Title of Invention

VENTILATION NOZZLE DEVICE FOR MOTOR VEHICLE

Abstract The present invention discloses a ventilation nozzle device for use in cabin interior of motor vehicle such as passenger car, which comprises a substantially a substantially cylindrical enclosure having an anterior end and a posterior end. A rotary bezel is disposed at the anterior end of the cylindrical enclosure for operation by the user and a ring with a helical slot is integrally fixed to the bezel. A diffuser flap is pivotally mounted at the posterior end of the enclosure such that the diffuser flap is axially rotated for controlling entry of air into the enclosure. A slider comprising a cam member at one end and a pin at the other end is disposed in-between the anterior end and the posterior end of the enclosure. The pin engages with the slot in the ring attached to the bezel. The cam member is rigidly connected to the diffuser flap by detachable joint. The rotation of the bezel by the user causes reciprocation of the slider thereby resulting in actuation of the cam member and subsequent swing of the diffuser flap about the pivot point. The degree of swing of the diffuser flap and volume of air entry into the cabin through the bezel is proportional to the degree of the rotation of the bezel by the user.
Full Text FORM 2 THE PATENTS ACT, 1970;
(39 of 1970) COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (SECTION 10: rule 13)
VENTILATION NOZZLE DEVICE FOR MOTOR VEHICLE;
TATA AUTO PLASTIC SYSTEMS LTD, A COMPANY INCORPORATED UNDER THE COMPANIES ACT, 1956, WHOSE ADDRESS IS SURVEY N0.235 & 245, VILLAGE HINJEWADI TAL MULSHI, PUNE 411 027, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA;


THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION
PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE NATURE OF THIS INVENTION, AND ASCERTAINS THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TOBE PERFORMED.

TITLE
VENTILATION NOZZLE DEVICE FOR MOTOR VEHICLE
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a ventilation nozzle device for use in motor vehicles. Particularly, the present invention relates to a ventilation nozzle device for providing controlled supply of air especially conditioned air into cabin interior of motor vehicles such as passenger cars.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, attempts have been made to provide a variety of ventilation nozzle devices for use in cabin interior of motor vehicles such as passenger cars. Such ventilation nozzle devices generally have a passenger interface such as a rotary bezel which could be operated by a passenger for controlling the movement of a diffuser flap and thereby adjusting the amount of conditioned air flow into the cabin.
One such device is disclosed in US patent no 3,835,759, in which a tubular nozzle member is swivellably disposed, universally in a tubular housing. The nozzle member contains an obturating member adjustable to vary the effective flow of air through the nozzle member. A sleeve mounted on the nozzle member for relative rotation there between but restrained by the housing from rotational movement about its axis is connected by gearing to the obturating member, whereby rotational

movement of the nozzle member within the sleeve effect opening or closing of the obturating member according to the direction of the rotational movement.
US Patent No. 6,074,295 entitled "Fresh air nozzle device", granted to M/s. Franz Schneider Franz Kunststoffwerk GmbH & Co.KG, Germany, discloses a fresh air nozzle device for passenger compartment of vehicles which comprises a closure flap and an actuating element connected to the closure flap. The closure flap is displaceable about a spindle in the housing between a closure position and an open position. At the outlet side, the housing has a circular opening edge at which there is rotatably provided an actuating ring forming the actuating element. The actuating ring is provided with an accurately curved toothed rack element which extends along a peripheral portion of the actuating ring. The toothed rack element meshes with a drive gear of a gear transmission which is provided on the housing and which is provided with resiliency yielding spoke elements. The gear transmission has a driven gear which is connected to the spindle of the closure flap.
The above prior art devices suffer from a highly complicated design and less efficient system for transferring the user's input into actuation of the air diffusing flap for regulation of air flow into the cabin interior of motor vehicle. Moreover, the above devices are cumbersome to manufacture and assemble, and also pose increase in cost of manufacture and associated overheads.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
1) An object of the present invention is to provide a ventilation nozzle device for use in cabin interior of motor vehicles wherein the device is simple in configuration and is devoid of any complicated motion transfer mechanism such as gear trains, rack, pinion and thereby enables manufacturing at minimum labor and cost.
2) An object of the present invention is to provide a ventilation nozzle device for use in cabin interior of motor vehicles wherein the device exhibits minimum back lash or substantially zero back lash for transferring user's input into actuation of diffuser flap.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
The present invention discloses a ventilation nozzle device for use in cabin interior of motor vehicles such as passenger cars, which comprises a substantially a cylindrical enclosure having an anterior end and posterior end. A rotary bezel is disposed at the anterior end of the cylindrical enclosure for operation by the user and a ring with a helical slot is integrally fixed to the bezel. A diffuser flap is pivotally mounted at the posterior end of the enclosure such that the diffuser flap is axially rotated for controlling entry of air into the enclosure. A slider comprising a cam member at one end and a pin at the other end is disposed in-between the anterior end and the posterior end of the enclosure. The pin engages with
the slot in the ring attached to the bezel. The cam member is rigidly

connected to the diffuser flap by detachable joint. The rotation of the bezel by the user causes reciprocation of the slider thereby resulting in actuation of the cam member and subsequent swing of the diffuser flap about the pivot point. The degree of swing of the diffuser flap and volume of air entry into the cabin through the bezel is proportional to the degree of the rotation of the bezel by the user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS :
To complement the description that is being given and in order to promote a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention in accordance with a practical embodiment of the same and as an integral part of the said description a set of drawings accompany it in which, in an illustrative and non-restrictive way, the following are represented:-
Fig.1 is the front elevation of the ventilation nozzle device according to the present invention.
Fig. 2 is the sectional view of the device of Fig 1 as seen from line A-A.
Fig. 3 is the sectional view of the device of Fig 2 as seen from line B-B.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:
FIG 1. Referring to Fig1, the ventilation nozzle device comprises a substantially cylindrical enclosure hereinafter referred to as a housing (12) comprising an axis (shown in dotted line in Fig1). The housing (12) comprises an anterior end (16) through which air exits at downstream for
supply to the cabin interior of a motor vehicle such as a passenger car,

and a posterior end (17) through which air from a source such as Air duct A/C duct (not shown) enters into the housing (12) for controlled supply into the cabin interior. The air may be conditioned air or fresh air or conditioned air or clean air desirable for supply into the cabin interior of the motor vehicle.
Preferably, the housing (12) has a rectangular or circular cross-section and is adapted for mounting onto the instrument panel or Dash board of the motor vehicle or any other location in the cabin, such as B pillar upper or lower, Dorr trim, roof liners, overhead console suitable for effective and controlled supply of air to suitable location in the cabin. The cross-section and shape of the housing (12) may be suitably modified either for the purposes of mounting or allowing desired volume of air flow into the housing (12).
A passenger interface member hereinafter referred to as a bezel (1) is rotatably mounted to the anterior end (16) face of the housing (12). The bezel (1) is adapted for clockwise or anticlockwise rotation by the user (passenger) so as to increase or decrease the supply of air into the cabin from the housing (12).
A ring (2) having a predetermined thickness is attached either integrally or detachedly to the peripheral surface of the bezel (1) as shown in figl. The ring (2) comprises a slot (3) preferably helical in configuration, and oriented along the peripheral surface of the ring (2). The thickness of the slot (3) and the ring (2) are set appropriately so as to allow substantially

smooth guided movement of a substantial length of a follower pin (4) which will be described in later part of this description.
The angle of helix of the slot (3) may be preferably in the range of about 5° to 25°. Most preferably the angle of helix is nearly 7°. The angle of helix is set that the position slot (3) and the follower pin (4) is not altered until further rotation of bezel (1) by user.
A diffuser flap member hereinafter referred to as diffuser flap (7), is pivotally mounted near the posterior end (17) of the housing (12). The pivotal movement i.e. rotational swing of the diffuser flap (7) correspondingly increases or decreases the flow of air from the upstream side of the diffuser flap (7) to the downstream side of the diffuser flap (7).during fully open position of the diffuser flap (7), the diffuser flap (7) is oriented substantially in parallel to the axis of the housing (12). During fully closed positioned of the diffuser flap (7), the diffuser flap (7) is oriented substantially at right angle to the axis of the housing (12). The housing (12) comprises a stopper (9) at the inner peripheral surface or limiting the movement of the diffuser flap (7) beyond the full closure position.
According to the present invention, the rotation of the bezel (1) by the user causes corresponding pivotal movement i.e. rotational swing of the diffuser flap (7) for allowing controlled supply of air into the cabin interior of motor vehicle. The mechanical by which the rotation of the bezel (1) results In


corresponding rotational swing of the diffuser flap (7) according to the present invention is described in detail herein:
In this application, the terms pin member, cam member, slot and associated components and features are used for the purposes of illustration only and explicitly carry their usual meanings. It is expressly stated that mere substitution of the above elements which would function substantially in a similar way to obtain substantially a similar result, will be deemed to be within the scope of this invention.
A sliding member hereinafter referred to as a slider (10) is reciprocatably disposed in-between the anterior end (16) and the posterior end (17) of the housing (12). The slider (10) comprises a longitudinal body having a follower pin (4) at one end and a substantially straight slot (11) at the other end as best illustrated in Fig1.
Fig 2. The slider (10) comprises vertical edge surfaces (14) and horizontal edge surfaces (15) as seen from A-A of Fig1 and best illustrated in Fig 2. A guide (5) (see Fig 2) constrains the reciprocating movement of the slider (10) along the axis of the housing (12) by establishing sliding contact with the vertical and horizontal edge surfaces (14, 15) of the slider (10).
Fig 3. A cam disc (6) integral with an extension pin (8) is rigidly connected to the diffuser flap (7) through a detachable joint preferably a polygonal spigot and socket joint (13) as shown in Fig 3.
On clockwise or anticlockwise rotation of the bezel (1) manually by the
user, the follower pin (4) is guided respectively along the increasing or

decreasing angle of the helical slot (3) which subsequently results in respective downward or upward movement of the slider (10). As the slider (10) slides upwards or downwards, the guiding movement of the extension pin (8) within the straight slot (11) of the slider (10) makes the cam disc (6) rotate which in turn causes rotational swing of the diffuser flap (7) about its supporting pivot point.
The degree of rotational swing of the diffuser flap (7) is corresponding to the degree of rotation of the bezel (1). The amount of air flow from the upstream side to the downstream side of the diffuser flap (7) is proportional to the degree of swing of the diffuser flap (7). Therefore the control air flow into the cabin is set in proportion to the degree of rotation of the bezel (1) through the helical slot - follower pin - slider - cam disc link mechanism.
Thus, while there have been shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the present invention as applied to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the methods described may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Substitutions of elements from one described embodiment to another are also fully intended and contemplated. It is possible to

We Claim:
1) A ventilation nozzle device for use in cabin interior of motor vehicle comprising:
a). a substantially cylindrical enclosure, comprising thereof an anterior end and a posterior end;
b). a user interface member rotatably disposed near said anterior end;
c). a diffuser flap member pivotally disposed near said posterior end; and
d). a sliding member reciprocatably disposed therebetween said anterior end and said posterior end; wherein
(i) said user interface member comprises a peripheral ring portion thereof with a slot therein said peripheral ring;
(ii) said sliding member comprises a pin member adapted to be guided therewithin said slot;
(iii) said diffuser flap member is connected to a cam member coordinatingly articulated to said sliding member such that rotation of said user interface member causes guiding of said pin into the slot, enabling reciprocation of the sliding member and thereby resulting in rotation of the cam member, for corresponding pivotal movement of the diffuser

flap for controlled flow of air through the user interface member, in proportion to the degree of rotation of the interface member by the user.
2. The device as claimed in claim 1 comprises a guide member for constraining the reciprocating movement of the sliding member.
3. The device as claimed in claim 2 wherein the guide member constrains the reciprocating movement of the sliding member along the axis of the enclosure.
4. The device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cam member is connected to the diffuser flap by a polygonal spigot and socket joint.
5. The device as claimed in claim 1 to 3 wherein the slot is a helical slot.
6. The device as claimed in claim 5 wherein the angle of helix of the slot is in the range of 5° to 25°.
7. The device as claimed in claim 6 wherein the angle of helix is 7°.
Dated this 22nd day of September, 2003
FOR TATA AUTOPLASTIC SYSTEMS LTD. By their Agent
(MANISH SAURASTRI) KRISHNA & SAURASTRI

Documents:

992-mum-2003-abstract(25-05-2004).doc

992-mum-2003-abstract(25-05-2004).pdf

992-mum-2003-cancelled pages(13-01-2005).pdf

992-mum-2003-claims(granted)-(13-01-2005).doc

992-mum-2003-claims(granted)-(13-01-2005).pdf

992-mum-2003-correspondence(13-01-2007).pdf

992-mum-2003-correspondence(ipo)-(27-12-2004).pdf

992-mum-2003-drawing(13-01-2005).pdf

992-mum-2003-form 1(22-09-2003).pdf

992-mum-2003-form 19(22-09-2003).pdf

992-mum-2003-form 2(granted)-(13-01-2005).doc

992-mum-2003-form 2(granted)-(13-01-2005).pdf

992-mum-2003-form 3(25-05-2004).pdf

992-mum-2003-form 5(22-09-2003).pdf

992-mum-2003-general power of attorney(09-06-2003).pdf

abstract1.jpg


Patent Number 207164
Indian Patent Application Number 992/MUM/2003
PG Journal Number 30/2007
Publication Date 27-Jul-2007
Grant Date 23-May-2007
Date of Filing 22-Sep-2003
Name of Patentee TATA AUTO PLASTIC SYSTEMS LTD.
Applicant Address SURVEY NO. 235 & 245, VILLAGE HINJEWADI TAL MULSHI, PUNE,
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 MANOJ CHANDRAKANT GANGAL FLAT NO. 10, BUILDING D-4, POPULAR NAGAR, OFF. BOMBAY-BANGALORE HIGHWAY, WARJE MALWADI, PUNE-411 038,
PCT International Classification Number B60H 1/34
PCT International Application Number N/A
PCT International Filing date
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 NA