GB2341443A - Air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

In an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, a face door (20) includes a door body portion (20a) for opening and closing a face opening portion (17) and a supplementary door portion (20b) provided at a top end of the door body portion. The supplementary door portion is bent from the top end of the door body portion toward a warm air passage (14) through which air having passed through a heating heat exchanger (9) flows, to close a part of the warm air passage when the face door is operated to a position for setting a face mode. Thus, even when hot water as a heating source always flows through the heating heat exchanger, when a maximum cooling is set during the face mode, the supplementary door portion can prevent high-temperature air in the warm air passage from being mixed into air bypassing the heating heat exchanger. As a result, the air conditioning apparatus can improve maximum cooling performance for a passenger compartment. Further, because the face door is bent, the space required for the face door can be decreased.

Description

2341443 AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS FOR VEHICLE The present invention

relates to an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, which adjusts temperature of air blown toward a passenger compartment of the vehicle by adjusting an air flow ratio between cool air and warm air, while improving maximum cooling capacity.

In a conventional vehicle air conditioning apparatus described in USP 5,836,380 or USP 5,755,107, a cooling heat exchanger (e.g., evaporator) is disposed approximately horizontally in an air conditioning case, and a heating heat exchanger (e.g., heater core) is disposed approximately horizontally on an upper side of the cooling heat exchanger, so that a size of an air conditioning unit disposed in a passenger compartment is decreased. Further, a blower unit is disposed on a side of the air conditioning unit in a vehicle right-left direction.

In the conventional air conditioning apparatus, a switching door for opening and closing a warm air passage downstream the heating heat exchanger is not disposed.

Therefore, when a hot water valve for adjusting an amount of hot water flowing into the heating heat exchanger is not provided so that hot water always flows into the heating heat exchanger during a maximum cooling, high-temperature air staying in the warm air passage is mixed into cool air in a bypass passage. As a result, temperature of air blown toward the passenger compartment is increased during the maximum cooling, and maximum cooling capacity for the passenger compartment is decreased.

To overcome this problem, in USP 5,836,380, a top end portion of a plate-like face door for opening and closing a face opening portion extends to protrude into the warm air passage, and is used as an air guide portion. The top end portion of the face door closes a part of the warm air passage during a face mode, so that it can prevent high-temperature air staying in the warm air passage from being mixed into cool air in the bypass passage. However, because the top end portion linearly extends in the face door, a rotation space of the face door is increased. Therefore, a size of the air conditioning unit is increased, and door-operation performance is deteriorated.

In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, which can prevent maximum cooling capacity for a passenger compartment from being decreased, while reducing a size of an air conditioning unit and improving operation performance of a face door.

According to the present invention, in an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, when a maximum cooling where an air mixing door fully closes an air inlet of a heating heat exchanger is set during a face mode where a face opening portion for blowing air toward an upper side of a passenger compartment is fully opened, hot water as a heating source always flows through the heating heat exchanger. In the air conditioning apparatus, a face door for opening and closing the face opening portion includes a door body portion having a dimension for fully closing the face opening portion, and a supplementary door portion on a top of the door body portion. The supplementary door portion is bent from the top end of the door body portion toward a warm air passage downstream the heating heat exchanger to close a part of the warm air passage when the face door is operated to a position where the face mode is set. Thus, during the maximum cooling, the supplementary door prevents high-temperature air staying in the warm air passage from being mixed into air from a bypass passage. As a result, even when hot water always flows through the heating heat exchanger, it can prevent the maximum cooling capacity for the passenger compartment from being decreased. Further, the supplementary door portion is bent from the top end of the door body portion of the face door toward the warm air passage. Therefore, an arrangement space of the face door can be decreased, and a rotation angle of the face door can be made smaller while the supplementary door closes a part of the warm air passage. Therefore, in the air conditioning apparatus, door operation performance of the face door is improved, and a size of an air conditioning unit of the air conditioning apparatus is decreased.

Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing an entire structure of an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle according to.a preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional view of an air conditioning unit of the air conditioning apparatus according to the preferred embodiment; and FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2, for explaining different points between the preferred embodiment and a comparison example.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle includes a blower unit 1 and an air conditioning unit 2. The air conditioning apparatus is disposed in a passenger compartment around an instrument panel. For example, in a vehicle having a right steering wheel, the air conditioning unit 2 is disposed approximately at a center portion of the passenger compartment in a vehicle right-left direction (i.e., vehicle width direction), and the blower unit 1 is disposed at a left side of the air conditioning unit 2 to be shifted from the center portion in the vehicle right-left direction.

The blower unit 1 includes an inside/outside air switching box 3 and a blower 4. The inside/outside air switching box 3 is disposed at an upper side of the blower 4.

The inside/outside air switching box 3 has an inside air introduction port 3a for introducing therein inside air (i.e., air inside the passenger compartment), an outside air introduction port 3b for introducing therein outside air (i.e., air outside the passenger compartment), and an inside/outside air switching door (not shown) for opening and closing both the introduction ports 3a, 3b.

The blower 4 is disposed under the inside/outside air switching box 3. The blower 4 includes a centrifugal fan (sirocco fan) 4a for blowing air, a driving motor 4b for driving the fan 4a, and a fan case 4c for accommodating the fan 4a. The fan case 4c is made of resin, and is formed into a scroll shape. An air outlet portion of the fan case 4c is connected to one end of a middle duct 5, and the other end of the middle duct 5 is connected to an air inlet portion 6 of the air conditioning unit 2. The air conditioning unit 2 includes an air conditioning case 7 made of resin, and the air inlet portion 6 is provided in a left side wall of the air conditioning case 7 at a lower side.

The air conditioning unit 2 is a horizontal type in which an evaporator (i.e., cooling heat exchanger) 8 of a refrigerant cycle and a heater core (i.e., heating heat exchanger) 9 are disposed approximately horizontally. The evaporator 8 is disposed approximately horizontally in the air conditioning case 7 to form an air passage 10 on a lower side of the evaporator 8. Thus, air blown by an operation of the centrifugal fan 4a flows into the air passage 10 through the middle duct 5 and the air inlet portion 6. As shown by an arrow A in FIG. 2, air flows through the air passage 10 approximately horizontally from a vehicle left side toward a vehicle right side in the width direction of the vehicle.

Hereinafter, the air-blowing direction in the air passage 10 shown by arrow A is referred to as lair-blowing direction A".

The evaporator 8 is formed in thin in a flow direction of air, and has a rectangular shape. The evaporator 8 includes a heat-exchanging core portion composed of plural laminated tubes forming a refrigerant passage and plural corrugated fins each of which is disposed between adjacent tubes. Air flowing through the air passage 10 in the air blowing direction A is bent, and passes through clearances between tubes and corrugated fins of the heat-exchanging core portion of the evaporator 8 upwardly from below. Thus, air passing through the evaporator 8 is cooled by absorbing an evaporation latent heat of refrigerant of the refrigerant cycle from air.

The heater core 9 is thin in a flow direction of air, and has a rectangular shape. The heater core 9 heats air passing therethrough using hot water (engine-cooling water) from an engine of the vehicle as a heating source. The heater core 9 has a tank portion for distributing and joining hot water, a plurality of tubes through which hot water flows, and corrugated fins each of which is disposed between adjacent tubes.

In the embodiment, a hot water valve for adjusting an amount of hot water flowing into the heater core 9 is not provided, and the heater core 9 is directly connected to a water circuit of the vehicle engine. Therefore, when a water pump is operated when the vehicle engine operates, hot water always f lows into the heater core 9 by operation of a hot water pump.

The heater core 9 is disposed approximately horizontally in the air conditioning case 7 on an upper side of the evaporator 8 so that air from the evaporator 8 passes through the heater core 9 upwardly f rom below. The heater core 9 is slightly inclined by an inclination angle in a vehicle front-rear direction. As shown in FIG. 2, the heater core 9 is disposed in the air conditioning case 7 at a front side of the vehicle to form a bypass passage 11 on a rear side of the heater core 9 in the vehicle front-rear direction.

Through the bypass passage 11, air having passed through the evaporator 8 bypasses the heater core 9.

A plate-like air mixing door 12 is disposed between the evaporator 8 and the heater core 9 on the vehicle rear side. The air mixing door 12 is connected to a rotation shaft 13 to be rotated around the rotation shaft 13. The air mixing door 12 adjusts a ratio between an amount of air passing through the heater core 9 and an amount of air passing through the bypass passage 11, so that temperature of air blown into the passenger compartment is adjusted.

As shown in FIG. 2, a warm air passage 14 is formed at an upper side of the heater core 9 in the air conditioning case 7 by a wall portion 15, and air passing through the heater core 9 flows into the warm air passage 14. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, warm air "all from the warm air passage 14 and cool air "b" from the bypass passage 11 are mixed in an air mixing chamber 16 so that air to be blown into the passenger compartment has a predetermined temperature.

A face opening portion 17 is provided in an upper wall portion of the air conditioning case 7 at a vehicle rear side.

The face opening portion 17 communicates with a face air outlet through which air is blown toward the head portion of a passenger in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. A defroster opening portion 18 for blowing air toward an inner surface of a windshield is provided in the upper wall portion of the air conditioning case 7 at a front side of the face opening portion 17. Further, a foot opening portion 19 for blowing air toward the foot area of the passenger in the passenger compartment is provided on both right and left side walls of the air conditioning case 7 at a position upper than the warm air passage 14.

Both mode switching doors 20, 21 are rotatably disposed in the air conditioning case 7 to open and close the opening portions 17-19. That is, the mode switching door 20 is a face door for opening and closing the face opening portion 17 and an inlet of a communication path 22, and the mode switching door 21 is a foot/defroster switching door for switching a communication between the communication path 2 2 and the defroster opening portion 18 and the communication between the communication path 22 and the foot opening portion 19. Therefore, the mode switching door 21 opens and closes the defroster opening portion 18 and the foot opening portion 19. The mode switching doors 20, 21 are connected to rotation shafts 23, 24, respectively, and rotated around the rotation shafts 23, 24, respectively.

Next, the face door 20 will be described in detail.

The face door 20 includes a door body portion 20a which has a size for opening and closing the face opening portion 17 and the communication path 22, and a supplementary door portion 20b at a top end of the door body portion 20a. The supplementary door portion 20b is bent from the door body portion 20a so that a V-shaped face door 20 is formed. That is, the supplementary door portion 20b and the door body portion 20a are formed into a V-shape. Here, the door body portion 20a, the supplementary door portion 20b and the rotation shaft 23 can be integrally formed by resin.

A seal member 20c made of a porous-foam material such as urethane foam is bonded on both surfaces of the door body portion 20a. By using the seal member 20c, seal performance between the face door 20 and a door contacting surface around the face opening portion 17, and seal performance between the face door 20 and a door contacting surface around the communication path 22 can be obtained. on the other hand, the supplementary door portion 20b is not provided with a seal member.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the face door 20 is rotated to the solid line position in FIG. 2 during a face mode, the face opening portion 17 is fully opened and the communication path 22 is fully closed. when the face door 20 is rotated to the solid line position in FIG. 2, the supplementary door portion 20b closes an upper part of an air outlet portion of the warm air passage 14, and a lower part of the air outlet portion of the warm air passage 14 is opened. That is, the face door 20 is formed into a V-shape so that the supplementary door portion 20b is bent from the door body portion 20a of the face door 20 toward the warm air passage 14. When the face door 20 is rotated to the solid line position in FIG. 2, the supplementary door portion 20b of the face door 20 closes the upper part of the air outlet portion of the warm air passage 14, and a lower part of the air outlet portion of the warm air passage is not closed by the supplementary door portion 20b, so that an opening 26 having a small opening degree is formed. Therefore, the warm air passage 14 communicates with the bypass passage 11 through the opening 26 on the lower part of the air outlet portion of the warm air passage 14.

The rotation shaft 23 of the face door 20 is rotatably disposed on the upper wall surface of the air conditioning case 7 between the face opening portion 17 and the defroster opening portion 18. Therefore, during the face mode, the face door 20 is operated to the solid line position in FIG. 2 to be hung from the rotation shaft 23 downwardly. Further, during an air outlet mode such as a defroster mode and a foot mode, the face door 20 is operated to the chain line position in FIG. 2 to fully close the face opening portion 17. When the face door 20 closes the face opening portion 17, the supplementary door portion 20b of the face door 20 is accommodated in an inclined recess portion 25 of the air conditioning case 7. The inclined recess portion 25 is formed to be inclined downwardly from a position at a vehicle rear side of the face opening portion 17.

Next, operation of the air conditioning apparatus according to the embodiment will be now described. When operation switch (not shown) of the air conditioning apparatus is turned on, the fan 4a of the blower 4 is rotated.

Therefore, air sucked from the inside/outside air switching box 3 flows approximately horizontally within the fan casing 4c, passes through the middle duct 5 as shown by arrow A in FIG. 1, and flows into the air passage 10 on the lower side of the evaporator 8 from the air inlet portion 6 of the air conditioning case 2.

Thereafter, air in the air passage 10 upwardly passes through the evaporator 8 from below, and is cooled by refrigerant flowing through the tubes of the heat-exchanging core portion of the evaporator 8. Air cooled by the evaporator 8 further flows upwardly, and is divided into air passing through the heater core 9 and air passing through the bypass passage 11 according to the rotation position of the air mixing door 12.

Air introduced into the heater core 9 is heated to be warm air while passing through the heater core 9, and the warm air flows into the air mixing chamber 16 through the warm air passage 14. warm air from the warm air passage 14 and cool air from the bypass passage 11 are mixed in the air mixing chamber 16, so that the temperature of air to be blown into the passenger compartment is controlled at a predetermined temperature.

Conditioned air having a predetermined temperature is blown into the passenger compartment through one or plural opening portions selected by the mode switching doors 20, 21, such as the face opening portion 17, the defroster opening portion 18 and the foot opening portion 19. That is, by the operation of the mode switching doors 20, 21, various air outlet modes can be set. The various air outlet modes includes the face mode where only the face opening portion 17 is opened, a bi-level mode where both of the face opening portion 17 and the foot opening portion 19 are opened, a foot mode where both of the defroster opening portion 18 and the foot opening portion 19 are opened, and a defroster mode where only the defroster opening portion 18 is opened.

During an air outlet mode such as the foot mode and the defroster mode, the face door 20 is operated to the chain line position in FIG. 2, so that the face opening portion is fully closed by the door body portion 20a of the face door 20, and the supplementary door portion 20b of the face door 20 is accommodated in the inclined recess portion 25 of the air conditioning case 7. Theref ore, an air flow from the air mixing chamber 16 toward the defroster opening portion 18 and the foot opening portion 19 is not affected by the supplementary door portion 20b of the face door 20.

on the other hand, during the face mode, the face door is operated to the solid line position in FIG. 21 so that the face opening portion 17 is fully opened and the communication path 22 is fully closed by the face door 20.

Because the supplementary door portion 20b bent from the top end of the door body portion 20a toward the warm air passage 14 in the V-shaped is formed, the upper part of the air outlet portion of the warm air passage 14 is closed by the supplementary door portion 20b of the face door 20, and the lower part thereof communicates with the bypass passage 11 through the opening 26.

When a temperature control area is set during the face mode, the air mixing door 12 is rotated from the solid line position in FIG. 2 by a predetermined rotation amount, so that an inlet passage toward the heater core 9 is opened.

Therefore, an air amount corresponding to the rotation position of the air mixing door 12 flows into the heater core 9 to be heated. Air having passed through the heater core 9 passes through the warm air passage 14, and flows into the air mixing chamber 16 through the opening 26 provided under a top end of the supplementary door 20b. Air f rom the warm air passage 14 through the opening 26 and cool air from the bypass passage 11 are mixed in the air mixing chamber 16 to have a predetermined temperature. Thus, temperature control function during the face mode can be improved.

When a maximum cooling is set during the f ace mode, the air mixing door 12 is operated to the solid line position in FIG. 2 to fully close the inlet passage toward the heater core 9. Therefore, during the maximum cooling, air does not f lows through the heater core 9. In the embodiment, a hot water valve is not provided in a water circuit of the heater core 9, hot water always f lows into the heater core 9 even during the maximum cooling. Therefore, air around the heater core 9 is heated to have a high temperature, and rises toward the warm air passage 14 due to natural convection between cool air and warm air. Accordingly, air having a high-temperature stays in the warm air passage 14.

However, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the upper part of the air outlet portion of the warm air passage 14 is closed by the supplementary door portion 20b of the face door 20, the supplementary door portion 20b can effectively prevent high-temperature air staying in the warm air passage 14 from being moved toward the air mixing chamber 16. That is, because high-temperature air staying in the warm air passage 14 tends to rise upwardly due to natural convection, the high-temperature air hardly moves toward the opening 26 having a small opening degree formed under the top end of the supplementary door portion 20b. As a result, it can effectively prevent high-temperature air in the warm air passage 14 from being mixed into cool air from the bypass passage 11 by the supplementary door portion 20b of the face door 20.

Next, the V-shape formed from the door body portion 20a and the supplementary door portion 20b of the face door 20 will be now described. If the door body portion 20a and the supplementary door portion 20b of the face door 20 are formed on a straight line as shown in FIG. 3, it is necessary to form an enlarged portion 27 for accommodating the supplementary door portion 20b in the air conditioning case 7 adjacent to the face opening portion 17, thereby increasing the size of the air conditioning case 7.

Further, when the door body portion 20a and the supplementary door portion 20b of the face door 20 are formed into the V-shape as described in the above-described embodiment, a rotation angle 0 1 of the face door 20 between a position where the upper part of the air outlet portion of the warm air passage 14 is closed by the supplementary door portion 20b and a position where the face door 20 fully closes the face opening portion 17 can be made smaller than a rotation angle 0 2 of a face door formed into a straight line.

Therefore, when the face door is formed into a straight line, door operation force for operating the face door is increased due to a large rotation angle, and door operation performance is decreased. According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, because the face door 20 is formed into the V-shape, the rotation angle of the face door 20 can be made smaller, thereby improving the door operation performance.

Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

For example, In the above-described embodiment, the face door 20 is formed into the V-shape. However, the face door 20 may be formed into a circular arc shape. In this case, the air conditioning case 7 has a portion corresponding to the shape of the supplementary door portion 20b adjacent to the face opening portion 17, so that the supplementary door portion 20b is accommodated in the portion when the face door 20 fully closes the face opening portion 17. Here, the supplementary door portion 20b may be bent in a circular arc shape from a top end of a plate-like door body portion.

Further, an arc-shaped portion may be provided between the door body portion and the supplementary door portion each of which is formed into an approximate straight line.

In the above-described embodiment, the evaporator 8 is disposed in the air conditioning case 7 approximately horizontally, so that air passes through the evaporator 8 f rom below upwardly. However, the present invention may be applied to an air conditioning unit where arrangement of air conditioning equipments is changed. For example, the present invention may be applied to an air conditioning unit where air passes through the evaporator 8 downwardly from above, and passes through the heater core 9 upwardly from below after an air-flow direction is reversely changed. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the evaporator 8 and the heater core 9 are disposed approximately horizontally. However, the present invention may be applied to an air conditioning unit where the evaporator 8 and the heater core 9 are arranged in the other arrangement.

Such changes and modifications are to be understood as being within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims (15)

Claims -

1. An air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle having a passenger compartment, said air conditioning apparatus comprising:

an air conditioning case for forming an air passage, said air conditioning case having a face opening portion for blowing air toward an upper side of the passenger compartment; a blower for generating an air flow in said air conditioning case; a cooling heat exchanger, disposed in said air conditioning case, for cooling air blown from said blower; a heating heat exchanger for heating air from said cooling heat exchanger, said heating heat exchanger being disposed in said air conditioning case to form a bypass passage through which air having passed through said cooling heat exchanger bypasses said heating heat exchanger and to form a warm air passage through which air having passed through said heating heat exchanger flows; an air mixing door, disposed between said cooling heat exchanger and said heating heat exchanger, for adjusting a ratio between an amount of air passing through said heating heat exchanger and an amount of air passing through said bypass passage so that temperature of air blown toward said face opening portion is adjusted; and a face door for opening and closing said face opening portion, said face door including a door body portion having a dimension for fully closing said face opening portion, and a supplementary door portion on a top end of said door body portion, wherein: said heating heat exchanger heats air using hot water flowing therein as a heating source, and hot water flows into said heating heat exchanger even when a maximum cooling in which said air mixing door closes an air inlet of said heating heat exchanger is set during a face mode where said face opening portion is fully opened by said face door; and said supplementary door portion is bent from'the top end of said door body portion toward said warm air passage to close a part of said warm air passage when said face mode is set.

2. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a warm air guide wall extending approximately horizontally, for defining said bypass passage, wherein: said cooling heat exchanger is disposed approximately horizontally; said heating heat exchanger is disposed on an upper side of said cooling heat exchanger approximately horizontally so that air from said cooling heat exchanger passes through said heating heat exchanger from below upwardly; said bypass passage is provided at a side of said heating heat exchanger; said warm air guide wall is provided on an upper side of. said heating heat exchanger, so that said warm air passage extends approximately horizontally toward said bypass passage, and air from said bypass passage and air from said warm air passage are mixed in an air mixing chamber provided an air outlet side of said warm air passage; said face opening portion is provided in said air conditioning case on an upper side of said air mixing chamber; said face door contacts an end of said warm air guide wall at a contacting portion, during said face mode; and said supplementary door portion is on a lower side of the contacting portion to close an upper part of said warm air passage during said face mode.

3. The air conditioning apparatus according to any one of claims I and 2, wherein said supplementary door portion is bent from said door body portion toward said warm air passage to have a predetermined angle therebetween.

4, The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein: said door body portion and said supplementary door portion are integrally formed from resin into a V-shape.

5. The air conditioning apparatus according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein said supplementary door has a surface which approximately contacts an inner surface of said air conditioning case at a position adjacent to said face opening portion when said door body portion is operated to a position closing said face opening portion.

6. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said face door is formed into a circular arc shape.

7. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said supplementary door portion and said door body portion are integrated to have an arc shape therebetween.

8. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: said door body portion is formed into a straight line; and said supplementary door portion is bent from the top end of said door body portion in a circular arc shape.

9. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said air conditioning case has a recess portion for accommodating said supplementary door portion when said face opening portion is closed by said face door.

10. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said face door includes a seal member bonded on both surfaces of said door body portion.

11. An air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle having a passenger compartment, said air conditioning apparatus comprising: an air conditioning case for forming an air passage, said air conditioning case having a face opening portion for blowing air toward an upper side of the passenger compartment; a blower for generating an air flow in said air passage; a cooling heat exchanger, disposed in said air conditioning case, for cooling air blown from said blower; a heating heat exchanger for heating air from said cooling heat exchanger, said heating heat exchanger being disposed in said air conditioning case to form a bypass passage through which air having passed through said cooling heat exchanger bypasses said heating heat exchanger and to form a warm air passage through which air having passed through said heating heat exchanger flows; an air mixing door for adjusting a ratio between an amount of air passing through said heating heat exchanger and an amount of air passing through said bypass passage so that temperature of air blown toward said face opening portion is adjusted; and a face door for opening and closing said face opening portion, said face door including a door body portion having a dimension for fully closing said face opening portion, and a supplementary door portion on a top end of said door body portion, wherein said face door is bent so that a part of said warm air passage is closed by said supplementary door portion when a face mode where said face opening portion is fully opened by said face door is set.

12. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said supplementary door portion is bent from said door body portion so that said face door is formed into a vshape.

13. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said supplementary door portion is bent from said door body portion so that said face door is formed into a circular arc shape.

14. An air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, the air conditioning apparatus being substantially as - described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

15. A vehicle including an air conditioning apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim.