Housing of a device for ventilation of a motor vehicle

Abstract

Housing (1) of a device (3) for ventilation of a motor vehicle, the ventilation device (3) being of the type using a Coanda effect, the housing (1) defining an air inlet (4), which has at least one inlet opening (5), and an air outlet (6), which has at least one outlet opening (7), the housing (1) defining an inner volume (8) designed to allow the circulation of an air flow from the air inlet (4) to the air outlet (6), the inner volume (8) being dimensioned to accommodate an air flow guide unit (2) exploiting the Coanda effect, the housing (1) comprising at least one discharge orifice (12), each formed in a zone (13) of the housing (1) separate from the air outlet (6), so as to allow a part of the air flow to be discharged to the outside of the housing (1).

Description

Description Title of the invention: Ventilation device housing for a motor vehicle

[0001] The present invention claims priority from French application 2304163 filed on April 25, 2023 (04 / 23 / 2023), the content of which (text, drawings and claims) is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The technical field concerns housings for ventilation devices, ventilation devices equipped with such housings and finally vehicles equipped with such ventilation devices.

[0003] Car manufacturers pay great attention to the comfort of their vehicles' passengers. One of the essential comfort criteria is obviously the management of the air inside the passenger compartment, including the control of temperature, humidity level, and air quality. To this end, vehicles are commonly equipped with a ventilation system designed to manage the air quality in the passenger compartment. The ventilation system organizes the circulation and treatment of the air in the passenger compartment, notably by replacing the air evacuated by an air extractor outside the passenger compartment with air from outside. The ventilation system is also responsible for managing the air flows emitted into the passenger compartment by different diffusers, modifying on demand the quantity of air and the direction of the air flows exiting each diffuser.

[0004] Historically, a fan blows air, possibly conditioned, into the ventilation system through ducts leading to diffuser nozzles equipped with vanes designed to diffuse the air into the passenger compartment. The vanes allow the nozzle to be opened or closed or the airflow feeding the nozzle to be directed to direct the airflow into the passenger compartment in a chosen direction. However, these nozzles have the disadvantage of being unsightly and negatively impact the level of quality perceived by users.

[0005] Recently, in order to overcome the disadvantages of conventional nozzles, new aeration devices have been developed. They implement the physical phenomenon known as the "Coanda" effect, according to which an air flow follows a curved surface and undergoes a deviation before detaching itself with a different trajectory from the one it had upstream. The flows implemented have low pressure losses and therefore generate little noise. Thus, aeration devices implementing the Coanda effect have the advantage of being particularly aesthetic and significantly improve the perceived quality level of the entire vehicle dashboard. Such a device implementing a Coanda effect is, for example, described in patent document US 2022 / 0161634. In the following, a device or a guidance unit implementing a Coanda effect refers to an aeration device whose operating principle is similar to that described in this patent document.

[0006] However, Coanda effect ventilation devices present problems of homogeneity depending on the direction of the flow ejected into the passenger compartment: for example, pressure losses and phenomena of overspeed and / or overpressure are observed when the flow undergoes a deviation close to the maximum possible deviations.

[0007] Thus, there is a need for a solution to avoid overspeed and overpressure problems when the airflow is diverted from a neutral direction.

[0008] The present invention aims to overcome the problems set out above. In this technical context, one aim of the present invention is to provide a housing for a ventilation device of the type implementing a Coanda effect capable of reducing the observed overpressure and overspeed phenomena.

[0009] To this end, the present invention relates to a housing for a ventilation device of a motor vehicle, the ventilation device being of the type implementing a Coanda effect, the housing defining an air inlet, having at least one inlet opening, and an air outlet, having at least one outlet opening, the housing defining an interior volume designed to allow the circulation of an air flow from the air inlet to the air outlet, when the housing is mounted on the device, the interior volume being dimensioned to accommodate an air flow guiding unit exploiting the Coanda effect, the housing being characterized in that it comprises at least one discharge orifice each provided in an area of ​​the housing, distinct from the air outlet, to allow the discharge of a portion of the air flow to the outside of the housing.

[0010] The invention also relates to a ventilation device designed to ventilate a motor vehicle passenger compartment, the device comprising a housing according to the invention and a guide unit arranged in the interior volume of the housing to guide an air flow, circulating between the air inlet and the air outlet of the housing, by implementing the Coanda effect, the unit comprising curved walls forming, in the interior volume of the housing, at least one channel for guiding the air flow between the air inlet and the air outlet.

[0011] The invention finally relates to a motor vehicle comprising at least one ventilation device according to the invention.

[0012] Thus, the housing according to the invention makes it possible to obtain a ventilation device according to the invention implementing a Coanda effect. Experience has shown that the housing according to the invention makes it possible to reduce, or even eliminate, the effects of overspeeds and / or overpressures observed previously. Indeed, the discharge orifices make it possible to avoid the formation of overpressures in each channel. Advantageously, the housing according to the invention makes it possible to upgrade a ventilation device such as that described in the cited patent document in order to improve it and reduce or even eliminate the observed drawbacks.

[0013] According to one embodiment of the invention, each discharge orifice has a slot shape extending on a wall of the housing in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the air flow.

[0014] According to one possibility, each slot has a curved shape.

[0015] Advantageously, all the evacuation holes are provided on the same face of the housing.

[0016] In one embodiment of the device, the shape of each slot corresponds to the shape of one of the curved walls of the guide unit.

[0017] According to one possibility of the device, each slot extends in line with a curved wall.

[0018] Advantageously, the guide unit comprises at least one movable flap extending a curved wall.

[0019] The invention will be better understood upon reading the detailed description which follows, given solely as a non-limiting example and made with reference to the appended drawings in which:

[0020] [Fig. 1] Figure 1 represents a perspective and top view of a ventilation device according to the invention implementing a housing according to the invention;

[0021] [Fig. 2] Figure 2 represents a top view of the ventilation device of Figure 1, a part of the housing not being shown to facilitate understanding of the operation of the device.

[0022] In these figures, the same references are used to designate the same elements.

[0023] A housing 1 according to the invention, illustrated in Figure 1, makes it possible to contain a guide unit 2 to form a ventilation device 3 according to the invention, designed to ventilate the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle. The ventilation device 3 is of the type implementing a Coanda effect.

[0024] The housing 1 defines an air inlet 4, having at least one inlet opening 5, and an air outlet 6, having at least one outlet opening 7. In a vehicle according to the invention, the air inlet 4 is, for example, supplied by a fan generating a possibly air-conditioned air flow. The air outlet 6 is generally arranged in a dashboard, not shown, and makes it possible to deliver the air flow generated by the fan into the passenger compartment.

[0025] The housing 1 defines an interior volume 8 designed to allow the circulation of the air flow, represented by arrows in Figure 2, from the air inlet 4 to the air outlet 6, when the housing 1 is mounted on the device 3.

[0026] As illustrated in Figure 2, the interior volume 8 is sized to accommodate the guide unit 2. The guide unit 2 has curved walls 9 forming, in the interior volume 8 of the housing 1, channels 10 to guide the air flow between the air inlet 4 and the air outlet 6. The dimensions of each channel 10 are adapted to the circulation of a laminar air flow, adhering to the curved walls 9 and to deflect it by a Coanda effect. The device 3 thus formed from the guide unit 2 arranged in the interior volume 8 of the housing 1, further comprises a plurality of movable flaps 11, illustrated in FIG. 2, arranged upstream of each channel 10 to modulate the distribution of the air flow using the channel 10. The operating principle of the ventilation device 3 according to the invention is similar to the operation of that described in the patent document cited above.

[0027] The housing 1 further comprises at least one evacuation orifice 12, each provided in a zone 13 of the housing 1, distinct from the air outlet 6, to allow the evacuation of a portion of the air flow towards the outside of the housing 1.

[0028] As illustrated in Figure 1, all of the evacuation orifices 12 are provided on the same face 14 of the housing 1.

[0029] In the example illustrated in Figure 1, each discharge orifice 12 has a slot shape 15 extending on a wall 16 of the housing 1 in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the air flow, in the area 13 of the slot 15. As illustrated, each slot 15 has a curved shape. The shape of each slot 15 corresponds to the shape of one of the curved walls 9 of the guide unit 2. Advantageously, each slot 15 extends in line with a curved wall 9.

[0030] Thus, the housing 1 according to the invention makes it possible to obtain a ventilation device 3 implementing the Coanda effect while making it possible to avoid, or even eliminate, the drawbacks usually observed. The slots 15 in fact make it possible to prevent the formation of overpressure and therefore overspeed in the air flow in each channel 10.

[0031] The invention is not limited to the embodiment of the housing described above, only by way of example, but other embodiments can be designed by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and scope of the present invention.

Claims

CLAIMS 1 . Housing (1) for a ventilation device of a motor vehicle, the ventilation device (3) being of the type implementing a Coanda effect, the housing (1) defining an air inlet (4), having at least one inlet opening (5), and an air outlet (6), having at least one outlet opening (7), the housing (1) defining an interior volume (8) designed to allow the circulation of an air flow from the air inlet (4) to the air outlet (6), when the housing (1) is mounted on the device (3), the interior volume (8) being dimensioned to accommodate a unit (2) for guiding the air flow exploiting the Coanda effect, the housing (1) being characterized in that it comprises at least one evacuation orifice (12) each provided in a zone (13) of the housing (1), distinct from the air outlet (6), to allow the evacuation of a portion of the air flow to the outside of the housing (1).

2. Housing (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that each discharge orifice (12) has a slot shape (15) extending on a wall (16) of the housing (1) in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the air flow.

3. Housing (1) according to claim 2, characterized in that each slot (15) has a curved shape.

4. Housing (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that all of the evacuation orifices (12) are provided on the same face of the housing (1).

5. Ventilation device (3) designed to ventilate a motor vehicle interior, the device (3) comprising a housing (1) according to one of claims 2 to 4 and a guide unit (2) arranged in the interior volume (8) of the housing (1) for guiding an air flow, circulating between the air inlet (4) and the air outlet (6) of the housing (1), by implementing the Coanda effect, the unit (2) comprising curved walls (9) forming, in the interior volume (8) of the housing (1), at least one channel (10) for guiding the air flow between the air inlet (4) and the air outlet (6).

6. Ventilation device (3) according to claim 5, characterized in that the shape of each slot (15) corresponds to the shape of one of the curved walls (9) of the guide unit (2).

7. Device (3) according to one of claims 5 or 6, characterized in that each slot (15) extends in line with a curved wall (9).

8. Device (3) according to one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the unit (2) guide comprises at least one movable flap (11) extending a curved wall (9).

9. Motor vehicle comprising at least one ventilation device (3) according to one of claims 5 to 8.

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