Heating apparatus for vehicle

A heating apparatus for heating a passenger compartment of a vehicle having a water-cooled engine, comprising:

• a heating heat exchanger for heating said passenger compartment by performing heat-exchange between cooling water having cooled said water-cooled engine and air to be blown into said passenger compartment;
• a heat-generating unit using a shearing force, said heat-generating unit including a rotor which rotates when a driving force is applied thereto and a heat-generating chamber for sealing therein viscous fluid which generates heat for heating said cooling water circulating between said engine and said heating heat exchanger when a shearing force generated by a rotational force of said rotor is applied to said viscous fluid;
• a driving force transmission unit for transmitting the driving force from said engine to said rotor;
• shearing state switching means for switching a shearing state of the viscous fluid by the rotation of said rotor;
• heating instruction means for giving an instruction for heating said cooling water by said heat-generating unit;
• and
• a heating control unit which controls said shearing state switching means to apply a shearing force to the viscous fluid by the rotational force of said rotor after increasing a rotational speed of said engine when said heating instruction means gives the instruction for heating said cooling water, said heating control unit including means for detecting a temperature of said cooling water, said rotational speed of said engine being set to a first speed when said temperature of said cooling water is lower than predetermined temperature and said rotational speed of said engine being set to a second speed when said temperature of said cooling water is higher than the predetermined temperature, said second speed being lower than said first speed.

A heating apparatus for heating a passenger compartment of a vehicle having a water-cooled engine, said heating apparatus comprising:

• a heat exchanger for heating said passenger compartment by performing heat-exchange between cooling water having cooled said water-cooled engine and air to be blown into said passenger compartment;
• a heat generating unit including a rotor which rotates within a chamber when a driving force from said engine is applied thereto, said chamber sealing therein viscous fluid which generates heat for heating said cooling water circulating between said engine and said heat exchanger when a shearing force generated by rotation of said rotor is applied to said viscous fluid;
• a clutch unit for selectively transmitting said driving force from said engine to said rotor;
• means for giving an instruction for heating said cooling water by said heating generating unit;
• and
• a heating control unit which controls said clutch unit and said engine, said heating control engaging said clutch to transmit said driving force to said rotor after increasing a rotational speed of said engine to a predetermined speed, said predetermined speed being selected from a range of speeds between a minimum speed and a maximum speed.