Abstract: The object of the present invention is to supply air to passengers in an automobile so that they will feel more comfortable in the presence of solar radiation by suppressing a rise in temperature in a vehicle passenger compartment caused by solar radiation. There is provided a cold air damper which feeds cold air immediately after an evaporator to a face blow port and mixes it with the conditioned air that has passed through an air mixing damper, with the amount of blown air is changed by a blower fan. A control means detects the amount of solar radiation present by using a solar radiation sensor. This invention calculates the temperature of air blown out in the absence of solar radiation, calculates the temperature of air blown out in the presence of solar radiation, calculates a corrected blowing rate according to a thermal equilibrium equation in the presence of solar radiation, and calculates a blowing rate in the presence of solar radiation.

Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus for a vehicle having separate units for a driver's seat and an assistant driver's seat. Each of the units has first and second vent outlets opened to a cabin near the lateral side of the cabin and the center side of cabin. A sensor is provided for detecting an amount of the solar radiation. The sensor also can detect an azimuth angle and elevation angle of the sun with respect to the direction of movement. An increase in the thermal load due to the solar radiation is determined, and the calculated increase is allocated to the first and second vent outlets by changing the temperature and/or the amount of the air discharged from the respective outlets, so that the passenger can feel a uniform temperature irrespective of the position of the sun with respect to the direction of movement of the vehicle.

Abstract: A control apparatus for an air conditioner used for a vehicle can properly control the temperature of air in the vehicle according to the quantity of solar radiation so as to maintain the temperature as not too cool for a person in the vehicle while suppressing the temperature as not too hot for the person.

Abstract: An air conditioner for use with a car employing a sunshine sensor having three light receiving elements. A first light receiving element faces upward and a second light receiving element and a third light receiving element are inclined toward a front side by an identical angle along an advancing direction of the car and are symmetrically inclined with respect the car advancing direction along a horizontal direction vertical to the car advancing direction. The inclination is determined such that a vector obtained by adding normal vectors respectively of light receiving surfaces of the light receiving elements has a direction substantially identical to a direction of sunshine which maximizes a quantity of heat supplied from the sunshine to the car. Outputs from the first, second, and third light receiving elements are added to each other to obtain a sunshine intensity.