Patent ID: 6874330

Claim:
An air conditioner for a hybrid vehicle, the hybrid vehicle having an engine for running the vehicle, an electrical motor generator for running the vehicle and for generating electrical power, and a battery for supplying electrical power to the electrical motor generator, the air conditioner comprising: an air conditioning unit, to which electrical power is supplied from the battery, for performing air-conditioning operation in a passenger compartment of the vehicle; and a control unit for controlling operation of the air conditioning unit, wherein: when a residual charging degree of the battery becomes equal to or lower than a target degree, the electrical motor generator is driven by the engine to charge the battery; and the control unit gradually decreases the air conditioning capacity of the air conditioning unit from a maximum air conditioning capacity to a minimum air conditioning capacity as the rotation speed of the engine decreases from a first predetermined rotation speed to a second predetermined rotation speed that is smaller than the first predetermined rotation speed.