A battery thermal management system includes a passenger cabin air-conditioning refrigerant loop including at least one evaporator in fluid communication with a chiller and a battery pack coolant loop in fluid communication with the chiller. A controller is configured to determine whether a temperature of the at least one evaporator falls within a predetermined temperature range, and if so to cause a valve to bypass a refrigerant from the air-conditioning refrigerant loop to the chiller. Evaporator temperature is determined by providing at least one evaporator temperature sensor.

There is disclosed a vehicle air conditioner which is capable of enlarging an effective range of a dehumidifying and heating mode to environmental conditions and smoothly dehumidifying and heating a vehicle interior. A vehicle air conditioner 1 executes a dehumidifying and heating mode in which a controller lets a refrigerant discharged from a compressor 2 radiate heat in a radiator 4, and decompresses the refrigerant by which heat has been radiated and then lets the refrigerant absorb heat in a heat absorber 9 and an outdoor heat exchanger 7, the controller decreases an outdoor blower voltage FANVout of an outdoor blower 15 and decreases an air volume into the outdoor blower 15 in a case where a temperature Te of the heat absorber 9 is high even when the controller adjusts a valve position of an outdoor expansion valve 6 into a lower limit of controlling in a situation in which a temperature TCI of the radiator 4 is satisfactory.

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.

The application provides a vehicle thermal management system, a vehicle thermal management method and a vehicle. The vehicle thermal management system comprises: a flow path switching valve; a compressor, an intake port and an exhaust port of the compressor being respectively connected to the flow path switching valve; an in-cabin thermal management flow path, which comprises fluid communication of an in-cabin heat exchanger, a first fan associated to the in-cabin heat exchanger, and a first throttle element connected to the in-cabin heat exchanger; a first end of the in-cabin thermal management flow path being connected to the flow path switching valve; an out-cabin thermal management flow path, which comprises an out-cabin heat exchanger, a second fan associated to the out-cabin heat exchanger, and a second throttle element connected to the out-cabin heat exchanger; a first end of the out-cabin thermal management flow path being connected to the flow path switching valve; and a second end of the out-cabin thermal management flow path being connected to a second end of the in-cabin thermal management flow path; and at least one battery module thermal management flow path, which comprises a cell heat exchanger associated to at least one cell of a battery module, and a third throttle element connected to the cell heat exchanger; a first end of the battery module thermal management flow path being connected to the flow path switching valve; and a second end of the battery module thermal management flow path being connected to the second end of the in-cabin thermal management flow path, the second end of the out-cabin thermal management flow path, and the flow path switching valve, respectively; wherein the flow path switching valve is used for switching the on/off and flow direction of the intake port of the compressor, the exhaust port of the compressor, the in-cabin thermal management flow path, the out-cabin thermal management flow path, and the battery module thermal management flow path. The vehicle thermal management system has high energy efficiency and reliability and is lightweight.

An externally-controlled variable displacement compressor (EVDC) cold-start method is described including, during an EVDC cold-start procedure, iteratively alternating an amount of a control current supplied to an electronic control valve (ECV) associated with the EVDC between no control current and a full control current. Systems for implementing the described method are provided.

A vehicle air-conditioning apparatus according to the present invention includes an air-conditioning refrigerant circuit that circulates a refrigerant to cool an inside of a vehicle, a branching refrigerant circuit that branches from the air-conditioning refrigerant circuit and cools a heat generating device, a branching control valve that is provided in the branching refrigerant circuit and controls a flow of the refrigerant flowing into the branching refrigerant circuit from the air-conditioning refrigerant circuit, and a control unit that controls an operation of the air-conditioning refrigerant circuit and the branching control valve. After transition to an operation of cooling the inside of the vehicle by the air-conditioning refrigerant circuit and cooling the heat generating device by the branching refrigerant circuit in parallel, the control unit opens and closes the branching control valve in accordance with a cooling capacity state of the air-conditioning refrigerant circuit.

There is provided a vehicle air conditioner which is capable of smoothly achieving a dehumidifying and heating mode without using an evaporation pressure adjustment valve, so that cost reduction is achievable. A controller executes a normal mode to control an operation of a compressor 2 on the basis of a radiator pressure PCI and control a valve position of an outdoor expansion valve 6 on the basis of a heat absorber temperature Te, and in this normal mode, when the valve position of the outdoor expansion valve 6 is maximized but the heat absorber temperature Te falls, the controller shifts to a heat absorber temperature control mode to control the operation of the compressor 2 on the basis of the temperature of a heat absorber 9 and generate heat from an auxiliary heater 23.

When performing dehumidification heating of a space to be air-conditioned, a refrigeration cycle device is switched to a refrigerant circuit in which a flow of a refrigerant flowing out of an interior radiator is branched, and one of the branched refrigerants is decompressed by an interior expansion valve to evaporate in an interior evaporator, while the other of the branched refrigerants flows into a high-pressure side refrigerant passage of an internal heat exchanger and is then decompressed by an exterior expansion valve to evaporate in an exterior heat exchanger. Further, in the refrigerant circuit, a flow of the refrigerant flowing out of the interior evaporator and a flow of the refrigerant flowing out of the exterior heat exchanger are merged into a low-pressure side refrigerant passage of the internal heat exchanger. Thus, the refrigerant flowing into the interior evaporator is prevented from becoming a liquid-phase refrigerant having an unnecessarily high degree of supercooling, thereby achieving appropriate dehumidification heating.

A vehicle air-conditioning apparatus is provided which is capable of expanding an effective range of a dehumidifying and heating mode to achieve comfortable vehicle interior air conditioning. A control device (controller) executes a dehumidifying and heating mode to let a refrigerant discharged from a compressor 2 radiate heat in a radiator 4, let a part of the refrigerant flow from a bypass circuit (refrigerant pipe 13F) to an indoor expansion valve 8, and let the residual refrigerant flow through an outdoor expansion valve 6. In the dehumidifying and heating mode, the control device has a state of controlling the operation of the compressor 2, based on a heat absorber temperature Te and executes a radiator temperature priority mode which enlarges a capability of the compressor when heat radiation in the radiator is insufficient.

A heat recovery system for an electric vehicle, including first and second switchable heat sources and a controller operable to selectively switch one of the heat sources into thermal communication with a compressor in a thermodynamic cycling system, the thermodynamic cycling system being in thermal communication with a heat sink; and a detector of a temperature differential between each of the switchable heat sources and a fluid entering the compressor; wherein the controller is operable to switch one of the first and second switchable heat sources into thermal communication with the thermodynamic cycling system when a temperature differential is detected between the fluid entering the compressor in the thermodynamic cycling system and the heat available from the switchable heat source, the temperature differential being such that the compressor is operable to upgrade low grade heat from the switchable heat source to a higher grade heat upon operation of the compressor.