Air vent

Abstract

So as to guide an air current flowing out of an air vent for a motor vehicle, an air deflection element, which can be moved transversely in an air channel of the air vent, is disposed upstream of an air guide body in a flow direction, which includes air passages, for which the air deflection element includes congruent windows.

Claims

1. An air vent comprising: an air channel that narrows toward an air outlet opening: an air guide body, which is disposed in the air channel and has an outline area, as seen in a flow direction, that is smaller than an inner cross-section of the air channel at a location at which the air guide body is disposed, so that air flowing through the air channel flows around the air guide body; and an air deflection element, having an outline area, as seen in the flow direction, that is smaller than an inner cross-section of the air channel at a location at which the air deflection element is disposed, and wherein the air deflection element is movable transversely to the flow direction and located at a location in which the air channel narrows, wherein the air guide body includes at least one air passage extending in the flow direction, and the at least one air passage through the air guide body and a space between the air guide body and an inner wall of the air channel are configured to be opened or closed in regions by moving the air deflection element transversely to the flow direction through the air channel, and wherein the air deflection element includes a window, which is configured to be aligned with, or brought out of alignment with, the at least one air passage of the air guide body by moving the air deflection element transversely to the flow direction.

2. The air vent according to claim 1, wherein the at least one air passage includes a plurality of air passages, and the air deflection element includes a plurality of windows, which are configured to be aligned with the plurality of air passages by moving the air deflection element transversely to the flow direction.

3. The air vent according to claim 1, wherein the air channel narrows toward the air outlet opening, and the air deflection element is configured to be moved in the air channel in a two-dimensional manner transversely to the flow direction.

4. The air vent according to claim 1, wherein the air deflection element is disposed on an upstream side of the air guide body.

5. An air vent comprising: an air channel that narrows toward an air outlet opening; an air guide body, which is disposed in the air channel and has an outline area, as seen in a flow direction, that is smaller than an inner cross-section of the air channel at a location at which the air guide body is disposed, so that air flowing through the air channel flows around the air guide body; and an air deflection element, having an outline area, as seen in the flow direction, that is smaller than an inner cross-section of the air channel at a location at which the air deflection element is disposed, and wherein the air deflection element is movable transversely to the flow direction and located at a location in which the air channel narrows, wherein the air guide body includes at least one air passage extending in the flow direction, and the at least one air passage through the air guide body and a space between the air guide body and an inner wall of the air channel are configured to be opened or closed in regions by moving the air deflection element transversely to the flow direction through the air channel, and wherein the air channel narrows toward the air outlet opening, and the air deflection element is configured to be moved in the air channel in a two-dimensional manner transversely to the flow direction.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The invention will be described hereafter in greater detail based on one exemplary embodiment shown in the drawings. In the drawings:

(2) FIG. 1 shows an air vent according to the invention in a perspective illustration, including an air channel in a cutaway view in a longitudinal center plane; and

(3) FIGS. 2 and 3 show a longitudinal sectional view of the air vent from FIG. 1, including an air deflection element in different positions.

(4) The drawing is a simplified and schematic illustration to describe, and provide an understanding of, the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) The air vent 1 according to the invention shown in the drawing includes a rectangular tube-shaped air channel 2, including an air inlet opening 3 at one end and an air outlet opening 4 at an opposing end. The air channel 2 widens in a two-dimensional arcuate manner in a flow direction through the air channel 2 from the air inlet opening 3 to the air outlet opening 4, and subsequently narrows, likewise in a two-dimensional arcuate manner, toward the air outlet opening 4. “Widens in a two-dimensional manner” shall be understood to mean that, with an assumed horizontal arrangement of the air channel 2, an inner cross-section of the air channel 2 both becomes wider and increases in terms of the height thereof, and “narrows in a two-dimensional manner” shall be understood to mean that the inner cross-section of the air channel 2 becomes narrower and flatter. The shape of the air channel 2, and in particular the rectangular shape, is not mandatory for the invention.

(6) An air guide body 5 is disposed in the widening and subsequently narrowing region of the air channel 2, having an outline area, as seen in the flow direction, that is smaller than the inner cross-section of the air channel 2 at the location at which the air guide body 5 is disposed, so that an annular, and in the exemplary embodiment a rectangular, space, which surrounds the air guide body 5 in the air channel 2, exists between the air guide body 5 and an inner wall of the air channel 2, through which air flowing through the air channel 2 flows. In the exemplary embodiment, circumferential surfaces of the air guide body 5 have a shape of the inner wall of the air channel 2 which is not proportionally reduced, in the region in which the air guide body 5 is disposed.

(7) As is apparent from FIGS. 2 and 3, the air guide body 5 includes an air passage 6 that extends in the flow direction through the air channel 2 and that, on an incident flow side facing the air inlet opening 3 of the air channel 2, is divided into four openings 7. The air passage 6 and the openings 7 thereof have rectangular cross-sections, wherein a cross-sectional surface of the air passage 6 outside the openings 7 is larger than a sum of the cross-sectional surfaces of the openings 7. The openings 7 are disposed in a rectangular grid. The rectangular shape of the air passage 6 is not mandatory for the invention, nor is the fact that the air passage 6 includes four openings 7. For example, an air passage 6 through the air guide body 5 having only one opening on the incident flow side (not shown) is also possible.

(8) At or upstream of the incident flow side of the air guide body 5 which faces the air inlet opening 3 of the air channel 2, an air deflection element 8 is disposed in the air channel 2 of the air vent 1 according to the invention. In the exemplary embodiment, the air deflection element 8 is a rectangular plate having approximately a size and shape of the incident flow side of the air guide body 5, which is disposed transversely to the flow direction in the air channel 2.

(9) As is illustrated by the four arrows in FIG. 1, the air deflection element 8 can be moved in a two-dimensional manner in the air channel 2, transversely to the flow direction. With an assumed horizontal arrangement of the air channel 2, the air deflection element 8 can thus be moved to the side and vertically in the air channel 2, which is to say in the directions in which the air channel 2 widens and subsequently narrows again.

(10) The air deflection element 8 has as many apertures, referred to as windows 9 here, as the air passage 6 through the air guide body 5 has openings 7. The shape and size of the windows 9 correspond to cross-sections of the openings 7, and the windows 9 are disposed so as to be aligned with the openings 7 when the air deflection element 8 is located centrally in front of the incident flow side of the air guide body 5, as is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2. It is not mandatory for the invention that the air deflection element 8 has as many windows 9 as the air passage 6 through the air guide body 5 has openings 7 and/or that the windows 9 are as large as cross-sections of the openings 7 and/or that the windows 9 are disposed in the air deflection element 8 so that all the windows 9, in one position of the air deflection element 8, are aligned with the openings 7 of the air passage 6.

(11) When the air deflection element 8 is in the central position in the air channel 2 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the air deflection element 8 is surrounded by a space between an inner wall of the air channel 2 and the air deflection element 8, which encloses the air deflection element 8 and through which air flowing through the air channel 2 flows, as is shown by the flow arrows in FIG. 2.

(12) When the windows 9 of the air deflection element 8, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, are aligned with the openings 7 of the air passage 6 through the air guide body 5, air flows through the air channel 2, and also through the openings 7 and the air passage 6, as is likewise shown by way of the flow arrows in FIG. 2. In this position of the air deflection element 8, air flows in the flow direction through the air channel 2 out of the air outlet opening 4 of the air channel 2.

(13) When moved to the side and/or up or down in any arbitrary direction transversely in the flow channel 2 and transversely to the flow direction through the air channel 2, the air deflection element 8 blocks or closes the space between the air guide body 5 and the inner wall of the air channel 2 at the corresponding circumferential location so that, in this region, less air, or when the air deflection element 8, as is apparent in FIG. 3, is moved to the side, or up or down toward the inner side of the air channel 2, no air flows through the space between the air guide body 5 and the inner wall of the air channel 2. The air flowing through the air channel 2 flows through the space between the air guide body 5 and an inner wall of the air channel 2 in the circumferential sections that remain clear, as is shown by the flow arrow in FIG. 3. As a result of the air channel 2 narrowing toward the air outlet opening 4, the air flowing out of the air channel 2 through the air outlet opening 4 is guided to one side obliquely with respect to the flow direction, so that the movement of the air deflection element 8 allows a direction of the air flowing out of the air vent 1 to be guided obliquely to the side in any arbitrary direction.

(14) Due to the movement of the air deflection element 8 to the side, the windows 9 of the air deflection element 8 are brought partially or completely out of alignment with the openings 7 of the air passage 6 in the air guide body 5, so that the flow through the openings 7 of the air passage 6, and the air passage 6 as a whole, is restricted and subsequently interrupted.