Vehicle heating installation using an evaporator as heat source
AssigneeValeo Climatisation
InventorStefan Karl
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A motor vehicle has an air conditioning installation which also serves for heating the cabin of the vehicle. In the heating mode, the refrigerant fluid in the air conditioning circuit flows in a bypass branch which bypasses the condenser. The evaporator therefore receives the fluid in the gaseous state, and acts as a heat exchanger for dissipating the heat produced by the compressor. The heat dissipated by the evaporator can be used for heating the cabin when the heat produced by the engine of the vehicle is insufficient, and means are provided for adjusting, according to demand, the quantity of fluid contained in the heating loop of the circuit, by drawing fluid from, or passing fluid into, the branch (2) of the circuit which contains the condenser.
Claims29
An air conditioning installation for a vehicle, comprising:
- a refrigerant fluid circuit including:
- a first branch,
- a second branch connected to the first branch so that the first and second branches constitute a cooling loop,
- a third branch connected in parallel with the second branch and connected with the first branch so that the first and third branches constitute a heating loop,
- an evaporator in the first branch,
- a compressor in the first branch downstream of the evaporator,
- a condenser in the second branch, the third branch being without any condenser,
- a first expansion device connected in the cooling loop between the condenser and the evaporator, and
- flow control means connected with the first, second and third branches for selectively passing fluid received from the first branch into one of the second and third branches;
- limiting means in the third branch for momentarily interrupting, at least partly, the flow of fluid in the third branch to enable the compressor to draw fluid from the second branch to vary the quantity of fluid flowing in the heating loop;
- and
- discharge means connected between the second branch and the downstream side of the compressor and adapted to place the second branch momentarily into communication with the compressor.
An air conditioning installation for a vehicle, comprising:
- a fluid circuit comprising a first branch, a second branch and a third branch, the first and second branch forming a cooling loop and the first and third branch forming a heating loop;
- and
- fluid limiting mechanism, associated with the third branch, to interrupt momentarily, at least partly, fluid flow in the third branch to enable fluid to flow from the second branch to vary the quantity of fluid flowing in the heating loop.
An air conditioning installation for a vehicle, comprising:
- a fluid circuit comprising a first branch, a second branch and a third branch, the first and second branch forming a cooling loop and the first and third branch forming a heating loop;
- and
- means, associated with the third branch, for interrupting momentarily, at least partly, fluid flow in the third branch to enable fluid to flow from the second branch to vary the quantity of fluid flowing in the heating loop.
A method of operating an air conditioning installation having a fluid circuit comprising a first branch, a second branch and a third branch, the first and second branch forming a cooling loop and the first and third branch forming a heating loop, the method comprising:
- interrupting, at least partly, the flow of fluid in the third branch to enable fluid flow from the second branch to vary a quantity of fluid flowing in the heating loop.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.