Patent ID: 8251135

Claim:
An air-conditioning system for a motor vehicle, comprising: a housing comprising a pair of coplanar housing parts joined by a housing joint longitudinally extending along respective mating edges of the housing parts, wherein an opening extends through the mating edges of the housing joint between an interior and an exterior of the housing, wherein each housing part includes a projection extending outwardly from an outer surface of the housing, the projections being disposed on opposing sides of the opening, and wherein each projection is formed in a single piece with a respective one of the housing parts; an evaporator disposed within the interior of the housing; an expansion valve disposed on the exterior of the housing; a pair of lines connecting the expansion valve to the evaporator and extending through the opening in the housing joint; and a positioning element configured to position the lines relative to each other, wherein the positioning element is a sheet-metal punched part having a longitudinal axis extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal extension of the housing joint, the positioning element having a first set of two slots configured to receive the lines and a second set of two slots configured to fix the positioning element on the housing; wherein the first set of slots are spaced along a longitudinally extending edge of the positioning element and each extend toward an opposing longitudinally extending edge of the positioning element, wherein a respective one of the lines extends through each of the first set slots and the positioning element is fixed to the expansion valve; and wherein the second set of slots are longitudinally aligned and extend in a line toward each other at opposing longitudinal ends of the positioning element, wherein each of the second set of slots is arranged and shaped in accordance with a respective one of the projections such that the positioning element is pressed onto the projections to rotationally fix the positioning element and expansion valve on the housing.