An automotive HVAC system includes upper and lower mode cases configured to discharge separate streams of temperature-conditioned air into front and rear passenger zones. The system separates the inlet air into separate mixing chambers, and a third stream through a heater core. Blend doors control hot and cold air streams entering their respective mixing chambers. Operation is controlled by reading requested temperature, blower rate and mode for system zone outlet, converting requests to a flowrate, calculating total flowrate as a summation of all requests, employing a math model to calculate total zonal flowrate as a summation of all zonal flowrates, calculating a blower control error as a function of the difference between total blower request and total zonal flowrate, modifying the operating state using the calculated control error, positioning and resetting the mode valves into defrost, heater and vent openings, and resetting the mode valves.

HVAC unit has a single blower fan, an evaporator downstream of the blower and a heater downstream of the evaporator, wherein each zone outlet includes a temperature mixing door for controlling portions of hot and cold air and an output valve for controlling a zonal output flow rate. A method is devised to control the discharge of temperature-conditioned air from a plurality of zone outlets of an automotive HVAC system via such an HVAC unit by the steps of reading an operator-requested zonal discharge blower level for each of the zone outlets; converting each zonal discharge blower level request to a zonal flowrate request; calculating a total requested output flowrate as a summation of all zonal flowrate requests; and adjusting a blower voltage to a minimum voltage required for generating the total requested output flowrate.

Systems and methods for power and thermal management of autonomous vehicles are provided. In one example embodiment, a computing system includes processor(s) and one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer readable media that collectively store instructions that when executed by the processor(s) cause the computing system to perform operations. The operations include obtaining data associated with an autonomous vehicle. The operations include identifying one or more vehicle parameters associated with the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data associated with the autonomous vehicle. The operations include determining a modification to one or more operating characteristics of one or more systems onboard the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more vehicle parameters. The operations include controlling a heat generation of at least a portion of the autonomous vehicle via implementation of the modification of the operating characteristic(s) of the system(s) onboard the autonomous vehicle.

A computer-implemented method for scheduling pre-departure charging for electric vehicles includes predicting a user-departure time based on a first machine learning prediction model. The method further includes determining a cabin temperature to be set for the user at the user-departure time based on a second machine learning prediction model. The method further includes determining a battery-temperature to be set at the user-departure time based on a third machine learning prediction model. The method further includes determining a present charge level of a battery of the electric vehicle. The method further includes computing a charging start-time to start charging the battery based on one or more attributes of a charging station to which the electric vehicle is coupled, and based on the user-departure time, the cabin temperature, and the battery-temperature. The method further includes initiating charging the battery at the charging start-time.

Methods and system for providing heat to a vehicle are presented, whereby a refrigerant loop is operated to heat a cabin of the vehicle via heat generated by a compressor and heat generated by a resistive heating element. The heat generated by the compressor and the heat generated by the resistive heating element are transferred to a refrigerant before it is transferred to the cabin. In one example, in a first mode, an evaporator bypass valve on an evaporator bypass conduit of the A/C system is opened to route the refrigerant around an evaporator of the A/C system to increase a temperature of the refrigerant in the refrigerant loop; and in a second mode, the evaporator bypass valve is closed to route the refrigerant through the evaporator, where heat is released to a flow of air across the evaporator that is directed to the vehicle cabin.

A heating temperature is appropriately estimated according to an operation mode to achieve comfortable vehicle interior air conditioning. A vehicular air conditioning device 1 includes a compressor 2, an air flow passage 3, a radiator 4 for heating air to be supplied to a vehicle interior, a heat absorber 9 for cooling the air to be supplied to the vehicle interior, and a heat pump controller. The heat pump controller calculates a heating temperature TH being the temperature of air on a leeward side of the radiator and use the heating temperature in control, and calculates the heating temperature TH using an estimation formula which differs depending on the operation mode.

In an air conditioning system, a control unit controls an adjusting unit to adjust a ratio between an amount of a first part of introduced air passing through a heater core and an amount of a second part of the introduced air bypassing the heater core to a first ratio at which the amount of the first part of the introduced air decreases from a maximized amount of the first part of the introduced air according to an increase in temperature of the heater core by a warming unit. When a setting temperature for air conditioning is increased by an input unit, the control unit controls the adjusting unit to change the ratio from the first ratio to a second ratio at which the amount of the first part of the introduced air increases.

A refrigeration cycle device includes a refrigeration cycle, an outdoor heat exchanger, a cooling necessity determination unit, a determination reference setting unit, and a cooling control unit. The cooling necessity determination unit determines whether or not to cool a battery depending on whether or not a physical quantity that correlates with a temperature of the battery is equal to or more than a predetermined reference physical quantity. The determination reference setting unit sets the reference physical quantity for the cooling necessity determination unit according to the outdoor heat exchanger functioning as a heat absorber or radiator. When the outdoor heat exchanger functions as heat absorber, the determination reference setting unit sets a second reference physical quantity smaller than a first reference physical quantity set when the outdoor heat exchanger functions as radiator.

A computer-implemented process for controlling a vehicle interior includes detecting a previously defined situation that relates to an undesirable environmental condition of the vehicle interior, and assessing both a risk level and an urgency level, based on a vehicle sensor input. The process also includes generating a vehicle command based upon the detected previously defined situation, the assessed risk level, and assessed urgency level, and executing the generated vehicle command to control at least one of an engine, a window, and a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) unit to modify an environmental condition of the vehicle interior.

The present disclosure provides a method of determining a coolant condition of a vehicle, and more particularly, a method of accurately determining a coolant condition, e.g., a condition in which gas is present in a system and an insufficient coolant condition without a separate additional sensor in a vehicle using an electric water pump (EWP). To this end, the present disclosure provides a method of determining a coolant condition of a vehicle, including, in a vehicle including an electric water pump (EWP) for circulating a coolant, acquiring driving state information of a water pump while the water pump is driven, by a controller, calculating a ripple value of a driving state from the acquired driving state information of the water pump, by the controller, and comparing the calculated ripple value with a reference value to determine a condition of a coolant, by the controller.