Patent ID: 7100675
Filing Date: 2006-09-05
Classification: B60H

Abstract:
1. An air conditioner for a vehicle comprising: an air conditioning unit disposed substantially in an inside middle portion of an instrument panel in a widthwise direction of the vehicle; an air blowing unit disposed to a front-passenger's side of the air conditioning unit; and an intermediate duct for conducting air from the air blowing unit to the air conditioning unit, a cooling heat exchanger including cooling pipes and a heating heat exchanger including heating pipes are juxtaposed one above the other in the air conditioning unit to produce conditioned air, said cooler pipes and said heater pipes project from a side wall part of the air conditioning unit on the same side as the air blowing unit and are bent to extend toward a front portion of the vehicle, distal ends of said cooler pipes and said heater pipes projecting outwardly from through holes formed in a dash panel placed at a vehicle front side of the air conditioning unit toward an engine room side of the vehicle; wherein said cooler pipes and said heater pipes are supported by the air conditioning unit by respective projecting parts extending toward the vehicle front side, and air, introduced from the intermediate duct into the air conditioning unit passes through the cooling heat exchanger and the heating heat exchanger to produce a conditioned air, wherein, the heater pipe includes an introduction pipe for introducing a heat medium for heat application into the heating heat exchanger and a discharge pipe for discharging the heat medium for heat application from the heating heat exchanger; a part of the introduction pipe and a part of the discharge pipe, extending toward the front portion of the vehicle, are arranged one above the other; wherein the air conditioning unit includes a bracket that supports the introduction and discharge pipes at each of the parts extending toward the front portion of the vehicle, the bracket including a fixed bracket portion which is fixed to the air conditioning unit and a detachable bracket portion which is fixed to the fixed bracket portion, and the fixed bracket portion has two recesses shaped to correspond to an outer surface of the air conditioning unit side of the introduction and discharge pipes, and the detachable bracket portion has two recesses shaped to correspond to an outer surface of the air blowing unit side of the introduction and discharge pipes.