Climate control system
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsPaul D. Yeomans, John M. Kearney, Justin T. Krull, Scott Wujek, Kegan J. Connick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A climate control system includes a front-end or first heat exchanger configured to thermally condition airflow from an environment external to a cabin, a rear-end or second heat exchanger configured to thermally condition airflow from the cabin, a recirculation path configured to return airflow from the second heat exchanger to the cabin, and an extraction path configured to vent airflow from the second heat exchanger to the environment external to the cabin. Various operational modes of the climate control system direct airflow to either the recirculation path or the extraction path.
Claims20
A climate control system for a vehicle cabin, comprising:
- a first heat exchanger configured to thermally condition airflow from an interior of the vehicle cabin;
- a recirculation path configured to return airflow from the first heat exchanger to the vehicle cabin;
- a first extraction path configured to vent airflow from the first heat exchanger to an environment external to the vehicle cabin;
- a second heat exchanger configured to thermally condition airflow from the interior of the vehicle cabin;
- and
- a second extraction path, the second extraction path configured to vent airflow from the second heat exchanger to the environment external to the vehicle cabin,
- wherein the second heat exchanger is configured to operate in a heat pump operational mode and a cold pump operational mode.
A climate control module, comprising:
- a heat exchanger configured to thermally condition airflow received from a vehicle cabin, wherein the heat exchanger is configured to heat airflow in a heating mode of operation, a heating with recapture mode of operation, and a cold pump mode of operation;
- a recirculation path configured to direct airflow received from the heat exchanger back to the vehicle cabin;
- an exhaust path configured to direct airflow received from the heat exchanger to an exterior of the vehicle cabin;
- and
- a mode door controllable to selectively close the recirculation path or the exhaust path based on the mode of operation of the climate control module.
A climate control system, comprising:
- a first heat exchanger configured to thermally condition airflow received from a vehicle cabin;
- a second heat exchanger spaced from the first heat exchanger and configured to thermally condition airflow received from a vehicle cabin;
- a first exhaust path configured to direct airflow received from the first heat exchanger to an exterior of the vehicle cabin;
- a second exhaust path spaced from the first exhaust path and configured to direct airflow received from the second heat exchanger to an exterior of the vehicle cabin,
- wherein the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger are configured to heat airflow in a cold pump mode of operation, and
- wherein the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger are configured to cool airflow in a heat pump mode of operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.