A vehicle temperature control apparatus for controlling temperature of a temperature control object, which is at least one of inside air of a vehicle compartment and a vehicle component, includes a heat capacitive element capable of storing heat, a refrigeration cycle in which heat is absorbed from a low temperature side and is dissipated to a high temperature side, a heat exchanger that causes the heat capacitive element to exchange heat with refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle, and a heat dissipation portion which dissipates heat in the refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle to the temperature control object. Thus, a temperature control by using the heat capacitive element can be effectively performed.

An air conditioner system for mobility is provided. The air conditioner system is configured to secure the air conditioning performance in cooling and heating conditioning and to prevent a battery from being deteriorated as the battery is prevented from being overcharged while the air conditioner system is driven when the battery is charged by the regenerative breaking while the charge amount of the battery is already high.

A vehicle arrangement (20) for thawing thermal energy from and/or rejecting thermal energy to a plurality of components in a vehicle, the arrangement comprising a heat-pump assembly (12) comprising a first heat-pump section (18) at a first temperature and a second heat-pump section (22) at a second temperature different from the first temperature, and a first thermal energy distribution path (26) for transporting a first carrier fluid and extending through at least a portion of the first heat-pump section (18), and a second thermal energy distribution path (28) for transporting a second carrier fluid and extending through at least a portion of the second heat-pump section (22). The arrangement further comprises a first circulation pump (32) associated with the first thermal energy distribution path (26) for pumping the first carrier fluid around the first thermal energy distribution path and a second circulation pump (34) associated with the second thermal energy distribution path (28) for pumping the second carrier fluid around the second thermal energy distribution path. In addition the system comprises means (78-100) for selectively connecting at least one of the plurality of vehicle components to at least one of the thermal energy distribution paths so as to draw thermal energy from and/or reject thermal energy to said vehicle component or components.

An air conditioner includes a battery temperature adjustment device which adjusts the temperature of a battery and has a refrigerant-heat medium heat exchanger to exchange heat between a refrigerant and a heat medium. A controller executes a first heating/battery cooling mode to let the refrigerant discharged from a compressor radiate heat in a radiator, decompress the refrigerant, and then let the refrigerant absorb heat in an outdoor heat exchanger and the refrigerant-heat medium heat exchanger, and a second heating/battery cooling mode to let the refrigerant discharged from the compressor radiate heat in the radiator and the outdoor heat exchanger, decompress the refrigerant, and then let the refrigerant absorb heat in the refrigerant-heat medium heat exchanger.

An air conditioning system for conditioning the air of a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle comprises a housing with a first and a second flow conduit for conducting air and a coolant circuit with at least two heat exchangers, wherein a first heat exchanger is arranged in the first flow conduit and a second heat exchanger is arranged in the second flow conduit. The first heat exchanger can be operated independently of the operating mode as an evaporator and the second heat exchanger can be operated independently of the operating mode as a condenser. The housing comprises at least one air conduction device with which an air mass flow conditioned in the air conditioning system can be discharged into the environment. The coolant circuit is constructed with a heat exchanger which is arranged outside of the housing and can be operated as an evaporator or as a condenser.

Methods and systems for de-icing an exterior heat exchanger of a vehicle's heat pump are presented. In one example, a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heater provides heat to refrigerant that de-ices the exterior heat exchanger. In some examples, an additional PTC heater provides heat to engine coolant to warm a vehicle's passenger cabin when the vehicle's exterior heat exchanger is being de-iced.

There is provided a vehicular air-conditioning device capable of reducing frost formation on an outdoor heat exchanger during vehicle running after disconnection from an external power source and extending a period during which a heating operation can be performed with high efficiency. A battery 55 is capable of being charged from an external power source. A controller 32 causes an outdoor heat exchanger 7 to absorb heat to thereby execute a heating operation to heat a vehicle interior. The controller 32 is capable of executing air preconditioning to preliminarily heat the vehicle interior before boarding. When the air preconditioning is executed in a state in which the battery 55 is connected to the external power source, the controller 32 heats the vehicle interior without using the outdoor heat exchanger 7, and changes a target temperature for heating control in the air preconditioning in the direction of increasing from a reference value of the target temperature.

A vehicle air conditioning device is provided which is capable of accurately judging the need for temperature regulation of an object of temperature regulation mounted in a vehicle and efficiently performing temperature regulation. A compressor 2 to compress a refrigerant, an indoor heat exchanger (radiator 4 and heat absorber 9) for exchanging heat between air supplied to a vehicle interior and the refrigerant, an outdoor heat exchanger 7 disposed outside the vehicle interior, and a control device 11 are provided to perform air conditioning of the vehicle interior. An equipment temperature adjusting device 61 for adjusting the temperature of the object of temperature regulation mounted in the vehicle is provided. The control device controls the equipment temperature adjusting device 61 on the basis of a gradient (ΔT.sub.w) of a change in an index indicating the temperature of the object of temperature regulation.

A vehicle air conditioner includes a heat pump system and an air conditioner ECU that controls the heat pump system. An operation mode of the heat pump system includes an air cooling mode, an air heating mode, a serial dehumidification air-heating mode, a parallel dehumidification air-heating mode, a battery-only cooling mode, and an air-cooling battery-cooling mode. The air conditioner ECU separately sets conditions for permitting cooling of a battery, depending on the operation mode.

A heat pump system may include a cooling apparatus configured to include a radiator, a first water pump, a first valve, a second valve, and a reservoir tank which are connected through a coolant line; a battery cooling apparatus including a battery coolant line connected to the coolant line through the first valve, and a second water pump and a battery module which are connected through the battery coolant line to circulate the coolant in the battery module; a heating apparatus including a heating line connected to the coolant line through the second valve and a third water pump provided on the heating line, and a heater; a chiller provided in the battery coolant line between the first valve and the battery module, connected to a chiller connection line through the second valve connected to the chiller connection line, and connected to a refrigerant line of an air conditioner through a refrigerant connection line.