Automotive air conditioner and expansion valve

摘要

A first expansion valve is provided in a first refrigerant circulation passage through which the refrigerant discharged from a compressor is able to circulate by passing sequentially through an external heat exchanger and an evaporator and returning to the compressor. A second expansion valve is provided in a second refrigerant circulation passage through which the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is able to circulate by passing sequentially through an auxiliary condenser and the external heat exchanger and returning to the compressor. The second expansion valve regulates the valve opening degree such that the refrigerant state at an inlet side of the compressor during a heating operation is in a range where the dryness of refrigerant is greater than or equal to 0.9 and the superheat of refrigerant is less than or equal to 5° C.

主权项

1. An automotive air conditioner comprising:
a compressor configured to compress refrigerant and discharge the compressed refrigerant; an external heat exchanger configured to function as an external condenser that radiates heat off the refrigerant during a cooling operation and configured to function as an external evaporator that evaporates the refrigerant during a heating operation; an internal evaporator configured to evaporate the refrigerant; an auxiliary condenser configured to radiate heat off the refrigerant separately from the external heat exchanger; a first refrigerant circulation passage through which, during the cooling operation, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is able to circulate by passing sequentially through the external condenser and the internal evaporator and returning to the compressor; a second refrigerant circulation passage through which, during the heating operation, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is able to circulate by passing sequentially through the auxiliary condenser and the external evaporator and returning to the compressor; a first expansion valve, provided in the first refrigerant circulation passage, configured to throttle and expand the refrigerant introduced from the external condenser and configured to be able to deliver the throttled and expanded refrigerant to the internal evaporator; and a second expansion valve, provided in the second refrigerant circulation passage, configured to throttle and expand the refrigerant introduced from the auxiliary condenser and configured to be able to deliver the throttled and expanded refrigerant to the external evaporator, wherein the second expansion valve regulates a valve opening degree such that a refrigerant state at an inlet side of the compressor during the heating operation is in a range where dryness is greater than or equal to 0.9 and superheat is less than or equal to 5° C.