Patent ID: 8777585

Claim:
A method of controlling an electric compressor that includes a compression mechanism that sucks in a refrigerant and compresses and discharges the refrigerant, an electric motor that drives said compression mechanism, a casing that houses said compression mechanism and said electric motor, a control portion that is housed in said casing and controls to drive said electric motor, a temperature detector that detects a temperature of one or more components that constitute one or both of said control portion and said electric motor, and a current detector that detects a current flowing through said component, said method comprising the steps of: detecting by said temperature detector a temperature Td; detecting the current by said current detector when said temperature detector detects said temperature Td a current Id; determining a current corresponding to said temperature Td at a temperature characteristic relating to the current specific to said component is a current Ia(Td); and stopping the driving of said electric motor on the basis of a result of comparison between Ia(Td) and Id by said control portion.