VEHICLE AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM

A vehicle air-conditioning system includes at least one chiller and one cold storage unit which is designed as a PCM storage system with phase change material. The refrigeration power required for air-conditioning and for charging the PCM storage system are provided by the chiller where the cold stored in the PCM storage system is supplied to the assemblies for air-conditioning the passenger compartment in selected operating states of the vehicle. A sufficiently large amount of cold can be conducted from a phase change material of the PCM storage system into the passenger compartment such that the chiller of the air conditioning system designed for cold generation is largely put out of operation and the discharge of larger amounts of heat from the rail vehicle into the tunnel is thereby avoided.