A vehicular thermal management system includes: a refrigerant circulation line including a compressor, a high-pressure heat exchanger, an outdoor heat exchanger, a plurality of expansion valves and a low-pressure heat exchanger; an air conditioning mode branch line configured to allow a refrigerant passing through the compressor and the high-pressure heat exchanger to circulate in the order of the outdoor heat exchanger and the low-pressure heat exchanger in an air conditioning mode; a heat pump mode branch line configured to allow the refrigerant passing through the compressor and the high-pressure heat exchanger to circulate by bypassing the outdoor heat exchanger and the low-pressure heat exchanger in a heat pump mode; and a refrigerant/oil recovery part configured to, when one of the branch lines is used, recover the refrigerant and oil in the other unused branch line to the compressor.

A heat pump system for a motor vehicle is disclosed. The heat pump system includes a refrigerant circuit that is flowable through by a refrigerant. The refrigerant circuit has a first partial circuit with a low pressure accumulator, a compressor, a heat pump heater, and an exterior heat exchanger. The refrigerant circuit has a second partial circuit with an evaporator and a chiller. The refrigerant circuit has a valve arrangement. The first partial circuit and the second partial circuit are fluidically connected with one another exclusively via the valve arrangement.

The present invention aims to suppress a coolant from bypassing a non-cooling unit without lowering the productivity.

The power converter according to the present invention includes: a power semiconductor module; and a flow path forming body having a flow path in which the power semiconductor module is disposed and an opening which is connected with the flow path, wherein the power semiconductor module includes a first fin formed on one surface and a second fin formed on another surface which faces the one surface so as to sandwich the semiconductor element, the flow path forming body has a first coolant control unit and a second coolant control unit which are arranged so as to sandwich the first fin, the first coolant control unit and the second coolant control unit are formed to be overlapped with a region of the power semiconductor module where the first fin is not formed, and a first flow path is formed along the first coolant control unit and the second coolant control unit.

A heat pump system for a vehicle controls a temperature of a battery module by use of one chiller in which a coolant and a refrigerant are heat-exchanged and that improves heating efficiency by recovering heat from various heat sources in a heating mode of a vehicle to use them for indoor heating, including: a valve, an electrical component cooling device, a battery cooling device, an indoor heating device, an indoor cooling device, a centralized energy device, and a chiller, wherein a condenser included in the centralized energy device is connected to the second line through the second valve to condense the refrigerant supplied through the refrigerant line through heat-exchange with the coolant and is provided in a sixth line through which the coolant flows; and a first end portion of the third line is connected to a third valve provided in the sixth line.

The invention relates to a refrigerant circuit for thermally conditioning a vehicle passenger compartment, comprising a plurality of branches containing at least one exchanger, of which branch a first branch is in series with a second branch and a third branch, said second branch being in parallel with said third branch, and a means of placing the third branch m communication with the second branch, said means being installed between a sector of the third branch which sector is situated downstream of an external exchanger and a portion of the second branch which is situated upstream of a first control member.

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.

Methods and system for providing heat to a vehicle are presented, whereby a refrigerant loop is operated to heat a cabin of the vehicle via heat generated by a compressor and heat generated by a resistive heating element. The heat generated by the compressor and the heat generated by the resistive heating element are transferred to a refrigerant before it is transferred to the cabin. In one example, in a first mode, an evaporator bypass valve on an evaporator bypass conduit of the A/C system is opened to route the refrigerant around an evaporator of the A/C system to increase a temperature of the refrigerant in the refrigerant loop; and in a second mode, the evaporator bypass valve is closed to route the refrigerant through the evaporator, where heat is released to a flow of air across the evaporator that is directed to the vehicle cabin.

A vehicle heat exchange system includes a cooling heat exchanger provided in a cooling water circuit, a first air-conditioning heat exchanger as an evaporator in a heat pump system, a hydrothermal-medium heat exchanger as a refrigerant condenser in the heat pump system, a second air-conditioning heat exchanger, and an air conditioning passage in which the first air-conditioning heat exchanger and the second air-conditioning heat exchanger are disposed. A vehicle interior-exterior communication port is provided at a downstream side of the second air-conditioning heat exchanger in the air conditioning passage, to guide the air having passed through the second air-conditioning heat exchanger, to an outside of the vehicle interior. The cooling water for cooling the heating element flows through the second air-conditioning heat exchanger, and the air having passed through the second air-conditioning heat exchanger is discharged outside the vehicle interior through the vehicle interior-exterior communication port.

A vehicle heat management system includes a refrigerant circuit, a heating circuit, and a battery temperature regulation circuit. The refrigerant circuit circulates a refrigerant to regulate a temperature inside a passenger compartment through the refrigerant circuit. The heating circuit circulates a liquid that exchanges heat with the refrigerant through the heating circuit. The heating circuit regulates the temperature inside the passenger compartment. The battery temperature regulation circuit regulates a temperature of a battery by introducing a liquid that exchanges heat with the refrigerant to the battery.

A refrigerant/heat medium heat exchanger that heats a heat medium which circulates in a heater core of an HVAC unit is provided in a discharge pipe of a cooling refrigerant circuit, a heating bypass circuit that extends to a receiver is connected to a downstream side of the refrigerant/heat medium heat exchanger through a switching means, a second circuit having a second decompression means is provided between an outlet of the receiver and a first end of a vehicle exterior heat exchanger, and a third circuit having a solenoid valve is provided between a second end of the vehicle exterior heat exchanger and an intake circuit. In a vehicle air-conditioning system, a heating refrigerant circuit is configured by an electric compressor, a refrigerant/heat medium heat exchanger, a switching means, a heating bypass circuit, a receiver, a second circuit, a vehicle exterior heat exchanger, and a third circuit. Consequently, while simplification of a configuration and the like are attained by diverting cooling refrigerant circuit and an HVAC of a current system, cooling/heating capacity can be ensured by diversifying heating heat sources, and operation in a frost formation delay mode or the like is possible during heating.