Air conditioning case positioning pin and holding piece that engage an attachment part projection piece

An air-conditioning apparatus includes: an air-conditioning case that includes an air passage through which air-conditioned wind flows and that is molded using a die; and an attachment part that is fixed on an outer surface of the air-conditioning case and includes a plate-shaped projection piece, which projects from a case main body part of the attachment part and includes a positioning hole passing through the projection piece. The air-conditioning case includes: a holding piece that projects from the outer surface to be engaged with the projection piece; and a positioning pin that projects from the outer surface to be inserted in the positioning hole. The holding piece includes: a leg part that projects from the outer surface and is capable of being resiliently deformed; and an engagement part that is bent and extends from an end portion of the leg part and that is engaged with a part of the projection piece on its end side of the positioning hole. When viewed along a projection direction of the projection piece, the leg part is located at a position that does not overlap with the positioning pin.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. National Phase Application under 35 U.S.C. 371 of International Application No. PCT/JP2015/001530 filed on Mar. 19, 2015 and published in Japanese as WO 2015/146087 A1 on Oct. 1, 2015. This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-060125 filed on Mar. 24, 2014. The entire disclosures of all of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an air-conditioning apparatus that air-conditions a room interior.

BACKGROUND ART

There is conventionally an apparatus described in, for example, Patent Document 1 for this type of air-conditioning apparatus. According to this air-conditioning apparatus described in Patent Document 1, an attachment part is fixed on the outer surface of an air-conditioning case by snap-fitting.

Specifically, a plate-shaped projection piece having a positioning hole is provided for the attachment part. A hook-shaped holding piece and a positioning pin that is inserted in the positioning hole are provided for the air-conditioning case. The holding piece includes a leg part that projects from the outer surface of the air-conditioning case, and an engagement part that is bent and extends from the end portion of the leg part to be engaged with the projection piece. The sectional shape of the leg part has a circular arc shape.

The positioning pin is inserted into the positioning hole, and the projection piece is clamped between the seating surface and the engagement part of the air-conditioning case. Consequently, the attachment part is fixed to the air-conditioning case.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT

Patent Document

However, in the conventional air-conditioning apparatus, the surface of the leg part that is opposed to the positioning pin and the surface of the engagement part that is engaged with the projection piece become undercut parts when the air-conditioning case is molded using a molding die. Besides, the sectional shape of the leg part has a circular arc shape. Thus, the surface serving as a undercut part cannot be molded using a slide core.

Therefore, the surface serving as a undercut part is molded by a molding die with which to mold the inner surface of the air-conditioning case, and a die release hole is formed at the air-conditioning case. Consequently, the air-conditioned wind leaks to the outside from this die release hole, thus raising issues such as deterioration in air-conditioning performance and generation of wind leaking noise.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present disclosure addresses the above issues. Thus, it is an objective of the present disclosure to prevent a wind leakage from a die release hole.

To achieve the objective, an air-conditioning apparatus in an aspect of the present disclosure includes: an air-conditioning case that includes an air passage through which air-conditioned wind flows and that is molded using a die; and an attachment part that is fixed on an outer surface of the air-conditioning case and includes a plate-shaped projection piece, which projects from a case main body part of the attachment part and includes a positioning hole passing through the projection piece. The air-conditioning case includes: a holding piece that projects from the outer surface to be engaged with the projection piece; and a positioning pin that projects from the outer surface to be inserted in the positioning hole. The holding piece includes: a leg part that projects from the outer surface and is capable of being resiliently deformed; and an engagement part that is bent and extends from an end portion of the leg part and that is engaged with a part of the projection piece on its end side of the positioning hole. When viewed along a projection direction of the projection piece, the leg part is located at a position that does not overlap with the positioning pin.

As a consequence of this aspect, the undercut parts are the surface of the engagement part that is engaged with the projection piece (referred to as an engagement part engagement surface), and the surface of the leg part that is continuous with the engagement part engagement surface. When viewed along the projection direction of the projection piece, the leg part is located at the position that does not overlap with the positioning pin. Thus, the undercut parts can be molded by moving the slide core in the projection direction of the projection piece. Therefore, the die release hole of the air-conditioning case can be eliminated to prevent a wind leakage.

EMBODIMENT FOR CARRYING OUT INVENTION

An embodiment will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As illustrated inFIG. 1, an air-conditioning apparatus that air-conditions a vehicle interior includes a resin air-conditioning case2that is molded using a die. Although only a part of the air-conditioning case2is illustrated inFIG. 1, the air-conditioning case2has a box shape, and in the case2, an air passage through which air-conditioned wind flows is provided, and for example, the components (e.g., evaporator and heater core: not shown) of a refrigeration cycle, and the air outlet door (not shown) that opens or closes an air outlet for air-conditioned wind are accommodated.

A servomotor1serving as an attachment part that drives the air outlet door is fixed on an outer surface21of the air-conditioning case2.

The servomotor1includes a case11made of resin. The case11includes a box-shaped case main body part111and plate-shaped projection pieces112. For example, an electric motor (not shown) is accommodated in the case main body part111. The projection piece112projects from the case main body part111, and includes a circular positioning hole112apassing through the piece112.

As illustrated inFIGS. 1 to 6, positioning pins3that project from the outer surface21to be inserted in the respective positioning holes112a, and holding pieces4that project from the outer surface21to be engaged with the respective projection pieces112are formed at the air-conditioning case2.

The positioning pin3includes a pin proximal part31from a proximal end to an intermediate portion of the positioning pin3, a pin positioning part32that is located on a positioning pin distal end side of the pin proximal part31, and a pin guide part33that is located further on a positioning pin distal end side of the pin positioning part32.

The pin proximal part31includes a proximal part cylindrical portion311having a circular cylinder shape that extends from the proximal end to the intermediate portion of the positioning pin3, and three plate-shaped proximal part plate portions312that project radially outward from the outer peripheral surface of the proximal part cylindrical portion311. The projection piece112is brought into contact with a pin seating surface312a, which is the end surface of the proximal part plate portion312on a positioning pin distal end side.

The pin positioning part32is formed in a circular cylinder shape, and is fitted into the positioning hole112a.

The pin guide part33has a conical shape that becomes narrower toward the positioning pin distal end. The pin guide part33is located at a position that overlaps with an engagement part43(described later) when viewed along a projection piece projection direction B (direction perpendicular to the plane of paper inFIG. 3; also right-left direction on the plane of paper inFIG. 6) which is a projection direction of the projection piece112. When the servomotor1is attached to the air-conditioning case2, the pin guide part33guides the positioning hole112ato the pin positioning part32.

The holding piece4is located at a position that is farther away from the servomotor1than the positioning pin3. In other words, the positioning pin3is located between the holding piece4and the servomotor1.

The holding piece4includes two leg parts41that project from the outer surface21and that can be resiliently deformed, a rib42that projects from each of the leg parts41, and the engagement part43that is bent and extends from the end portion of the leg part41and that is engaged with the part of the projection piece112on a projection piece end side of the positioning hole112a. In other words, the end portions of the two leg parts41are connected together by the engagement part43, and the holding piece4thereby has a gate shape.

The projection direction of the positioning pin3(upper-lower direction on the plane of paper inFIGS. 3 and 5) is referred to as a positioning pin projection direction C. The direction perpendicular both to the projection piece projection direction B and to the positioning pin projection direction C (right-left direction on the plane of paper inFIG. 3) is referred to as an engagement part direction D.

The leg part41is located at a position that is shifted from the positioning pin3in the engagement part direction D. In other words, the leg parts41are arranged at positions that do not overlap with the positioning pin3when viewed along the projection piece projection direction B.

When viewed along the projection piece projection direction B, the rib42projects from a leg part first surface411of the surfaces of the leg part41that is located on its opposite side from the positioning pin3.

The engagement part43is inclined relative to the positioning pin projection direction C. Thus, a guide surface431of the engagement part43on the positioning pin3-side is also inclined relative to the positioning pin projection direction C. More specifically, the guide surface431is inclined to gradually approach the positioning pin3along a motor attachment direction E (downward direction on the plane of paper inFIG. 6) which is an attachment direction when the servomotor1is attached to the air-conditioning case2. When the servomotor1is attached to the air-conditioning case2, the end of the projection piece112slides on the guide surface431.

An engagement surface432which is an end surface of the engagement part43in the motor attachment direction E is engaged with the part of the projection piece112on its end side of the positioning hole112a. The engagement surface432is opposed to one of the three pin seating surfaces312a.

Molding of the air-conditioning case2will be described below.

As illustrated inFIGS. 6 to 8, a molding die5of the air-conditioning case2includes an upper die51and a slide core52that mold the outer surface21-side, and furthermore a lower die (not shown) that molds an inner surface22-side of the air-conditioning case2.

The undercut parts are the proximal part plate portion312of the three plate-shaped proximal part plate portions312that includes the pin seating surface312aopposed to the engagement surface432, a leg part second surface412of the leg part41that is located on its opposite side from the rib42, a leg part third surface413of the leg part41that is located on its opposite side from the positioning pin3, an engagement part reverse surface433of the engagement part43that is located on its opposite side from the guide surface431, and the engagement surface432.

These undercut parts are formed by the slide core52. Specifically, when viewed along the projection piece projection direction B, the leg part41is located at a position that does not overlap with the positioning pin3. Thus, the undercut parts can be molded by moving the slide core52in the projection piece projection direction B. Consequently, a die release hole of the air-conditioning case2can be eliminated.

After molding the air-conditioning case2, the slide core52is moved along a core die release direction F (leftward on the plane of paper inFIG. 6as well as downward on the plane of paper inFIG. 8) which is a die release direction of the slide core52. The core die release direction F is parallel to the projection piece projection direction B.

Those of the surfaces of the leg part41which exclude the leg part second surface412and the leg part third surface413are molded by the upper die51. After molding the air-conditioning case2, the upper die51is moved along an upper die release direction G (upward on the plane of paper inFIG. 6) which is a die release direction of the upper die51. The upper die release direction G is parallel to the positioning pin projection direction C.

After molding the air-conditioning case2, firstly from among the upper die51and the slide core52, the slide core52is moved along the core die release direction F. In this case, the holding piece4is pulled in the core die release direction F to be deformed due to the adhesion of the contact part between the slide core52and the holding piece4. However, since the ribs42are being held by the upper die51, the deformation of the holding piece4is prevented.

The attachment of the servomotor1to the air-conditioning case2will be described below.

The pin guide part33is first inserted into the positioning hole112aof the projection piece112, and the servomotor1is moved to fit the pin positioning part32into the positioning hole112a. In this case, the servomotor1can be guided by pin guide part33having a conical shape to smoothly move to a predetermined position.

At the time of insertion of the pin guide part33into the positioning hole112a, the end of the projection piece112is in contact with the guide surface431. When the servomotor1is moved further from this state, the servomotor1proceeds with the end of the projection piece112sliding on the inclined guide surface431and the projection piece112pushing the engagement part43to resiliently deform the leg parts41(i.e., to bend the holding piece4).

When the servomotor1is moved to a position where the projection piece112is brought into contact with the pin seating surface312aas illustrated inFIG. 6, the leg part41recovers to its original shape by restoring force (i.e., deflection of the holding piece4is removed), and the projection piece112is engaged with the engagement surface432. This completes the attachment of the servomotor1to the air-conditioning case2.

In the present embodiment, the undercut part is molded by the slide core52as described above, and thus the die release hole of the air-conditioning case2can be eliminated to prevent a wind leakage.

The slide core52is die-released with the ribs42being held by the upper die51, and thus the deformation of the holding piece4at the time of the die-release of the slide core52can be prevented.

By inclining the guide surface431, the end of the projection piece112is in contact with the guide surface431at the time of the attachment of the servomotor1to the air-conditioning case2. Thus, the attachability improves without shoulders at the time of the attachment.

Since the pin guide part33having a conical shape is provided, the servomotor1can smoothly be guided to the position where the pin positioning part32is fitted into the positioning hole112a.

In the above embodiment, the end portions of the two leg parts41are connected together by the engagement part43. Alternatively, the engagement part43may be divided at its middle portion. In other words, the end portions of the two leg parts41do not need to be connected together.

In the above embodiment, the holding piece4includes the two leg parts41, but there may be a single leg part41.

The present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiment and can be modified appropriately within the scope recited in CLAIMS. Modifications to the above embodiment will be described below.

Needless to say, in the above embodiment, the components constituting the embodiment are not necessarily essential except in the case where they are clearly specified as particularly essential or considered to be obviously essential in principle, for example.

In the above embodiment, if the numerical values of the number of components, the numerical values, the amounts, the ranges or the like of the embodiment are mentioned, they are not limited to particular numbers except in the case where they are clearly specified as particularly essential or are obviously limited to the particular numbers in principle, for example.

In the above embodiment, when, for example, the shapes, the positional relationships of the components or the like are mentioned, they are not limited to these particular shapes, positional relationships or the like except in the case where they are particularly specified clearly or are limited to the particular shapes, positional relationships or the like in principle, for example.