Patent ID: 6557502
Filing Date: 2003-05-06
Classification: B60H,F01P

Abstract:
An air conditioner for a vehicle having an engine for driving the vehicle, the engine being cooled by water circulating in a water circuit, comprising:a heater core, disposed in the water circuit, for heating air to be blown into a passenger compartment of the vehicle by using the water from the engine as a heating source; a heating-amount adjustment unit adjusting a heating amount for heating air passing through the heater core; a heat storage tank having an introduction port from which the water from the water circuit is introduced, a tank portion for thermally-insulating and storing the introduced water, and a discharge port for discharging the water stored in the tank portion into the water circuit; a water-amount adjustment unit that adjusts a water amount discharged from the heat storage tank and introduced into the heat storage tank; and a control unit for controlling the heating-amount adjustment unit and the water-amount adjustment unit, the control unit including heating-capacity determining means for determining a necessary heating capacity for heating air by the heater core, and discharge-amount controlling means for controlling a flow amount of the water discharged from the heat storage tank, wherein: when the heating-capacity determining means determines that the necessary heating capacity is smaller than a predetermined capacity in a water discharge mode for discharging the water from the heat storage tank toward the heater core, the discharge-amount controlling means controls the water-amount adjustment unit such that the flow amount of the water discharged from the heat storage tank becomes larger than that when the heating-capacity determining means determines that the necessary heating capacity is larger than the predetermined capacity.