioning unit 4 along the floor panel 1 of the vehicle. Since the air conditioning duct portion 11 and the drain pipe portion 12 are constituted by the integrally molded body 10a, it is possible to construct the integrally molded body 10a that has both the first function and the second function.

Therefore, in a structure in which a drain hose having a second function is arranged near a duct member having a first function, these two components, the duct member and the drain hose, are integrated into the integrally molded body 10a. Can be replaced. Thereby, the number of parts can be reduced compared to the case where the duct member and the drain hose are separately assembled to the air conditioning unit 4, and the number of man-hours required for assembling the integrally molded body 10a can be reduced. Moreover, compared to the case where the duct member and the drain hose are manufactured separately, the cost required for manufacturing the integrally molded body 10a can be reduced.

Therefore, according to the first embodiment described above, it is possible to provide a vehicle floor duct structure 10 that is easy to assemble.

According to the floor duct structure 10 described above, even if the opening directions of the air-conditioned air inlet 11a of the air-conditioning duct part 11 and the drain water inlet 12a of the drain pipe part 12 are different from each other, the drain water will not flow after the integral molded body 10a is assembled. By using the flexible first connecting pipe 14 to connect the inlet 12a and the drain port 4b of the air conditioning unit 4, this connection work can be easily performed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the ease of assembling the integrally molded body 10a from deteriorating.

According to the floor duct structure 10 described above, by providing the seamless partition portion 13 between the air passage 11c of the air conditioning duct portion 11 and the water passage 12c of the drain pipe portion 12, a separate member such as a sealing member is interposed. The sealing performance between the ventilation path 11c and the water passage 12c can be ensured without causing any damage.

Other embodiments related to the first embodiment described above will be described below with reference to the drawings. In other embodiments, the same elements as those in Embodiment 1 are given the same reference numerals, and descriptions of the same elements will be omitted.

(Embodiment 2)
As shown in FIG. 5, a vehicle floor duct structure 110 according to the second embodiment is different from that of the integrally molded body 10a of the first embodiment in the structure of an integrally molded body 110a. That is, while the integrally molded body 10a is constructed using blow molding, this integrally molded body 110a is constructed using injection molding.

The integrally molded body 110a is made by joining two half-split housing parts A and B, which are obtained by injection molding in which a resin material is injected into a mold, against each other at a joint surface C and welding or adhesion. It is integrally molded by doing this. At this time, the two housing parts A and B may be made of the same material or may be made of different materials.

In this integrally molded body 110a, the partition part 13 for partitioning between the air passage 11c of the air conditioning duct part 11 and the water passage 12c of the drain pipe part 12 has a joint made of a joint surface C. For this reason, it is preferable to interpose a sealing material or a sealing member on the joint surface C, if necessary.

The other configurations are the same as in the first embodiment.

According to the second embodiment described above, the floor duct structure 110 can be constructed by the integrally molded body 110a formed by joining the two housing parts A and B.

Other than that, the same effects as in the first embodiment are achieved.

In a modification particularly related to this second embodiment, the number of housing parts that constitute the integral molded body 110a may be three or more.

The present invention is not limited to the typical embodiments described above, and various applications and modifications are possible without departing from the purpose of the present invention. For example, the following embodiments that apply the above-described embodiments can also be implemented.

In the above embodiment, the case where the drain water inlet 12a of the drain pipe section 12 is indirectly connected to the drain port 4b of the air conditioning unit 4 via the flexible first connecting pipe 14 has been exemplified. Instead, the conditioned air inlet 11a of the air conditioning duct portion 11 may be indirectly connected to the air outlet 4a of the air conditioning unit 4 via a connecting tube of the same type as the first connecting tube 14.

In the above embodiment, the case where the conditioned air inlet 11a of the air conditioning duct part 11 and the drain water inlet 12a of the drain pipe part 12 are opened in different directions is illustrated, but instead of this, the conditioned air inlet 11a and the drain water flow are opened in different directions. It is also possible to adopt a structure in which the inlets 12a open in the same direction. By employing this structure, it is possible to ensure desired ease of assembly without using the first connecting pipe 14.

In the above embodiment, the case where the air conditioning duct section 11 and the drain pipe section 12 are arranged side by side in the vehicle longitudinal direction Y is illustrated, but instead of this, the air conditioning duct section 11 and the drain pipe section 12 are arranged side by side in the vehicle longitudinal direction. A structure disposed in a direction other than Y (for example, vehicle width direction X or vehicle height direction Z) may also be adopted.

In the embodiment described above, the drain pipe section 12, the first connection pipe 14 connected to the drain water inlet 12a of this drain pipe section 12, and the second connection pipe connected to the drain water outlet 12b of this drain pipe section 12 are provided. Although the case where the water passage is formed by the pipe 15 has been illustrated, instead of this, a long connecting pipe is passed through the water passage 12c of the drain pipe section 12, and one end of this connecting pipe is connected to the air conditioning unit. It is also possible to adopt a structure in which the connecting pipe is connected to the drain port 4b of No. 4, and the other end of this connecting pipe is inserted into the through hole 1b of the floor panel 1. In this case, the internal space of the connecting pipe that penetrates the water passage 12c of the drain pipe section 12 serves as the water passage.

1 Floor panel 4 Air conditioning unit 4a Air outlet 4b Drain outlet 10,110 Vehicle floor duct structure (floor duct structure)
10a, 110a integral molded body 11 air conditioning duct portion 11a conditioned air inlet 11b air conditioned air outlet 11c air passage 12 drain pipe portion 12a drain water inlet 12b drain water outlet 12c water passage 13 partition portion 14 first connecting pipe (connecting pipe)
Y Vehicle longitudinal direction

Claims (4)

An air conditioning duct section having a conditioned air inlet connected to an air outlet of an air conditioning unit mounted on a vehicle, a conditioned air outlet through which the conditioned air flows out, and an air passage communicating from the conditioned air inlet to the conditioned air outlet. and,
a drain pipe section having a drain water inlet connected to the drain of the air conditioning unit, a drain water outlet through which the drain water flows out, and a water passage communicating from the drain water inlet to the drain water outlet;
Equipped with
The above-mentioned air conditioning duct part and the above-mentioned drainage pipe part are constituted by an integrally molded body provided along the floor panel of a vehicle. The conditioned air inlet of the air conditioning duct portion and the drain water inlet of the drain pipe portion are open in different directions, and one of the conditioned air inlet and the drain water inlet has a flexible connection. The vehicle floor duct structure according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle floor duct structure is indirectly connected to the air outlet or the drain outlet of the air conditioning unit via a pipe. 3. The vehicle floor duct structure according to claim 1, wherein the air conditioning duct part and the drain pipe part are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. Any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the integrally molded body is provided with a seamless partition for partitioning between the air passage of the air conditioning duct part and the water passage of the drain pipe part. The vehicle floor duct structure according to item 1.

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