Patent ID: 8826681
Filing Date: 2014-09-09
Classification: B60H

Abstract:
1. An air conditioner for vehicles that air-conditions an inside of a vehicle and that uses at least an engine as a driving source, comprising: adjusting means for adjusting at least one of a temperature and an air volume of air discharged from an air outlet provided inside the vehicle using power supplied from electric storage means charged by driving the engine; driving source control means for selecting and executing either one of a charge priority control that controls the engine to prioritize charging of the electric storage means over improvement of fuel efficiency of the engine, and a normal control that controls the engine to prioritize the improvement of the fuel efficiency of the engine; pre-air conditioning instruction means for instructing execution of air conditioning inside of the vehicle, wherein the pre-air conditioning instruction means is located remotely from the vehicle; air conditioning control means for executing a pre-air conditioning control on the adjusting means, using the power supplied from the electric storage means to air-condition the inside of the vehicle, when execution of the air conditioning inside of the vehicle is instructed by the pre-air conditioning instruction means, before a vehicle occupant boards the vehicle; setting means for setting whether or not to allow operation of the pre-air conditioning; detecting means for detecting a charge amount of the electric storage means; and determination means for determining whether or not the charge amount detected by the detecting means is equal to or more than a predetermined required amount which enables execution of the pre-air conditions control, wherein: the driving source control means executes the charge priority control when operation of the pre-air conditioning is allowed by the setting means, and executes the normal control when operation of the pre-air conditioning is prohibited by the setting means, the engine is driven in the charge priority control and in the normal control, a percentage of engine driving in the charge priority control being different from a percentage of engine driving in the normal control, the percentage of engine driving in the charge priority control is higher than the percentage of engine driving in the normal control, and the driving source control means drives the engine to make the charge amount become equal to or more than the required amount when the chare amount is determined to be less than the redetermined required amount.