Air conditioner for use in a vehicle
First Claim
1. An air conditioner for use in a vehicle, comprising:
- an air duct having an inside air entrance open to air inside a vehicle chamber and an outside air entrance open to air outside of said vehicle chamber at a first end of said air duct, and a plurality of outlets at positions opposed to a plurality of seats in said vehicle chamber at a second end of said duct;
air blowing means for generating an air flow in said air duct;
heat exchanging means provided in said air duct for exchanging heat of air in said air duct;
inside and outside air change-over means for selectively changing over said first end of said air duct between receiving air through said inside air entrance and receiving air through said outside air entrance;
air outlet change-over means for selectively operating said plurality of air outlets;
seating detection means for detecting a passenger in each of said plurality of seats; and
air outlet change-over control means for, when only one passenger is detected in said vehicle, controlling said air outlet change-over means to open a first one of said plurality of air outlets opposed to said detected passenger'"'"'s respective one of said plurality of seats and to open a second one of said plurality of air outlets closest to said inside air entrance of said air duct, and controlling said inside and outside air change-over means to open said inside air entrance;
wherein, when only one passenger is detected in said vehicle, air discharged from said second one of said plurality of air outlets closest to said inside air entrance is substantially sucked back through said inside air entrance of said air duct.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides an air conditioner for use in a vehicle that gives a comfortable air-conditioning feeling even when only one passenger is seated in a vehicle cabin, and the air-conditioning load of a heat exchanging means such as an evaporator can be reduced as low as possible. When only a driver is seated and an inside air circulation mode is employed in a cooling mode operation, the air blowing mode on the passenger seat side is set to a foot mode, and the degree of opening of an air mix damper 15b on the passenger seat side is set at 0%. Due to the foregoing, a cold wind blown out from a passenger seat lower outlet 11b is immediately sucked into an inside air entrance 25 open to a foot portion of the passenger seat, so that the temperature of an upstream position of the air flow of an evaporator 23 can be lowered. As a result, the cooling load of the evaporator 23 is reduced, and the power consumption of the compressor 27 can be reduced.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. An air conditioner for use in a vehicle, comprising:
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an air duct having an inside air entrance open to air inside a vehicle chamber and an outside air entrance open to air outside of said vehicle chamber at a first end of said air duct, and a plurality of outlets at positions opposed to a plurality of seats in said vehicle chamber at a second end of said duct; air blowing means for generating an air flow in said air duct; heat exchanging means provided in said air duct for exchanging heat of air in said air duct; inside and outside air change-over means for selectively changing over said first end of said air duct between receiving air through said inside air entrance and receiving air through said outside air entrance; air outlet change-over means for selectively operating said plurality of air outlets; seating detection means for detecting a passenger in each of said plurality of seats; and air outlet change-over control means for, when only one passenger is detected in said vehicle, controlling said air outlet change-over means to open a first one of said plurality of air outlets opposed to said detected passenger'"'"'s respective one of said plurality of seats and to open a second one of said plurality of air outlets closest to said inside air entrance of said air duct, and controlling said inside and outside air change-over means to open said inside air entrance; wherein, when only one passenger is detected in said vehicle, air discharged from said second one of said plurality of air outlets closest to said inside air entrance is substantially sucked back through said inside air entrance of said air duct. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification