Heat pump, method for operating a heat pump, and transportation vehicle with a heat pump

A method for operating a heat pump that includes a plurality of heat accumulators arranged behind one another in a cascade, a plurality of caloric accumulator elements positioned alternatingly in thermally conducting contact with, in each case, one of the plurality of heat accumulators, and at least one drive mechanism for changing a position of the each of the plurality of caloric accumulator elements between the plurality of cascaded heat accumulators, wherein at least one of the plurality of the cascaded heat accumulators is in contact with a component to control the temperature of the component such that the component is temperature-controlled, wherein a last one of the plurality of cascaded heat accumulators is in heat exchange with surroundings of the heat pump, and wherein an intermediate accumulator of the plurality of cascaded heat accumulators is configured to transmit heat between the cascaded heat accumulator in contact with the temperature-controlled component and the last heat accumulator such that the method comprises:

• equalizing a temperature between a first heat accumulator of the plurality of cascaded heat accumulators and a first caloric accumulator element of the plurality of caloric accumulator elements by controlling a position of the first caloric accumulator element to be in thermally conducting contact with the first heat accumulator in response to the first heat accumulator deviating from a desired temperature;
• changing the temperature of the first caloric accumulator element away from the desired temperature by external energy exchange between the first caloric accumulator element and an external energy source so that a temperature difference in comparison with a temperature in a second heat accumulator of the plurality of cascaded heat accumulators is increased;
• and
• moving, by the drive mechanism, the first caloric accumulator element away from its position in thermally conducting contact with the first heat accumulator into a position in thermally conducting contact with the second heat accumulator;
• equalizing the temperature between the second heat accumulator and the first caloric accumulator element, wherein the first caloric accumulator element is positioned in thermally conducting contact with the second heat accumulator;
• changing the temperature of the first caloric accumulator element by a reversed external energy exchange between the first caloric accumulator element and an external energy source;
• and
• moving, by the drive mechanism, the first caloric accumulator element away from its position in thermally conducting contact with the second heat accumulator into a position in thermally conducting contact with the first heat accumulator,
• wherein the aforementioned method operations are performed in a temporally overlapping manner, from at least one further caloric accumulator element, positioned between the second heat accumulator or the further heat accumulator, and the further heat accumulator or the last heat accumulator, and
• wherein the aforementioned method operations are repeated until the desired temperature is reached in the first heat accumulator.