Abstract:
A temperature controlled mobile vehicle compartment for providing a convenient article storage having a heat exchanger thermally connected to a thermoelectric device controlling thermal energy flow to and from the compartment. An air duct assembly cooperates with the thermoelectric device to vent the heat from the device outside the compartment and segregates the inflow air from the outflow air which received the thermal energy.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to a mobile vehicle temperature controlled compartment, and more particularly to a temperature controlled compartment provided in a mobile vehicle console. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Consoles are conventionally provided in vehicles to provide an enclosed storage space accessible to the vehicle occupants. In such a storage space, vehicle occupants store miscellaneous articles including music tapes, compact disks, coins, address books, etc. The articles conventionally stored in these storage spaces do not require a specific temperature and thus the console temperature generally corresponds to the ambient air temperature in the vehicle. However, some articles, for example beverages, food, insulin, etc., require a temperature controlled environment which would provide a driver and/or passenger convenient and safe storage for these articles. Operators of vehicles continually demand greater conveniences in their mobile vehicles and, therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a temperature controlled compartment wherein articles in need of a cooled or heated environment may be stored. By placing the temperature controlled compartment in the console, which is readily available to the vehicle driver, the distraction of the driver from the road and happenings around the vehicle is reduced. 
     Thermoelectric devices are known which utilize the Peltier effect in solid state electrical components to operate as small heat pumps. Thermoelectric devices include a plurality of thermocouples mounted between heat sinks. The thermocouples transfer thermal energy from one heat sink to the other dependent on the direction of DC power applied to the thermocouples. 
     The present invention addresses the above need for convenient mobile vehicle temperature controlled compartments by utilizing thermoelectric devices to control the temperature in the vehicle compartments. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A vehicle console encloses at least one compartment, the temperature of which can be controlled by a thermoelectric device, heat exchanger, and air duct assembly. The heat exchanger is mounted in thermal communication with the compartment. The thermoelectric device controls the flow of thermal energy to or from the heat exchanger and transfers the thermal energy to the air duct assembly. The air duct assembly transfers the thermal energy to air flowing therethrough. 
     Another feature of the invention is that the air duct assembly segregates the incoming air from the outgoing air to improve system performance by keeping the temperature difference between the incoming and outgoing air at a maximum. 
     The invention also provides a forced air convection device in the temperature controlled compartment. The forced air convection device is mounted in the console and draws air therefrom and forces the same through a heat exchanger which includes a heat exchanger plate and radiator fins that are in thermoconductive contact with the heat exchanger plate so as to temperature condition the air flowing through the convection device. The forced air convection device vents the air into the temperature controlled compartment after temperature conditioning the air. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a top view of a vehicle passenger compartment including a console. 
     FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the console of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the FIG. 2 heat sink. 
     FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of an alternate embodiment of the vehicle console. 
     FIG.  5 (A) is a cross sectional view of the FIG. 4 beverage container. 
     FIG.  5 (B) is a cross sectional view of a second embodiment of the beverage container of FIG.  4 . 
     FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of a modification of the FIG. 4 vehicle console. 
    
    
     Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in description only and will not be limiting unless expressly claimed. The words “up”, “down”, “top”, “bottom”, “right”, and “left” will designate directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “in” and “out” will refer to directions toward and away from the geometric center of the device and designated parts thereof. Such terminology will include derivatives and words of similar meaning. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a motor vehicle passenger compartment  10  including a console  12  positioned between the seats  14 . The console  12  is usually plastic, rigid body or housing  16  which is secured to the vehicle compartment floor  15  and covered by a decorative protective covering  17 . The console  12  has at least one enclosed storage compartment  18  and cup holders  20  which are positioned forwardly of the storage compartment and recessed into the console body  16 . The compartment  18  has a generally horizontally extending bottom wall  22 , upwardly extending side  24 , front  28  and rear  26  walls and a cover  30  pivotally connected to the rear wall  26  (FIG.  2 ). The walls  22 ,  24 ,  26  and  28  and cover  30  are laminated with insulation  32  to thermally insulate the compartment  18  from the surrounding environment. The front wall  28  has an opening  34  extending therethrough. 
     The console  12  is provided with a system  35  for controlling the temperature in the console storage compartment  18 . An L-shaped thermally conductive heat exchanger  36  is in contact with at least part of the front wall  28  and the bottom wall  22  and extends over the front wall opening  34 . It will be understood that the heat exchanger  36  can be constructed to any shape so long as it is thermally connected with the compartment and can be in contact with any number of walls, e.g. all of the upright walls of the compartment. In the described embodiment, the heat exchanger  36  is constructed from aluminum to have an efficient heat conduction and light weight. 
     A thermally conductive element  40  extends through the front wall opening  34  and is in thermal communication with the heat exchanger  36  adjacent the corner thereof. The thermally conductive element  40  can be constructed from solid aluminum or any other thermally conductive material so long as it has adequate thermal conductive properties. At an end of the thermally conductive element  40  remote from the heat exchanger  36  is a thermoelectric system  42  which is connected to an electrical power supply  44  mounted in the vehicle, for example a 12 volt electrical system of an automobile. Insulation  32  is provided around the thermoelectric system  42  to thermally isolate the system. Plates  46 ,  48  attached to a thermoelectric device  50  made up of thermoelectric elements act as heat sinks, one of which is a hot sink and the other is a cold sink depending on the direction of direct current flowing from the electrical power source  44  to the thermoelectric device  50 . A thermoelectric device plate  46  contacts an end of the thermally conductive element  40 . 
     An air duct assembly  52  is mounted within the console  12  and is in thermal communication with the thermoelectric system  42 . The air duct assembly  52  has a housing  54  and a solid extension member  56  extending from the housing and contacting thermoelectric device plate  48 . The solid extension member  56  is made of a thermally conductive material, for example aluminum, to provide adequate thermoconductivity. Within the housing  54  are radiator fins  58  which extend from the solid extension member  56 . The air duct assembly  52  comprises an inflow air duct  64  and an outflow air duct  110  which are fluidly connected to provide air flow through the assembly. The outflow air duct  110  passes air by the radiator fins  58  and a side of the extension  56  so that heat is transferred to the inflowing air and is vented with the outflowing air. To positively provide air flow through the air duct assembly  52 , a fan  68  is provided to draw inflow air through the inflow air duct  64 , pass the air around the radiator fins  58  and exhaust the air into outflow air duct  110 . 
     Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a modification of the above described console. The modified console  12 A has a forwardly extending, insulated beverage container support member  69  provided at an upper forward position of the console  12 A. A beverage container recess  71  is provided in an upper portion of support member  69 . The recess  71  is adapted to receive a bottom portion of a beverage container  80  therein. 
     The modified console  12 A further includes an integral beverage container cooler/heater assembly  70  which includes a modified heat exchanger  72  that has upper and lower legs joined to a bight portion with the lower leg  73  forming the compartment bottom wall  22 A, the upwardly extending bight portion forming the front wall  28 A, and the upper leg  75  extending forwardly from the bight portion  74 . A lower portion of the bight portion  74  contacts a plate  46 A of the thermoelectric system  42 A so that the thermoelectric system  42 A can draw or provide heat to the heat exchanger  72 . 
     The upper portion  78  of the upper leg  75  can be formed with a depression in an upper surface thereof for the beverage container  80  to be seated in to aid in the heat transfer between the beverage container and the heat exchanger  72 . 
     The beverage container  80  may also have structure which will assist in transferring the thermal energy to the beverage contained in the container  80  from the heat exchanger  72  and thermoelectric system  42 A (FIGS.  5 (A) and (B)). The beverage container  80  has an insulated cup portion  82  and a lid  84  which is removably secured to the open top of the cup portion  82  so as to reduce thermal losses or gains through the cup portion open top. The bottom of the cup portion  82  has a reduced diameter bottom portion  86  which is sized to fit within the recess  71 . A thermally conductive element  88  is positioned within the cup portion  82  to improve the heat transfer with the heat exchanger upper portion  78  and has a relatively short cylindrical base  91  at the bottom end of the container  80  and a spire  92  integral with and extending upwardly from the base  91  into the beverage containing space defined by the cup portion  82 . The spire  92  increases the surface area of the thermally conductive element  88  that is in contact with the beverage to improve the heat exchange with the beverage in the container  80 . 
     In the embodiment shown in FIG.  5 (B), the beverage container  80  does not have a spine  92  but instead has the walls of the container integral with and formed of the same material as the base  91 . This enables the heating or cooling of not only a beverage contained therein but also a beverage container such as a can, water bottle, etc. 
     Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown a further modification of the present invention, which is a modification of the FIG. 4 embodiment. While the above embodiments use passive air convection and thermal conduction to distribute the thermal energy within the storage compartment, this modification provides a forced convection heat exchanger system  95 . The heat exchanger system  95  has an inverted L-shaped heat exchanger  96  which has its vertical leg  98  contacting a plate  46 B of the thermoelectric device and a horizontal leg  100  having an upper surface  78 B for the beverage container  80 B. Thus, the heat exchanger  96  conducts thermal energy to or from the upper surface  78 B. An air duct assembly  102  is mounted within the compartment  18 B and radiator fins  104  extending from the vertical leg  98  towards the compartment. The air duct assembly  102  has an inflow air duct  108  and outflow air ducts  110  and allows air to flow from the inflow air duct to the outflow air ducts. A fan  112  is mounted in the air duct assembly  102  to draw air into the inflow air duct  108 , force air past the radiator fins  104 , and out the outflow air ducts  110 , i.e., out and into the compartment. 
     While it is believed that operation of the present invention is apparent based on the above description, the operation of the present invention is outlined below for convenience. If it is desired to cool the compartment  18 , then DC electrical power from the power source  44  is sent to the thermoelectric system  42 . The direction of current flow causes the thermoelectric system to transfer thermal energy from one heat sink plate  46  and transfer the thermal energy to the other heat sink plate  48 . The heat sink plate  46  will transfer thermal energy from thermally conductive element  40  which in turn transfers thermal energy from the heat exchanger  36 . The heat exchanger  36  is bound on its outer facing sides by insulated walls  22 ,  28  and transfers thermal energy from the enclosed compartment  18 . Thermal energy builds up at the heat sink plate  48  and is transferred to the extension member  56  and radiator fins  58  of air duct housing  54 . The extension member  56  and radiator fins  58  transfer the thermal energy to air passing through the air duct assembly. The fan  68  pulls air in through the inflow air duct  54  and pushes air out of the outflow air duct  66  past the radiating fins  58  and extension member  56 . Thusly, heat is transferred from the compartment  18  and is vented out in air from air duct  66 . If it is desired to heat the compartment  18 , then the DC power supplied to the thermoelectric system is reversed to force heat to flow toward the compartment  18 . 
     The FIG. 4 embodiment cools the compartment  18 A in the same manner as explained above with regard to FIG.  2  and can additionally simultaneously cool the beverage container  80  outside of the compartment  18 A. The heat exchanger  72  draws thermal energy from the compartment  18 A and from the heat exchanger upper portion  78 . The heat exchanger upper surface  78  draws thermal energy from the beverage container  80  seated in the recess  71 , and if used with the beverage container  80  shown in FIGS.  5 (A) and (B), the container mounted heat exchanger  88  will draw thermal energy from within the container  80  and transfer the same to the heat exchanger upper portion  78 . 
     The FIG. 6 embodiment cools the compartment in the same manner as discussed above with regard to the thermoelectric system  42 B and the air duct assembly  52 B and it provides a forced air convection assembly  95  which forces convection air currents in the compartment  18 B to improve the heat exchange therein. The heat exchanger  96  contacts the heat sink plate  46 B which draws thermal energy therefrom. A fan  112  pulls air from within the compartment  18 B, forces the air past the radiator fins  104  and heat exchanger  96 , and pushes the air back into compartment  18 B. The heat exchanger  96  draws heat from the air passing thereby to supply this thermal energy to the thermoelectric system  42 B. 
     While the above description only shows a single compartment, it will be within the scope of this invention to have a plurality of compartments whereby at least one of which has features above described. Further, it will be understood that the above described invention is described mounted within a vehicle console, it will work within any type of vehicle, for example automobiles, trucks, trailers, tractors, boats, aircraft, etc., wherein a temperature controlled compartment is desired, and does not have to be mounted within a console. 
     Although particular preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognized that variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus, including the rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the present invention.