Claims
- 1. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising:
a heater core for heating air to be blown into a passenger compartment by performing a heat-exchange between the air and a fluid supplied into the heater core, the fluid having recovered exhaust heat generated in the vehicle; a heat pump cycle including an interior heat exchanger for performing a heat-exchange between a refrigerant and the air to be blown into the passenger compartment, and an exterior heat exchanger for performing a heat-exchange between the refrigerant and outside air; and a control unit for controlling operation of the heat pump cycle to switch one of a heating assist operation where the interior heat exchanger radiates heat to heat the air together with the heater core, and a defrosting operation where the exterior heat exchanger is defrosted using heat radiated from the exterior heat exchanger while the interior heat exchanger absorbs heat from the air, wherein:
the control unit sets a heating degree of the heater core to be higher than a predetermined heating degree when the operation of the heat pump cycle is switched to the heating assist operation from the defrosting operation.
- 2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:
the fluid supplied into the heater core is cooling water for cooling an engine mounted on the vehicle; and when the operation of the heat pump cycle is switched to the heating assist operation from the defrosting operation, a rotational speed of the engine is set higher than a predetermined rotational speed so that the heating degree of the heater core becomes higher than the predetermined heating degree.
- 3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:
when the operation of the heat pump cycle is switched to the heating assist operation from the defrosting operation, a flow amount of fluid supplied into the heater core is set more than a predetermined flow amount so that the heating degree of the heater core becomes higher than the predetermined heating degree.
- 4. The air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising
a radiator for cooling the fluid by performing a heat exchange between the fluid and outside air, wherein:
the fluid is cooling water for cooling an engine mounted on the vehicle; and when the operation of the heat pump cycle is switched to the heating assist operation from the defrosting operation, cooling water bypasses the radiator so that the heating degree of the heater core becomes higher than the predetermined heating degree.
- 5. The air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising
an air mixing door for adjusting a temperature of air blown into the passenger compartment by adjusting a flow ratio of an air amount passing through the heater core to an air amount passing the interior heat exchanger, wherein when the operation of the heat pump cycle is switched to the heating assist operation from the defrosting operation, the flow ratio of the air mixing door is increased to be higher than a predetermined ratio so that the heating degree of the heater core becomes higher than the predetermined heating degree.
- 6. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:
when the operation of the heat pump cycle is switched to the heating assist operation from the defrosting operation, a target temperature of air to be blown into a passenger compartment of the vehicle is set higher than a predetermined temperature so that the heating degree of the heater core becomes higher than the predetermined heating degree.
- 7. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:
the control unit has a mode setting member for setting one of a defroster mode where air is blown into the passenger compartment toward a front windshield of the vehicle and the other mode where air is blown into the passenger compartment toward a seat side different from the front windshield; when the operation of the heat pump cycle is switched to the heating assist operation from the defrosting operation, the other mode is set by the mode setting member.
- 8. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:
in the defrosting operation, the control unit controls the operation of the heat pump cycle such that temperature of the interior heat exchanger becomes higher than a set temperature.
- 9. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:
the control unit has fogging determining means for determining whether or not a windshield of the vehicle is difficult to be fogged; and when the fogging determining means determines that the windshield is difficult to be fogged, it is determined that a condition for switching the operation of the heat pump cycle from the defrosting operation to the heating assist operation is satisfied.
- 10. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein:
the control unit has stop-state determining means for determining whether or not the vehicle is stopped for a long time longer than a predetermined time period; when the stop-state determining means determines that the vehicle is stopped for the long time, it is determined that a condition for switching the operation of the heat pump cycle from the defrosting operation to the heating assist operation is satisfied.
- 11. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising:
a heater core for heating air to be blown into a passenger compartment by performing a heat-exchange between the air and a fluid having recovered exhaust heat generated in a vehicle; a heat pump cycle including an interior heat exchanger for performing a heat-exchange between a refrigerant and the air to be blown into the passenger compartment, and an exterior heat exchanger for performing a heat-exchange between the refrigerant and outside air; and a control unit for controlling operation of the heat pump cycle to switch one of a heating assist operation where the interior heat exchanger radiates heat to heat the air together with the heater core, and a defrosting operation where the exterior heat exchanger is defrosted using heat radiated from the exterior heat exchanger while the interior heat exchanger absorbs heat from the air, wherein:
the control unit has a mode setting member for setting one of a defroster mode where air is blown into the passenger compartment toward a front windshield of the vehicle and the other mode where air is blown into the passenger compartment toward a seat side different from the front windshield; when the operation of the heat pump cycle is switched to the heating assist operation from the defrosting operation, the other mode is set by the mode setting member.
- 12. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising:
a heater core for heating air to be blown into a passenger compartment by performing a heat-exchange between the air and a fluid having recovered exhaust heat generated in a vehicle; a heat pump cycle including an interior heat exchanger for performing a heat-exchange between a refrigerant and the air to be blown into the passenger compartment, and an exterior heat exchanger for performing a heat-exchange between the refrigerant and outside air; and a control unit for controlling operation of the heat pump cycle to switch one of a heating assist operation where the interior heat exchanger radiates heat to heat the air together with the heater core, and a defrosting operation where the exterior heat exchanger is defrosted using heat radiated from the exterior heat exchanger while the interior heat exchanger absorbs heat from the air, wherein:
in the defrosting operation, the control unit controls the operation of the heat pump cycle such that temperature of the interior heat exchanger becomes higher than a set temperature.
- 13. The air conditioner according to claim 12, further comprising
an inside temperature detection device for detecting an air temperature within the passenger compartment; and an inside humidity detection device for detecting a relative humidity of air in the passenger compartment, wherein:
the control unit has calculation means for calculating a dew point of air to be heat-exchanged with the refrigerant in the interior heat exchanger, based on the air temperature and the relative humidity detected by the inside temperature detection device and the inside humidity detection device; and the dew point is the set temperature.
- 14. The air conditioner according to claim 12, further comprising:
an interior temperature detection device for detecting a temperature of the interior heat exchanger; and an interior humidity detection device for detecting a relative humidity of air directly after passing through the interior heat exchanger, wherein:
the control unit has calculation means for calculating a dew point of air to be heat-exchanged with the refrigerant in the interior heat exchanger, based on the temperature detected by the interior temperature detection device and the relative humidity detected by the interior humidity detection device; and the dew point is the set temperature.
- 15. The air conditioner according to claim 12, further comprising:
an inside air temperature detection device for detecting a temperature of air in the passenger compartment; and an outside air temperature detection device for detecting a temperature of air outside the passenger compartment, wherein: the set temperature is set based on the temperatures detected by the inside air temperature detection device and the outside air temperature detection device.
- 16. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising:
a heater core for heating air to be blown into a passenger compartment by performing a heat-exchange between the air and a fluid having recovered exhaust heat generated in a vehicle; a heat pump cycle including an interior heat exchanger for performing a heat-exchange between a refrigerant and the air to be blown into the passenger compartment, and an exterior heat exchanger for performing a heat-exchange between the refrigerant and outside air; and a control unit for controlling operation of the heat pump cycle to switch one of a heating assist operation where the interior heat exchanger radiates heat to heat the air together with the heater core, and a defrosting operation where the exterior heat exchanger is defrosted using heat radiated from the exterior heat exchanger while the interior heat exchanger absorbs heat from the air, wherein:
the control unit has fogging determining means for determining whether or not a windshield of the vehicle is difficult to be fogged; and when the fogging determining means determines that the windshield is difficult to be fogged, it is determined that a condition for switching the operation of the heat pump cycle from the defrosting operation to the heating assist operation is satisfied.
- 17. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 16, wherein
when a vehicle speed is lower than a predetermined speed, the fogging determination means determines that the windshield is difficult to be fogged.
- 18. The air conditioner according to claim 16, wherein:
the control unit has a mode setting member for setting one of a defroster mode where air is blown into the passenger compartment toward a front windshield of the vehicle and the other mode where air is blown into the passenger compartment toward a seat side different from the front windshield; the fogging determining means determines that the windshield is difficult to be fogged when the other mode is set by the mode setting member.
- 19. The air conditioner according to claim 16, wherein the fogging determining means determines that the windshield is difficult to be fogged when a predetermined time passes after the defrosting operation is ended.
- 20. An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising:
a heater core for heating air to be blown into a passenger compartment by performing a heat-exchange between the air and a fluid having recovered exhaust heat generated in a vehicle; a heat pump cycle including an interior heat exchanger for performing a heat-exchange between a refrigerant and the air to be blown into the passenger compartment, and an exterior heat exchanger for performing a heat-exchange between the refrigerant and outside air; and a control unit for controlling operation of the heat pump cycle to switch one of a heating assist operation where the interior heat exchanger radiates heat to heat the air together with the heater core, and a defrosting operation where the exterior heat exchanger is defrosted using heat radiated from the exterior heat exchanger while the interior heat exchanger absorbs heat from the air, wherein:
the control unit has stop-state determining means for determining whether or not the vehicle is stopped for a long time longer than a predetermined time period; when the stop-state determining means determines that the vehicle is stopped for the long time, it is determined that a condition for switching the operation of the heat pump cycle from the defrosting operation to the heating assist operation is satisfied.
- 21. The air conditioner according to claim 20, wherein:
the stop state determining means determines that the vehicle is stopped for the long time when an ignition switch for controlling the operation of an engine mounted on the vehicle is turned off.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
2001-256153 |
Aug 2001 |
JP |
|
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is related to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-256153 filed on Aug. 27, 2001, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.