Supporting structure for adjustable air guide vanes

Abstract

A structure for supporting an air guide vane in a supply opening for air conditioning prevents abrupt changes of load resistance to rotation of the air guide van and provides a good operational feel when rotating the air guide vane. A supporting member of the air guide vane is an olefin-based thermoplastic elastomer having a hardness of between Shore A80 and Shore D60. The degree of mold transferability of olefin-based thermoplastic elastomer is characteristically lower than that of other thermoplastic elastomers. By virtue of molding an olefin-based thermoplastic elastomer microscopic concavities and convexities are formed on the surface of the supporting member. The rotation shaft of the air guide vane is supported by multiple point contacts with the inner surface respective through-holes.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to a structure for supporting an air guide vane in a supply opening for air conditioning in vehicles, especially relates to a structure for supporting an adjustable air guide vane.DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART[0002]An apparatus for changing the direction of airflow from a supply opening for air conditioning, which comprises a plurality of vanes for changing the direction of airflow from an air-conditioning duct and a manual operation knob handled by a vehicle driver to change the direction of the vanes, has been suggested in the past. For example, Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. H10-250357 discloses a wind direction adjusting device that is designed to prevent deterioration of an outside appearance due to use of an operation knob, and to make it possible to reduce the control force for sliding the operation knob, and the rest.[0003]In such an apparatus, wind direction is adjusted by a vehicle driver who manually operat...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005]The objective of the present invention is to provide a structure for supporting air guide vanes in a supply opening for air conditioning, which can produce a stable load resistance to rotation of the air guide vane when rotating the air guide vane, so that a good operational feeling of rotation of the air guide vane can be obtained.

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, the operational feeling of the operation knob is affected not only by the slidability of the operation knob but also by the rotational friction force of the louvers or vanes.

Consequently, if the rotation shaft of a vane is borne by the molded part having the aforementioned rough surface, the operational feeling of the vane becomes worse and the rotational movement of the vane becomes unstable.

In addition, the molded part for supporting the vane tends to suffer wear or uneven abrasion due to repeated rotation of the vane.

Since a required torque to rotate the vane varies as the molded part is worn away, it becomes more difficult to retain the predetermined operational feeling of the vane for a long period of time.

Images