Patent ID: 7835835

Claim:
A vehicle climate control apparatus, mounted on a vehicle driven by an engine or a motor as a power source to control the climate in the compartment of the vehicle, the apparatus controlling an air-conditioning device having a cool storage unit for storing the cold thermal energy using the cooling capacity during the air-conditioning operation, the apparatus comprising: an air-conditioning control unit for controlling the air-conditioning state in the vehicle compartment by controlling the air-conditioning device; a driving behavior detection unit for detecting the operation amounts of the driver; an estimation unit for calculating the behavioral intention estimating information for estimating the prospective driving behavior of the driver based on the operation amounts detected; a vehicle motion detection unit for detecting the motion of the vehicle; and a determining unit for determining the conviction degree indicating the accuracy of the behavioral intention estimating information based on the vehicle motion information detected by the vehicle motion detection unit and instructing the air-conditioning control unit to store the cold thermal energy in the cool storage unit based on the conviction degree.