Holistic thermal management heat pump system for a vehicle
AssigneeRivian IP Holdings, LLC
InventorsJing He, Henry Huang, Mayur Gaikwad
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A thermal management heat pump system and method for a vehicle, including: a cabin thermal management loop including a refrigerant loop; an energy storage system thermal management loop including a coolant loop; a power electronics thermal management loop including the coolant loop; a heat exchanger selectively coupling the refrigerant loop and the coolant loop responsive to one or more of a sensed and a commanded operating state of the vehicle; and a multi-port valve assembly selectively coupling the energy storage system thermal management loop and the power electronics thermal management loop responsive to the one or more of the sensed and the commanded operating state of the vehicle.
Claims19
A thermal management heat pump system for a vehicle, comprising:
- a refrigerant loop comprising a cabin thermal management loop;
- a coolant loop comprising an energy storage system thermal management loop and a power electronics thermal management loop comprising the coolant loop;
- and
- a first heat exchanger selectively coupling the refrigerant loop and the coolant loop responsive to a given operating state of the vehicle;
- wherein the cabin thermal management loop comprises:
- a compressor for compressing a refrigerant
- a second heat exchanger receiving the refrigerant discharged from an outlet port of the compressor;
- a first expansion valve receiving a first portion of the refrigerant from the second heat exchanger dependent upon a mode of operation;
- a first shut-off valve receiving a second portion of the refrigerant from the second heat exchanger dependent upon the mode of operation;
- and
- a third heat exchanger receiving the refrigerant from the first expansion valve dependent upon the mode of operation;
- wherein the first shut-off valve is disposed in parallel to the third heat exchanger downstream of the second heat exchanger.
A thermal management heat pump method for a vehicle, comprising:
- given a refrigerant loop comprising a cabin thermal management loop and a coolant loop comprising an energy storage system thermal management loop and a power electronics thermal management loop, selectively coupling the refrigerant loop and the coolant loop responsive to a given operating state of the vehicle using a first heat exchanger, and selectively coupling the energy storage system thermal management loop and the power electronics thermal management loop responsive to the given operating state of the vehicle using a multi-port valve assembly;
- wherein the cabin thermal management loop comprises:
- a compressor for compressing a refrigerant
- a second heat exchanger receiving the refrigerant discharged from an outlet port of the compressor;
- a first expansion valve receiving a first portion of the refrigerant from the second heat exchanger dependent upon a mode of operation;
- a first shut-off valve receiving a second portion of the refrigerant from the second heat exchanger dependent upon the mode of operation;
- and
- a third heat exchanger receiving the refrigerant from the first expansion valve dependent upon the mode of operation;
- wherein the first shut-off valve is disposed in parallel to the third heat exchanger downstream of the second heat exchanger.
A non-transitory computer readable medium stored in a memory and executed by a processor to carry out the thermal management heat pump method steps, comprising:
- given a refrigerant loop comprising a cabin thermal management loop and a coolant loop comprising an energy storage system thermal management loop and a power electronics thermal management loop, selectively coupling the refrigerant loop and the coolant loop responsive to a given operating state of a vehicle using a first heat exchanger, and coupling the energy storage system thermal management loop and the power electronics thermal management loop responsive to the given operating state of the vehicle using a multi-port valve assembly;
- wherein the cabin thermal management loop comprises:
- a compressor for compressing a refrigerant;
- a second heat exchanger receiving the refrigerant discharged from an outlet port of the compressor;
- a first expansion valve receiving a first portion of the refrigerant from the second heat exchanger dependent upon a mode of operation;
- a first shut-off valve receiving a second portion of the refrigerant from the second heat exchanger dependent upon the mode of operation;
- and
- a third heat exchanger receiving the refrigerant from the first expansion valve dependent upon the mode of operation;
- wherein the first shut-off valve is disposed in parallel to the third heat exchanger downstream of the second heat exchanger.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.