THERMAL MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENT FOR VEHICLES AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A THERMAL MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENT

Abstract

A thermal management arrangement for vehicles, having a refrigerant circuit with at least one refrigerant compressor, a condenser/gas cooler, an expansion element and an evaporator, a cold carrier circuit with a cold carrier distributor reservoir and a heat carrier circuit with a heat carrier distributor reservoir, wherein the refrigerant circuit is thermally connected to the cold carrier circuit via the evaporator and to the heat carrier circuit via the condenser/gas cooler, and wherein a battery heat exchanger supply section is arranged and embodied with a battery heat exchanger and an environmental heat exchanger supply section is arranged and embodied with an environmental heat exchanger such that they are respectively fluidly connected to the cold carrier distributor reservoir and to the heat carrier distributor reservoir.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A thermal management arrangement for a vehicle comprising: a refrigerant circuit further comprising: at least one refrigerant compressor; a condenser/gas cooler; an expansion element; and an evaporator, a cold carrier circuit with a cold carrier distributor reservoir; and a heat carrier circuit with a heat carrier distributor reservoir, wherein the refrigerant circuit is thermally connected to the cold carrier circuit via the evaporator and to the heat carrier circuit via the condenser/gas cooler, and wherein a battery heat exchanger supply section is arranged and embodied with a battery heat exchanger and an environmental heat exchanger supply section is arranged and embodied with an environmental heat exchanger such that they are respectively fluidly connected to the cold carrier distributor reservoir and to the heat carrier distributor reservoir.

17. The thermal management arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the heat carrier distributor reservoir and the cold carrier distributor reservoir are fluidly connected to one another via a compensation circuit.

18. The thermal management arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the heat carrier distributor reservoir and the cold carrier distributor reservoir are embodied in a container with a thermally insulating separating wall.

19. The thermal management arrangement according to claim 16, wherein a cold carrier/heat carrier pump is integrated into the heat carrier distributor reservoir and/or into the cold carrier distributor reservoir.

20. The thermal management arrangement according to claim 16, wherein a thermal heat exchanger is fluidly connected to the heat carrier distributor reservoir.

21. The thermal management arrangement according to claim 20, wherein at least one component heat exchanger is fluidly connected to the cold carrier distributor reservoir.

22. The thermal management arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the heat carrier distributor reservoir and the cold carrier distributor reservoir have a respective volume of 0.1 l to 5 l.

23. The thermal management arrangement according to claim 16, wherein valves and/or sliders are integrated into the heat carrier distributor reservoir and/or into the cold carrier distributor reservoir.

24. The thermal management arrangement according to claim 16, wherein a reservoir heater is integrated into the heat carrier distributor reservoir and/or a reservoir cooler is integrated into the cold carrier distributor reservoir.

25. The thermal management arrangement according to claim 16, wherein in the battery heat exchanger supply section and in the environmental heat exchanger supply section, shutoff elements are arranged such that the battery heat exchanger and the environmental heat exchanger are fluidly connected to the heat carrier distributor reservoir and/or the cold carrier distributor reservoir or are shut off.

26. A method for operating the thermal management arrangement according to claim 21, wherein in a refrigeration system mode, the battery heat exchanger and the at least one component heat exchanger are operated in the cold carrier circuit and the environmental heat exchanger is operated in the heat carrier circuit.

27. The method for operating the thermal management arrangement according to claim 26, wherein in a heat pump mode without an external heat source, the at least one component heat exchanger is operated in the cold carrier circuit and the battery heat exchanger and the thermal heat exchanger are operated in the heat carrier circuit.

28. The method for operating the thermal management arrangement according to claim 26, wherein in a heat pump mode with an external heat source, the at least one component heat exchanger and the environmental heat exchanger are operated in the cold carrier circuit and the battery heat exchanger and the thermal heat exchanger are operated in the heat carrier circuit.

29. The method for operating the thermal management arrangement according to claim 26, wherein in a reheat mode, the at least one component heat exchanger and the battery heat exchanger are operated in the cold carrier circuit and the environmental heat exchanger and the thermal heat exchanger are operated in the heat carrier circuit.

30. The method for operating the thermal management arrangement according to claim 17, wherein in a compensation temperature mode, the compensation circuit is operated between the heat carrier distributor reservoir and the cold carrier distributor reservoir.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0043] FIG. 1: Flow diagram of a thermal management arrangement in the refrigeration system mode,

[0044] FIG. 2: Flow diagram of a thermal management arrangement in the heat pump mode without an external heat source,

[0045] FIG. 3: Flow diagram of a thermal management arrangement in the heat pump mode with an external heat source,

[0046] FIG. 4: Flow diagram of a thermal management arrangement in the reheat mode,

[0047] FIG. 5: Flow diagram of a thermal management arrangement in the compensation temperature mode, and

[0048] FIG. 6: Flow diagram of a thermal management arrangement with an additional heat and cold source.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT

[0049] In FIGS. 1 to 6, a thermal management arrangement 1 is represented as a flow diagram according to an example embodiment of the invention. In the figures, the components of the thermal management arrangement 1 are identical; the operating modes are different. These are represented through corresponding labelling of the active circuits through marking of the fluid-conducting conduits.

[0050] FIG. 1 represents a thermal management arrangement 1 in the refrigeration system mode. In the following, the construction and the components of the thermal management arrangement 1 are described as an example of FIG. 1.

[0051] The thermal management arrangement 1 includes at least three base circuits. A base circuit forms a refrigerant circuit 2 which in turn has at least the components of refrigerant compressor 7, condenser/gas cooler 8, expansion element 9 and evaporator 10. This means that the refrigerant circuit with its base components is suited to carry out a cold steam process with the most different refrigerants. Of course it is possible, in principle, to expand the refrigerant circuit and adapt it to special requirements of different refrigerants, depending on the used refrigerants, but in order to minimize the refrigerant filling volume and with regard to costs, a refrigerant circuit with the base components according to the represented embodiment of the invention is realized.

[0052] As a second base circuit of the thermal management arrangement 1, a cold carrier circuit 3 is designed in which a cold carrier fluid circulates. Apart from the conduits connecting the components, the cold carrier circuit 3 has, in its base form, the evaporator 10 and the cold carrier distributor reservoir 6 on the cold carrier side. Furthermore, further component heat exchangers 14 are integrated into the cold carrier circuit 3 via the cold carrier distributor reservoir 6. The component heat exchangers 14 supply different components, depending on the design of the vehicle, such as the drive train or control and regulating components, with cold in order to guarantee a proper operation of the components and to prevent overheating.

[0053] The cold carrier distributor reservoir 6 possesses a cold carrier/heat carrier pump 15 which is integrated into the component and transports the cold carrier fluid to the component heat exchangers 14 and to the evaporator 10.

[0054] As a third base circuit of the thermal management arrangement 1, a heat carrier circuit 4 is embodied, which flows through the condenser/gas cooler 8 at the heat carrier side and accepts heat and which is connected to the heat carrier distributor reservoir 5. Furthermore, the thermal heat exchanger 11, which is designed for the heating of the vehicle compartment, is connected to the heat carrier distributor reservoir 5.

[0055] The thermal management arrangement 1 has the special feature that furthermore a battery heat exchanger 12 and an environmental heat exchanger 13 are integrated into the arrangement via a battery heat exchanger supply section 17 and via an environmental heat exchanger supply section 18. In doing so, both the battery heat exchanger 12 and the environmental heat exchanger 13 are fluidly connected both to the cold carrier circuit 3 and to the heat carrier circuit 4. The operating mode for the battery heat exchanger 12 and the environmental heat exchanger 13 is chosen via a switch position of the shut-off elements 19 which are preferably designed as 3/2 way valves. The shut-off elements 19 can also be designed as mixing valves, depending on the application situation, which makes it possible to set temperatures in the heat exchangers 12, 13 in a targeted manner. By integrating the battery heat exchanger 12 and the environmental heat exchanger 13 into the cold and heat carrier circuit 3, 4, these heat exchangers can, depending on the operating mode, be supplied with the corresponding cold carrier or heat carrier fluid either by the cold carrier circuit 3 or the heat carrier circuit 4 and thus cooled or heated depending on the application case.

[0056] Furthermore, a compensation circuit 16 is provided between the heat carrier distributor reservoir 5 and the cold carrier distributor reservoir 6. Cold carrier and heat carrier are materially and thus also thermally mixed via the compensation circuit 16 driven by a cold carrier/heat carrier pump 15.

[0057] FIG. 1 represents the refrigeration system mode of the thermal management arrangement 1 through a corresponding marking of the conduits which connect the components. The representations of FIG. 1 to FIG. 6 represent conduits through which a cold carrier fluid flows with a thick full line. A dotted line marks conduits through which a heat carrier fluid flows and a thin full line marks conduits which are not flowed through in the corresponding operating mode of the respective figure.

[0058] In the refrigeration system mode, the component heat exchanger 14 and the cold carrier circuit 3 are flowed through by cold carrier. Furthermore, the battery heat exchanger 12 is flowed through by the cold carrier and thus the battery is cooled in this mode. In the refrigeration system mode, the heat carrier circuit 4 and via the heat carrier distributor reservoir 5, the environmental heat exchanger 13 is integrated into the heat carrier circuit 4 in order to release exhaust heat of the cold production of the refrigerant circuit 2 and of the components to the environment via the environmental heat exchanger 13.

[0059] FIG. 2 shows a heat pump mode without an external heat source. The components of the thermal management arrangement 1 correspond to the representation and description of FIG. 1. In the represented operating mode, the component heat exchangers 14 in the cold carrier circuit 3 are switched via the cold carrier distributor reservoir 6 and are cooled. The heat carrier circuit 4 uses the exhaust heat of the battery and via the battery heat exchanger 12 feeds it into the heat carrier distributor reservoir 5 and thus into the heat carrier circuit 4. In this operating mode, the thermal heat exchanger 11 is integrated into the heat carrier circuit 4 and supplies the passenger compartment with heat.

[0060] FIG. 3 shows the heat pump mode with an external heat source. In doing so, as a difference to the mode according to FIG. 2, the environmental heat exchanger 13 is integrated into the cold carrier circuit 3 and the cold carrier distributor reservoir 6, through which environmental heat is accepted via the environmental heat exchanger 13 and transported into the cold carrier circuit 3 to the evaporator 10. Here, the heat is released to the refrigerant circuit 2. In the condenser/gas cooler 8, heat is released to the heat carrier circuit 4 via the cold carrier circuit 2 and transported to the thermal heat exchanger 11 for the release of heat.

[0061] FIG. 4 shows the reheat mode of the thermal management arrangement 1. In doing so, the battery heat exchanger 12 is integrated into the cold carrier circuit 3 and the environmental heat exchanger 13 is integrated into the cold carrier circuit 4. The reheat mode is characterized in that, for the supply of the vehicle cabin with heated air, the latter is first cooled for dehumidification and subsequently reheated to the desired air outlet temperature for the vehicle cabin.

[0062] FIG. 5 represents an operating mode with a mixed heat and cold carrier. This mode uses the fact that the refrigerant circuit 2 of the thermal management arrangement 1 simultaneously provides cold for the cold carrier circuit 3 and heat for the heat carrier circuit 4. Inside the vehicle itself, very different temperature levels are required. From the temperature levels of the cold and heat carrier, the desired temperature levels can be generated in a relatively simple and apparatively uncomplicated manner by mixing the cold and the heat carrier. In doing to, for example, the heating temperature level in the thermal heat exchanger 11 can be produced by mixture, such that in the air-conditioning system of the vehicle, the mixing valve can be omitted, for example, which makes it possible to reduce costs and save space. The conduits through which the mixed heat and cold carrier flows are represented as a dotted line. The base circuits, the cold carrier circuit 3 and the heat carrier circuit 4 are limited to the base circuits by flowing through the evaporators 10 and the condensers/gas coolers 8 and the respective heat carrier distributor reservoir 5 and cold carrier distributor reservoir 6. The two reservoirs, the heat carrier distributor reservoir 5 and the cold carrier distributor reservoir 6, are connected to one another via the compensation circuit 16. Thus, a material and thermal mixture of the heat carrier circuit 4 and the cold carrier circuit 3 in the two reservoirs 5, 6 is achieved, wherein a compensation temperature is set. The components of thermal heat exchanger 11, battery heat exchanger 12, environmental heat exchanger 13 as well as the component heat exchangers 14 are flowed through by the cold and heat carrier fluid with mixed temperature.

[0063] FIG. 6 shows the thermal management arrangement 1 according to FIGS. 1 to 5 with two additional components. The heat carrier distributor reservoir 5 is equipped with an additional reservoir heater 20 via which additional heat can be introduced into the heat carrier distributor reservoir 5. Analogously, the cold carrier distributor reservoir 6 is equipped with a reservoir cooling 21 as an additional component in order to additionally cool the cold carrier if required.

[0064] An advantageous example embodiment of the invention which is not represented is that in the transition time at lower environmental temperatures without operating the refrigerant circuits, by only operating the cold carrier circuit with the inclusion of the environmental heat exchanger, the battery heat exchanger and the component heat exchangers can be used for cooling if the environmental air is cool enough in order to accept the heat from the environmental heat exchanger. An operating variant is that the cold carrier distributor reservoir is operated with the component heat exchangers and the environmental heat exchanger for cooling the components, whereas the battery heat exchanger is integrated into the heat carrier distributor reservoir and heats in a delayed manner through its own heating by means of the heat carrier circuit. In doing so, the cold carrier circuit and the heat carrier circuit can be coupled and thus the temperature levels can be set very accurately in a favorable regulation.

[0065] The invention relates to a thermal management arrangement and a method for operating a thermal management arrangement.