Patent ID: 7231776

Claim:
An air conditioning system for a motor vehicle with an engine coolant circuit for heating and a refrigerant circuit for cooling an air stream to an interior compartment of the motor vehicle, said system including an air conditioning unit ( 3 ) with a heating coil ( 7 ) disposed in the engine coolant circuit for heating the air stream and a cooling coil ( 5 ) for cooling the air stream, the refrigerant circuit comprising a refrigerant compressor ( 12 ) and, in a first partial circuit a first heat exchanger ( 14 ) arranged downstream of the refrigerant compressor ( 12 ) for dissipating heat from the refrigerant compressed in the refrigerant compressor ( 12 ), an expansion device ( 16 ) arranged downstream of the first heat exchanger ( 14 ) and upstream of the cooling coil ( 5 ) by which the air stream through the air conditioning unit ( 3 ) is cooled, a refrigerant return line to the compressor ( 12 ), and a second partial circuit extending from the refrigerant compressor ( 12 ) to a refrigerantengine coolant heat exchanger ( 27 ) disposed in the engine coolant circuit for transferring heat from the compressed refrigerant to the engine coolant and then to said expansion valve ( 16 ), the path from said expansion valve ( 16 ) back to said compressor being common to said partial circuits.