Methods and system for providing de-icing a heat pump heat exchanger and heating a vehicle passenger cabin are presented. In one example, a heat pump that experiences icing of exterior heat exchanger fins may be operated in a cooling mode where a passenger cabin heat exchanger operates as an evaporator to improve de-icing of the exterior heat exchanger fins.

There is disclosed a vehicle air conditioning device of a heat pump system which delays proceeding of frosting onto an outdoor heat exchanger, thereby eliminating or inhibiting deterioration of a heating capability due to the frosting. The vehicle air conditioning device executes a heating mode in which a controller lets a refrigerant discharged from a compressor 2 radiate heat in a radiator 4, decompresses the refrigerant by which heat has been radiated, and then lets the refrigerant absorb heat in an outdoor heat exchanger 7, and on the basis of a difference TXO=(TXObaseTXO) between a refrigerant evaporation temperature TXObase of the outdoor heat exchanger 7 in non-frosting and a refrigerant evaporation temperature TXO of the outdoor heat exchanger 7, the controller corrects a target subcool degree TGSC that is a target value of a subcool degree of the refrigerant in the radiator 4 in an increasing direction in accordance with increase of the difference TXO.

This application relates to thermal management systems and vehicles. An example thermal management system includes a compressor, a condenser, a first heat exchanger, a second heat exchanger, and a first electronic expansion valve. The compressor includes an input port and an output port. The compressor is configured to compress a refrigerant from the input port and output the compressed refrigerant through the output port. The condenser includes a first interface and a second interface. The second interface is connected to the output port. The first heat exchanger includes a third interface and a fourth interface. The third interface is connected to the output port, and the fourth interface is connected to the input port. The second heat exchanger includes a fifth interface and a sixth interface. The sixth interface is connected to the input port.

A vehicle air conditioning system includes a refrigerant circuit, a heat medium circuit, a vehicle-interior heat exchanger, a vehicle-exterior heat exchanger including a first heat exchanger and a second heat exchanger disposed in series with respect to a flow of air generated by an air blower, a switching unit, a detection unit for detecting a degree of frost formation, and a control device. The operation mode includes a defrosting mode in which the heat medium in the high-temperature medium circuit is supplied to a defrosting target to be selected as either the first or second heat exchanger by the operation of the switching unit. The control device selects, as the defrosting target, the first heat exchanger in preference to the second heat exchanger when determined that both the first and the second heat exchangers need to be defrosted.

There is disclosed a vehicle air conditioner device of a so-called heat pump system to accurately perform efficient and comfortable heating of a vehicle interior. The vehicle air conditioner device includes a heating medium circulating circuit 23 which heats air to be supplied from an air flow passage 3 to a vehicle interior. A controller calculates a required heating capability TGQhtr of the heating medium circulating circuit to complement a shortage of an actual heating capability Qhp to a required heating capability TGQ of a radiator 4. The controller calculates a decrease amount Qhp of the actual heating capability Qhp from a difference TXO between a refrigerant evaporation temperature TXO of an outdoor heat exchanger 7 and a refrigerant evaporation temperature TXObase in non-frosting, and adds the decrease amount Qhp to the required heating capability TGQhtr to execute the heating by the heating medium circulating circuit.

A method according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, controlling a climate control system of an electrified vehicle by shutting off refrigerant flow to a rear portion of a heat pump subsystem in response to a defrost request.

There is disclosed an air conditioning device for vehicle in which in a defrosting mode to defrost an outdoor heat exchanger, the defrosting of the outdoor heat exchanger can be achieved without hindrance while maintaining heating of a vehicle interior. A refrigerant discharged from a compressor 2 radiates heat in a radiator 4 and the refrigerant by which heat has been radiated is decompressed and then absorbs heat in an outdoor heat exchanger 7 to heat the vehicle interior. The air conditioning device for vehicle includes an injection circuit 40 which distributes a part of the refrigerant flowing out from the radiator 4 to return the part to the compressor 2. When a controller 32 passes the high-temperature refrigerant through the outdoor heat exchanger 7 to perform defrosting, the controller operates the injection circuit 40 to return the refrigerant to the compressor 2.

This disclosure discloses a HPAC system and an electric vehicle. The HPAC system includes: an indoor condenser, an indoor evaporator, a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, and a first plate heat exchanger, the compressor is in communication with the indoor condenser, the indoor condenser is in communication with the outdoor heat exchanger through a first throttle branch or a first through-flow branch, the outdoor heat exchanger, through a second throttle branch or a second through-flow branch, is in communication with a first branch that is open or closed and is in communication with a second branch that is open or closed, the first branch is in communication with a low-pressure air inlet of the compressor, the second branch is in communication with the indoor evaporator, the indoor evaporator is in communication with a low-pressure air inlet of the compressor, and an enthalpy-increased branch is further disposed in the system.

There is disclosed a vehicle air conditioner of a heat pump system in which there is prevented or inhibited frosting to an outdoor heat exchanger when heating in a vehicle interior is beforehand performed during plug-in, thereby realizing comfortable heating in the vehicle interior during running and also extending a running distance. The vehicle air conditioner includes a heating medium circulating circuit 23 to heat air to be supplied from an air flow passage 3 to a vehicle interior, a controller has frosting estimation means for estimating frosting to an outdoor heat exchanger 7, and when a heating mode is executed in a state where a power is supplied from an external power source to a compressor 2 or a battery which supplies the power to drive the compressor 2, the controller executes the heating by a heating medium circulating circuit 23, in a case where the frosting to the outdoor heat exchanger 7 is predicted on the basis of the estimation of the frosting estimation means.

A vehicle for passenger transport has an electric drive device that is continuously cooled by way of a chiller during operation of the vehicle. An air conditioner for air conditioning a passenger interior compartment of the vehicle includes an external heat exchanger for removing heat from a surrounding area of the vehicle in heat pump operation, wherein ambient air is guided past the external heat exchanger by a fan which is assigned to the external heat exchanger. The electric drive device is cooled by way of a cooling circuit which contains coolant that is temperature-controlled by the chiller. A waste-heat heat exchanger which is subjected to cooling medium that flows back from the electric drive device to the chiller is connected upstream of the external heat exchanger of the air conditioner, relative to the ambient air stream generated by the fan.