AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS FOR VEHICLE AND METHOD FOR SWITCHING OPERATION THEREOF

An vehicular air-conditioner includes a refrigeration cycle including a compressor, an outside condenser, an interior condenser, an evaporator, an expansion valve 7, a bypass-path bypassing the outside condenser, a cooling circulation path that circulates refrigerant through the outside condenser 4, a heating circulation path that circulates refrigerant through the bypass-path 11, and a flowpath changeover valve that changes a refrigerant circulation path to one of the cooling and heating circulation paths, a high-pressure detector that detects a high-pressure-side pressure of the refrigeration cycle, and a controller. The controller controls, upon a changeover command to a heating mode during a cooling mode, the flowpath changeover unit to change the refrigerant circulation path from the cooling circulation path to the heating circulation path after the high-pressure-side pressure detected by the high-pressure detector becomes equal-to/lower-than a target pressure. According to the air-conditioner, the refrigerant amount in the heating circulation path can be optimized without making the refrigeration cycle complicated and increasing its cost.