An air conditioning system for motor vehicles includes a blower configured to blow an air into a vehicle room, a PTC heater configured to heat the air blown into the vehicle room, the PTC heater having a heat generation amount adjusted by PWM duty ratio control, a blower air volume change amount measurement unit configured to, when an air volume of the blower is changed, measure a blower air volume change amount per unit time during a predetermined time period from a time point at which the air volume of the blower is changed, and a control unit configured to, when the air volume of the blower is changed, correct a PWM duty ratio of the PTC heater in view of the blower air volume change amount per unit time measured by the blower air volume change amount measurement unit.

A vehicular heat management system includes a refrigerant circulation line configured to cool or heat a passenger compartment by generating a hot air or a cold air depending on a flow direction of a refrigerant, a cooling water circulation line configured to heat the passenger compartment with waste heat of an engine by allowing cooling water of the engine to circulate through a heater core, a refrigerant-cooling water heat exchanger disposed in the cooling water circulation line to allow the refrigerant and the cooling water to exchange heat, and an engine cooling water independent circulation unit configured to allow the cooling water passed through the engine to bypass the heater core and the refrigerant-cooling water heat exchanger.

A microclimate system for a vehicle occupant includes multiple microclimate thermal effectors. Each of the microclimate communication with the microclimate thermal effectors and includes a plurality of first transfer functions. Each of the first transfer functions models a corresponding microclimate thermal effector in the plurality of microclimate thermal effectors. A system transfer function models the microclimate system. Each of the first transfer functions is nested within the system transfer function.

A temperature control device for heating an interior space of a vehicle and/or units of the vehicle, includes a number of electrically operated heating elements, electric leads, by means of which the heating element can be connected to the voltage supply of the vehicle, and at least one heat transfer section. A fluid flows through the at least one heat transfer section and transfers the heat generated by the heating elements to a fluid. The at least one heat transfer section includes a thermally conductive first material, and the heating elements and the electric leads are enclosed by an electrically non-conductive and thermally conductive second material. A related method is also disclosed for producing the present temperature control device.

A system for use with a block heater connected to an engine for pre-start heating of the engine. The system includes a power source, a relay assembly coupled to the power source, a temperature sensor, and a controller. The relay assembly, when closed, electrically connects the power source to the block heater, to thereby energize the block heater to heat the engine. The temperature sensor senses an ambient temperature indicative of a temperature of the engine. The controller is programmed to selectively activate the relay assembly to energize the block heater such that the engine coupled to the block heater is heated from the sensed ambient temperature to a target temperature at approximately a target time.

A radiant heating device for producing radiant heat in a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle includes a heating surface for emitting heat radiation, a heating element for providing heating power, a first temperature sensor for detecting a first temperature in a specific spot and for providing a corresponding first temperature indication, and a second temperature sensor for detecting a second temperature on the surface and for providing a corresponding second temperature indication. In order to detect a local over-heating of the heating surface, a difference between the two temperature indications is determined. In the event of a defect, a protective operating mode is then selected.

A power control device of the present invention controls the electric power of a vehicle which includes hot-wire heaters provided respectively in a plurality of areas which are obtained by dividing a front window. In particular, the power control device of the present invention switches between alternating control and entire surface control based on an external air temperature of the vehicle and a speed of the vehicle, the alternating control being for sequentially energizing each hot-wire heater provided in each of the plurality of areas, and the entire surface control being for simultaneously energizing all the hot-wire heaters provided in the plurality of areas.

A method and device for mitigating environmental-control load for a hybrid vehicle are disclosed. In operation, a determination is made as to whether a hybrid vehicle is at a high-power operational mode. When the hybrid vehicle is at a high-power operational mode, a determination of an estimated time-of-travel to a low-power operational mode is made based on vehicle trajectory plan data. Heat-load buffer data is generated based on the estimated time to prolong a passenger comfort setting during the low-power operational mode.

A hybrid vehicle includes: an internal combustion engine; a generator that generates electric power by using an output of the internal combustion engine; an electric storage device that stores the electric power generated by the generator; an electric motor that generates a driving force for the hybrid vehicle by receiving at least one of the electric power that is generated by the generator and the electric power that is stored in the electric storage device; a heating apparatus that heats a vehicle cabin, the heating apparatus including an electric heater that heats the vehicle cabin by using the electric power that is stored in the electric storage device; and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to (a) control traveling of the vehicle by selectively applying a CD mode and a CS mode, the CD mode being a mode in which an SOC of the electric storage device is consumed and the CS mode being a mode in which the SOC is maintained, and (b) control the electric heater so that the heating by the electric heater is more limited in the CS mode than in the CD mode.

A microclimate system for a vehicle occupant includes multiple microclimate thermal effectors. Each of the microclimate thermal effectors has a corresponding thermal effector controller and is configured to at least partially control an occupant thermal comfort. Each of the microclimate thermal effectors includes at least one sensor configured to determine a microclimate parameter corresponding to at least one microclimate thermal effector of the multiple microclimate thermal effectors. A microclimate system controller is in communication with a plurality of thermal effector controllers. An optimizer is configured to apply a corresponding weighting value from a plurality of weighting values to each thermal effector controller in the plurality microclimate thermal effectors.