A heating and cooling system (4A, 4B, 4C, 4D) for a vehicle (1), comprising a heating and cooling module (6) comprising a refrigerant circuit (7), and a refrigerant-air heat exchanger (22) fluidly connected to the refrigerant circuit (7) for tempering a vehicle interior (3) of the vehicle (1), the refrigerant-air heat exchanger (22) being provided outside the heating and cooling module (6).

During a normal operation, a refrigeration cycle device is switched to a refrigerant circuit in which heat contained in a high-pressure refrigerant flowing out of an interior radiator is stored in a heat storage member. When frost is formed on an evaporator, the refrigeration cycle device is switched to another refrigerant circuit in which the exterior heat exchanger is heated and defrosted using heat stored in the heat storage member as a heat source. The heat storage member uses a material formed by adding W (tungsten) as an additive to VO.sub.2 (vanadium dioxide) which is a transition metal oxide having a property of a phase transition between a metal and an insulator. The heat storage member effectively stores or dissipates heat depending on a temperature zone of the refrigerant, thereby suppressing an increase in energy consumption of a compressor.

A vehicle cabin air conditioning system includes a cabin indoor air conditioner and an individual air conditioner configured to condition air in a target space inside a cabin. The individual air conditioner includes a blower, a heat generator, a supply port, and an exhaust port. The supply port supplies one of a cold air cooled with the heat generator and a warm air heated with the heat generator to the target space. The exhaust port provides the other of the cold air and the warm air to outside of the target space. The cabin indoor air conditioner includes a cabin blower, a temperature control unit, and a suction port through which air is sucked for the temperature control unit. An air flow path is provided to guide air sent from the exhaust port of the individual air conditioner to the suction port of the cabin indoor air conditioner.

A thermal management system includes a compressor, a first throttling device, a flow rate adjustment portion, a first heat exchanger, a second heat exchanger, a third heat exchanger and an intermediate heat exchanger. The flow rate adjustment portion includes a throttling unit and a valve unit, the intermediate heat exchanger includes a first heat exchange portion and a second heat exchange portion, and the second heat exchange portion includes a first port, a second port and a third port. The first port of the second heat exchange portion is in communication with a refrigerant outlet of the first heat exchanger or a refrigerant inlet of the second heat exchanger by the first throttling device.

A thermal management system designed to provide efficient sources of heating and/or cooling to the battery and/or the cabin taking advantage of ambient air and/or waste heat from power electronics. A primary way that the system provides efficiency in thermal management is the ability to reconfigure the path that circulated coolant follows through the system's channels. By using the processes and systems described herein, efficient thermal management can be achieved.

A vehicle temperature management system includes a refrigerant circulation system including a compressor, a first heat exchanger, a depressurization apparatus, a heat exchange plate, a four-way valve, and a second heat exchanger that is configured to heat a first refrigerant that flows to an input port when a management object needs to be cooled through the heat exchange plate, and cool the first refrigerant that flows to the heat exchange plate when the management object needs to be heated through the heat exchange plate.

The present application discloses an air conditioning system and a control method therefore. An intermediate heat exchanger can include a first heat exchange portion and a second heat exchange portion, a first end of the first heat exchange portion is in communication with an inlet of a compressor, a second end of the first heat exchange portion is communicable with an outlet of a second heat exchanger and/or a second end of the first heat exchanger, a first end of the second heat exchange portion is communicable with a first end of the first heat exchanger, and a second end of the second heat exchange portion is communicable with an inlet of the second heat exchanger and/or an outlet of the compressor. In the refrigeration mode, the first branch can have an adjustable amount of flow. Performance of the air conditioning system can be enhanced.

A temperature control system for an electric vehicle includes a cabin temperature control system configured to control flow of a refrigerant through one or more heat exchangers to control a temperature of a cabin of the electric vehicle, a battery temperature control system configured to control the flow of a coolant through one or more heat exchangers to control a temperature of a battery system of the electric vehicle, and a power electronics temperature control system configured to control the flow of coolant through one or more heat exchangers to control a temperature of one or more power electronics. In a first configuration of the temperature control system, the battery temperature control system and the power electronics temperature control system may be thermally isolated, and, in a second configuration, the battery temperature control system and the power electronics temperature control system may thermally interact.

Disclosed is a heat pump system including a compressor configured to compress a refrigerant, a four-way valve configured to switch a flow direction of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger and an indoor heat exchanger each having one side connected to the four-way valve, an auxiliary heat exchanger connected to the four-way valve by an accumulation pipe and having an internal space filled with a refrigerant from the accumulation pipe, an outdoor pipe extending from the other side of the outdoor heat exchanger, an indoor pipe extending from the other side of the indoor heat exchanger, and a flow pipe branched from an outdoor branch point of the outdoor pipe and extending to an indoor branch point of the indoor pipe.

Disclosed is a four-way valve including a housing having a refrigerant filling chamber formed therein, a high pressure pipe hole formed on a bottom surface of the housing and coupled to a high pressure pipe through which refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows, a first pipe hole formed on an upper surface of the housing and coupled to a first pipe extending to a first heat exchanger, a second pipe hole formed on the upper surface of the housing and coupled to a second pipe extending to a second heat exchanger, a low pressure pipe hole formed on the upper surface of the housing and configured to allow the refrigerant to be collected to the compressor, and a switching guide configured to rotate to allow the low pressure pipe hole to selectively communicate with the first pipe hole or the second pipe hole.