Patent ID: 8347642

Claim:
A controller for a vehicle having an engine, a blower fan which supplies air from outside into a passenger compartment or circulates air in the passenger compartment, a refrigerant circulation passage, a compressor which is connected to the refrigerant circulation passage and driven by the engine, and an evaporator which is connected to the refrigerant circulation passage and which is provided in a circulation passage of air blown into the passenger compartment by the blower fan, and which air-conditions the passenger compartment by operating the compressor and the blower fan, the controller for a vehicle comprising: an engine controlling means which stops the engine in the case where a predetermined stop condition holds and restarts the engine thereafter when a predetermined engine stop duration has elapsed; a supplied air temperature detecting means which detects the temperature of the air supplied to the evaporator by operating the blower fan; an evaporator temperature detecting means which detects the temperature of the air downstream from the evaporator; a vehicle condition detecting means which detects the condition under which the vehicle is being placed on the basis of a temperature of the air supplied to the evaporator; an air-conditioning control means which sets a target temperature of airblow blown into the passenger compartment under the condition detected by the vehicle condition detecting means, a permissible upper limit temperature determining means which determines a permissible upper limit temperature of the evaporator on the basis of the target temperature of airblow; and an engine stop duration determining means which determines the engine stop duration on the basis of the temperature detected by the evaporator temperature detecting means and the temperature detected by the supplied air temperature detecting means immediately before the engine is stopped, and which sets a longer engine stop duration as the temperature difference between the temperature detected by the evaporator temperature detecting means immediately before the engine stops and the permissible upper limit temperature increases, wherein the engine controlling means continues the operation of the blower fan while the engine is at rest after the stop condition holds and the engine is stopped, then restarts the engine to actuate the compressor when the engine stop duration has elapsed.