Japan is an overlord in household air-conditioner field worldwide thanks to its most advanced technology in the core upstream component–compressor. Many Japanese enterprises, including Daikin, Hitachi, Panasonic, Toshiba, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Electric, are the key players in compressor industry. As such, American enterprises still have competitive strength in high-power air-conditioning compressor industry, represented by Carrier, Trane, Copeland and York. Accordingly, the automotive air-conditioner field is dominated by Japanese enterprises and American counterparts.

Denso continues its leading role in the sector. Together with Toyota Industries, which is the largest manufacturer of automotive air-conditioning compressor in the world, the collective market share of the two surpasses one third of the total. Automotive air-conditioner or compressor products of Denso have been used by the world’s well-known automakers. At the early stage, Denso built massive business in compressor sector. After 2000, Denso began to transfer compressor business to Toyota Industries and focus on the design and sales of the whole system of air-conditioners. Besides, Denso cooperated with Toyota Industries to establish compressor base in overseas country. And Toyota Industries holds always as high as 65% shares of the project. Toyota Industries only produces compressor.

The auto air-conditioner technology of Valeo stems from ZEXEL which originated from DKK. As the biggest producer of diesel fuel injection in Asia, DKK was founded in 1939 with its technology from Bosch. In 2000, ZEXEL was purchased by Bosch, and Bosch only retained diesel injection business and it sold in 2005 its compressor business to Valeo with €100 million. Since then, the joint venture had become the wholly-owned subsidiary of Valeo. Although the compressor business is not its core operation, ZEXEL still boasts the exceedingly excellent compressor technology.

About 70% revenue of Calsonic Kansei, a membership of Nissan Group, comes from Nissan which holds 32% shares of the company. Calsonic Kansei originally cooperated with Harrison (affiliated to Delphi Corporation) to produce auto air-conditioning compressor, and later acquired compressor business of NSK, which has gained favor from BMW due to its state-of-the-art technology. In particular, BMW contributes more than 70% to revenue of NSK from compressor business. Yet, NSK rests its core business with timing equipments. It is beyond doubt that Calsonic Kansei becomes the supplier of BMW after the acquisition.   

Keihin, a carburetor giant, has also made remarkable achievements in compressor sector. In spite of not being compared with the three leading manufacturers aforementioned, Keihin has developed exceedingly loyal clients after years’ cooperation with Toyota. Additionally, there has JCS, an up-rising star co-funded by Mazda, Visteon and Panasonic. JCS is expected to witness a bright prospect since it has reliable customers like Mazda and Ford.

Although it is in hardship, Delphi Corp. never tends to quit its core business – automotive thermal system. As the former world’s largest manufacturer of auto air-conditioning compressor, Delphi Corp. has long teamed up with Harrison to produce compressors. As an enterprise with 100-year history, Harrison has won a host of faithful customers including Fiat, PSA and Renault apart from its VIP client–GM.

Visteon shares a slice of pie in auto air conditioner field by its role as a share holder of Halla Climate Control Corp. Similar to Delphi Corp, Visteon also concentrates on its automotive thermal system business and has no intention to quit auto air conditioner business. Moreover, Visteon has obtained over 60% auto air conditioner business from Hyundai by relying on Halla Group.

Being short of technology support, Behr, a German enterprise, joins hands with the second largest air-conditioning compressor manufacturer in Japan – Sanden to offset its demerit. In general, the air-conditioner system of Behr employs the compressor produced by Sanden. In recent two years, Behr has been to the bad ceaselessly while the profit of Sanden dropped not so much.

Chinese manufacturers are professional in after-sale maintenance market, which makes China be the largest maintenance base of automotive air-conditioning compressors around the globe. Chinese manufacturers feature high output, low unit price and slim profit; while the German enterprises are powerful in coach air-conditioner compressor, represented by BITZER which almost monopolizes the market.  
 

Market Shares of Leading Auto Air-Conditioner Manufacturers Worldwide by Shipment, 2009

HEV (Hybrid Electrical Vehicle) air conditioner is likely to be the development tendency of automotive air-conditioner business. The main difference between HEV and traditional automobile lies in driving energy, which requires the driving mode of air-conditioning compressors to be modified. Currently, the leading enterprises in HEV air-conditioner compressors are Sanden and Toyota Industries.

For details of this report please visit http://www.researchinchina.com/Htmls/Report/2010/5930.html.

If your automotive air conditioner isn’t working quite right, here are a few ideas to begin. First of all start with the control panel on your dashboard. Most automobiles have an A/C button that actually turns the compressor on and allows cold air to be circulated. You might have accidentally hit the recirculation button instead of the A/C button. (Don’t laugh,

I had a friend that spent a week in a hot car and all he needed to do was press the right button.) The second thing to check is the actual function of the controls. Do they move at all? Are they loose and giggle around? The big question is ‘do they feel different from the last time your air conditioner worked?’ This could tell if the controls are messed up and need replacing. Your air conditioner system may be fine but the controls could befrozen or broken.

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If your controls seem to be functioning, lets move to the blower fan. Turn on your car and start you’re air conditioner as you normally would. Then turn your blower to it’s highest setting. Can you here your fan blowing? If you can hear it, does it sound weak or whining. This could signal that your blower motor is malfunctioning or needs to be replaced. If it doesn’t work at all, check the fuse for the blower motor. The fuse for your blower motor should be located in the fuse box under the dash. Most automobiles have the fuses clearly labeled. First take out the blower fan fuse with the removal tool provided in the fuse box. A blown fuse should be easy to identify. However if you are unsure, replace it with a similar rated fuse and try your blower again. If that fuse blows you may have a bad blower motor or a short in the circuit. In this case, you will need an authorized mechanic to fix it. If the blower fan is working properly and you can only get cold air out of the defroster vents, you may have vacuum-system supply line problem. To check for this, look for a small black plastic tube going from the engine area through the dash. It is usually right by the refrigerant lines. Check this tube and see if it has holes or is not connected. If all of these little tips are not helping and you’re A/C doesn’t blow cold air no matter how many switches you turn on or off, you will probably need an certified mechanic. Good luck and stay cool!

Guess what?? These are the last two fluids left to check every month, to keep your vehicle sufficiently hydrated and all of its thirsts quenched. These two fluids, while not crucial to the life of your vehicle, make driving that vehicle more pleasant and comfortable. Also, these are the only two fluids that do get used up. If the levels get low, adding the proper fluids is something that needs to be done for the mechanical equipment to work. No washer fluid, no clean windshield. No air conditioning refrigerant, no air conditioning.

Air Conditioning Refrigerant

Checking the level of your air conditioning refrigerant is a procedure that your technician will have to complete for you. Because it is not actually a fluid, but a gas. In most of the newer model cars, there is a light in the instrument panel that goes on when your refrigerant is low, or there is some other problem with the air conditioning.

Windshield Washer Fluid

Almost every newer model vehicle on the roads today has a light in the instrument panel that will tell you when you are low on washer fluid. And most vehicles that are equipped with rear windshield wipers will have a receptacle located in the rear of the vehicle that contains the fluid for the rear windshield. Your owner’s manual will tell you how to access that container.

Although it seems as if it would be logical, and certainly less expensive to simply use a household window cleaner to refill your vehicles washer fluid, it is not a good idea. Household cleaners are just not designed for windshield use. These fluids would freeze in the winter and crack the reservoir, and they would not be able to adequately remove the road salt, bugs, or any other nameless disgusting thing that hits your windshield at speeds of 50 miles per hour, or more.

Checking the level and refilling your windshield washer fluid reservoir is a very simple process.

1.    Park your car on level ground, in your driveway, or parking space.
2.    Allow the engine to completely cool down. Never perform this check on a warm engine, the windshield washer fluid gets hot, and if the hose should slip or come loose, you could be splashed with scalding fluid.
3.    In order to effectively clean your windshield, without smearing it, and to keep the fluid from freezing in the reservoir during winter, windshield washer fluid consists of detergent, water, and a type of antifreeze.
4.    The washer fluid container is going to be either a jug or a box shaped reservoir, made of clear plastic, and it will be located pretty close to the windshield, with a hose leading from inside the container, and clamped to aim at the windshield.
5.    If the fluid level is below the marked fill line, then add the recommended washer fluid type for your make and model of vehicle.
6.    Make sure that the cap is replaced tightly.

That concludes all of our lessons dealing with the fluids in your vehicle.

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