Patent ID: 6725679
Filing Date: 2004-04-27
Classification: B60H,F25B

Abstract:
An air conditioner for a vehicle having a passenger compartment, comprising:a heater pump cycle including a compressor for compressing and discharging refrigerant, an interior heat exchanger for performing a heat exchange between refrigerant and air blown into the passenger compartment, and an exterior heat exchanger for performing a heat exchange between refrigerant and outside air outside the passenger compartment; a heat core for heating air blown into the passenger compartment by performing a heat exchange between air and a fluid which recovers waste heat generated in the vehicle; frosting determination means for determining whether a surface of the exterior heat exchanger is frosted; heating capacity determining means for determining whether a heating capacity of the heater core is larger than a predetermined capacity; and a control unit for controlling operation of the heat pump cycle, wherein: at least when the frosting determination means determines a frosting on the surface of the exterior heat exchanger, and when the heating capacity determining means determines that the heating capacity of the heater core is larger than the predetermined capacity, the control unit performs a defrosting operation in which the surface of the exterior heat exchanger is defrosted.