Abstract:
Rear console duct air flow of an air conditioner for a vehicle is provided. An inlet of the rear console duct which is in fluid communication with a rear console register is located at a position where conditioned-air which passes through an evaporator and a heater core flows. The inlet of the rear console is always opened such that the conditioned-air is always introduced into the rear console duct when the air conditioner is operated. A guide member, which guides the conditioned-air to the rear console register through the rear console duct, is disposed between the rear console duct inlet and a face duct inlet that is in fluid communication with a face register. An end of a face door selectively contacts the guide member selectively contacts the guide member when the face door makes a turning movement.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Applications Nos. 10-2013-0002181, filed on Jan. 8, 2013 and 10-2013-0050874, filed on May 6, 2013, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an air conditioner for a vehicle, and more particularly, to an air conditioner for a vehicle that is capable of reducing manufacturing cost and improving an air conditioning efficiency of the entire interior of the vehicle. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In general, air conditioners for vehicles are devices that perform heating and air conditioning on an interior of a vehicle by heating or cooling air introduced from the outside and by blowing air into the interior of the vehicle, wherein cold air cooled by an evaporator or hot air heated by a heater core is supplied to each usage source through a face vent, a defrost vent and a floor vent formed in an air conditioning case and doors that are mounted in the air conditioning case so as to make a turning movement and adjust a degree of openness are provided in the vents. 
     As an example of air conditioners for vehicles, Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-0102786 discloses an air conditioner for a vehicle that includes an air conditioning case, an evaporator and a heater core, an air mixing door, a door that opens/closes the rear of the heater core, an air mixing chamber in which air that respectively passes through the evaporator and the heater core is mixed, and a rear console duct having an inlet terminal directed toward the air mixing chamber and for guiding air to be supplied to rear seats, wherein a rear console door for selectively opening/closing the rear console duct is installed at an inlet of the rear console duct. 
     However, the above-described air conditioner for the vehicle according to the related art has a structure in which an additional rear console door and a dedicated actuator for driving the rear console door are provided and air is discharged toward the rear console duct through the rear console door and the actuator. Thus, due to an increase in manufacturing cost caused by an increase in the number of components, the above-described air conditioner for the vehicle according to the related art is economically infeasible, and the structure of the above-described air conditioner for the vehicle according to the related art is complicated, which is not productive. 
     In addition, the above-described air conditioner for the vehicle according to the related art has a structure in which air is mainly discharged toward front seats of the interior of the vehicle such that an air conditioning efficiency of the entire interior of the vehicle is not good. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides an air conditioner for a vehicle that is capable of reducing manufacturing cost to improve economical feasibility, simplifying a structure to improve productivity and improving an air conditioning efficiency of the entire interior of the vehicle. 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner for a vehicle, including: an air conditioning case including a rear console vent through which introduced air is discharged toward a rear console, a defrost vent through which air is discharged toward a front window, a face vent through which air is discharged in a direction of a front passenger, and a foot vent through which air is discharged in a foot direction of front and rear seats; a door unit including a defrost door, a face door, and a foot door that are rotatably disposed in the air conditioning case and adjust a degree of openness of each of the defrost vent, the face vent, and the foot vent; and a door driving unit that individually drives and controls the defrost door, the face door, and the foot door and establishes an air conditioning mode, wherein an inlet of a rear console duct that interacts with the rear console vent is opened in normal times in each air conditioning mode so that air is able to be always discharged. 
     The inlet of the rear console duct may be placed between a face duct inlet that interacts with the face vent and a foot duct inlet that interacts with the foot vent. 
     The air conditioner for the vehicle may further include a controller that controls the door driving unit to close all of the defrost door, the face door, and the foot door so that a rear console dedicated mode in which air is discharged only toward the rear console vent, is able to be established. 
     The air conditioning case may further include a guide member that guides air to the rear console vent. 
     The guide member may be disposed between the rear console duct inlet that interacts with the rear console vent and the face duct inlet that interacts with the face vent, and the face door may be configured in such a way that, when the face door makes a turning movement, a turning end of the face door selectively contacts the guide member. 
     The guide member may include a contact protrusion that protrudes from the guide member and is provided at one side contacting the face door so as to maintain an airtight state with the face door and to restrict the turning movement of the face door. 
     The air conditioning case may further include a guide protrusion that is provided at the rear console duct inlet facing the guide member and guides air to the rear console vent. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view illustrating an internal structure of an air conditioner for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating control flow of a controller illustrated in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view illustrating a guide member illustrated in  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view illustrating air flow in a rear console dedicated mode of the air conditioner for the vehicle of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. 
       FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view illustrating an internal structure of an air conditioner for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention,  FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating control flow of a controller illustrated in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view illustrating a guide member illustrated in  FIG. 1 , and  FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view illustrating air flow in a rear console dedicated mode of the air conditioner for the vehicle of  FIG. 1 . 
     First, referring to  FIG. 1 , an air conditioner for a vehicle  500  according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an air conditioning case  100 , a door unit  200 , and a door driving unit  300 . 
     The air conditioning case  100  has a structure in which air introduced through an inlet is discharged toward each usage source of the vehicle, and includes a defrost vent  120  that discharges air toward front windows of the vehicle, a face vent  130  that discharges air toward upper parts of front seats of the vehicle, a front foot vent  141  that discharges air toward the bottom of the front seats of the vehicle, a rear foot vent  142  that discharges air toward the bottom of rear seats of the vehicle, and a rear console vent  110  that discharges air toward upper parts of the rear seats of the vehicle. Here, the air conditioning case  100  includes a rear console duct  112  that guides air to the rear console vent  110 , a face duct  132  that guides air to the face vent  130 , and a foot duct  140  that guides air to the front foot vent  141  and the rear foot vent  142 . 
     Meanwhile, an evaporator  10  and a heater core  20  are mounted in the air conditioning case  100 , and the configuration of the air conditioner for the vehicle including the evaporator  10 , the heater core  20 , and a temperature door  250  corresponds to the configuration of a well-known air conditioner for a vehicle and thus detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, a configuration that is different from the well-known air conditioner for the vehicle will be described. 
     The door unit  200  includes a defrost door  220 , a face door  230 , and a foot door  240 , which are rotatably disposed in the air conditioning case  100  and adjust a degree of openness of each of the defrost vent  120 , the face vent  130 , and the front and rear foot vents  141  and  142 . 
     The air conditioner for the vehicle  100  has no door that adjusts a degree of openness of an inlet  150  of the rear console duct  112  that interacts with the rear console vent  110 . Thus, no additional rear console dedicated door and no dedicated actuator are added so that manufacturing cost can be remarkably reduced, thus being economical. 
     In this way, since the air conditioner for the vehicle  500  does not include an additional door or device in the inlet  150  of the rear console duct  112 , an outlet and a passage of the rear console duct  112 , air is always discharged toward the rear console vent  110  and thus air is discharged toward rear seats through the rear console vent  110  in all air conditioning modes so that an air conditioning efficiency of the entire interior of the vehicle can be improved. 
     The inlet  150  of the rear console duct  112  described above may be placed between a face duct inlet  170  that interacts with the face vent  130  and a foot duct inlet  180  that interacts with the foot vents  141  and  142 . However, if air controlled by the temperature door  250  can be always discharged, the position of the inlet  150  of the rear console duct  112  is not limited to the position between the face duct inlet  170  and the foot duct inlet  180 . Meanwhile, unexplained reference numeral  160  represents an inlet of the defrost vent  120 . 
     Thus, as described above, since no additional door or device is provided in the inlet  150  of the rear console duct  112  and the outlet and passage of the rear console duct  112 , air controlled by the temperature door  250  can be always introduced. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the door driving unit  300  individually drives and controls the defrost door  220 , the face door  230 , and the foot door  240 , which are rotatably disposed in the air conditioning case  100  and adjust a degree of openness of each of the defrost vent  120 , the face vent  130 , and the front and rear foot vents  141  and  142 , thus establishing various air conditioning modes. Here, although not shown, the door driving unit  300  includes a mode cam that interlocks with the doors and an actuator that selectively rotates and drives the mode cam, wherein the mode cam is link-coupled to a rotation shaft of each door and if the mode cam is rotated by the actuator, each door rotates in correspondence with each rotation shaft so that a degree of openness of each door can be adjusted. Here, detailed descriptions of the door driving unit  300  correspond to those of well-known door driving unit and thus will be omitted. 
     Meanwhile, the air conditioner  500  for the vehicle according to the current embodiment of the present invention may further include a controller  400 . The controller  400  controls the door driving unit  300  so that various air conditioning modes can be established depending on the state of the vehicle or user&#39;s selection. Here, the various air conditioning modes may be classified into a face mode in which air is discharged toward the face vent  130 , a defrost mode in which air is discharged toward the defrost vent  120 , and a foot mode in which air is discharged toward the foot vent  140 . Detailed descriptions thereof are similar to those of well-known air conditioning modes and thus will be omitted. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the air conditioning case  100  includes a guide member  151  that guides air to the rear console vent  110 . The guide member  151  guides air to the rear console vent  112 , makes the flow of air smooth, and reduces air flow noise. 
     The guide member  151  has a plate shape and is slantly disposed between the inlet  150  of the rear console duct  112  that interacts with the rear console vent  110  and the inlet  170  of the face duct  132  that interacts with the face vent  130  so as to guide air to the rear console duct  112 . 
     The face door  230  is configured in such a way that, when making a turning movement, if the face vent  130  is closed, a turning end of the face door  230  is in contact with the guide member  151  and maintains an airtight state with the face door  230 . 
     The guide member  151  is formed to a length corresponding to the turning end of the face door  230  at one side contacting the face door  230 , and a contact protrusion  152  protrudes from the guide member  151  so as to maintain an airtight state with the face door  230  and to restrict the turning movement of the face door  230 . 
     In the drawing, the contact protrusion  152  is formed integrally with the guide member  151  and protrudes from the face door  230  not to disturb air flow. In this case, a protrusion height and a protrusion angle of the contact protrusion  152  may be designed and modified in various ways so as to correspond to an operation of the face door  230  and air flow. 
     The air conditioning case  100  includes a guide protrusion  154  that is provided at the inlet  150  of the rear console duct  112  that faces the guide member  151  and guides air to the rear console vent  110 . Here, the guide protrusion  154  is formed integrally with the rear console duct  112  and protrudes from the air conditioning case  100  so as to contact the foot door  240  and to maintain an airtight state with the foot door  240  when the foot door  240  is closed. Also, the guide protrusion  154  protrudes from the air conditioning case  100  not to disturb air flow caused by flow resistance in the air conditioning case  100 , and if the above-described purpose can be achieved, various structures may be established. 
     Meanwhile, the air conditioner for the vehicle  500  includes a rear console dedicated mode in which air is discharged only toward the rear console vent  110 , as an air conditioning mode. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the rear console dedicated mode represents a mode in which all of the defrost door  220 , the face door  230  and the foot door  240  are closed and air is discharged only toward the rear console vent  110 . Thus, since the air conditioner for the vehicle  50  establishes the rear console dedicated mode in which all air is discharged only toward the rear console vent  110 , air conditioning control of front and rear seats of the interior of the vehicle can be more efficiently performed. 
     As described above, since the air conditioner for the vehicle  500  does not need to add an additional rear console dedicated mode and a dedicated actuator, manufacturing cost can be remarkably reduced and thus an economical effect can be provided, and air is always discharged toward the rear console vent  110  so that an air conditioning efficiency of the entire interior of the vehicle can be improved, and the rear console dedicated mode can be established so that air conditioning control of the front and rear seats of the interior of the vehicle can be more efficiently performed. 
     As described above, an air conditioner for a vehicle according to the present invention has the following effects. 
     First, no additional dedicated door and no actuator through which air is discharged toward a rear console duct are installed so that manufacturing cost can be reduced and thus an economical feasibility can be achieved and a structure of the air conditioner for the vehicle is simplified and thus productivity can be improved. 
     Second, since air can be discharged toward rear seats through the rear console duct in all modes at normal times, an air conditioning efficiency of the entire interior of the vehicle can be improved. 
     Third, front and rear air conditioning control can be more efficiently performed in a rear console dedicated mode in which all air is discharged toward the rear console vent. 
     While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.