A system for use with a block heater connected to an engine for pre-start heating of the engine. The system includes a power source, a relay assembly coupled to the power source, a temperature sensor, and a controller. The relay assembly, when closed, electrically connects the power source to the block heater, to thereby energize the block heater to heat the engine. The temperature sensor senses an ambient temperature indicative of a temperature of the engine. The controller is programmed to selectively activate the relay assembly to energize the block heater such that the engine coupled to the block heater is heated from the sensed ambient temperature to a target temperature at approximately a target time.

A vehicular heat management system includes a refrigerant circulation line configured to cool or heat a passenger compartment by generating a hot air or a cold air depending on a flow direction of a refrigerant, a cooling water circulation line configured to heat the passenger compartment with waste heat of an engine by allowing cooling water of the engine to circulate through a heater core, a refrigerant-cooling water heat exchanger disposed in the cooling water circulation line to allow the refrigerant and the cooling water to exchange heat, and an engine cooling water independent circulation unit configured to allow the cooling water passed through the engine to bypass the heater core and the refrigerant-cooling water heat exchanger.

An air conditioner for a vehicle includes an air conditioning case having a first air passageway and a second air passageway partitioned by a separator therein; a PTC heater disposed in each of the first air passageway and the second air passageway to generate heat by electric energy; and a control unit for controlling operation of the PTC heater. The control unit individually controls discharge temperature of the first air passageway and discharge temperature of the second air passageway of the PTC heater, and if target discharge temperature of the first air passageway and target discharge temperature of the second air passageway are different from each other, the control unit calculates and outputs a compensation value for the PTC heater output of at least one of the first air passageway and the second air passageway. The PTC heater therefore has a reduced output when controlling for dual temperatures.

A method of controlling an occupant microclimate environment includes determining a heat balance on an occupant in a microclimate environment based upon a thermal model of the heat transfer effects on the occupant, estimating an overall thermal sensation of the occupant based upon the heat balance, referencing a target overall thermal sensation of the occupant, calculating an error between the estimated overall thermal sensation and the target overall thermal sensation, and controlling at least one thermal effector in at least one zone in the microclimate environment to reduce the error in overall thermal sensation while maintaining all effectors within limits of temperature and flow rate that ensure occupant comfort.

A heat pump air-conditioning system for a vehicle includes a refrigerant circuit, an auxiliary heater, and a control unit. The control unit compares a difference between a target blowout temperature and an actual blowout temperature with a predetermined first temperature threshold value in magnitudes, The control unit adjusts an opening degree of a first expansion valve and an opening degree of a second expansion valve. The control unit adjusts an output power of the auxiliary heater. The control unit executes a plurality of different modes of a heat pump air-conditioning to control the actual blowout temperature to approach and maintain at the target blowout temperature.

A method of providing thermal conditioning for a vehicle occupant according to an example of the present disclosure includes determining a respective target temperature for each of a plurality of discrete OPZs. Each OPZ is associated with a different occupant body area. The determining is based on a difference between a first OTS indicative of a target heat flux for the occupant and a second OTS indicative of an estimated heat flux experienced by the occupant, wherein the respective target temperatures differ between the OPZs. The method includes providing thermal conditioning in each OPZ based on the target temperature for the OPZ, which includes utilizing at least one thermal effector in the OPZ. The method also includes receiving a temperature offset value for a particular one of the OPZs from the occupant, and adjusting the target temperature for the particular one of the OPZs based on the temperature offset value.

Examples of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for providing cooling and/or heating in a vehicle. For example, the systems and methods may cool and/or heat a vehicle cabin while the vehicle’s engine is not idling or otherwise in operation, without consuming excessive power stored by a vehicle battery. In example implementations, thermoelectric cooling cells may be used.

A vehicle air-conditioning apparatus includes: a hot water heater core provided in a hot water circuit in which cooling water circulates in a heat source to recover waste heat of the heat source, and configured to exchange heat between the cooling water heated by the waste heat of the heat source and air to heat the air, thereby heating an inside of a vehicle by using the heated air; a heat pump configured to exchange heat between a refrigerant discharged from a refrigerant compressor and air by using an indoor heat exchanger to heat the air, thereby heating the inside of the vehicle by using the heated air; an electric heater configured to heat air to heat the inside of the vehicle; and a controller configured to select at least one of the hot water heater core, the heat pump and the electric heater to perform a heating operation.

The invention relates to a method for operating a climate-control system (12) for a vehicle (10). According to the invention, total energy efficiencies are determined for a group of operating strategies for the air-conditioning system (12) and an operating strategy with the greatest total efficiency that fulfills the heating output requirement (44) that has been determined, is selected.

A method for climate control, in which an overall mass flow of air is guided through an auxiliary heater, which has multiple zones. The overall mass flow is divided after flowing through the auxiliary heater into multiple partial mass flows, and an nth partial mass flow respectively flows out of an nth zone. A value of at least one flow parameter of an nth partial mass flow is ascertained, and at least one manipulated variable of a respective nth zone is set in dependence on the value of the at least one flow parameter. Overheating of at least one zone of the auxiliary heater is avoided.