Vehicle air conditioner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10960727-B2
Application number	US-201916288129-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2019
Priority date	Mar 16, 2018
Publication date	Mar 30, 2021
Grant date	Mar 30, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle air conditioner includes: a refrigerant circuit which includes a compressor, an external heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and an evaporator; and a cooling fan. The vehicle air conditioner further includes: a refrigerant temperature detection part; a vehicle environment temperature detection part; and a controller. The refrigerant temperature detection part is configured to determine the temperature of a refrigerant which flows into the expansion valve. The vehicle environment temperature detection part is configured to determine a temperature outside the refrigerant circuit under an installation environment. The controller is configured to control a speed of the cooling fan in a cooling operation time such that a cooling performance with respect to the external heat exchanger is decreased when the temperature difference between a determined refrigerant temperature by the refrigerant temperature detection part and a determined external temperature by the vehicle environment temperature detection part is equal to or less than a first set temperature difference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle air conditioner comprising:
a refrigerant circuit which includes
a compressor that is configured to compress and discharge a refrigerant,
an external heat exchanger that is configured to perform a heat exchange between external air and the refrigerant which is discharged from the compressor,
an expansion valve that is configured to reduce a pressure of the refrigerant applied with the heat exchange at the external heat exchanger, and
an evaporator that is configured to perform a heat exchange between the refrigerant which passes through the expansion valve and air for air conditioning and that is configured to allow the refrigerant which finishes the heat exchange to return to the compressor; and

a cooling fan that is configured to send air to the external heat exchanger,
wherein the refrigerant is circulated through the compressor, the external heat exchanger, the expansion valve, and the evaporator in this order in a cooling operation time, the vehicle air conditioner further comprising:
a refrigerant temperature detector that is configured to detect a temperature of the refrigerant which flows into the expansion valve;
a vehicle environment temperature detector that is provided outside the refrigerant circuit and that is configured to detect an ambient temperature outside the refrigerant circuit; and
a controller that is configured to control parts including the cooling fan,
wherein the controller is configured to reduce a speed of the cooling fan in a cooling operation time when a temperature difference between a detected refrigerant temperature by the refrigerant temperature detector and a detected ambient temperature outside the refrigerant circuit by the vehicle environment temperature detector is equal to or less than a first set temperature difference.

2. The vehicle air conditioner according to claim 1 , further comprising
an open-close door that is configured to open and close a passage of an external air which flows to the external heat exchanger,
wherein the controller is configured to control the open-close door in a cooling operation time such that the passage is opened when the temperature difference between the detected refrigerant temperature by the refrigerant temperature detector and the detected ambient temperature outside the refrigerate circuit by the vehicle environment temperature detector exceeds a second set temperature difference which is a value that is smaller than the first set temperature difference and such that the passage is closed when the temperature difference between the detected refrigerant temperature by the refrigerant temperature detector and the detected ambient temperature outside the refrigerant circuit by the vehicle environment temperature detector is equal to or less than the second set temperature difference.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ishida Osamu
• Maeda Hiroshi
• Sekiguchi Masaki

Classifications

• B60H1/00664

  Construction or arrangement of damper doors (control systems or circuits for damper doors B60H1/00835) · CPC title

• B60H2001/006

  Noise reduction · CPC title

• B60H1/00485

  Valves for air-conditioning devices, e.g. thermostatic valves · CPC title

• B60H1/3211 Primary

  for increasing the efficiency of a vehicle refrigeration cycle · CPC title

• B60H1/00807

  the input being a specific way of measuring or calculating an air or coolant temperature · CPC title