Thermal management system for vehicle and method of controlling the same

A method for controlling a thermal management system for a vehicle including a fluid transfer device including a coolant line allowing coolant to circulate in the coolant line, a refrigerant line allowing refrigerant to circulate in the refrigerant line, and a chiller connected to the coolant line and the refrigerant line to allow heat-exchange between the coolant and the refrigerant to be executed in the chiller, wherein the fluid transfer device executes cooling of a battery of the vehicle through absorption of heat of the vehicle battery through the coolant and dissipation of the absorbed heat to the refrigerant and consumes electric power in cooling of the battery, the method comprising:

• determining, by a processor, a maximum cooling capacity of the chiller;
• setting, by the processor, an optimal control target enabling the fluid transfer device to execute the cooling of the battery the electric power through minimum consumption of the electric power while satisfying a maximum cooling capacity range based on the determined maximum cooling capacity;
• and
• controlling, by the processor, the fluid transfer device based on deriving an optimal control value satisfying the optimal control target.