Delphi Automotive Systems is gearing up to introduce hi-tech and 'intelligent' car airconditioners to the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
The company plans to position as a maintenance-free car airconditioner (a-c). "If the life span of a car is around 12 years, we are working towards ensuring that our airconditioners don't require any maintenance throughout the period," says Sunil Pathak, general manager, engineering and commercial, Harrison Thermal Systems, Delphi. Delphi is talking to all car companies in order to bag OEM contracts for supplying a-cs.
At present, Subros Ltd is the market leader in car airconditioning. According to Pathak, Delphi bagged a contract to supply airconditioners to Maruti Udog (MUL) for Zen. MUL was earlier sourcing airconditioners for Zen from Subros.
Delphi is working on intelligent airconditioners, that come fitted with Intellek technology. These a-cs automatically change the settings to the driver's needs. "Infra-red rays in the car can sense who is driving the car and if the data is fed about this persons preferences (the temperature prefered inside the car, setting for the vents etc), the airconditoner will adjust automatically," Pathak added.
The intelligent a-cs can also sense the kind of clothes worn by the passengers (woollens, cottons etc) and adjust the temperature accordingly.
Delphi manufactures two types of a-cs -- one with a fixed displacement compressor and the other which has a variable displacement compressors. Opel Astra, Indica Deluxe and Daewoo Cielo come fitted with a variable displacement compressor.
The fixed displacement compressor switches off when the car reaches the desired temperature, often giving the passengers a jerk. Delphi is supplying fixed displacement compressor a-cs for Daewoo Matiz and Maruti Zen.
The variable displacement compressor, on the other hand, senses the cooling required in the car and pumps just the adequate amount of refrigerant into the system. Therefore, passenger don't experience any jerks when the compressor switches off. Such a-cs also save fuel and cool faster, says Pathak.
