Patent ID: 9327578
Filing Date: 2016-05-03
CPC Classification: B60H

Claim Text:
1. An air-conditioner that conditions air inside of a passenger compartment of a vehicle using a heat pump refrigerating cycle, the air-conditioner comprising: a case having at least a first air passage and a second air passage independent from each other and extending in an air flowing direction, wherein the case has an air inlet and a plurality of air outlets located opposite from the air inlet, the plurality of air outlets respectively corresponding to a plurality of seats in the vehicle, the plurality of seats having a predetermined seat including at least a driver seat, the plurality of seats having another seat; a blower sending air into the first air passage and the second air passage of the case; an indoor heat exchanger disposed in the case to cool air sent by the blower; and a heating heat exchanger disposed downstream of the indoor heat exchanger in the air flowing direction in the case to heat air passing through the indoor heat exchanger, the indoor heat exchanger and the heating heat exchanger being a part of the heat pump refrigerating cycle, wherein the first air passage introduces air from the air inlet to one of the air outlets corresponding to the predetermined seat, and the second air passage introduces air from the air inlet to another of the air outlets corresponding to the another seat, each of the first air passage and the second air passage has a warm passage through which warm air heated by the heating heat exchanger passes and a cool passage through which cool air passes the indoor heat exchanger and bypasses the heating heat exchanger, the air-conditioner further comprising: inside space of the heating heat exchanger is divided into a first section corresponding to the first air passage and a second section corresponding to the second air passage when the case is seen in the air flowing direction, the heating heat exchanger has a refrigerant passage through which refrigerant flows in parallel and a border portion through which the first section and the second section are located adjacent to each other, wherein a refrigerant flow rate is controlled such that a pressure loss across the first section and the second section is equalized, and the controller controls the open degree of the first air mix door to be larger than the open degree of the second air mix door when the temperature setting portion sets the first temperature to be higher than the second temperature, while the heating pump refrigerating cycle is conducting a heating operation, wherein the controller compares the first temperature and the second temperature, the controller controls the open degree of the first air mix door to be the maximum and controls the open degree of the second air mix door to be the maximum when the controller determines that the first temperature is equal to the second temperature, the controller controls the open degree of the first air mix door to be the maximum when the controller determines that the first temperature is higher than the second temperature, and the controller controls the open degree of the second air mix door to be the maximum when the controller determines that the first temperature is lower than the second temperature, and wherein the heating heat exchanger conditions air using only the heat pump refrigerating cycle without using coolant of an internal combustion engine of the vehicle.