Patent ID: 7836715

Claim:
A vehicle air conditioner comprising: an engine; a heat removal device configured to receive a refrigerant in a compressed state and remove heat from at least a portion of the refrigerant; an evaporator in fluid communication with the heat removal device to receive the refrigerant, and configured to evaporate at least a portion of the refrigerant; a compressor in fluid communication with the evaporator, and configured to compress the refrigerant and deliver the refrigerant in the compressed state to the heat removal device; operator controls that are manually operated to switch the vehicle air conditioner between an OFF state and an ON state; and a controller operatively coupled to the compressor to selectively operate the compressor such that with the engine continuously running while switching between the OFF state and the ON state, each time the vehicle air conditioner is manually switched from the OFF state to the ON state the controller operates the compressor initially in an initialization operation mode to decrease slugging at compressor start up and thereafter operates the compressor in a normal operation mode where the compressor is cycled sufficiently to provide cooling at the evaporator until a selected temperature range is reached by the vehicle air conditioner, wherein in the initialization operation mode the controller is programmed to cycle the compressor between an ON operating state for a period of time of no more than four seconds and an OFF operating state for a prescribed period of time insufficient to provide cooling at the evaporator of no more than four seconds.