US 10,293,719 B2Granted

Air conditioner for vehicle seat

AssigneeDenso Corporation

InventorsTakahisa Fujii, Yasuhiko Niimi

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Abstract

An air conditioner for a vehicle seat has: a centrifugal fan; a first case housing the fan and including a fan inlet and a fan outlet; and a second case providing an inlet-side air passage and an outlet-side air passage. The second case has; an inside-air inlet introducing air from a surface of the vehicle seat into the inlet-side air passage; a conditioned-air inlet introducing conditioned air from an air conditioning unit for a passenger compartment into the inlet-side air passage; a conditioned-air outlet through which air in the outlet-side air passage flows to the surface of the vehicle seat; and an exhaust-air outlet through which air in the outlet-side air passage flows out of the second case. The second case includes: an inlet-side switching door that selectively opens or closes the inside-air inlet and the conditioned-air inlet; and an outlet-side switching door that selectively opens or closes the conditioned-air outlet and the exhaust-air outlet.

Claims13

Dependent claims

An air conditioner for a vehicle seat, comprising:

a centrifugal fan having a fan shaft;
a first case that houses the fan and includes a fan inlet drawing air and a fan outlet blowing air;
and
a second case that provides an inlet-side air passage connecting to the fan inlet and an outlet-side air passage connecting to the fan outlet, wherein
the inlet-side air passage is adjacent to the outlet-side air passage,
the inlet-side air passage includes:
an inside-air inlet drawing air from a surface of the vehicle seat into the inlet-side air passage, the inside-air inlet being arranged in a plane intersecting with an axial direction of the fan shaft;
a conditioned-air inlet introducing conditioned air from an air conditioning unit that performs air conditioning for a passenger compartment into the inlet-side air passage, the conditioned-air inlet being arranged in a plane parallel to the axial direction of the fan shaft;
and
an inlet-side switching door that selectively opens or closes the inside-air inlet and the conditioned-air inlet;
the outlet-side air passage includes:
a conditioned-air outlet through which an air flowing in the outlet-side air passage flows to the surface of the vehicle seat;
an exhaust-air outlet through which an air flowing in the outlet-side air passage flows out of the second case away from the surface of the vehicle seat;
and
an outlet-side switching door that selectively opens or closes the conditioned-air outlet and the exhaust-air outlet,
the fan outlet and the conditioned-air outlet are arranged along a blowing direction of air flowing out of the fan outlet, and
the inside-air inlet is proximate to the conditioned-air outlet in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the fan shaft.

14 more elements

An air conditioner for a vehicle seat, comprising:

a centrifugal fan having a fan shaft;
a first case that houses the fan and includes a fan inlet drawing air and a fan outlet blowing air;
and
a second case that provides an inlet-side air passage connecting to the fan inlet and an outlet-side air passage connecting to the fan outlet, wherein
the inlet-side air passage is adjacent to the outlet-side air passage,
the inlet-side air passage includes:
an inside-air inlet drawing air from a surface of the vehicle seat into the inlet-side air passage, the inside-air inlet being arranged in a plane intersecting with an axial direction of the fan shaft;
a conditioned-air inlet introducing conditioned air from an air conditioning unit that performs air conditioning for a passenger compartment into the inlet-side air passage, the conditioned-air inlet being arranged in a plane parallel to the axial direction of the fan shaft;
and
an inlet-side switching door that selectively opens or closes the inside-air inlet and the conditioned-air inlet,
the outlet-side air passage includes:
a conditioned-air outlet through which an air flowing in the outlet-side air passage flows to the surface of the vehicle seat;
an exhaust-air outlet through which an air flowing in the outlet-side air passage flows out of the second case away from the surface of the vehicle seat;
and
an outlet-side switching door that selectively opens or closes the conditioned-air outlet and the exhaust-air outlet,
the fan outlet and the conditioned-air outlet are arranged along a blowing direction of air flowing out of the fan outlet,
the conditioned-air outlet is arranged such that at least a part of a projection image of the conditioned-air outlet that is projected relative to the first case in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the fan shaft overlaps the fan outlet, and
the inside-air inlet is proximate to the conditioned-air outlet in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the fan shaft.

15 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.