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.

Disclosed embodiments include apparatuses, vehicles, machines, equipment, and methods for selectively allocating airflow between different heat exchangers. In an illustrative embodiment, an apparatus includes a first heat exchanger configured to dissipate heat from at least one first system. A second heat exchanger is configured to dissipate heat from at least one second system. An airflow controller is configured to receive an intake airflow and to direct an output airflow to selectively direct at least a portion of the output airflow to either or both of the first and second heat exchangers.

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 control module for a refrigeration system includes a startup mode control module that receives an off time of a compressor and an ambient temperature, determines whether the off time and the ambient temperature indicate that the compressor is in a flooded condition, and selects, based on the determination, between a normal startup mode and a flooded startup mode. A compressor control module transitions from the flooded startup mode to the normal startup mode after a predetermined period associated with operating in the flooded startup mode and operates the compressor at a first speed in the normal startup mode and operates the compressor at a second speed less than the first speed in the flooded startup mode.

An embodiment method for controlling a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system of a vehicle includes determining a target subcooled temperature of a refrigerant based on a temperature and a pressure of the refrigerant discharged from an outlet of a compressor when the compressor operates, calculating a change in enthalpy of the refrigerant based on the determined target subcooled temperature in a process of condensing and subcooling the refrigerant, calculating a change in enthalpy of air passing over an exterior surface of a condenser based on the calculated refrigerant enthalpy change, and calculating a required fan duty of a cooling fan based on the calculated air enthalpy change, wherein the cooling fan is configured to blow the air to the condenser.

A first sensor measures temperature at a first evaporator that cools a first zone. A second sensor measures temperature at a second evaporator that cools a second zone. A controller operates a compressor in a normal cooling mode or a single zone cooling mode. In the normal cooling mode, both the first zone and the second zone are cooled with the compressor operated by the controller in response to temperature measurements from one or both of the first sensor and the second sensor. In the single zone cooling mode, only the second zone is cooled with the compressor controlled by the controller in response to temperature measurements from the second sensor and the controller determining that the first evaporator has a low probability of accumulating frozen moisture on surfaces thereof, and in response to determining a high probability of accumulating frozen moisture on surfaces thereof the compressor is not operated.

A method of controlling the refrigerant pressure in an ambient heat exchanger of a refrigerant circuit, particularly a heat pump circuit, for vehicles, in which the current temperature and the current humidity of the ambient air is measured, the current dew point temperature of the ambient air is determined from the measured temperature and humidity, and if the ambient air temperature is below 0° C. the refrigerant pressure in the refrigerant circuit is controlled by adjusting the rotational speed of a refrigerant compressor of the refrigerant circuit, the flow cross-section of a controllable expansion element of the refrigerant circuit and/or the ambient air volume flow flowing around or through the ambient heat exchanger, such that the temperature of the ambient heat exchanger is greater than the dew point temperature.

A refrigeration cycle device includes an air heat exchanger that heats air to be blown into an interior of a vehicle compartment using refrigerant discharged from a compressor, a high-stage side expansion valve decompressing the refrigerant flowing out of the air heat exchanger, and a battery heat exchanger that heats air to be blown to a battery using the refrigerant decompressed by the high-stage side expansion valve. In an air heating-warming up mode of heating the air for the interior and the air for the battery, a refrigerant discharge capacity of the compressor is controlled such that an air temperature for the interior approaches a target air temperature, and an opening degree of the high-stage side expansion valve is controlled such that a battery temperature becomes within a predetermined reference temperature range. A selector switch allows a passenger to select which operation of air conditioning or warming-up is prioritized.

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.