New Prius First Car to Use Ejector Technology A/C System

The new Toyota Prius is the first passenger car to use Denso Corporation’s ejector technology air conditioning system designed to reduce power consumption.

Denso’s new system uses an ejector instead of an expansion valve. The ejector recovers expansion energy, which was previously lost in the expansion valve, and converts it into pressure energy.

This, reduces the compressor’s workload and helps reduce the air conditioner’s overall power consumption.

Previously, the conventional ejector was not small enough to be installed in vehicle air conditioning systems.

Denso overcame this challenge with its new air conditioning system by integrating the ejector into the evaporator tank, where refrigerant flows.

This new design eliminates the need for the ejector to have a thicker structure to withstand external pressure and also eliminates pipe connection parts needed to connect the ejector with the evaporator, which helps reduce the size of the ejector.

The ejector cycle system evaporator (ECS evaporator), which is equivalent to the size of a conventional evaporator, can also be applied to conventional air conditioning systems.