Abstract:
An air vent for a vehicle is provided. In particular, a diffusion air vent for a vehicle discharges air in a concentrated and diffused manner by controlling a discharge direction of the air. The air vent concentratedly and diffusedly discharges air by an air discharge mode change mechanism based on a dial rotation operation. Further, a damper is configured to be opened or closed based on the dial rotation operation to permit and interrupt air discharge.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2015-0176217 filed on Dec. 10, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    (a) Technical Field 
         [0003]    The present disclosure relates to an air vent for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a diffusion air vent for a vehicle capable of discharging air in a concentrated and diffused manner by adjusting a discharge direction of the air. 
         [0004]    (b) Background Art 
         [0005]    Recently, a cluster and an audio, video, navigation (AVN) apparatus disposed within an inner of a vehicle have increased in size and a mounting position of an air vent through which air generated by an operation of an air conditioner and a heater is discharged has generally been disposed on a lower area of a center-facia panel. Accordingly, cooling or heating air discharged through the air vent is not uniformly distributed throughout the inner of the vehicle. 
         [0006]    For example, when the air vent is positioned under a position of a driver&#39;s hand holding a steering wheel, the heated air is not directly discharged toward the driver&#39;s hand during the colder weather. As a result, a driver&#39;s hand may be subject to insufficient heating and a freezing problem may occur. Further, when the air discharged through the air vent is discharged straight and thus directly contacts a driver&#39;s and passenger&#39;s skin, xeroderma may occur. Therefore, a diffusion function of air discharged through the air vent, in other words, a diffusion function that uniformly spreads air over the inner of the vehicle, is required. 
         [0007]    The above information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0008]    The present invention provides an air vent for a vehicle capable of concentratedly discharging (e.g., linearly discharging) air and diffusedly discharging air by an air discharge mode change mechanism. The air discharge may be based on a dial rotation operation and may permit and block an air discharge that may be configured to perform an open and close operation mechanism of a damper based on the dial rotation operation. 
         [0009]    Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention provides an air vent for a vehicle. that may include a dial rotatably mounted at a first side of a front surface of an air vent housing, a rod hinge-connected to a rear surface of the dial and an outer rack plate having a front side of an inner surface provided with a first outer rack, a rear side of the inner surface provided with a second outer rack, and an outer surface hinge-connected to a rear end of the rod. 
         [0010]    The outer surface may be configured to move forward and backward by the rod based upon a rotation of the dial. A power transmission gear member may be configured to move an inner spacer forward and backward while being rotated when the outer rack plate is configured to move forward and backward. An inner spacer may be coupled to the power transmission gear member and may be configured to be moved forward and backward. 
         [0011]    A diffuser fan may have a first side end provided with a hinge pin hinge-connected to the inner spacer and a guide pin that extends at a position of a rear side of the hinge pin. An outer spacer may have a hollow structure provided with a guide aperture that may be configured to guide a linear movement and a diagonal movement of the guide pin and may be disposed at an outer of the inner spacer. A damper gear may be configured to engage with the second outer rack. A damper have a first side end coupled to a central shaft of the damper gear and a second side end hinge-connected to an inner wall of the air vent housing. 
         [0012]    According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the power transmission gear member may include a diffuser gear that may engage with the first outer rack. A diffuser shaft have a first side end fixed to a central shaft of the diffuser gear and an inner gear may be fixed to a second side end of the diffuser shaft. An inner rack may be configured to engage with the inner gear to move forward and backward. Furthermore, according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, both side surfaces of the inner rack may be integrally provided with inner spacer that may connect the bodies provided with slots and a rear surface of the inner spacer may be integrally formed with a fastening rod hinge-connected to the slots. 
         [0013]    Furthermore, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the inner spacer may include a square ring shaped outer case. A partitioning bar integrally formed on an inner surface of the outer case while partitioning an inner space of the outer case into several portions and a fastening rod that may extend backward from a portion and inner side ends of each of the partitioning bars is integrally connected to be coupled to the inner rack. The outer case of the inner spacer and the fastening rod may include hinge apertures that fasten the hinge pins of the diffuser fan. 
         [0014]    Additionally, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the guide aperture may be formed along a longitudinal direction of the outer spacer and a back section of the guide aperture may be formed as a straight section and a front section thereof may be formed as a diagonal section. In some exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the outer rack plate may include a slide aperture that penetrates therethrough and the slide aperture may have an outer rack cover coupled to a side surface of the air vent housing that may be configured to be slidably and movably inserted thereinto. 
         [0015]    In other exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a wind angle of the outer spacer may be configured to be adjusted laterally. For example, each of upper and lower horizontal rotating bars may be hinge-connected between upper portions of front sides of a pair of outer spacers and between lower portions of the front sides thereof. The upper and lower horizontal rotating bars may be connected to each other by a vertical rotating bar, and the vertical rotating bar may be connected to a knob mounted on the front surface of the air vent housing that may be configured to transfer an operating force. 
         [0016]    By the above configuration, the present invention has the following effects. The present invention may provide the function of concentratedly discharging (e.g., straight discharging) air and the function of diffusedly discharging air. The air discharge mode change mechanism may be based on the dial rotation operation and may be configured to open and close an air discharge mechanism of the damper based on the dial rotation operation to control the concentration and diffusion of the wind directions, thereby improving the quality of the air conditioner. Further, the user may selectively control the concentration and diffusion wind directions to maintain the desired the inner air. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]    The above and other features of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof illustrated the accompanying drawings which are given hereinbelow by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein: 
           [0018]      FIG. 1  is an exemplary perspective view illustrating an appearance of an air vent for a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 2  is an exemplary cross-sectional view illustrating internal components of the air vent for a vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 3  is an exemplary perspective view illustrating an assembled state of the internal components of the air vent for a vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIGS. 4 and 5  are exemplary perspective views illustrating a connection relationship between the internal components of the air vent for a vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 6  is an exemplary perspective view illustrating a connection relationship between an inner spacer and a diffuser fan among the components of the air vent for a vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0023]      FIGS. 7A-7D  are exemplary diagrams illustrating that an angle of the diffuser fan may be adjusted when the inner spacer among the components of the air vent for a vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention moves forward and backward; 
           [0024]      FIGS. 8A to 8C  are exemplary side cross-sectional views illustrating an opening and closing operation state of a damper of the air vent for a vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0025]      FIGS. 9A to 9C  are exemplary front views illustrating an air discharge mode of the air vent for a vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
       [0026]    It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various exemplary features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment. In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0027]    Hereinafter reference will now be made in detail to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that present description is not intended to limit the invention to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other exemplary embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 
         [0028]    The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. For example, in order to make the description of the present invention clear, unrelated parts are not shown and, the thicknesses of layers and regions are exaggerated for clarity. Further, when it is stated that a layer is “on” another layer or substrate, the layer may be directly on another layer or substrate or a third layer may be disposed therebetween. 
         [0029]    It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similar term as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such as passenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses, trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety of boats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and includes hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g. fuels derived from resources other than petroleum). As referred to herein, a hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that has two or more sources of power, for example both gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles. 
         [0030]      FIG. 1  is an exemplary perspective view illustrating an appearance of an air vent for a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  FIGS. 2 to 5  are exemplary diagrams illustrating internal components of the air vent for a vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in which reference numeral  10  represents an air vent housing. 
         [0031]    In particular, front portion of the air vent housing  10  may be configured to be vertically rotated and may include a plurality of air guide member that may be configured to guide a discharge direction of air up and down. One of the air guide member  11  may be include a knob  14  that may be configured to rotate an angle of the air grill  11 . Further, at a first side of the front portion of the air vent housing  10 , a dial  12  may be configured to rotatably control a concentration mode or a diffusion mode of an air discharge mode. 
         [0032]    A rear end portion of the dial  12  may be hinge-connected with a front end portion of a rod  13  and may have a predetermined length. The rod  13  may be configured to move horizontally (e.g., forward and backward) based on a rotation angle of the dial  12 . In particular, the rear end portion of the rod  13  may be hinge-connected with an outer surface of an outer rack plate  20 . The outer rack plate  20  may be an input element that may be configured to open and close a damper to adjust an air discharge mode to a concentration mode or a diffusion mode. For example, the outer rack plate  20  may have a structure with a front side of an inner side thereof that may include a first outer rack  21 , a rear side of the inner surface thereof may include a second outer rack  22 , and a slide aperture  23  may penetrate above an upper portion of the first outer rack  21 . 
         [0033]    The outer rack plate  20  may be configured to linearly move forward or backward by forward and backward forces of the rod  13 . In particular, the rod  13  may be configured to move horizontally based on the rotation of the dial  12 . For example, to constantly maintain a linear motion trajectory of the outer rack plate  20 , the slide aperture  23  of the outer rack plate  20  may have an outer rack cover  24  assembled on a side surface of the air vent housing  10  that may be configured to be slidably and movably inserted thereinto. When the outer rack plate  20  moves forward or backward by the forward and backward forces of the rod  13 , an inner spacer  40  may be configured to move horizontally by a power transmission gear member. 
         [0034]    The power transmission gear member may be configured to provide a linear moving force to the inner spacer  40  while being rotated by the linear movement of the outer rack plate  20 . Further, the power transmission gear member may include a diffuser gear  25  that may be configured to engage the first outer rack  21 , a diffuser shaft  26  with a first side end fixed to a central shaft of the diffuser gear  25 , an inner gear  27  fixed to a second side end of the diffuser shaft  26 , and an inner rack  30  that may engage with the inner gear  27  to move forward and backward. In particular, the first outer rack  21  of the outer rack plate  20  may engage with the diffuser gear  25 . The central shaft of the diffuser gear  25  may be connected to a first end portion of the diffuser shaft  26 , and the inner gear  27  may be mounted at a second end portion of the diffuser shaft  26 . 
         [0035]    Accordingly, when the outer rack plate  20  is moved forward and backward, the diffuser gear  25  may engage with the first outer rack  21 , and the diffuser shaft  26  may be connected to the diffuser gear  25 . The inner gear  27  mounted at the second end portion of the diffuser shaft  26  may be configured to rotate about an angle simultaneously. In other words, the inner gear  27  may engage with the inner rack  30  to move forward. 
         [0036]    Further, both side surfaces of the inner rack  30  may be integrally formed with inner spacer connecting bodies  32 . The inner spacer connecting bodies  32  may include slots  31  that extend therethrough to be fastened with a fastening rod  43  of the inner spacer  40  by a hinge. The inner spacer  40  may include a square ring shaped outer case  41  that air passes through, a partitioning bar  42  that may be integrally formed on an inner surface of the outer case  41  to partition an internal space of the outer case  41  into a plurality of spaces to guide a flow of air, and the fastening rod  43  may extend backward from a portion where inner side ends of each of the partitioning bars  42  may be integrally connected. 
         [0037]    In particular, a rear end portion of the fastening rod  43  may be hinge-connected to the slots  31  of the inner spacer connecting bodies  32  integrally formed on both side surfaces of the inner rack  30 . Accordingly, the inner rack  30  may be configured to move forward or backward by an angle rotation force of the inner gear  27 . The fastening rod  43  of the inner spacer  40  may be hinge-connected to the slots  31  of the inner spacer connecting bodies  32  integrally formed with the inner rack  30 . Accordingly, as a result the inner spacer  40  may also moved forward or backward along with the inner rack  30 . 
         [0038]    Furthermore, a diffuser fan  50  may be configured to adjust the air discharge mode to the concentration mode or the diffusion mode and may be hinge-connected between the outer case  41  of the inner spacer  40  and the fastening rod  43 . For example, as illustrated in  FIG. 6 , a front end portion of the diffuser fan  50  may include a hinge pin  51  and the outer case  41  and the fastening rod  43  may include hinge apertures  44  to hinge-connect both ends of the hinge pin  51 . 
         [0039]    Further, as illustrated in  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 5 , a guide pin  52  may integrally protrude at a first side surface of the diffuser fan  50 . In other words, a position of a rear side of the hinge pin  51  and the guide pin  52  may be inserted into an outer spacer  60  and may be configured to move linearly and diagonally. The outer spacer  60  may have a hollow structure provided with a guide aperture  61  that may be configured to guide the linear movement and the diagonal movement of the guide pin  52 . The outer spacers may be disposed to be spaced from each other and may enclose the outer of the inner spacer  40 . 
         [0040]    The guide aperture  61  may extend along a longitudinal direction of the outer spacer  60  and a back section of the guide aperture  61  may be formed in a linear section. A front section thereof may be formed in a diagonal section. Accordingly, when the guide pin  52  of the diffuser fan  50  is positioned in the linear section of the rear side of the guide aperture  61  of the outer spacer  60 , as illustrated in  FIGS. 7A-7B , the diffuser fans  50  may be arranged linearly in forward and backward directions. When the position of the guide pin  52  of the diffuser fan  50  is moved to the diagonal section of the front side of the guide aperture  61  of the outer spacer  60 , as illustrated in  FIGS. 7C-7D , the diffuser fans  50  may be arranged diagonally and may be configured to be rotated about a predetermined angle. 
         [0041]    Further, the outer spacer  60  may be mounted with upper and lower horizontal rotating bars  62  and  63  and a vertical rotating bar  64  that may be connected to the knob  14 , that may be used to adjust the discharge direction of air, that is, a wind angle laterally. In particular, when a pair of outer spacers  60  are arranged in parallel, the upper horizontal rotating bar  62  may be hinge-connected between upper end portions of the front sides of each of the outer spacers  60  and the lower horizontal rotating bar  63  may be hinge-connected between lower end portions of the front sides of each of the outer spacers  60 . A vertical rotating bar  64  may connect between central portions of the upper and lower vertical rotating bars  62  and  63 . The rear end portion of the knob  14  mounted in the air grill  11  on the front surface of the air vent housing  10  may be connected to the vertical rotating bar  64  and may be configured to transfer the angle rotation force. 
         [0042]    Moreover, the second outer rack  22  formed on the outer rack plate  20  may engage a damper gear  71  that may be configured to open and close the damper to permit or interrupt the discharge of air. Further, a first side end of the damper  70  may be fastened with a central shaft of the damper gear  71  and a second side end of the damper  70  may be hinge-connected to an inner wall of the air vent housing  10 . Accordingly, when the outer rack plate  20  is moves forward or backward, the damper gear  71  may be configured to rotate about the angle in a direction in which the damper is closed or opened and an opening angle of the damper  70  connected to the damper gear  71  may be adjusted to change a discharge amount of air. 
         [0043]    For example, an operation flow of the air vent for a vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described below. The dial  12  may be rotated in one direction, and the rod  13  may be configured to move backward based on the rotation angle of the dial  12  and at the same time the outer rack plate  20  hinge-connected to the rear end portion of the rod  13  may move backward. 
         [0044]    Further, as illustrated in  FIGS. 8A and 9A , when the outer rack plate  20  moves backward, the damper gear  71  may be configured to rotate about an angle in the damper closing direction and thus the damper  70  connected to the damper gear  71  is in a closed state, and the discharge of air for cooling and heating may be interrupted. Conversely, the dial  12  may be configured to be rotated by about 60° in an opposite direction based on the first direction (0°), the rod  13  may move forward based on the rotation angle of the dial  12  and at the same time the outer rack plate  20  hinge-connected to the rear end portion of the rod  13  may move forward (for example, about 11 mm). 
         [0045]    As illustrated in  FIGS. 8B and 9B , when the outer rack plate  20  moves forward, the damper gear  71  may be configured to perform the angle rotation in the damper opening direction. The discharge of air for cooling and heating may be permitted when the damper  70  connected to the damper gear  71  is in a completely opened state. Further, when the outer rack plate  20  moves forward, the diffuser gear  25  may engage with the first outer rack  21 . The diffuser shaft  26  connected to the diffuser gear  25 , and the inner gear  27  mounted at a second end portion of the diffuser shaft  26  may be configured to perform the angle rotation in the same direction and the inner gear  27  may be configured to transfer the rotation force to the inner rack  30  in the forward direction. 
         [0046]    Accordingly, the inner rack  30  may be configured to move forward, the inner spacer connecting bodies  32  integrated with the inner rack  30  may move forward, and the inner spacer  40  connected to the slots  31  of the inner spacer connecting bodies  32  by the fastening rod  43  may also move forward. In other words, even though the inner spacer  40  may also move forward, the diffuser fans  50  may be arranged linearly in the forward and backward directions. 
         [0047]    As illustrated in  FIG. 8A , the guide pin  52  of the diffuser fan  50  maintains the insertion position within the linear section in the section of the guide aperture  61  of the outer spacer  60 . Therefore, the air discharge mode may adjust the concentration mode that discharges air by the diffuser fan  50  without resistance. Accordingly, the air may be discharged to the inner of the vehicle while having the straight flow, based on the concentration mode. For example, when a user performs an operation to rotate the dial  12  by about 60° in an opposite direction based on one direction (0°), and then rotates the dial 12 by about 10° more in the opposite direction, that is, rotates the dial  12  by about 70° in the opposite direction based on one direction (0°), the outer rack plate  20  may move (about 3 mm) a greater amount in the forward direction. 
         [0048]    Simultaneously, when the outer rack plate  20  moves a greater amount in the forward direction, the diffuser gear  25  may engage with the first outer rack  21 . The diffuser shaft  26  may be connected to the diffuser gear  25 . The inner gear  27  may be mounted at the other end portion of the diffuser shaft  26  and may be configured to perform a greater amount of angle rotation in the same direction and the inner gear  27  may be configured to transfer a greater amount of rotational force to the inner rack  30  in the forward direction. Accordingly, the inner rack  30  may be configured to move forward, the inner space connecting bodies  32  integrated with the inner rack  30  may move a greater amount in the forward direction. The inner spacer  40  connected to the slots  31  of the inner spacer connecting bodies  32  by the fastening rod  43  may move a greater amount more in the forward direction. 
         [0049]    Further, when diffuser fans  50  are arranged diagonally, the inner spacer  40  may move a greater amount in the forward direction. As illustrated in  FIG. 8B , the guide pin  52  of the diffuser fan  50  enters the diagonal section in the section of the guide aperture  61  of the outer spacer  60 . In particular, as illustrated in  FIG. 8C , as the outer rack plate  20  moves a greater amount in the forward direction the damper  70  may be arranged diagonally. The wind velocity for the diffusion discharge of air while permitting the discharge of air may be reduced. 
         [0050]    Therefore, as illustrated in  FIG. 9C , the diffuser fan  50  may be configured to diffuse the discharge of air while being arranged diagonally. Accordingly, the diffusion mode may be performed when air for cooling and heating is discharged while being widely spread over the inner of the vehicle. Meanwhile, the angle rotation in the vertical direction of the air grill  11  by an operation of the knob  14  vertically controls the air discharge direction, and laterally controls the air discharge direction by adjusting the lateral wind angle mounted in the outer spacer  60 . 
         [0051]    In particular, when the knob  14  mounted on the front surface of the air vent housing is operated left or right, the operating force may be configured to be transferred to the vertical rotating bar  64  connected to the rear end portion of the knob  14 . As a result, the upper and lower horizontal rotating bars  62  and  63  may be configured to move to the left side or the right side. Namely, the left or right moving force of the upper and lower horizontal rotating bars  62  and  63  may be transferred to the outer spacer  60 , and as a result, the outer spacer  60  may be configured to rotate the angle in the left or right direction. 
         [0052]    Simultaneously, the inner spacer  40  positioned within the outer spacer  60  may perform the angle rotation left or right based on a hinge connecting point (e.g., point hinge-connected to the slots  31 ) of the fastening rod  43 . Accordingly, the discharge direction of air that passes through the internal space may be configured to be controlled left or right. As described above, the air discharge mode of the air conditioner may be configured to selectively adjust to the concentration mode, the diffusion mode, or the like. The discharge direction of air may be adjusted vertically or horizontally, thereby maintaining the inner air of the vehicle based on user preferences. 
         [0053]    The invention has been described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments as mentioned above and that changes may be made in these exemplary embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.