WO2004020233A1

WO2004020233A1 - Vent assembly for automobiles

Info

Publication number: WO2004020233A1
Application number: PCT/KR2003/001717
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sung-Ho Cho
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-08-27
Filing date: 2003-08-25
Publication date: 2004-03-11
Anticipated expiration: 2005-02-27
Also published as: KR100445693B1; KR20040018836A; AU2003251222A1

Abstract

A vent assembly (A) for automobiles having a housing (2) and a grill unit (1), with two guide grooves (21, 21') formed in the housing at upper and lower portions of a sidewall and a front wall to face each other. A shutter unit (4) is set in the guide grooves at upper and lower edges thereof. A rack gear (32) is connected to an end of the shutter unit (4) and engages with a pinion gear (31) mounted to an output shaft of a drive motor (33) of a drive unit (3), so that the rack gear moves the shutter unit in opposite directions in response to an operation of the drive unit so as to close or open the front of the grill unit by using the shutter unit. The shutter unit (4) may comprise a plurality of louvers (41) or a single thin shutter sheet (45, 46).

Description

VENT ASSEMBLY FOR AUTOMOBILES

Technical Field

The present invention relates, in general, to vent assemblies for automobiles, which discharge hot or cold air into the passenger compartment of an automobile for accomplishing an air conditioning effect for the passenger compartment and, more particularly, to a vent assembly for automobiles, which has a shutter unit capable of covering the front of a grill unit of the vent assembly as desired in response to a simple operation of a control switch, thus preventing a grillwork provided at the front of the grill unit from being exposed to the passenger compartment when the vent assembly is not used, and thereby upgrading the quality of the interior of the passenger compartment and preventing impurities, such as dust, from being undesirably introduced into the vent assembly through the front of the grill unit.

Background Art

Generally, most automobiles are typically provided with air conditioning apparatuses, such as heaters or air conditioners, for discharging impure air from the passenger compartment to the atmosphere and feeding clean hot or cold air into the compartment. To feed the clean hot or cold air from the air conditioning apparatus into the passenger compartment, a vent assembly is installed on a dashboard. The vent assembly for the automobiles typically has a grill unit, with a grillwork provided at the open front of the grill unit to control the air blowing direction of the grill unit. Most conventional vent assemblies for automobiles are designed such that the front of the grill unit is not closed, but is kept in an open state even when the vent assembly is not used. Therefore, the interior appearance of the passenger compartment deteriorates to lower the quality of the automobiles, and impurities, such as dust, may be introduced into the vent assembly through the front of the grill unit. Some models of vent assemblies for automobiles, which are designed to close the grill unit, as desired when the vent assemblies are not used, by tilting the grillwork or by using a movable shutter installed in the interior of the vent assembly, have been proposed. However, it is impossible for the vent assemblies to cover the front of the grill unit, so that the grillwork provided at the front of the grill unit is exposed to the passenger compartment, thus reducing the interior appearance of the passenger compartment to lower the quality of the automobiles.

Disclosure of the Invention

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vent assembly for automobiles, which has a shutter unit operated by a gear mechanism comprising a pinion gear mounted to a drive motor and a rack gear connected to an end of the shutter unit and engaging with the pinion gear to move the shutter unit along guide grooves of a housing of the vent assembly in response to an operation of the drive motor, thus covering the front of a grill unit of the vent assembly as desired when the vent assembly is not used, and which thus intercepts air currents flowing through the grill unit and provides a pleasant atmosphere in the passenger compartment, and which also covers a grillwork provided at the front of the grill unit, thus upgrading the quality of the interior of the passenger compartment.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a vent assembly for automobiles having a housing and a grill unit set in the housing, comprising: a plurality of guide grooves respectively formed in the housing at upper and lower portions of a sidewall and a front wall of the housing to face each other; a shutter unit movably set in the guide grooves at upper and lower edges thereof to move under the guide o f the guide grooves; and a rack gear connected to an end of the shutter unit and engaging with a pinion gear mounted to an output shaft of a drive motor of a drive unit, so that the rack gear moves the shutter unit in opposite directions in response to an operation of the drive unit so as to close or open the front of the grill unit by using the shutter unit.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a vent assembly for automobiles according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2a is a perspective view of the vent assembly of FIG. 1, when the front of a grill unit of the vent assembly is in an open state;

FIG. 2b is a perspective view of the vent assembly of FIG. 1, when the front of the grill unit is in a closed state;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a louvered shutter unit provided in the vent assembly of FIG. 1 to cover the front of the grill unit;

FIGS. 4a and 4b are plan sectional views respectively showing the operation of the vent assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a vent assembly for automobiles, provided with a grill unit according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a vent assembly for automobiles, provided with a shutter unit made of a single thin sheet according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a vent assembly for automobiles, provided with a shutter unit moved in a vertical direction according to a further embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a view showing a vent assembly of the present invention which is installed on a dashboard of an automobile. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Reference should now be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings t o designate the same or similar components. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a vent assembly for automobiles according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2a is a perspective view of the vent assembly, when the front of a grill unit of the vent assembly is in an open state. FIG. 2b is a perspective view of the vent assembly, when the front of the grill unit is in a closed state. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a louvered shutter unit provided in the vent assembly to cover the front of the grill unit. FIGS. 4a and 4b are plan sectional views showing the operation of the vent assembly. As shown in the drawings, the vent assembly A for automobiles according to the primary embodiment of the present invention comprises a grill unit 1, a housing 2, a drive member 3, and a shutter unit 4. To feed clean hot or cold air from an air conditioning apparatus into the passenger c ompartment o f an automobile, the housing 2, having an opening, is securely installed in the end of a venting channel formed in the dashboard B of an automobile. The grill unit 1 is installed in the opening of the housing 2, thus controlling the air current direction of the vent assembly A. Two guide grooves 21 and 21 ' having a predetermined depth are respectively formed in the housing 2 at each of upper and lower portions of a sidewall and the front of the housing 2 to symmetrically face each other. That is, in the upper portion of the housing 2, the upper guide groove 21 horizontally extends forward from a rear end of the sidewall, prior to extending rightward to reach a side of the front of the housing 2, as shown in the drawings. In the lower portion of the housing 2, the lower guide groove 21' horizontally extends to face the upper guide groove 21. The shutter unit 4 according to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 4b comprises a plurality of louvers 41 which are assembled into a louvered flexible shutter body. The shutter unit 4, having the louvered structure, is movably set in the upper and lower guide grooves 21 and 21 ' at the upper and lower edges thereof, respectively, to move under the guide of the guide grooves 21 and 21 ' to cover the front of the grill unit 1, thus allowing the front have a nice appearance.

In a detailed description, the louvered shutter unit 4 of FIGS. 1 to 4b comprises the plurality of louvers 41, which are assembled into the louvered flexible shutter body by use of a plurality of coupling pieces 42 provided at upper and lower portions of the louvers 41. The louvered shutter unit 4 is movably set in the upper and lower guide grooves 21 and 21 ' at the upper and lower edges thereof, respectively, to move along the guide grooves 21 and 21' to cover the front of the grill unit 1. A horizontal rack gear 32 is connected to a rearmost louver 41 which is placed at the trailing end of the louvered shutter unit 4. The rack gear 32 engages with a pinion gear 31 mounted to the output shaft of a drive motor 33 which constitutes a drive unit 3, so that the rack gear 32 and the louvered shutter unit 4 are horizontally moved forward or backward in response to an operation of the motor 33.

To assemble the plurality of louvers 41 into the louvered flexible shutter unit 4, a plurality of coupling pins 43 and 43' are fastened to the upper and lower portions of the louvers 41 at positions around both side edges of the louvers 41, and t he coupling pieces 42 each having two 1 ongitudinal slots 44 are movably locked to the coupling pins 43 and 43' at the longitudinal slots 44. Therefore, the louvers 41 having the same shape and size are sequentially coupled to each other to produce the louvered flexible shutter unit 4 having a predetermined length. It is thus possible to control the size of the louvered shutter unit 4 by changing the number or size of the louvers 41.

In the drive unit 3 to move the louvered shutter unit 4, the motor 33 is installed in the housing 2 set in the dashboard B, the pinion gear 31 is mounted to the output shaft of the motor 33, and the horizontal rack gear 32 is connected to the rearmost louver 41 which is placed at the trailing end of the louvered shutter unit 4. Since the rack gear 32 engages with the pinion gear 31 , the rotating force of the motor 33 is transmitted to the rack gear 32 through the pinion gear 31, thus permitting the rack gear 32 to rectilinearly reciprocate to move the louvered shutter unit 4. As shown in FIG. 5, the grill unit 1 may comprise a grillwork 11, a grillwork holder 10 to hold the grillwork 11, and a container part 12 integrally formed at the rear section of the grillwork holder 10 to contain a desired item therein. In the present invention, the grill unit 1 may be designed such that the grill unit 1 advances or retracts in the opening of the housing 1. It is thus noted that the grill unit 1 which is installed in the front of the housing 2, is not limited to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

The operational effect of the vent assembly A having the above- mentioned construction will be described in detail herein below.

When an air conditioning apparatus (not shown) is turned on, with the vent assembly A installed at the dashboard B of an automobile by securely seating the housing 2 having the grill unit 1 in the end of the venting c hannel formed in the dashboard B, clean hot or cold air is fed from the air conditioning apparatus to the vent assembly A through the venting channel of the dashboard B, and passes through the opening of the housing 2 to be discharged into the passenger compartment of the automobile through the open front of the grill unit

1 , thus accomplishing a desired air conditioning effect.

When the air conditioning apparatus is turned off to stop feeding the clean hot or cold air into the passenger compartment, it is not necessary to keep the front of the grill unit 1 in the open state, so that a user, for example, the driver of the automobile, may cover the front of the grill unit 1 with the louvered shutter unit 4 to provide a nice appearance in the interior of the passenger compartment. To c over the front o f the g rill u nit 1 w ith the 1 ouvered sh utter u nit 4 , the u ser operates a control switch (not shown) to rotate the drive motor 33 of the drive unit 3, and thereby rotates the pinion gear 31 mounted to the output shaft of the motor 33. The h orizontal r ack g ear 32 e ngaging w ith t he p inion g ear 31 thus rectilinearly moves forward in response to the rotation of the pinion gear 31.

When the horizontal rack gear 32 rectilinearly moves forward as described above, the rearmost louver 41 of the louvered shutter unit 4 is pushed in the same direction, so that the overall louvers 41 are sequentially pushed forward. The louvered shutter unit 4 is thus moved forward under the guide of the upper and lower guide grooves 21 and 21 ' of the housing 2 to cover the front of the grill unit 1 provided at the front of the housing 2. Therefore, the front of the grill unit 1 of the vent assembly A installed in the dashboard B is covered with the louvered shutter unit 4, without exposing the grillwork of the grill unit 1 to the passenger compartment. A nice interior appearance of the passenger compartment is thus accomplished.

In the louvered shutter unit 4, the plurality of louvers 41 are assembled into the louvered flexible shutter body having the predetermined length such that the louvers 41 are slightly movable relative to each other, by movably locking the coupling pieces 42 each having the two longitudinal slots 44 to the coupling pins

43 and 43' which are fastened to the upper and lower portions of the louvers 41 at positions around the both side edges of the louvers 41. Since the coupling pieces 42 are movable relative to the coupling pins 43 and 43' of the louvers 41 due to the longitudinal slots 44, the louvers 41 are smoothly and sequentially moved along the guide grooves 21 and 21 ' when the shutter unit 4 is moved to close or open the front of the grill unit 1 set in the housing 2 of the vent assembly. When the louvered shutter unit 4 completely covers the front of the grill unit 1, the louvers 41 come into contact with each other at the both side edges thereof, thus forming a smooth surface to accomplish the nice interior appearance of the passenger compartment.

When it is desired to open the front of the grill unit 1 set in the housing 2, the drive motor 33 of the drive unit 3 is rotated in the reverse direction by the operation of the control switch (not shown), so that the pinion gear 31 mounted to the output shaft of the motor 33 is rotated in the same direction. The horizontal rack gear 32 engaging with the pinion gear 31 thus rectilinearly moves backward in response to the rotation of the pinion gear 31. When the horizontal rack gear 32 rectilinearly moves b ackward as described above, the rearmost louver 41 of the louvered shutter unit 4 is pulled in the same direction, so that the overall louvers 41 are sequentially pulled backward. The louvers 41 of the louvered shutter unit 4 are thus returned from the front of the grill unit 1 to the original retracted positions thereof, thereby opening the front of the grill unit 1.

When the 1 ouvers 4 1 o f the louvered shutter unit 4 are returned to the original retracted positions thereof, the louvers 41 are stably moved under the guide of the upper and lower guide grooves 21 and 21 ' of the housing 2. In the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 5, the shutter unit 4, which is moved forward or backward under the guide of the upper and lower guide grooves 21 and 21 ' of the housing 2 in response to a rectilinear reciprocation of the horizontal rack gear 32 to close or open the front of the grill unit 1, comprises the plurality of louvers 41 which are sequentially coupled to each other into the louvered shutter unit 4 by the use of the coupling pieces 42. However, the design of the shutter unit may be altered, without affecting the functioning of the present invention. That is as shown in FIG. 6, the shutter unit may comprise a single thin shutter sheet 45 made of a flexible material, in place of the louvered shutter unit 4, according to another embodiment of the present invention. The single thin shutter sheet 45 is connected to the horizontal rack gear 32 at a rear end of the thin shutter sheet 45, so that the thin shutter sheet 45 is moved forward or backward under the guide of the upper and lower guide grooves 21 and 21 ' of the housing 2 in response to a rectilinear reciprocation of the horizontal rack gear 32 to close or open the front of the grill unit 1. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, the single thin shutter sheet 45 may preferably comprise a flexible sheet made of a metal or a heat resisting plastic material, however, the material of the single thin shutter sheet 45 is not limited to the above-mentioned materials.

The design of the vent assembly A of the present invention may be further altered as shown in FIG. 7. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, the shutter unit 4 of the vent assembly A comprises a single thin shutter sheet 46 made of a flexible material, in the same manner as that described for the embodiment of FIG. 6, but the single thin shutter sheet 46 is moved upward or downward in a vertical direction to close or open the front of the grill unit 1, different from the embodiment of FIG. 6. That is, the single thin shutter sheet 46 of FIG. 7 is connected to a vertical rack gear 32 at a lower end of the thin shutter sheet 46 so as to be moved upward or downward in the vertical direction by an operation of a drive unit 3 that is installed under the housing 2. In such a case, the thin shutter sheet 46 is moved upward or downward under the guide of left and right guide grooves 21-1 and 21-2 that are formed at both side edges of the opening of the housing 2, thus closing or opening the front of the grill unit 1.

As described above, when the vent assembly A of the present invention feeds clean hot or cold air from the air conditioning apparatus into the passenger compartment of the automobile, the front of the grill unit 1 of the vent assembly A is kept in the open state. When the air conditioning apparatus is turned off to stop feeding the clean hot or cold air into the passenger compartment, the pinion gear 31 mounted to the output shaft of the drive motor 33 is rotated by an operation of the control switch, so that the rack gear 32 engaging with the pinion gear 31 rectilinearly moves in response to the rotation of the pinion gear 31, thus closing the front of the grill unit 1 by the shutter unit 4. A nice interior appearance of the passenger compartment is accomplished. When it is desired to open the front of the grill unit 1, the drive motor 33 of the drive unit 3 is rotated in the reverse direction by the operation of the control switch. The rack gear 32 thus rectilinearly moves to pull the shutter unit 4 until the shutter unit 4 is returned from the front of the grill unit 1 to an original retracted position thereof, thereby opening the front of the grill unit 1.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. For example, four guide grooves 21, 21', 21-1 and 21-2 may be respectively formed in the housing 2 of the vent assembly at each of the upper, lower, left and right portions of the sidewall and the front of the housing 2 to symmetrically face each o ther, such that t he sh utter unit 4 i s moved under t he guide of the guide grooves 21, 21 ', 21-1 and 21-2. In addition, the shutter unit 4 may be actuated by another means, in place of the drive unit 3. For example, the shutter unit 4 may be operated manually to close or open the front of the grill unit 1.

Industrial Applicability

As described above, the present invention provides a vent assembly for automobiles, which is used for feeding clean hot or cold air from an air conditioning apparatus into the passenger compartment of an automobile. The vent assembly, installed on the dashboard, has a shutter unit that is operated by a drive u nit to c lose the front o f a g rill u nit o f t he v ent a ssembly when the v ent assembly is not used. Therefore, it is possible to prevent impurities, such as dust, from being undesirably introduced into the vent assembly through the front of the grill unit, and t o p revent t he grillwork of the vent assembly from being exposed to the p assenger c ompartment w hen the v ent a ssembly i s n ot used, so that a nice interior appearance of the passenger compartment is accomplished to upgrade the quality of the automobiles.

Claims

1. A vent assembly for automobiles having a housing and a grill unit set in the housing, comprising: a plurality of guide grooves respectively formed in the housing at upper and lower portions of a sidewall and a front wall of the housing to face each other; a shutter unit movably set in the guide grooves at upper and lower edges thereof to move under the guide of the guide grooves; and a rack gear connected to an end of the shutter unit and engaging with a pinion gear mounted to an output shaft of a drive motor of a drive unit, so that the rack gear moves the shutter unit in opposite directions in response to an operation of the drive unit so as to close or open the front of the grill unit by using the shutter unit.

2. The vent assembly according to claim 1, wherein the shutter unit comprises a plurality of louvers which are assembled into a louvered shutter body having a predetermined length, with a plurality of coupling pins fastened to upper and lower portions of the louvers at positions around both side edges of the louvers, and a plurality of coupling pieces each having a plurality of longitudinal slots and being movably locked to the coupling pins at the longitudinal slots to couple the louvers to each other into the shutter body.

3. The vent assembly according to claim 1, wherein the shutter unit comprises a single thin shutter sheet made of a flexible material.