Roof ventilation system for a passenger car

Abstract

The invention relates to a vehicle with a roof ventilation system, wherein the roof ventilation system has a roof air duct (1) which extends along a side roof panel (3) in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle and has air slots (5) adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, characterized in that both the number of air slots (5) actually flowed through and the cross-sectional areas of the air slots (5) through which air can flow can be changed.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a vehicle with a roof ventilation system.

[0002] Various methods and devices for ventilating a vehicle interior are known from the state of the art.

[0003] DE 10 2018 106 156 A1 relates to a ventilation device for an interior of a motor vehicle, in particular in an area of ​​a second row of seats, comprising at least one air duct element, at least one supply device coupled to a first end of the at least one air duct element as part of an air conditioning system of the motor vehicle, at least one air outlet element coupled to a second end of the at least one air duct element and arranged in the non-visible area of ​​the interior, at least one directing element and at least one light element, wherein the arrangements of the at least one directing element and the at least one air outlet element together ensure that the ventilation device can be continuously adjusted at least between two ventilation states in the interior.which are distinguished at least by a direction of outflowing air directed directly into the interior and an indirect direction along a roof liner designed for this purpose, relative to a seating area of ​​the motor vehicle.

[0004] However, DE 10 2018 106 156 A1 only contains two ventilation modes for a roof nozzle (indirect and direct ventilation); furthermore, no means are provided for adjusting the ventilation modes depending on the air mass flow; therefore, the flowable cross-sections are the same for all air mass flows.

[0005] The object of the invention is to provide a draft-free and customizable air conditioning system for the head areas in a vehicle cabin, particularly in summer ambient conditions.

[0006] The invention is based on the features of the independent claims. Advantageous developments and refinements are the subject of the dependent claims.

[0007] A first aspect of the invention relates to a vehicle with a roof ventilation system, wherein the roof ventilation system has a roof air duct which extends along a side roof panel in a vehicle longitudinal direction and has air slots arranged next to one another in the vehicle longitudinal direction, characterized in that both the number of air slots through which air can flow and the cross-sections of the air slots through which air can flow can be changed.

[0008] This roof ventilation system, which extends along a roof panel, in particular along a longitudinal member of a vehicle roof, beneath a roof liner, allows the creation of a large-area, diffuse flow mode. Diffuse flow mode is understood to mean a large-area air curtain with a large extent in the vehicle's longitudinal and / or transverse direction, which flows along the underside of the roof liner towards the vehicle center, or flows downwards over a large area along at least one side window, or can assume corresponding intermediate positions therebetween. The extent of the air curtain in the vehicle's longitudinal direction corresponds approximately to the length of the air duct beneath the roof panel itself and can, for example, cover the entire seating area of ​​a second row of seats, a second and third row of seats, or even the first row of seats.

[0009] The idea is that, particularly in warm outside temperatures, cold air is blown out of the roof ventilation system over a large area, approximately along the roof of the vehicle (ceiling or glass roof) towards the center of the vehicle, thus ensuring thermal comfort for the occupants without disturbing drafts. Since the diffuse air curtain would fall downwards shortly after being blown out due to free convection of the heavier cold air at lower air mass flows, means are preferably provided by which the air outlet areas of the roof ventilation system can be reduced, thus preventing the cold air from settling due to the resulting higher air inlet velocities. This is achieved in particular by narrow diffuse air slots with adjustable outlet areas.

[0010] Air outlet nozzles can also be attached to the roof ventilation system, with which a directed blowing, for example, towards an occupant can be achieved, and the flow mode can be changed from 'diffuse' to 'directed'.

[0011] Advantageous effects of the invention are draft-free ventilation, high thermal comfort, customizable ventilation modes, and improved energy efficiency, since there is no indirect ventilation; the air is always blown toward the occupant, either diffusely or focused, i.e., directed.

[0012] According to an advantageous embodiment, the air slots are designed as small, in particular narrow, flow channels through which the flow of air is deflected by approximately 90°.

[0013] According to a further advantageous embodiment, the roof air duct has a partition wall through which the roof air duct is divided into two sub-areas through which air can flow independently of one another, wherein the sub-areas of the roof air duct are connected to different air slots in an air-conducting manner.

[0014] According to a further advantageous embodiment, at least one of the partial areas of the roof air duct has a closing flap by means of which an amount of air flowing through this partial area can be throttled or completely prevented.

[0015] According to a further advantageous embodiment, the closing flap is connected to an actuator, preferably a stepper motor or a solenoid valve, which is connected to a control unit, wherein the control unit is designed to control the actuator according to a predetermined characteristic curve.

[0016] According to a further advantageous embodiment, the respective closing flap can be opened without an actuator by air pressure and closed again by a spring.

[0017] According to a further advantageous embodiment, the at least one closing flap is made of elastically deformable material.

[0018] The roof air duct is preferably designed as a closed duct.

[0019] According to a further advantageous embodiment, the roof air duct is designed as a half shell which is closed off by the roof cladding.

[0020] According to a further advantageous embodiment, the roof cladding is provided with integrated air slots with an attachable cover.

[0021] According to a further advantageous embodiment, the roof air duct has at least one air nozzle through which air emerging from the roof air duct can be directed specifically at an occupant.

[0022] According to a further advantageous embodiment, the at least one air nozzle can be closed by a closing flap or by slats so that air can flow out diffusely exclusively via the air slots.

[0023] Further advantages, features, and details will become apparent from the following description, which – where appropriate with reference to the drawings – describes at least one embodiment in detail. Identical, similar, and / or functionally equivalent parts are provided with the same reference numerals.

[0024] They show: Fig. 1: A roof air duct of a roof ventilation system according to an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2: A roof air duct of a roof ventilation system according to another embodiment of the invention. Fig. 3: An air mass flow characteristic to be regulated as a characteristic curve of the roof ventilation system according to an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 4: A roof air duct of a roof ventilation system according to another embodiment of the invention. Fig. 5: Alternatives for roof air duct flaps according to Fig. 4. Fig. 6: A roof air duct of a roof ventilation system according to another embodiment of the invention. Fig. 7: A roof air duct of a roof ventilation system according to another embodiment of the invention. Fig. 8: Air nozzle functions of the roof air duct of the Fig. 7.

[0025] The representations in the figures are schematic and not to scale.

[0026] Fig. Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of such a roof ventilation system, which is arranged along a longitudinal member of a roof below the paneling. At its inlet cross-section, it is connected to a heating system, e.g., a rear heating system, via an air duct system, and is supplied with conditioned air from this. The air flows forward via roof air duct 1 in the direction of travel (shown as a dash-dot arrow) and can thus bridge one or more rows of seats. After exiting, the air flows directly below a roof lining, which is Fig. 1 is shown schematically as a plane sketched by dashed lines. A connection to a front system or a center console system is also possible. In addition, the air can also be transported from the front half of the cabin via the roof air duct 1 to the rear or the rear row of seats. Narrow air slots 5 are arranged laterally along the entire length or at least a large part of the roof air duct 1, through which the air flowing in the roof air duct 1 is deflected and flows out approximately perpendicular to the roof air duct 1 along the roof of a vehicle interior, forming a wide, diffuse air curtain. The width of the air slots 5 should approximately correspond to their depth, so that each air slot 5 forms a short channel, which is necessary for the air deflection. The distribution of the air slots 5 along the roof air duct 1 does not have to be as in Fig. 1, but can also be provided non-equidistant along the roof air duct 1, depending on the actual, usually not straight, but curved course of the roof air duct 1 and its cross-sectional changes. Likewise, the air slots 5 can have different slot widths and / or slot heights. The roof air duct 1 can be constructed as a closed air duct in the sense of a blown part or consisting of two half-shells, and can optionally also be a foam duct.

[0027] Fig. 2 shows an alternative roof ventilation system in which the roof air duct 1 is constructed as a half-shell forming a U-profile and is closed off from the other side directly by the roof lining 3; the air slots 5 of the roof lining 3 can be closed off by a panel 13 facing the vehicle interior with the same air slot pattern.

[0028] Fig. Figure 3 qualitatively shows, for a controlled operating state of the air conditioning system, the ambient temperature-dependent air mass flow required to achieve good thermal comfort for the occupants through roof air duct 1. The horizontal axis indicates the ambient temperature, which increases with increasing distance from the origin of the coordinate system. The vertical axis, on the other hand, indicates the air mass flow through the roof ventilation system, which also increases with distance from the origin. The lower the summer heat load from the environment, the lower the air mass flow can be selected.

[0029] Fig. Figure 4 shows an alternative roof ventilation system. To ensure that even for low air mass flows, the diffuse air curtain flows along the vehicle roof or roof lining or glass roof and does not sag due to free convection effects, it may be necessary to reduce the area of ​​the air slots 5 through which air can flow in order to generate higher air outlet velocities; in the Fig. In the embodiment shown in Figure 4, a partition wall 7 is arranged in the roof air duct 1 for this purpose, by means of which partition wall 7 the roof air duct 1 is divided into an upper and a lower half such that a lower portion of the air slots 5 is supplied with air by the lower half of the roof air duct 1 and an upper portion of the air slots 5 is supplied with air by the upper half of the roof air duct 1.In order to prevent the air from settling at low air mass flows, for example, the lower half of the roof air duct 1 can be closed by means of the flap 9, so that air only escapes diffusely through the upper part of the air slots 5, whereby the exit speed can be significantly increased; the flap 9 can be pivoted into any position about the axis of rotation by means of a stepper motor, whereby the stepper motor communicates with the vehicle air conditioning system, in particular the blower stage of this air conditioning system; in order to achieve the actual function, it would also be sufficient to move to only two flap positions, which in . Fig. 4 and a position in which the flap 9 is pivoted towards the bottom of the roof air duct 1 and thus the lower half of the roof air duct 1 is fully supplied with air; in this case, a simple solenoid valve or an SMA actuator could be used as the actuator.

[0030] For further simplification, a flap 9 pre-tensioned by a spring 11 (see Fig. 5 (A)) or an elastically deformable, rubberized flap 9 (see Fig. 5 (B)) can be used, which is opened by the applied air pressure at high air mass flows and returned to the closed position at lower air mass flows by the restoring forces of spring 11 or the elastic material. In this case, an actuator could be dispensed with entirely. With the help of flap 9, a large-area, stable air curtain can be generated at any angle. Furthermore, by periodically opening and closing the air curtain, a back-and-forth movement can be realized, thus achieving a revitalizing effect.

[0031] Fig. Figure 6 shows a further embodiment of a roof air duct 1 with a second flap 9 for the upper half of the roof air duct 1; here, air slots 5 are mounted on the underside of the lower half of the roof air duct 1 (not visible in the illustration). This makes it possible to generate either a large-area air curtain along the roof or an air curtain along the side window, or both air curtains simultaneously. The air curtain can further improve thermal comfort, particularly in summer when sunlight penetrates through the side window from the side, and in winter it can be used to keep the side windows free of misting and / or prevent cold radiation from the side window.

[0032] Fig. Figure 7 shows a further embodiment of the roof ventilation system, in which additional air nozzles 15 are integrated, through which air can be directed specifically at an occupant. When the air nozzles 15 are open (see Fig. 8 (A)), the largest part of the air flows out through these, while only a small part flows through the air slots 5. When the air nozzles 15 are closed by means of a closing flap 9 or by means of a closed position of the nozzle slats of an air nozzle 15, a large-area diffuse air curtain is again created as in Fig. 8 (B). The slats of the air nozzles 15 can be operated manually or by actuators using a stepper motor.

[0033] The roof ventilation systems and variants presented are also conceivable in any combination and can be used on one or both sides of the roof simultaneously. With the help of an appropriate operating strategy, the roof ventilation system presented here can be optimally deployed depending on ambient conditions (such as air temperature or position of the sun) and / or driving conditions (such as the so-called 'cooldown' of an overheated vehicle cabin or stationary operation) and / or seat occupancy and / or seat position due to its high variability ('spot', 'diffuse', 'spot and diffuse', directional adjustment of the air curtain). The system can also be customized to meet specific customer requirements.

[0034] Although the invention has been illustrated and explained in detail by preferred embodiments, the invention is not limited by the disclosed examples, and other variations may be derived therefrom by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. It is therefore clear that a multitude of variations exist. It is also clear that the embodiments mentioned by way of example are truly only examples and should not be construed as limiting the scope, possible applications, or configuration of the invention in any way.Rather, the preceding description and the description of the figures enable the person skilled in the art to implement the exemplary embodiments in concrete terms, whereby the person skilled in the art, with knowledge of the disclosed inventive concept, can make various changes, for example with regard to the function or the arrangement of individual elements mentioned in an exemplary embodiment, without departing from the scope of protection defined by the claims and their legal equivalents, such as further explanations in the description. QUOTES CONTAINED IN THE DESCRIPTION

[0000] This list of documents submitted by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the convenience of the reader. This list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions. Cited patent literature

[0000] DE 10 2018 106 156 A1 [0003, 0004]

Claims

[1] Vehicle with a roof ventilation system, wherein the roof ventilation system has a roof air duct (1) which extends along a side roof lining (3) in a vehicle longitudinal direction and has air slots (5) lying next to one another in the vehicle longitudinal direction, characterized by in that both the number of air slots (5) through which air can flow and the cross-sections of the air slots (5) that can be flowed through can be changed, the roof air duct (1) having a partition wall (7) by which the roof air duct (1) is divided into two sub-areas through which air can flow independently of one another, the sub-areas of the roof air duct (1) being connected to different air slots (5) in an air-conducting manner, at least one of the sub-areas of the roof air duct (1) having a closing flap (9) by means of which an amount of air flowing through this sub-area can be throttled or completely prevented. [2] Vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the closing flap (9) is connected to an actuator, preferably a stepper motor or a solenoid valve, connected to a control unit, wherein the control unit is designed to control the actuator according to a predetermined characteristic curve. [3] Vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the respective closing flap (9) can be opened without an actuator by air pressure and closed again by a spring (11). [4] Vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one closing flap (9) is made of elastically deformable material. [5] Vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the roof air duct (1) is designed as a half-shell which is closed off by the roof lining (3). [6] Vehicle according to claim 5, wherein the roof lining (3) is provided with incorporated air slots (5) with an attachable cover (13). [7] Vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the roof air duct (1) has at least one air nozzle (15) through which air emerging from the roof air duct (1) can be directed specifically towards an occupant. [8] Vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the at least one air nozzle (15) can be closed by a closing flap or by slats so that air can flow out diffusely exclusively via the air slots (5).

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