Air guide for cooling an illumination device of a vehicle, cooling device and illumination device

Abstract

An air guide is provided for cooling an illumination device of a vehicle. A single, essentially rigid air channel with an air inlet opening and at least one air outlet opening is provided. The air inlet opening is allocated to a blower and the at least one air outlet opening is allocated to at least one chamber or at least one chamber area of the illumination device. In order to improve the cooling of an illumination device of a vehicle, air channel is a free-form air channel, where the flow resistance of the free-form channel between the air inlet opening and each of the at least one air outlet opening is designed to be so low as to make it possible to deploy a blower in the form of an axial fan.

Claims

1. An air guide for cooling an illumination device of a vehicle, the air guide comprising: a rigid air channel in fluid communication with an air inlet opening and at least one air outlet opening; an axial fan configured to induce a flow of air through the air inlet opening, the axial fan further configured to induce the flow of air through the rigid air channel, wherein the flow of air exits the rigid air channel at the at least one air outlet opening; wherein the at least one air outlet opening includes: an entrance portion positioned and located at an intersection of the at least one air outlet opening and the rigid air channel; and an exit portion positioned and located at a termination of the at least one air outlet opening, opposite the entrance portion; wherein the entrance portion includes a free-form entrance cross section oriented perpendicular to a direction of airflow in the entrance portion; wherein the exit portion includes a free-form exit cross section oriented perpendicular to a direction of airflow in the exit portion; and wherein the free-form entrance cross section is shaped differently than the free-form exit cross section.

2. The air guide in accordance with claim 1, wherein the air channel is formed as a single part.

3. The air guide in accordance with claim 2, wherein the air channel is manufactured via blow molding.

4. The air guide in accordance with claim 1, wherein the air channel is formed in two parts, where the two parts of the air channel are connected to each other by a fastener so as to be leak tight.

5. The air guide in accordance with claim 1, wherein the air channel features a plurality of air outlet openings each allocated to individual chambers and/or chamber areas of the illumination device, where each of the plurality of air outlet openings is formed and arranged such that a component of the illumination device to be cooled by air flowing through this air outlet opening can have the air directed at it.

6. The air guide in accordance with claim 1, wherein the at least one air outlet opening forms a plurality of air outlet openings arranged in a nonplanar configuration.

7. The air guide in accordance with claim 1, wherein the at least one air outlet opening further comprises a third portion positioned and located between the entrance portion and the exit portion, wherein the third portion includes a third free-form cross section oriented perpendicular to a direction of airflow in the third portion, and wherein the third free-form cross section is shaped differently than the free-form entrance cross section and the free-form exit cross section.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Reference is now made more particularly to the drawings, which illustrate the best presently known mode of carrying out the invention and wherein similar reference characters indicate the same parts throughout the views.

(2) FIG. 1 is a front view of a sample embodiment of the inventive cooling device with the inventive air guide.

(3) FIG. 2 illustrates the sample embodiment from FIG. 1 in a perspective view, looking at the back of the air guide.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(4) FIG. 1 shows a sample embodiment of the inventive cooling device for cooling an illumination device for a vehicle (not explicitly shown), as an example. The illumination device, for example a main headlamp, and the vehicle, for example a passenger vehicle, are not shown. The single cooling device 2 features a single air guide 4. The air guide 4 comprises a single, essentially rigid air channel 6 made of plastic with an air inlet opening 8 and a total of seven air inlet openings 10, where the air inlet opening 8 is allocated to a blower 12 in the form of an axial fan and the air outlet openings 10 are each allocated to a chamber area of the illumination device.

(5) In the present sample embodiment, only a single cooling device 2 with only a single air guide 4 is therefore needed for cooling the inventive illumination device, where the air guide 4 furthermore features only a single air guide 6. According to the present sample embodiment, the invention makes it possible to greatly reduce the number of components. With this invention, this is also possible when more complex geometries are involved.

(6) The plurality of the air outlet openings 10 allocated in each case to the individual chamber areas of the illumination device are each designed and arranged in such a way that a component 14 of the illumination device to be cooled by air flowing through the respective air outlet opening 10 can have air aimed at it in a manner for optimum heat transmission. This means that additional flow guide elements, for example on the illumination device, are not absolutely necessary. FIG. 2 shows one of the components 14 to be cooled, where this component 14 is designed as a heat sink with cooling fins 16. The heat sink 14 with the cooling fins 16 makes contact so as to transfer heat with a light source of the illumination device in the form of an LED module. The LED module is not shown.

(7) In accordance with the invention, the single air channel 6 takes the form of a free-form air channel, where the flow resistance of the free-form air channel 6 between the air inlet opening 8 and each of the seven air outlet openings 10 is designed to be so low that the axial fan 12 can be deployed as a blower for the free-form air channel 6.

(8) Furthermore, the air channel 6 also features fastening brackets 18 for fastening the air channel 6 to a support in the vehicle (not shown).

(9) In the present sample embodiment, the single air channel 6 is designed to be a single part, where the air channel 6 is manufactured as a blow molded part. The air channel 6 was manufactured by means of extrusion blow molding.

(10) In the following, the inventive cooling device for cooling an illumination device for a vehicle with the inventive air guide is explained in more detail according to the present sample embodiment and on the basis of FIGS. 1 and 2.

(11) The single air channel 6 of the single air guide 4 of the single cooling device 2 for the illumination device, is initially connected to the axial fan 12 in such a way that, when the cooling device 2 is in operation, the axial fan 12 sucks in air through the air inlet opening 8 of the air channel 6, guides it through the air channel 6 to the total of seven air outlet openings 10 and conveys it through the air outlet openings 10 into the chamber areas of the illumination device allocated to the respective air outlet openings 10. Furthermore, the air channel 6 is connected by the fastening brackets 18 to the vehicle's support in a force-transferring manner in a way known to a specialist. In doing so, the total of seven air outlet openings 10 are each aligned in the desired manner to the corresponding chamber area of the illumination device.

(12) When the cooling device 2 is in operation, air is sucked into the air channel 6 by the axial fan 12 by means of the air inlet opening 8, guided through the air channel 6 through to the air outlet openings 10 and conveyed into the corresponding chamber areas of the illumination device by means of the air outlet openings 10. The air conveyed into the air channel 6 by means of the axial fan 12 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 by an arrow 20. Due to the design of the air channel 6 explained above, in particular the design and arrangement of the air outlet openings 10, air is aimed in a manner for optimum heat transmission at the components of the illumination device to be cooled by the air flowing through each of the air outlet openings 10. In this context, see the arrows 22 in FIG. 2 showing the individual main flow directions of the air flowing out of the respective air outlet opening 10. For example, the heat sink 14 shown in FIG. 2 has air aimed at it in such a way to provide optimum heat transfer from the heat sink 14 with the cooling fins 16 to the air aimed at the heat sink 14. Correspondingly, this achieves a very good level of cooling of the LED light module connected with the heat sink 14 so as to transfer heat, while reducing the effort involved. This means that additional flow guide elements, for example additional flow guide elements arranged on the illumination device, can be dispensed with.

(13) The invention thus makes it possible to cool the inventive illumination device with less effort. This applies in particular to embodiments according to the present sample embodiment in which only a single cooling device with only a single air guide is used, where the air guide features only a single air channel.

(14) The invention is not limited to the present sample embodiment. The invention can also be advantageously deployed with other vehicles for example. In this respect, use of the invention is not limited to land-based vehicles, the invention can also be advantageously used in seagoing vessels and aircraft. Likewise, the illumination device can be selected at will within wide suitable limits. Generally speaking, the inventive air guide and the inventive cooling device can also be deployed in other components from other fields of technology that require cooling.

(15) Differing from the sample embodiment, it is conceivable that the air channel is formed in two parts, where the two parts of the air channel are connected to each other by a fastener so as to be essentially leaktight. For example, the two parts of the air channel can take the form of an upper part and a lower part designed as a kind of half shell. However, other types of separation are also possible.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

(16) 2 Cooling device 4 Air guide 6 Air channel, designed as a free-form air channel 8 Air inlet opening 10 Air outlet opening 12 Blower, designed as an axial fan 14 Component to be cooled, designed as a heat sink 16 Cooling fins of the heat sink 14 18 Fastening brackets of the air channel 6 20 Main flow direction of the air that is conveyed into the air channel 6 22 Main flow direction of the air that is blown out in each case from air channel 6 by means of the air outlet openings 10