GB2196421A

GB2196421A - Directional air vent

Info

Publication number: GB2196421A
Application number: GB08617575A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Charles Robert Savage
Original assignee: Clearplas Ltd
Current assignee: Clearplas Ltd
Priority date: 1986-07-18
Filing date: 1986-07-18
Publication date: 1988-04-27
Anticipated expiration: 2006-07-18
Also published as: GB8617575D0; GB2196421B

Abstract

A directional air vent particularly for a motor vehicle having a vane assembly comprising two sets of pivoted and parallel vanes 6,7, positioned in a housing of rectangular shape. The vanes 6 are parallel to the top and bottom walls of the housing 1 and the vanes 7 are parallel to the side walls of the housing 1. The vanes 6 are connected for swinging in unison by links 8 and the vanes 7 are connected for swinging in unison in directions at right angles to the vanes 6. The vanes 6 and 7 interfit to permit the vanes 6 and the vanes 7 to be pivoted in their respective directions of pivoting. The vanes 6 and 7 are pivoted by moving a knob 14 from side to side or up and down in the manner of a joystick. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Directional air vent The invention is concerned with a directional air vent of the kind (hereinafter referred to as the kind described) comprising a housing having a flow-path therethrough for a stream of air to be discharged from the mouth of the housing, the mouth containing an assembly of deflecting vanes arranged in two sets, of which the vanes of one set are pivotally movable in unison to direct the issuing air stream in a desired direction in a first plane and the vanes of the other set are pivotally movable in unison, independently of the vanes of the first set, to direct the issuing air stream in a desired direction in a second plane perpendicular to the first plane, whereby the two sets of vanes together will result in the issuing of the air stresm from the mouth of the vent in any desired resultant direction according to the positions of the two sets of vanes.

In such a vent known hitherto, the vanes of one of the sets are formed integrally of each other in a barrel structure which is mounted in the housing for bodily pivotal movement and the vanes of the other set are individually mounted within the barrel structure but are connected together by a link for pivotal movement in unison relatively to the barrel structure. Such a construction suffers from several disadvantages. One is that the barrel structure itself has bounding walls in addition to the deflecting vanes which cause reduction in the area of flow through the housing without also effecting deflection of the air stream. Another disadvantage is that the barrel structure is more expensive to manufacture than separate vanes and requires more material to be used in its manufacture.For example, the barrel structure is usually moulded from a plastics material and so required the design of a mould and uses more plastics material than do individual vanes. Another disdvantage is that separate adjusting members are required for pivoting the barrel structure and for pivoting the linked vanes of the other set. Alternatively, an adjusting member, such as a knob, for pivoting the linked vanes of said other set must also be pushed or pulled to cause pivoting of the barrel structure, which could result in undesirabie adjustment of the inked vanes, or the user must pull or push the edge of a vane of the barrel structure which is not an easy or convenient operation, particularly where the vent is used in a motor vehicle and the user is the driver.

According to the invention, a directional air vent of the kind described has the vanes of both sets individually mounted for pivotal movement, the vanes of said one set being linked together for pivotal movement in unison and the vanes of said other set being linked together for pivotal movement in unison separately of the vanes of said one set, the vanes of both sets being slotted along one edge thereof, whereby each vane of each set is interfitted in each vane of the other set and whereby the vanes of each set are adjustable independently of the vanes of the other set, one vane of each set being connected to a common adjusting member extending forwardly of the assembly of vanes whereby movement of the member in any direction laterally of the mouth of the housing will effect simultaneous adjustment of all the vanes of both sets to effect direction of the air stream in a desired resultant direction according to the positions of the vanes of the two sets.

The common adjusting member may conveniently be a knob which is adjustable in the manner of a joy-stick in any direction laterally of the mouth of the housing.

The slots in each vane may be of any desired shape permitting pivotal movement of the yanes of each set without obstruction by the vanes of the other set. For example, one edge of each vane may have a plurality of spaced notches therein, the number of the notches being equal to the number of the vanes of the other set. The edge of each vane containing the notches may be of a generally saw-tooth shape or may have a profile generally similar to that of a screw-thread.

The individual vanes of each set may have outwardly extending pivot pins engageable in holes or recesses formed in the adjacent wall of the housing of the vent.

The links connecting the vanes of both or one of the sets may extend adjacent and parallel to a wall of the housing or transversely across the interior of the housing.

The housing, vanes, links and adjusting member, or any of them, may be moulded in a plastics material.

The cross-sectional shape of the mouth of the vent may be of rectangular, which term includes square, shape, in which case the vanes of one of the sets are pivotally movable in directions in a plane parallel to one pair of opposite walls of the housing and the vanes of the other of the sets are pivotally movable in directions in a plane parallel to the other pair of opposite walls of the housing.

By way of example, a directional air vent, particulatly for use in a road or other vehicle, is now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the housing and the assembly of vanes; Figure 2 is an elevation of a vane of one set shown in Figure 1;, Figure 3 is an elevation of a vane of the other set shown in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a side elevation of the adjusting knob, shown in Figure 1, and Figure 5 is a rear end view of the adjusting knob shown in Figure 4.

Referring to the drawings, the vent com prises a tubular housing 1, shown only in Fig ure 1, having a substantially square mouth 2.

The mouth is surrounded by a flange or bezel 3 by which the vent may be mounted and may contain an aperture 4 for a lever or wheel, not shown, for opening and closing a flap valve at the rear or upstream end of the housing 1 for controlling the upstream flow area of the housing. The downstream region adjacent the mouth 2 of the housing contains a valve assembly shown by arrow 5 in Figure 1.

The valve assembly comprises two sets of pivotal and parallel vanes 6 and 7. The vanes 6 are parallel to the top and bottom walls of the mouth 2 and the vanes 7 are parallel to the side walls of the mouth 2 and are therefore perpendicular to the vanes 6, when all vanes extend parallel to the fore-and-aft axis of the housing. All the vanes 6 are connected together by a link or links 8 engaging pivots 11 on the vanes so that all the vanes 6 when swung upwardly and downwardly about end pivots 9 will move in unison. All the vanes 7 are connected together by a link or links (not shown) engaging pivots 12 on the vanes so that all the vanes 7 when swung sideways about end pivots 10 will move in unison. The links 8 and 10 may lie adjacent and parallel to a side or top or bottom wall of the housing 1 or may extend between the respective vanes in the passage through the housing 1.

The vanes 6 and 7 are interfitted as shown in Figure 1 and to enable this to be done adjacent edges i.e. the rear edges of vanes 6 and the front edges of vanes 7, of the respective vanes are slotted. The number of slots in each vane 6 is equal to the number of vanes 7; in this case three. The number of slots in each vane 7 is equal to the number of vanes 6; in this case seven. The slots are notches of substantially V shape and so the vanes 6 and 7 have their slotted edges of a generally saw-tooth shape or of a sinusoidal shape as in the profile of a screw-thread. Typical vanes 6 and 7 are shown in Figures 2 and 3. The shape of the edges may vary in order to permit unobstructed pivotal movement of each set of vanes independently of each other. For example, the crests of the notches can be flat. The plan shape of the front edge of the vanes 6 can be straight or curved.The link or links 8 can be straight or curved.

The centre vanes 6 and 7 of each set are each engaged by a common adjusting knob 14 projecting forwardly of the assembly of vanes. The knob 14 has four legs 15 extending rearwardly from its head 16, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. The legs 15 receive the centre vanes 6 and 7 between them and are retained by the centre vanes. The tips of the legs may have protuberances (not shown) on them which engage in recesses in the adjacent side faces of the respective vanes, the legs being resilient and temporarily springing apart to permit the protuberances to be engaged in the recesses.The knob 14 can be moved in any direction laterally in the plane of the mouth in the manner of a joy-stick and so the vanes 6 will be moved in unison upwardly and downwardly and the vanes 7 will be moved in unison sideways simultaneously, the movement of the knob 14 determining the respective angles of pivoting of the two sets of vanes 6,7 and therefore the resultant direction of the air stream issuing from the mouth of the vent.

All or some of the parts may be moulded in a plastics material.

The pivots 9 and 10 of the vanes 6 and 7 respectively may be located in holes in the walls of the housing 1 or they may be located in open recesses in the side walls, this would aid assembly as the assembly of vanes can be constructed outside the housing 1 and then slid into the housing until the pivots 9 and 10 are engaged in the respective recesses.

The mouth 2 of the vent 1 may be rectangular, the respective vanes 6,7 having corresponding lengths.

The vent described and illustrated differs from known vents of the kind described in that both sets of vanes comprise separate linked vanes instead of one set being formed by an integral rotatable barrel. This as hereinbefore stated avoids reduction of the flow area by the walls of the barrel and the construction is less costly. The single knob 14 acts as a joy-stick and is easier to operate and more precise in its setting than using the same knob to turn a barrel and to pivot the other set of vanes or avoids having two separate adjusting members, one for each set of vanes.

Another advantage of having two sets of interfitted vanes controlled in the manner described herein is that as the two sets of vanes act together on the air flow in substantially the same region of the duct through the housing, the issuing air stream will flow in the resultant direction as dictated by both sets of vanes. This construction has an advantage over an arrangement where one set of vanes is positioned wholly downstream of another set of vanes and the vanes of the two sets are not interfitted. In such arrangement the direction of flow of the issuing air stream will be dictated by the downstream set of vanes only, the upstream set of vanes having no or little effect on the direction of the air stream issuing from the downstream set of vanes.

Therefore with such an arrangement, the issuing stream of air will be deflected in one plane only, that is in a direction in the plane determined solely by the downstream set of vanes.

Claims

1. A directional air vent of the kind de scribed in which the vanes of each said set are individually mounted for pivotal movement, the vanes of said one set being linked together for pivotal movement in unison and the vanes of said other set being linked together for pivotal movement in unison separately of the vanes of said one set, the vanes of both sets being slotted along one edge thereof, whereby each vane of each set is interfitted in each vane of the other set and whereby the vanes of each set are adjustable independently of the vanes of the other set, one vane of each set being connected to a common adjusting member extending forwardly of the assembly of vanes whereby movement of the member in any direction laterally of the mouth of the housing will effect simultaneous adjustment of all the vanes of both sets to effect direction of the air stream in a desired resultant direction according to the positions of the vanes of the two sets.

2. A vent as claimed in Claim 1 in which the common adjusting member is a knob which is adjustable in the manner of e joystick in any direction laterally of the mouth of the housing.

3. A vent as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 in which the slots in each vane are of a shape which permits pivotal movement of the vanes of each set without obstruction by the vanes of the other set.

4. A vent as claimed in Claim 3 in which one edge of each vane has a plurality of spaced notches therein, the number of the notches being equal to the number of the vanes of the other of the sets.

5. A vent as claimed in Claim 4 in which the edge of each vane which contains the notches is of a generally saw-tooth shape.

6. A vent as claimed in Claim 4 in which the edge of each vane which contains the notches has a profile of shape generally similar to that of a screw-thread.

7. A vent as claimed in any preceding claim in which each vane of each set has an outwardly-extending pivot pin engageable in holes or recesses formed in an adjacent wall of the housing of the vent.

8. A vent as claimed in any preceding claim in which the links connecting the vanes of one or each set extend parallel to and adjacent a wall of the housing of the vent.

9. A vent as claimed in any of Claims 1-7 in which the links connecting the vanes of one or each set extend transversely across the interior of the housing of the vent.

10. A vent as claimed in any preceding claim in which the housing, vanes, links, adjusting member, or any of them, are constructed of a mouldable plastics material.

11. A vent as claimed in any preceding claim in which the crosssectional shape of the mouth of the vent is rectangular, which term includes square, the vanes of one of the sets being pivotally movable in directions in a plane parallel to one pair of opposite walls of the housing and the vanes of the other of the sets being pivotally movable in directions in a plane parallel to the other pair of opposite walls of the housing.

12. A vent constructed and arranged substantially as described herein and shown in the accompanying drawings.