A method for air conditioning an electric or hybrid vehicle includes preconditioning a high voltage accumulator of the electric or hybrid vehicle. The electric or hybrid vehicle has an interior and the high voltage accumulator is air conditioned with an air-conditioning unit having a determined cooling potential. The high voltage accumulator has a current HVS temperature. The interior has a current interior temperature. During the preconditioning, the high voltage accumulator is supercooled in a preconditioning mode with the air-conditioning unit to an HVS temperature that is below an HVS operating temperature.

The present invention relates to an air conditioner for a vehicle and a control method thereof, which can calculate the range of discharge temperature to the interior of the vehicle, set the upper limit of the discharge temperature, and control the degree of opening of a temp door such that the discharge temperature to the interior of the vehicle gets lower than the upper limit, thereby preventing air of discharge temperature above the upper limit from being discharged to the interior of the vehicle and preventing displeasure or personal injury that may be caused when air of high temperature is discharged.

A vehicle air conditioner with a refrigerant circuit has as components at least one evaporator, a refrigerant compressor, a refrigerant condenser, an expansion valve associated with the evaporator and at least one heat exchanger with an associated expansion valve for coupling with a coolant circuit of a heat source, wherein the components are connected by a refrigerant line. A refrigerant container is provided which is connected on the high-pressure side of the refrigerant compressor with the refrigerant line and has a refrigerant-receiving chamber with a controllable volume, and a control unit is provided with which the volume of the chamber of the refrigerant container is controlled as a function of operating parameters of the refrigerant circuit. Alternatively, the refrigerant container is connected on the high-pressure side of the refrigerant compressor with the refrigerant line by way of a branch line.

Systems and methods are provided for controlling a hybrid powertrain of a hybrid vehicle, and may include: determining a value of a drive request for a combustion engine of the hybrid vehicle; determining electrical loading on batteries of the hybrid vehicle; adjusting operation of an accessory of the hybrid vehicle to reduce the electrical load of that accessory on the batteries of the hybrid vehicle when the drive request value is above a determined drive request threshold amount and the electrical loading on batteries of the hybrid vehicle is above a power loading threshold; and directing at least some of the power saved by adjusting operation of the accessory from the batteries of the hybrid vehicle to a drive motor of the hybrid vehicle to provide motive force for the vehicle.

A method for controlling air conditioning of a vehicle includes: determining whether an air conditioning control entry condition for battery cooling wind backseat backflow compensation is satisfied from environment information collected from the vehicle; starting air conditioning control for the battery cooling wind backseat backflow compensation if it is determined that the entry condition is satisfied; determining a compensation value corresponding to a current operating level of a battery cooling fan when the air conditioning control for the battery cooling wind backseat backflow compensation is started; compensating for a current control variable value of an air conditioning device component using the determined compensation value; and performing an air conditioning operation for compensation in accordance with a backflow of a battery cooling wind having cooled a battery toward a backseat by controlling a state of the air conditioning device component in accordance with the compensated control variable value.

A control method capable of variably applying an existing engine-on line includes: a prediction degree calculation unit to predict a degree to which a temperature of a coolant at a current point after the engine is turned off reaches a target temperature by a request of full automatic temperature control (FATC); a factor determination unit to set reference ranges divided based on an extent that the temperature is close to the target temperature, and to determine a factor value for each reference range so that a predetermined existing engine-on line or a predetermined existing engine-off line is varied by required power; and an engine on/off line determination unit configured to determine a corrected engine-on line or a corrected engine-off line by calculating the existing engine-on line or the existing engine-off line and the factor value in the reference range in which a calculation value is positioned.

A HVAC thermal conditioning system provides a macroclimate environment. An auxiliary thermal conditioning system has multiple microclimate devices in close proximity to a region of the occupant. The microclimate devices are arranged within an interior space that provides the macroclimate environment to an occupant. A controller communicates with the microclimate devices and calculates an occupant personal comfort based upon a thermal energy experienced by the occupant from thermal radiation sources, thermal convection sources, and thermal conduction sources, and to automatically command the microclimate devices in response to the calculated occupant personal comfort to achieve a desired occupant personal comfort. The automatic command adjusts and apportions the thermal conduction sources and/or thermal radiation sources to achieve the desired occupant personal comfort. A power management module adjusts the HVAC thermal conditioning system while adjusting and apportioning the thermal conduction sources and/or thermal radiation sources to achieve the desired occupant personal comfort.

A method of controlling heating of a hybrid electric vehicle is provided. The method includes receiving a heating request from a driver; determining whether an entry condition of pre-FATC engine ON request (PFEOR) control is satisfied; checking whether the vehicle is capable of entering a HEV mode; determining whether the vehicle enters an idle mode for the PFEOR control; issuing a command for a target engine torque value and a target revolutions per minute for the idle mode to an engine control unit (ECU) from a hybrid control unit (HCU); and performing an engine idle speed control along with engine ON based on the command.

A heat storage heat pump heater (HSHPH) incorporated into a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system that provides heat to maintain the temperature in a compartment (e.g., a cabin of an electric vehicle) during both a heating cycle and defrosting cycle. This HSHPH contains a heat exchanger having an inlet and an outlet located in one or more manifolds and a core that includes one or more refrigerant tubes through which a refrigerant flows and a plurality of fins that extend between the tubes, the one or more refrigerant tubes being in fluid communication with the inlet and the outlet; and a phase change material (PCM) configured to store heat transferred from the refrigerant during a heating cycle and to transfer heat to the refrigerant during a defrosting cycle. The PCM changes phase at a temperature that is greater than or equal to 24° C.

A solar loading-based system includes a memory, a solar load prediction module, and an eco-routing module. The memory is configured to store map information and environment information. The solar load prediction module is configured, based on the map information and the environment information, to (i) determine a route of a host vehicle, (ii) predict solar loading on the host vehicle along the route, and (iii) predict an amount of energy to be consumed by the host vehicle over the route based on the predicted solar loading. The eco-routing module is configured, based on the amount of energy to be consumed by the host vehicle over the route, to at least one of (i) determine whether to follow the route, or (ii) inform a user of the route and the predicted amount of energy to be consumed over the route.