Method for maintaining a vehicle air conditioning unit and service apparatus therefor

Abstract

A method for servicing a vehicle air-conditioning system operated with a closed coolant circulation system, in which in a first servicing phase, a circulation mixture of refrigerant, compressor oil and, if appropriate, further mixture components is sucked out from a vehicle air-conditioning system into a separator stage by means of a compressor via a separator and in the process refrigerant is separated from the sucked-out circulation mixture by means of the separator, compressed and collected, and its quantity is determined. In a second servicing phase, the refrigerant circulation system of the vehicle air-conditioning system is largely emptied of residual content by means of a vacuum pump. The residual gases which are pumped out in the second servicing phase are conducted through the separator stage by means of the compressor, and the quantity of residual refrigerant collected in the process is determined.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.