Air conditioning system and associated method of operation

An air-conditioning system of a motor vehicle having a vehicle interior, wherein the air-conditioning system serves for air-conditioning an air stream provided for being introduced into the vehicle interior that includes at least one of circulating air and fresh air, wherein the air-conditioning system comprises:

• a flap device that is adjustable in multiple stages with respect to a circulating air content in the air stream,
• a blower device that is adjustable in multiple stages with respect to its flow rate for driving the air stream in a flow direction,
• a main filter device for filtering the air stream,
• an additional filter device for filtering the air stream,
• a bypasser that is adjustable in multiple stages for opening and closing for bypassing the additional filter device,
• an air quality sensor device for detecting a current pollutant concentration in the air stream, and
• a controller which for operating the air-conditioning system is coupled to the flap device, to the blower device, to the bypasser and to the air quality sensor device and is at least one of configured and programmed for carrying out an air quality testing cycle that includes the following steps:
• Step A:
• testing if the current pollutant concentration is below a predetermined first pollutant limit value,
• Step B:
• in the event that it is determined in the Step A that the current pollutant concentration is below the first pollutant limit value, testing if the bypasser is completely open or if the current flow rate of the blower device corresponds to a current air volume demand of the air-conditioning system,
• Step D:
• in the event that it is determined in the Step B that the bypasser is not completely opened or that the current flow rate does not correspond to the current air volume demand, testing current pollutant concentration is below a predetermined second pollutant limit value that is smaller than the first pollutant limit value,
• Step E:
• in the event that it is determined in the Step D that the current pollutant concentration is not below the second pollutant limit value, continuing the current air quality testing cycle according to Step O,
• Step O:
• terminating the current air quality testing cycle.