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 (ΔTw) of a change in an index indicating the temperature of the object of temperature regulation.

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 refrigerant cycle device includes a compressor, a radiator, a first expansion valve, a second expansion valve, a first evaporator, a second evaporator, and a controller. The controller is configured to switch between a first evaporator priority control and a second evaporator priority control. During the first evaporator priority control, the controller controls a throttle opening of the second expansion valve based on at least one of a temperature of a first evaporator, a temperature of a refrigerant flowing through the first evaporator, and a temperature of an air having exchanged heat in the first evaporator. During the second evaporator priority mode, the controller controls the throttle opening based on a refrigerant state of the second evaporator. When the at least one of the temperatures is equal to or greater than a switching temperature, the second priority mode is switched to the first priority mode.

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.

It is an object to improve the reliability of a temperature adjusting device which cools an in-vehicle device such as a battery by using a refrigerant. A device temperature adjusting device 61 that is an in-vehicle device temperature adjusting device adjusts the temperature of a battery 55 mounted on a vehicle and includes a refrigerant circuit R having a compressor 2 which compresses a refrigerant, an outdoor heat exchanger 7 for letting the refrigerant radiate heat, and a refrigerant-heat medium heat exchanger 64 for cooling the battery 55 by letting the refrigerant absorb heat, and a control device 11. The control device 11 stops the compressor 2 on the basis of the fact that the refrigerant circuit R is blocked.

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 air conditioning apparatus includes an electric compressor, an inverter, a temperature detection element, and an ECU. The electric compressor compresses a refrigerant drawn from a refrigerant intake port and discharges the refrigerant from a refrigerant discharge port. The inverter is integrated with the electric compressor so as to be cooled by the drawn refrigerant, and operates the electric compressor according to a control signal. The temperature detection element detects a temperature of the inverter. The ECU outputs a control signal to control the inverter. The ECU performs any one or both of a control for reducing a self-cooling amount of the electric compressor and a control for increasing a self-heat generation amount of the inverter with respect to the inverter when the temperature detected by the temperature detection element is lower than a predetermined reference temperature.

Provided is a system and a method for estimating capacity. The system includes one or more sensors, a compressor coupled to one or more sensors, and a controller. The controller is configured to receive one or more parameters of a cooling system, receive system state information and one or more measurements from the cooling system (306, 308), and compute a cooling capacity (304) based at least in part on the one or more parameters, one or more measurements and system state information. The system is also configured to estimate cooling capacity based on one or more computed capacity over a period of time (310), and provide the estimated capacity of the cooling system to a device in real-time.

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.