Abstract:
A motor vehicle has lower and upper air duct sections ( 4, 8 ) arranged within the motor vehicle in series in a throughflow direction, with a vent for conveying and discharging air for air conditioning the vehicle interior space. The lower air duct section ( 4 ) is arranged in the region of an inner floor of the vehicle and is fixed to the bodyshell. The upper air duct section ( 8 ) is part of a lining ( 9 ) for the B pillar ( 2 ).

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority under 35 USC 119 to German Patent Application No. 10 2008 024430.9 filed on May 20, 2008, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a motor vehicle having air duct sections arranged in the motor vehicle and arranged in series in a throughflow direction. A vent for conveys and discharges air for air conditioning the vehicle interior space. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     EP 1 522 437 A1 discloses a vehicle with an air supply device arranged in a region of a roof lining of the motor vehicle, such as a utility vehicle. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a structurally simple easy to assemble arrangement of air duct sections in the region of a B pillar of the motor vehicle. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a motor vehicle that has a lower and upper air duct sections. The lower air duct section is arranged in the region of an inner floor of the vehicle and is fixed to the bodyshell. The upper air duct section is at the B pillar of the vehicle and is a part of a lining for the B pillar of the vehicle. 
     Therefore, the air duct of the motor vehicle is divided in the region of the B pillar. The division permits a particularly simple assembly of the air duct sections and of the lining of the B pillar, because the lining for the B pillar is part of the upper air duct section. 
     The lower air duct section preferably extends into a region of the bodyshell of the B pillar above the level of a door sill strip of the driver-side or passenger-side door of the vehicle. The lower air duct section is formed to be fixed to the bodyshell up to a point above the division between the B pillar lining and the door sill strip, and preferably up to a point a short distance above the division. The remainder of the duct up to the vent is defined by the upper air duct section and forms a part of the B pillar lining. Thus, a leakage-free connection of the air duct sections is obtained in a simple manner. 
     The vent may be formed as a separate component that is connected to the free end of the upper air duct section, and may be plugged onto the upper air duct section. 
     The assembly of the B pillar lining preferably takes place so that the lining initially is plugged under a molded roof lining of the vehicle and subsequently is pivoted down onto the bodyshell and connected there, in particular by a clip connection. A receptacle for plugging in the lining preferably is formed at a transition region to the molded roof lining for pivotably holding the lining in the region of the molded roof lining. A component preferably is fixed to the bodyshell of the B pillar for pivotably holding the lining in the region of the upper end of the bodyshell. 
     A region near the lower end of the lining preferably is connected to the bodyshell. The connection preferably takes place in the region of the bodyshell of the B pillar or to the adjoining lower inner lining. A region near the lower end of the lining also may be connected to the bodyshell of the vehicle in the region of the vehicle base or to the lower air duct section. 
     A region of the lower air duct section near the end that faces toward the upper air duct section preferably is aligned up and is arranged within a lower region of the upper air duct section to provide a particularly simple overlapped structural connection of the air duct sections. Thus, the upper air duct section can be mounted in an extremely simple manner by pivoting so that the lower end region of the upper air duct engages around the lower air duct. Leakage-free division of the air duct by means of the two air duct sections is ensured in this way. 
     One preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained on the basis of the following drawing and the description thereof. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of a passenger motor vehicle, in the region of the B pillar, with the lining shown in different positions to show the assembly of the upper air duct section. 
         FIG. 2  is an elevational view of a region of the B pillar of the motor vehicle as viewed from the vehicle interior space. 
         FIG. 3  is a three-dimensional view of the end regions of the two air duct sections. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     A passenger motor vehicle in accordance with the invention has a B pillar denoted generally by the numeral  2  in  FIG. 1 . The B pillar  2  has a bodyshell  1 . The passenger motor vehicle also has a molded roof lining denoted by the reference numeral  3 . The vehicle also has an air duct section  4  with an end that is connected fixedly to the bodyshell  1  of the B pillar  2 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . More particularly, the air duct section  4  has a horizontal region that is mounted in the base, a curved region  5  that adjoins the horizontal region, and a straight, substantially vertical region  6  that adjoins the upper end of the curved region  5 . The straight region  6  of the lower air duct section  4  has a rectangular cross section with an inner panel  6   i , an outer panel  6   o  and side panels  6   s   1 ,  6   s   2 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . The straight region  6  of the lower air duct section  4  is formed with an upper end  7 , as defined by upper ends of the outer panel  6   o  and the side panels  6   s   1 ,  6   s   2 . However, the straight region  6  of the lower air duct section  4  has a cutout  15  so that the upper end  16  of the inner panel  8   i  is lower than the upper end  7  of the lower air duct section  4 , as defined by the outer panel  6   o  and the side panels  6   s   1 ,  6   s   2 . The straight region  6  may be connected fixedly to the bodyshell  1  of the B pillar  2 . 
     The vehicle also has an upper air duct section  8  that is arranged in the bodyshell  1  of the B pillar  2 . A pillar lining  9  is attached to the upper air duct section  8  and faces into the vehicle interior space. The pillar lining  9  is shown in  FIG. 1  by solid lines in its assembled position and by dashed lines in an intermediate assembly position. The upper air duct section  8  has a lower end  10  that extends to a point below the level of the upper end  7  of the lower air duct section  4 . The lining  9  has a lower end  11  closer to the base of the vehicle than the lower end  10  of the upper air duct section  8 , and is therefore arranged at a lower level than the lower end  10  of the upper air duct section  8 .  FIG. 3  shows the design of the lower end  10  of the upper air duct section  8  in the intermediate assembly position, with the assembly direction being indicated by the arrow  12 . 
     The upper air duct section  8  is mounted in the region of the bodyshell  1  of the B pillar  2  by inserting the upper end of the pillar lining  9  into a receptacle  13  in the transition region to a molded roof lining  3  adjacent to the B pillar  2 . The lower part of the upper air duct section  8  initially is spaced from the B pillar  2  in the intermediate position illustrated by dashed lines in  FIG. 1 . The lower part of the upper air duct section  8  then is pivoted in the direction of the arrow  14  onto the bodyshell  1  of the lower part of the B pillar  2  and into the assembled position shown by solid lines in  FIG. 1 . The pillar lining  9  is clipped to the bodyshell  1  in the assembled position by clip connectors  20 . Thus, the top end of upper air duct section  8  is held securely by the engagement of the upper end of the pillar lining  9  in the receptacle  13  adjacent the molded roof lining  3  and the lower end of the upper air duct section  8  is held securely by the clip connection to the bodyshell  1 . 
     The upper air duct section  8  has a rectangular cross section that substantially matches the rectangular cross section of the lower air duct section  4  in size and shape, as shown in  FIG. 3 . The regions of the upper air duct section  8  near the lower end have an inner panel  8   i , an outer panel  8   o  and side panels  8   s   1 ,  8   s   2 . Thus, regions of the lower end  10  of the upper air duct section  8  overlap with regions of the upper end  7  of the lower air duct section  4  when the lower end  10  of the upper air duct section  8  is pushed laterally toward the B pillar  2 . This overlap is obtained by means of the cutout  15  at the upper end of the inner panel  6   i  of the lower air duct section  4  so that, when the lower and upper air duct sections  4  and  8  are assembled, the lower edges  16  of the upper air duct section  8  are arranged at approximately the same level as the upper end  16  of the inner panel  6   i  of the lower air duct section  4 , with the lower end  10  of the upper air duct section  8  being aligned with areas of the side panels  6   s   1 ,  6   s   2  and the outer panel  6   o  above the inner panel  6   i  of the lower air duct section  4 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
       FIG. 2  shows the pillar lining  9  with a vent  17  being plugged onto the upper end of the upper air duct section  8 . The dashed line  18  in  FIG. 2  shows the level of the lower parting point between the two air duct sections  4  and  8 , as defined by the lower end  10  of the upper air duct section  8 . The pillar lining  9  therefore extends down a considerable distance below the level  18  to a lower lining  19  that covers the lower region of the bodyshell  1  of the B pillar  2  and the adjacent door sill region of the vehicle. The level  18  shows that the lower air duct section  4  extends into a region of the bodyshell  1  of the B pillar  2  above the level of the horizontal sill strip of a driver-side or passenger-side door of the vehicle that delimits the door opening at the bottom.