Patent ID: 7281574

Claim:
A combined automotive vehicle and air conditioning system having an air conditioning unit which defines an airflow path into a passenger compartment of the automotive vehicle, the vehicle defining a longitudinal, front and rear, direction and a transverse, side to side, direction, the air conditioning unit being disposed substantially at a transverse central portion of the automotive vehicle in a front part of the passenger compartment, a rear-face duct portion for guiding conditioned air towards upper bodies of rear-seat occupants, and a foot duct portion for guiding conditioned air towards lower halves of bodies of front-seat and rear-seat occupants, the rear-face duct portion and the foot duct portion being disposed at a longitudinally rearward location in the air conditioning unit, wherein, at an upper location in the air conditioning unit, a rear face inlet, through which the conditioned air is allowed to flow out into the rear face duct portion, is made to open substantially at the transverse central portion of the automotive vehicle, and a foot inlet, through which the conditioned air is allowed to flow out into the foot duct portion, is made to open transversely outwardly of the rear face inlet in a transverse alignment therewith, the rear face duct portion and the foot duct portion extending downwardly from the respective inlets to guide the conditioned air being disposed in the transverse alignment with each other; wherein a front face opening for delivering conditioned air towards upper bodies of the front seat occupants is formed above both the inlets and the front face opening and the foot inlet are selectively opened and closed by a main plate portion of a single door member, and wherein the door member has a communicating portion provided in the main plate portion in such a manner as to correspond to the rear face inlet and a sub-plate portion adapted to rotate with the main plate portion in an interlocking fashion so as to close the rear face inlet, the door member configured such that in a state in which the main plate portion opens the front face opening while closing the foot inlet, the communicating portion and the rear face inlet are allowed to communicate with each other while the sub-plate portion opens the rear face inlet, whereas in a state in which the main plate portion opens the foot inlet while closing the front face opening, the sub-plate portion closes the rear face inlet.