Patent ID: 7854130

Claim:
A refrigeration servicing apparatus for servicing the cooling system of a vehicle, the refrigeration servicing apparatus comprising: a clean refrigerant source; a pair of hoses each having a first coupling portion configured to connect to the vehicle's cooling system and configured to connect to the servicing apparatus, wherein the first coupling portion can connect to a hose holding portion; a recovery circuit configured to recover refrigerant from the cooling system of the vehicle; a flushing circuit coupled to the recovery circuit and to the refrigerant source, the flushing circuit configured to flush a clean refrigerant through the pair of hoses when the first coupling portions of the hoses are coupled to the hose holding portion of the servicing apparatus and disconnected from the cooling system; an automatic oil drain circuit that drains oil from an oil separator system, the automatic oil drain circuit comprising an oil drain pressure sensing switch and an oil drain valve; a processor that controls the recovery, automatic oil drain and flushing circuits, wherein the processor controls the flushing circuit to remove any remaining refrigerant in the pair of hoses via a vacuum and controls operation of the oil drain valve based on inputs received from the oil drain pressure sensing switch to regulate the drain of oil from the oil separator system; and a sensor coupled to the processor and configured to sense when the first coupling portions of the hoses are connected to the hose holding portion of the servicing apparatus, wherein prior to controlling the flushing circuit to remove any remaining refrigerant in the pair of hoses, the processor is configured to receive a signal from the sensor and forward an alert to disconnect the pair of hoses from the cooling system of the vehicle in response to determining the pair of hoses are connected to the cooling system of the vehicle.