A refrigerant system includes a compressor, multiple pressure sensors, multiple refrigerant flow valves, and a processor. The compressor is configured to present a refrigerant at a first pressure. A first pressure sensor is configured to measure the first pressure of the refrigerant. A second pressure sensor is configured to measure a second pressure of the refrigerant. The refrigerant flow valves have a plurality of flow valve positions. The processor is configured to calculate a delta value as a difference between the first pressure and the second pressure, calculate an expected delta value between the first pressure and the second pressure based on a ratio of a low-side density of the refrigerant at the compressor to the flow valve positions, and perform a remedial action where the delta value deviates from the expected delta value by greater than a threshold value.

A vehicle includes a vehicle cooling system for cooling a cabin and a battery system, each having a respective target operating range. The cooling system is configured to select among a cabin-only mode, battery-only mode, or a hybrid cooling mode for cooling the cabin and the battery system. In the hybrid mode, the system determines a desired pressure at an inlet of a compressor corresponding to a suction pressure of the compressor, to avoid cooling interruptions. The system generates a control signal based on the desired suction pressure, and applies the control signal to the compressor. Generating the control signal may include generating a feedforward signal the desired suction pressure, generating a feedback signal based on the suction pressure, or a combination thereof. For example, the use of hybrid mode based on suction pressure allows smoother response to targets with reduced delays in response in meeting the cooling demands.

A device for protecting an air conditioning system of a vehicle is configured to prevent damage to an air conditioning system due to excessive operation of a compressor or a deficit of a refrigerant by accurately determining whether to operate the compressor even without using a specific sensor that causes an increase in the manufacturing cost of a vehicle.

An air conditioning system for a vehicle, having an evaporator configured for a heat exchange between a coolant and air, a fan configured to generate an air flow passing through the evaporator and intended to be fed into a vehicle passenger compartment, at least one pressure sensor configured to measure the pressure of the coolant, and a control unit to adjust the rotation speed of the fan, configured to automatically decrease the rotation speed of the fan when the detected pressure of the coolant rises above a pressure threshold, so as to reduce the air flow on the evaporator and thus reduce the pressure of the coolant is provided.

A computer includes a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to collect (a) ambient weather data, (b) vehicle speed data including at least one of a vehicle speed or an engine speed, and (c) operation data of a climate control subsystem of a vehicle, input the collected data to a regression program trained to output a predicted pressure of refrigerant of the climate control subsystem, the regression program trained with previously determined ambient weather data, data of a previous vehicle speed or a previous engine speed, and previous operation data of the climate control subsystem, determine an actual pressure of the refrigerant in the climate control subsystem, and actuate a component upon determining that a difference between the predicted pressure and the actual pressure falls below threshold.

A refrigerant management system in a heat flux management system for an electric vehicle and a method of refrigerant management is provided. The system includes a vehicle air conditioning circuit including a heat pump circuit and a refrigeration cycle refrigerant circuit, the air conditioning circuit including a heat pump condenser in thermal communication with a heat source, a refrigerant evaporator in thermal communication with the heat source, an evaporator associated with an expansion valve, and a refrigerant compressor where the components are fluidly connected to one another by a refrigerant line. An accumulator is fluidly coupled in the refrigerant line downstream of the heat pump condenser, the refrigerant evaporator and evaporator and upstream of the refrigerant compressor, and the air conditioning circuit is switchable between a heating mode and a cooling mode in which the refrigerant circuit is in fluid communication with the compressor by actuation of at least one valve.

A method for operating a coolant circuit of a refrigeration system of a vehicle having multiple system sections. A single pressure sensor is located in each system section. A temperature sensor is arranged downstream at each component to be balanced in the system sections, such as heat exchangers and a coolant compressor. The sensor signals of the pressure and temperature sensors are supplied to a control unit for the control or regulation of the refrigeration system. Furthermore, a pressure approximation value at the position of the temperature sensor is calculated by a pressure loss value determined using a pressure loss calculation function starting from the position of the pressure sensor arranged in the system section of the component up to the position of the temperature sensor if the temperature sensor and the pressure sensor are arranged at different positions in the system section.

A system includes a compressor outlet temperature module, a refrigerant quality module, and a correction factor module. The compressor outlet temperature module is configured to estimate a temperature at an outlet of a compressor in a thermal system of an electric vehicle. The refrigerant quality module is configured to estimate a quality of refrigerant at an inlet of the compressor based on an enthalpy at the compressor inlet and an inlet enthalpy correction factor. The refrigerant quality is a ratio of vapor refrigerant mass to total refrigerant mass. The correction factor module is configured to determine the inlet enthalpy correction factor based on the estimated compressor outlet temperature and a temperature measured at the compressor outlet.

An electronic control valve for an HVAC system of a vehicle may include, in the electronic control valve configured to control the angle of a swash plate (angle with respect to the surface perpendicular to a rotation shaft of a compressor) in the compressor in an HVAC system, a solenoid, a plunger coupled to the solenoid member and configured to slid according to whether the solenoid is magnetized, a valve body formed integrally with the plunger, and configured to open or close a supply flow path through which a fluid flows into the compressor, a discharge flow path through which a fluid is discharged from the compressor, and a control flow path through a fluid flows to control the angle of the swash plate mounted inside the compressor, a diaphragm configured to operate the plunger by the pressure of refrigerant, and a return spring configured to return the plunger, and the solenoid is applied with power according to a vehicle target cooling load.

A torque estimating device of a gas compressor includes a reference torque characteristic storage unit that stores a reference torque characteristic of the gas compressor as a torque characteristic of the gas compressor in a specific operation state, a torque setting unit that sets a torque corresponding to an input speed of rotation of the gas compressor and pressure of a refrigerant discharged from the gas compressor, on the basis of the reference torque characteristic stored in the reference torque characteristic storage unit, and a torque correcting unit that sets a torque at startup of the gas compressor among the torques set by the torque setting unit, by correcting the torque set by the torque setting unit, in accordance with the speed of rotation and an elapsed time from startup.