Just when you thought air conditioning, as a technology, peaked and has no other place to go, Denso begs to differ and releases onto the market the ejector air conditioning system. The new development, already featured on the new generation Toyota Prius, is now offered globally, just-auto.com reported.
The ejector is in fact a small refrigerant injector, which is designed to contribute to the decrease of the vehicle's power consumption. In conventional air conditioning system, much of the energy consumed by a vehicle's air conditioning system is used by the compressor to compress the refrigerant.
Instead of an expansion valve, the new system uses an injector to reduce the pressure of the refrigerant before passing it through the evaporator to cool the air. This allows for the recovery of energy previously lost in the expansion valve which, in turn, reduces the compressor's workload and helps reduce the air conditioner's overall power consumption.
"With increasing demand for technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions been accelerating its efforts to develop more efficient air conditioning systems," Akio Shikamura, Denso managing officer was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.
"The new air conditioning system reduces the compressor's power consumption by up to about 25 percent, compared to conventional car air conditioning systems, and thus contributes to fuel savings."
The system operates in a very simple manner. Running independently from the engine, it can cool cabin temperature down from 80 to 45 degrees Celsius. One minute after the ignition is turned off, the air intake mode switches to "outside" air ventilation' and the blower mode switches to 'face' to ensure the most efficient performance.
The ejector is in fact a small refrigerant injector, which is designed to contribute to the decrease of the vehicle's power consumption. In conventional air conditioning system, much of the energy consumed by a vehicle's air conditioning system is used by the compressor to compress the refrigerant.
Instead of an expansion valve, the new system uses an injector to reduce the pressure of the refrigerant before passing it through the evaporator to cool the air. This allows for the recovery of energy previously lost in the expansion valve which, in turn, reduces the compressor's workload and helps reduce the air conditioner's overall power consumption.
"With increasing demand for technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions been accelerating its efforts to develop more efficient air conditioning systems," Akio Shikamura, Denso managing officer was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.
"The new air conditioning system reduces the compressor's power consumption by up to about 25 percent, compared to conventional car air conditioning systems, and thus contributes to fuel savings."
The system operates in a very simple manner. Running independently from the engine, it can cool cabin temperature down from 80 to 45 degrees Celsius. One minute after the ignition is turned off, the air intake mode switches to "outside" air ventilation' and the blower mode switches to 'face' to ensure the most efficient performance.