Vehicle air conditioner with non-contact temperature sensor

An air conditioner for a vehicle having a passenger compartment, comprising:

• an air conditioning unit that is disposed to independently control an air conditioning state of a first zone at a side of a steering wheel in a vehicle lateral direction, and an air conditioning state of a second zone at a side opposite to the steering wheel in the vehicle lateral direction;
• a first non-contact temperature sensor that detects a surface temperature of a first detection area in the first zone in non-contact, the first non-contact temperature sensor being arranged in a dashboard to face the first zone;
• a second non-contact temperature sensor that detects a surface temperature of a second detection area in the second zone in non-contact, the second non-contact temperature sensor being arranged in the dashboard to face the second zone;
• and
• a control means that controls the air conditioning state in the first zone based on the temperature detected by the first non-contact temperature sensor, and controls the air conditioning state in the second zone based on the temperature detected by the second non-contact temperature sensor, wherein:
• the first non-contact temperature sensor is provided in the dashboard at a side opposite to the steering wheel with respect to a center portion of the dashboard in the vehicle lateral direction;
• and
• the second non-contact temperature sensor is provided at a side of the steering wheel with respect to the center portion of the dashboard in the vehicle lateral direction.

An air conditioner for a vehicle, comprising:

• a non-contact temperature sensor that detects a temperature in a predetermined area of a passenger compartment in non contact;
• environment condition detection means for detecting an environment condition except for the temperature detected by the non-contact temperature sensor;
• a control means for controlling an air state in the passenger compartment based on the temperature detected by the non-contact temperature sensor and the environment condition detected by the non-contact temperature sensor;
• and
• a determining means for determining whether the temperature detected by the non-contact temperature sensor is normal, based on the environment condition detected by the environment condition detection means.