Patent ID: 7806172

Claim:
An air conditioner for a vehicle having a passenger compartment, the air conditioner comprising: a heat exchanger for performing a heat exchange with air; a case accommodating the heat exchanger, for defining an air passage through which air flows into the passenger compartment, the case being provided with a defroster opening through which air flows toward an inner surface of a front windshield of the vehicle, a face opening through which air flows toward an upper side of the passenger compartment, and a foot opening through which air flows toward a lower side of the passenger compartment, at positions downstream from the heat exchanger; and a mode selecting device for opening and closing the defroster opening, the face opening and the foot opening, the mode selecting device including first and second rotary doors, wherein: each of the first and second rotary doors includes a rotation shaft, an outer peripheral door surface separated from a center axial line of the rotation shaft to a radial outside by a predetermined dimension, and two side plates connected to the rotation shaft and end portions of the outer peripheral door surface in an axial direction of the rotation shaft; the first rotary door is disposed to open one of the defroster opening, the face opening and the foot opening while at least partially closing the other two of the defroster opening, the face opening and the foot opening and to close the one of the defroster opening, the face opening and the foot opening while opening the other two of the defroster opening, the face opening and the foot opening, and the second rotary door is disposed to open and close the other two of the defroster opening, the face opening and the foot opening; the first rotary door and the second rotary door are located along an air flow direction; and the second rotary door is located downstream from the first rotary door in the air flow direction; the first rotary door is disposed to open and close the foot opening; the second rotary door is disposed to open and close the defroster opening and the face opening; the case includes right and left side wall portions in the axial direction of the shaft; the foot opening is provided in both of the right and left side wall portions opposite to the side plates of the first rotary door; the heat exchanger includes a heating heat exchanger for heating air; the heating heat exchanger is disposed in the case to form a hot air passage through which air passes through the heating heat exchanger and a cold air passage through which air bypasses the heating heat exchanger; the right and left side wall portions of the case have enlarged portions enlarging the hot air passage to an outside of the right and left sides of the case toward a downstream side of hot air so as to form a hot-air bypass passage; and the foot opening is provided in the right and left side wall portions at a position where the hot-air bypass passage is formed.