Patent ID: 6138749
Filing Date: 2000-10-31
Classification: B60H

Abstract:
An automobile air conditioner for conditioning air to be blown into an automobile passenger compartment, comprising:a housing defining first and second intake ports for receiving air supplied from within, and outside of, the passenger compartment respectively, and a plurality of vents for outputting conditioned air into the passenger compartment;a heat exchanger for heating the supplied air;an air bypass device that is operative to cause a predetermined quantity of the supplied air to bypass the heat exchanger;a vent-switching device that is operative to selectively open or close one or more of the plurality of vents;a linkage mechanism that interconnects the vent-switching device and the air bypass device; andan actuator in communication with the linkage mechanism that selectively actuates the air bypass device, the vent-switching device, or both the air bypass device and the vent-switching device, via the linkage mechanism;the vent-switching device being connected to the linkage mechanism via a lost motion linkage plate so that the vent-switching device is maintained in place during actuation of the air bypass device in response to a predetermined operating mode;wherein the housing further defines a warm air passage for causing air to pass through and to be heated by the heat exchanger, a cold air bypass passage for causing air to bypass the heat exchanger device, a mixing chamber in which both the air from the warm air passage and the air from the cold air bypass passage are mixed before being output into the passenger compartment, and a warm air bypass passage for causing the air heated by the heat exchanger to bypass the mixing chamber and to be output directly to the passenger compartment.