Patent ID: 7266967

Claim:
An air conditioner for an automotive vehicle having a water-cooling type internal combustion engine, the conditioner comprising: a first refrigerator; an adsorption type refrigerator having adsorbent for adsorbing and discharging medium; an adsorption heat exchanger for exchanging heat between coolant water from the internal combustion engine and the adsorbent; an adsorbent container for accommodating the adsorbent and the adsorption heat exchanger; an evaporation and condensation heat exchanger for exchange heat between the medium and heat exchange fluid to cool air to be blown into a passenger compartment of the vehicle; a medium storage tank disposed on a predetermined place higher than the adsorbent container in a vertical direction for storing a liquid phase medium and for accommodating the evaporation and condensation heat exchanger, wherein the liquid phase medium is condensed and cooled by the evaporation and condensation heat exchanger; a gas phase medium passage for connecting between the adsorbent container and the medium storage tank and for flowing the gas phase medium therethrough; a first valve disposed in the gas phase medium passage for opening and closing the gas phase medium passage; a liquid phase medium passage for connecting between the adsorbent container and the medium storage tank and for flowing the liquid phase medium therethrough; and a second valve disposed in the liquid phase medium passage for opening and closing the liquid phase medium; wherein the first refrigerator controls a temperature of the air to be blown into the passenger compartment of the vehicle, the adsorbent generates adsorption heat when the adsorbent adsorbs the medium, and desorbs the adsorbed medium when the adsorbent is heated by the coolant water from the internal combustion engine, and the air to be blown into the passenger compartment is heated by the adsorption heat, which is generated by the adsorbent, and is cooled by evaporation latent heat when the medium is desorbed from the adsorbent.