An example method of providing thermal conditioning includes providing a HAL having a plurality of input drivers that obtain input data from temperature sensors, and a plurality of output drivers that control a discrete thermal effectors in discrete OPZs in a vehicle cabin. An EVAL obtains input data from the HAL and estimates a heat flux experienced by an occupant in each OPZ based on a vehicle profile. An OAL determines a first parameter based on a target heat flux for the occupant across all of the OPZs, determines a second parameter based on the estimated heat flux of the occupant from the EVAL, and determines respective temperature setpoints for each of the plurality of OPZs to reduce a difference between the first and second parameters. The thermal effectors are controlled based on the temperature setpoints.

Disclosed is a method for conditioning a vehicle battery interworking with scheduled air conditioning, including the steps of determining, using a controller, whether a scheduled departure time and scheduled air conditioning execution are set after parking a vehicle; determining, using the controller, whether battery conditioning execution of the vehicle is set when it is determined that the scheduled departure time and the scheduled air conditioning are set; and executing, using the controller, air conditioning and battery conditioning of the vehicle before a preset reference time of the scheduled departure time when the battery conditioning execution is set.

This disclosure describes vehicle climate control systems and methods for more intelligently controlling an occupant comfort level within a vehicle interior in a manner that minimizes energy usage of the vehicle. The climate control system may be automatically controlled in an economical mode (i.e., ECO mode) when certain vehicle conditions are met. For example, the decision to activate the ECO mode of the climate control system may be a function of one or more variables including, but not limited to, vehicle speed, vehicle speed differentials, ambient temperatures, temperature differentials, battery state of charge, predicted low battery state of charge, etc.

A vehicle thermal management system, may include a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) subsystem including an HVAC casing in which a heater core and an evaporator are received; and a cooling subsystem including a coolant loop through which a coolant circulates, wherein the heater core is located on the downstream side of the evaporator in an air flow direction, and the coolant loop is thermally connected to the heater core. The HVAC subsystem includes: an air mixing chamber located on the downstream side of the heater core within the HVAC casing; a discharge pipe fluidically communicating with the air mixing chamber, and being opened to the outside of a passenger compartment; and a flap configured for selectively opening and closing the discharge pipe.

A heat request arbitration device includes: a first thermal circuit; a second thermal circuit; a third thermal circuit having path patterns that are selectable as a path that is heat exchangeable with each of the first thermal circuit and the second thermal circuit; and heat source units configured to absorb heat or radiate heat via a heat medium circulating in at least one of the thermal circuits; a derivation unit configured to derive requests related to heat flow control of heat absorbed or radiated by each of the heat source units; and a selection unit configured to select a path for at least one of the thermal circuits so as to satisfy at least one of the requests related to the heat flow control based on the requests related to the heat flow control derived by the derivation unit.

A device installed in a vehicle including a first thermal circuit, a second thermal circuit, and a third thermal circuit, is configured to arbitrate a heat request of the first thermal circuit, a heat request of the second thermal circuit, and a heat request of the third thermal circuit. The device is configured to acquire a heat absorption amount requested by the first thermal circuit, the second thermal circuit, and the third thermal circuit, and configured to set, as a target value of a transfer heat amount in which heat exchange is performed between the second thermal circuit and the third thermal circuit, a larger one of a heat dissipation amount requested by the second thermal circuit and a heat amount difference in which a heat dissipation amount requested by the third thermal circuit is subtracted from a heat absorption amount requested by the first thermal circuit.

A thermal request mediating device includes a calculation unit configured to calculate amounts of heat for thermal circuits, a mediation unit configured to determine amounts of absorbed heat or amounts of discharged heat which are allocated to the thermal circuits based on amounts of heat transferable between the thermal circuits, and a distribution unit configured to distribute amounts of absorbed heat or amounts of discharged heat to units which are included in each thermal circuit based on the determined amounts of absorbed heat or amounts of discharged heat.

An electric vehicle thermal management system and method utilizing power demand models for both propulsion and auxiliary systems, and an intelligent thermal load management module. A navigation unit formulates potential routes to a destination that is either set by a driver or predicted by a drive cycle prediction module. The routes are used to inform the propulsion power demand model, while historical driving patterns based on GPS data and time-dependent climate inputs inform the auxiliary power demand model. The expected power demands for the individual systems and overall combined system are accounted for in calculations performed by optimization algorithms in an intelligent thermal load management module. The calculations produce desired temperature setpoints which send heating and cooling requests to refrigerant and coolant fluid handlers and subsequent actuators that control the refrigerant and coolant fluid loops.

A computer-implemented process for controlling a vehicle interior includes detecting a previously defined situation that relates to an undesirable environmental condition of the vehicle interior, and assessing both a risk level and an urgency level, based on a vehicle sensor input. The process also includes generating a vehicle command based upon the detected previously defined situation, the assessed risk level, and assessed urgency level, and executing the generated vehicle command to control at least one of an engine, a window, and a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) unit to modify an environmental condition of the vehicle interior.

An air conditioning control system includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry includes an ambient temperature obtainment unit, a departure time estimation unit configured to estimate a departure time of a vehicle, an air conditioning condition calculator configured to calculate an operation period and an operation output that allow a passenger compartment temperature of the vehicle to reach a preset target temperature, an air conditioning start time determination unit configured to determine an activation time of an air conditioner, and an air conditioning controller. The air conditioning start time determination unit is configured to determine that the activation time is a time earlier than the departure time by the operation period.