Vehicle air handling system

An air handling system for a vehicle, the vehicle having a passenger compartment, the system comprising:

• a conditioner for treating air, the conditioner having an inlet selectively opening to a source of air from (a) within the passenger compartment and (b) outside of the passenger compartment,
• a controller for selecting the source of inlet air open to the conditioner,
• a sensor for sensing a signal representative of vehicle engine speed and for communicating the vehicle engine speed signal to the controller,
• wherein the controller selects inlet air open to the conditioner from within the passenger compartment when the vehicle engine speed signal is within a predetermined vehicle engine speed signal range.

An air handling system for a vehicle, the vehicle having a passenger compartment, the system comprising:

• a conditioner for treating air, the conditioner having an inlet selectively opening to a source of air from (a) within the passenger compartment and (b) outside of the passenger compartment,
• a controller for selecting the source of inlet air open to the conditioner,
• a sensor for sensing a signal representative of evaporator temperature and for communicating the evaporator temperature signal to the controller,
• a sensor for sensing a condition indicative of the probability of fog in the passenger compartment if the source of air to the conditioner is air within the passenger compartment and for communicating the probably of fog to the controller,
• wherein the controller selects inlet air to the conditioner from within the passenger compartment when the evaporator temperature signal within a predetermined evaporator temperature signal range and when the probability of fog in the passenger compartment is below a predetermined level.

A method of controlling air recirculation in an air handling system for a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

• manually selecting an air inlet mode from a fresh air mode, a recirculation mode, and an intermediate mode with both fresh and recirculated air;
• sensing a vehicle engine oil temperature;
• and
• overriding the manually selected inlet mode by automatically selecting recirculation mode when the engine oil temperature is above a predetermined temperature.