Patent ID: 7172018

Claim:
A vehicle air-conditioning system comprising: a cooling heat exchanger for cooling air blown into a passenger compartment; a face opening through which the air having passed the cooling heat exchanger is blown to an upper body region of a passenger in the passenger compartment; a foot opening through which the air having passed the cooling heat exchanger is blown to a foot region of the passenger in the passenger compartment; temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature having a direct correlation with a temperature of the air blown from the cooling heat exchanger; and calculation means for calculating a target air temperature of the air blown into the passenger compartment, wherein the air-conditioning system provides at least a face mode in which the air is blown from the face opening to the upper body region of the passenger in the passenger compartment, and a bi-level mode in which the air is blown from the face opening and the foot opening to both the upper body region and the foot region of the passenger in the passenger compartment, and wherein the system is configured such that the face mode is selected when the target air temperature is between a first predetermined temperature and a second predetermined temperature, which is higher than the first predetermined temperature, the bi-level mode is selected when the target air temperature is higher than the second predetermined temperature, the bi-level mode is selected when the target air temperature is lower than the first predetermined temperature and the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means is higher than a predetermined temperature, and the face mode is selected when the target air temperature is lower than the first predetermined temperature and the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means is lower than the predetermined temperature.