A vehicle air conditioning apparatus is provided that can extend the mileage of a vehicle by reducing the power consumed by the operation of a compressor and a heater. When a required quantity of heating Q_req is acquired, the minimum power sharing ratio between quantity of heat release Q_hpof a water-refrigerant heat exchanger 22 and quantity of heat release Q_htrof a water heater 32 is calculated, which allows the power consumption W_total to be minimized, and a compressor 21 and the water heater 32 is operated based on the result of the calculation.

An air conditioning device for a vehicle has a compressor, an evaporator, a driving condition detector, a temperature detector, and a controller. The driving condition detector detects a driving condition of the vehicle. The evaporator has a cold storage portion storing the heat from the refrigerant and having phase-change energy in at least two different temperature ranges. The controller (i) maintains the compressor being stopped while a temperature detected by the temperature detector is lower than or equal to the first temperature when the vehicle is in a coasting operation and (ii) maintains the compressor being stopped while the temperature is lower than or equal to the second temperature when the vehicle is stopped. The coasting operation is a driving condition in which a vehicle speed is lower than or equal to a specified speed and an acceleration device of the vehicle is not operated.

An air-conditioner may include an evaporator, a compressor configured to compress refrigerant supplied to the evaporator and a clutch configured to transmit power needed to operate the compressor to the compressor or to prevent power from being supplied to the compressor, wherein the clutch prevents power from being supplied to the compressor when an actual measurement temperature of the evaporator reaches a lower limit threshold temperature selected among the lower limit threshold temperature and an upper limit threshold temperature and the lower limit threshold temperature is changeable, and the upper limit threshold temperature is relatively higher than the lower limit threshold temperature and is changeable.

An air conditioning system for motor vehicles includes a compressor, a condenser, a plurality of air conditioning units connected in parallel with each other with respect to the compressor and the condenser, and a flow rate control unit configured to, when a specific one of the air conditioning units is additionally turned on or is turned off, prevent occurrence of a sudden change in refrigerant amount in the remaining air conditioning units.

A transportation refrigeration unit for cooling a cargo compartment includes a compressor configured to compress a refrigerant, a compressor motor configured to drive the compressor, an evaporator heat exchanger operatively coupled to the compressor and an evaporator fan configured to provide return airflow from a return air intake and flow the return airflow over the evaporator heat exchanger. A drive unit is configured to deliver variable frequency electrical power between a minimum frequency and a maximum frequency to the compressor motor and the evaporator fan. A frequency of the electrical power is based on one or more sensed parameters of the transportation refrigeration unit.

A method of controlling an air-cargo transport refrigeration unit to regulate a compressor speed and a condenser fan speed is provided. Also, a method of controlling an air-cargo transport refrigeration unit based on determining an in-flight condition of the refrigeration unit is provided.

A hybrid vehicle, an air conditioning system and a method for controlling the air conditioning system are provided. The air conditioning system includes: an electric compressor; a mechanical compressor, connected with the electric compressor in parallel; a power battery, connected with the electric compressor and configured to supply power to the electric compressor; an engine, connected with the mechanical compressor and configured to supply a power source to the mechanical compressor; an engine controller, connected with the engine and configured to start the engine when the mechanical compressor is to be started; a battery manager, connected with the power battery and configured to detect a state of charge of the power battery; and a controller, connected with the engine controller and the battery manager and configured to start the electric compressor and the mechanical compressor at different time according to the state of charge of the power battery.

A method for controlling the temperature in a vehicle cabin, while the vehicle engine is turned off, includes the following steps: importing a State-of Charge information of a vehicle traction battery, an outside temperature, and inside temperature of the cabin into an electronic controller; calculating a normal electric power required for operating an HVAC system in a Normal mode; calculating a maximum operation time of the HVAC system in the Normal mode based on the State-of-Charge information; displaying the maximum operation time on a display; reading an operator input selecting one mode of at least the Normal mode and a first Eco mode of the HVAC system, wherein in the first Eco mode the HVAC system operates at a reduced electric power compared to the Normal mode; and operating the HVAC system in accordance with the operator input. A suitable HVAC system includes an appropriate user interface.

There is disclosed a vehicle air conditioner in which a refrigerant subcool degree of a radiator to satisfy both a high pressure and a refrigerant flow rate during heating can appropriately be controlled to achieve improvement of a heating capability. The vehicle air conditioner comprises a compressor 2 which compresses a refrigerant, a radiator 4 which lets the refrigerant radiate heat, an outdoor heat exchanger 7 disposed outside the vehicle interior to let the refrigerant radiate or absorb heat, and a controller. The controller executes a heating mode to let the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 2 radiate heat in the radiator 4, decompress the refrigerant by which heat has been radiated and then absorb heat in the outdoor heat exchanger 7. The controller 32 has a high pressure priority mode to increase a target radiator subcool degree TGSC of the radiator 4 in a direction in which the high pressure is set to a predetermined high value, and a revolution number priority mode to decrease the target radiator subcool degree of the radiator in a direction in which the revolution number of the compressor 2 is set to a predetermined high value.

A vehicle air conditioning apparatus is provided that can extend the mileage of a vehicle by reducing the power consumed by the operation of a compressor and a heater. When a required quantity of heating Q_req is acquired, the minimum power sharing ratio between quantity of heat release Q_hpof a water-refrigerant heat exchanger 22 and quantity of heat release Q_htrof a water heater 32 is calculated, which allows the power consumption W_total to be minimized, and a compressor 21 and the water heater 32 are operated based on the result of the calculation.