Abstract: The invention is based on the premise that, for a given air blower, the current I consumed by the electric motor, the rotational speed N and the air flow rate Q are interconnected, regardless of the dynamic pressure, by a law Q=f(I, N) which can be experimentally determined on a ventilation bench. In order to perform any adjustment, I and N are measured, from which a calculator derives Q by means of the above-mentioned law. The comparison of the calculated value with the desired flow rate Qd provides an error signal which is applied to a control device which determines the supply voltage (U) of the motor of the blower. The invention is applicable to heating or air-conditioning installations for the passenger space of vehicles.

Abstract: A control apparatus for a heating and/or air conditioning installation, especially in a motor vehicle, which includes at least two modules, each of which is in the form of parallelepiped. Each module is arranged to contain at least one control member and has fastening means for fastening the modules together. A front plate is fitted on the from of the modules, and has at least one aperture through which at least one control member can pass, and/or which is adapted to carry a control knob. The fastening means consist of groves and matching ribs which extend centrally over the whole length of lateral faces of the modules. This enables a rib or groove of one module to be fit into a groove or rib, respectively, of another module.

Abstract: A heating and ventilating apparatus for a motor vehicle having either an internal combustion engine or an electric propulsion motor, where the heat given off by the engine or motor is insufficient to provide heating requirements for the cabin of the vehicle under all conditions, comprises an air inlet chamber associated with a blower, and an air outlet chamber which feeds at least one outlet duct, leading to the cabin. A heating branch is interposed between the inlet chamber and the outlet chamber, with heating means arranged in the air heating branch. The heating means comprise a radiant heater having pure or passive resistance, together with a radiant electric heater having a positive temperature co-efficient resistance, the two heaters being connected electrically in series in a circuit which is supplied by a voltage source.

Abstract: In a cooling fluid circuit comprising a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve and an evaporator, a heat exchanger is provided to transfer heat from the duct arriving at the expansion valve to the duct arriving at the compressor, so as to condense the residual vapor and/or to vaporize the residual liquid respectively which may be found therein. The fluid reaching the expansion valve and the fluid reaching the compressor are thus practically free from a vapor phase and liquid phase respectively, which improves the operation of the device. The invention is particularly applicable to the air-conditioning of the passenger space of motor vehicles.

Abstract: An apparatus for heating and ventilating, and/or air conditioning, the cabin of a motor vehicle, and in particular an electric vehicle, comprises a series of elements arranged in a generally horizontal succession along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. These elements comprise: a blower for producing a stream of cold air; a first duct fed by the blower and divided into a cold air transmission branch and an air heating branch which contains a heat recuperator; a selection flap valve for controlling the distribution of the air flow between the two branches; a second duct which receives the outlet air of both of the two branches of the first duct, and which contains at least one electric radiant heater; and a distributor fed by the second duct and including a distribution valve for distributing the cold or heated air between appropriate ventilating ports in the cabin.

Abstract: A heating and ventilating installation for the cabin of a motor vehicle includes a distributor box which has an air inlet arranged to admit a stream of cold air and a stream of heated air. The distributor box also has a plurality of air outlets, including a de-icing air outlet port. A distributor valve is arranged to pivot within the distributor box, and has a guide channel extending in a direction which is generally transverse with respect to the pivot axis of the valve, so as to direct the stream of heated air towards the de-icing air outlet port when the valve is set in a position for de-icing.

Abstract: In a heating and ventilating apparatus for the cabin of a motor vehicle, with or without air conditioning, the apparatus comprises at least one first duct and at least one second duct, which are arranged to deliver, respectively, a stream of cold air and a stream of mixed air through a common aerator vent communicating with the cabin of the vehicle. The apparatus includes a first flap valve for controlling the flow of cold air at the outlet end of the first duct, together with a second flap valve which is arranged to control the flow of the mixed air at the outlet of the second duct. First and second control means are provided for acting on the first and second flap valves respectively.

Abstract: A motor vehicle has a heating and ventilating system for the cabin of the vehicle, including an air treatment zone arranged in front of the cabin, with a recirculating air inlet which passes air from the cabin back to the treatment zone. The floor of the cabin has a double wall defining a recirculating air duct within it, the recirculation air inlet being at the rear end of this duct, so that air can be recirculated from the back of the cabin to the treatment zone in the form of a moving air mattress under the floor. This mattress improves the insulation of the feet of the occupants from the outside atmosphere.

Abstract: An installation for heating, ventilating and air conditioning the cabin of a motor vehicle of the kind in which the steeply inclined windshield forms in effect an upward and rearward extension of the motor hood, with the fascia panel being elongated longitudinally into the cabin of the vehicle, comprises a heating apparatus and a ventilating and air conditioning apparatus, both arranged in the central fascia panel. The ventilating and air conditioning apparatus has at least one upper air inlet port and at least one lower air inlet port, arranged in the fascia panel and directed upwardly and downwardly respectively. These ports are connected to the blower of the ventilating and air conditioning apparatus so as to supply the latter with recirculated air drawn from an upper zone and a lower zone, respectively, of the cabin.

Abstract: The apparatus comprises a circuit of liquid-vapor refrigerant comprising an evaporator and a condenser, both of the fluid-liquid type, and a variable liquid circuit enabling liquid to be circulated, in a summer configuration, between the evaporator and an air conditioning radiator on the one hand and between the condenser and an outer radiator on the other hand, and in winter between the evaporator and the outer radiator on the one hand, and between the condenser and the air conditioning radiator on the other hand. The apparatus is particularly applicable to the air-conditioning of the passenger space of an electric vehicle.

Abstract: The device comprises two condenser/evaporator pairs, belonging to a single refrigerant circuit, which may be selectively brought into operation and disposed at appropriate points on an air circuit having a variable configuration, the first pair being brought into operation in summer so that the evaporator cools a flow of air to be returned into the passenger space, and the second pair being brought into operation in winter so that the condenser heats a flow of air to be conveyed into the passenger space.

Abstract: A motor vehicle air conditioning installation includes a pair of parallel tubes with annular beads at their free ends, for assembly to a component of the fluid circuit of the installation, and a clamping plate or strut connecting the two tubes together. The strut is an elongated plate having two through apertures. One of these is a notch open at one end of the plate. Each aperture has a substantially semicircular region matching the circumference of the associated tubular element fitting within it. The second aperture is surrounded by the material of the plate over its whole periphery, and includes a widened region through which the associated bead of the corresponding tubular element can pass, this widened region being joined directly to the substantially semicircular region. The strut cannot be separated from the tubes without resilient deformation of the latter, which avoids the danger of its becoming lost during disassembly.

Abstract: An electric vehicle has an air conditioning system including an evaporator and a condenser arranged in a refrigerant fluid circuit. The evaporator and condenser are used respectively, in summer for cooling and in winter for heating, the air which is delivered into the cabin of the vehicle. For this purpose, the evaporator and condenser are disposed respectively in a first branch and a second branch of the air circuit, with a valve being provided for bringing each of these branches selectively into communication with a cabin air inlet and an evacuation duct for evacuating air to outside the vehicle.

Abstract: Air to be introduced into the cabin of a motor vehicle passes over a measuring device, in which parameters such as temperature, humidity and pollution are measured. The measuring device comprises a housing having an air inlet, which is supplied with a fraction of the air stream, and an air outlet for evacuating this fraction. The housing has an internal chamber which communicates with both the air inlet and the air outlet, and air circulating means such as a pump are provided for setting up a differential pressure between the inlet and outlet so that the fraction of the air stream to be measured flows through the chamber in the housing. The sensor or sensors are arranged in this chamber, so that they are always ventilated by the air passing through the latter.

Abstract: A vehicle has a cabin and an air conditioning system for cabin air, the system including a ventilator and a compressor. With a view to energy consumption and the time taken for reducing the cabin air temperature to an acceptable value when the vehicle has been left stationary in full sun, the air conditioning system is used for reducing cabin air temperature in three successive stages. These stages are controlled in response to the internal temperature T.sub.i and the external temperature T.sub.e, as follows:(a) when T.sub.i is much greater than T.sub.e, for example due to heating by the sun, the air in the cabin is renewed by direct admission of external air to the cabin at a high flow rate;(b) when T.sub.i is close to T.sub.

Abstract: An electric vehicle has a traction motor and apparatus comprising an air circuit for cooling the traction motor, for providing heat, where required, for the cabin of the vehicle, and for ventilating the cabin. The air circuit of the apparatus comprises a main branch containing a main ventilating and heating blower, together with a secondary branch which is branched from the first branch and which contains the cooling radiator for the traction motor. An auxiliary blower is arranged in the secondary branch. An upstream mixing valve and a downstream mixing valve connect these two branches in parallel, in such a way that either: the flow of cabin heating air passes through the radiator; or the mixing valves isolate the secondary branch, so as to form an entirely separate cooling air circuit in which the air flow is produced by the auxiliary blower.

Abstract: In a heating and ventilating apparatus for the cabin of an automotive vehicle with a facility for supplying air at different temperatures to the driver and the front passenger at the level of the fascia and at the level of their feet, means are provided to ensure that air used for other purposes shall, where necessary, be at a uniform temperature. The apparatus comprises a housing having a fresh air inlet duct and at least three outlet ducts for fresh or heated air. The housing has a central bulkhead which divides the housing into two separate halves, each containing a separate regulating means for regulating the temperature delivered from that half of the housing into the cabin of the vehicle. The de-icing outlet duct and/or the central fascia ventilating air outlet duct are provided with a mixer for ensuring that the temperature delivered through the corresponding outlet duct is uniform.

Abstract: A motor vehicle, for example an electric vehicle, of the kind having a propulsion motor with a low heat loss, i.e. which emits heat at a relatively low rate, has a heating and ventilating apparatus for its cabin. The heating and ventilating apparatus comprises: first heating and ventilating means including a first blower feeding air into a first duct through a first heating radiator, through which fluid heated by the propulsion motor flows; second heating and ventilating means including a second blower feeding air into a second duct through a second heating radiator which is powered electrically; a common delivery duct which is fed by the first and second ducts; and control means for selectively distributing the air streams delivered respectively by the first and second ducts into the delivery duct.

Abstract: A motor vehicle has an electric propulsion motor which is cooled in an air radiator by air forced through the latter by a blower. The blower and air radiator are arranged in an air circuit in series with each other. The air circuit is a closed loop which includes the cabin, so that all the air passing through the air radiator comes from the cabin and can be adjustably recycled back into the cabin or exhausted to the outside. The circuit includes two parallel branches, with an auxiliary electric radiator placed in one of these branches downstream of the blower and the air radiator. A mixing valve enables the proportion of the total air flow passing through the branch containing the auxiliary radiator to be adjusted according to the heating requirements in the cabin.

Abstract: A heating and/or air conditioning apparatus for the cabin of a motor vehicle includes an air blower unit which is supplied with fresh air from outside the vehicle through a fresh air admission duct, and with air from within the cabin of the vehicle for recycling through the apparatus, this air being introduced through a recycling air admission duct. The apparatus also includes adjusting means for adjusting the proportions of the flows of air through the two respective admission ducts. A deodorant filter is placed removably in the recycling air admission duct.