Vehicle air conditioner with cold storage unit

An air conditioner for a vehicle having an engine for driving the vehicle, the engine being stopped when the vehicle stops, the air conditioner comprising:

• a compressor for compressing and discharging refrigerant, the compressor being driven by the engine;
• a high-pressure side heat exchanger disposed to radiate heat of refrigerant discharged from the compressor;
• a decompression unit that decompresses refrigerant flowing from the high-pressure side heat exchanger;
• an evaporator in which refrigerant from the decompression unit is evaporated so that air to be blown into a passenger compartment of the vehicle is cooled;
• a cold-storage heat exchanger having therein a cold storage material for performing a cold storage operation where the cold storage material is cooled by refrigerant from the decompression unit, and a cold release operation where refrigerant circulates between the evaporator and the cold-storage heat exchanger so that gas refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator is cooled by cold release of the cold storage material in the cold-storage heat exchanger;
• and
• a pump that circulates refrigerant between the cold-storage heat exchanger and the evaporator when the operation of the compressor stops, wherein:
• the pump is disposed, such that a flow direction of refrigerant in the evaporator when the operation of the compressor stops is the same as that when the compressor operates.

An air conditioner for a vehicle having an engine for driving the vehicle, the engine being stopped when the vehicle stops, the air conditioner comprising:

• a compressor for compressing and discharging refrigerant, the compressor being driven by the engine;
• a high-pressure side heat exchanger disposed to radiate heat of refrigerant discharged from the compressor;
• a decompression unit that decompresses refrigerant flowing from the high-pressure side heat exchanger;
• an evaporator in which refrigerant from the decompression unit is evaporated so that air to be blown into a passenger compartment of the vehicle is cooled;
• a tank disposed at a refrigerant outlet side of the evaporator, the tank having a tank portion at a lower side, in which liquid refrigerant is stored;
• a cold-storage heat exchanger having therein a cold storage material that performs a cold storage when the compressor operates;
• and
• a pump, disposed in the tank, for circulating liquid refrigerant in the tank portion to the evaporator and gas refrigerant from the evaporator is introduced to the cold-storage heat exchanger when the operation of the compressor stops, wherein:
• the tank is disposed to separate refrigerant from the evaporator into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant and to introduce the gas refrigerant to the compressor;
• and
• at least both of the cold storage heat exchanger and the pump are integrally disposed in the tank.

A refrigerant cycle system comprising:

• a compressor for compressing and discharging refrigerant, the compressor being driven by a driving source;
• a high-pressure side heat exchanger disposed to radiate heat of refrigerant discharged from the compressor;
• a decompression unit that decompresses refrigerant flowing from the high-pressure side heat exchanger;
• an evaporator in which refrigerant from the decompression unit is evaporated;
• and
• a cold-storage heat exchanger having therein a cold storage material for performing a cold storage operation where the cold storage material is cooled by refrigerant from the decompression unit, and a cold release operation where refrigerant circulates between the evaporator and the cold-storage heat exchanger so that gas refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator is cooled by cold release of the cold storage material in the cold-storage heat exchanger, wherein:
• the cold storage heat exchanger and the evaporator are connected in series in a refrigerant flow, such that the cold storage operation of the cold storage material is performed when the compressor operates, and the cold release operation of the cold storage material is performed when operation of the compressor is stopped with a stop of the engine.

A cold-storage heat exchanger for a refrigerant cycle system including a compressor for compressing refrigerant and an evaporator for evaporating refrigerant decompressed in a decompression unit, the cold storage heat exchanger comprising:

• a plurality of tubes through which refrigerant from the decompression unit flows;
• a plurality of fines disposed to be thermal-connected with the tubes, the fins being disposed to have plural heat-transmission surfaces contacting the tubes;
• a shell that is disposed to accommodate the tubes and the fins;
• and
• a cold storage material that is filled in the shell outside the tubes between the heat-transmission surfaces, for performing a cold storage operation where the cold storage material is cooled by the refrigerant flowing through the tubes when the compressor operates, and a cold release operation where refrigerant from the evaporator is cooled by a cold release from the cold storage material,
• wherein the cold storage material filled between the heat-transmission surfaces has a dimension smaller than a predetermined value.