Patent ID: 6067808
Filing Date: 2000-05-30
Classification: B60H

Abstract:
A method for reducing overall workload of a vehicle air conditioning (a/c) system, comprising the steps of:determining whether windshield wipers are on and have been on for longer than a preselected minimum threshold time;operating vehicle heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system with the a/c on in a recirculation or partial recirculation mode when the wipers have been on for longer than said threshold time and removing moisture from cabin air thereby reducing amount of moisture condensed by evaporator core and decreasing overall workload of a/c system;determining whether outside relative humidity is above a preselected threshold humidity; andoperating HVAC system with the a/c on in said recirculation or partial recirculation mode when the wipers have not been on for longer than said threshold time and relative humidity is greater than said threshold humidity to remove moisture from recirculated cabin air thereby reducing amount of moisture condensed by the evaporator core and decreasing overall workload of a/c system.