Hybrid heating system and method for vehicles
AssigneeGeneral Motors Corporation
InventorsXin Zeng, Gregory Alan Major
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for heating the interior compartment of a vehicle, the apparatus has a primary heating system, a secondary heating system and an operating system. The primary heating system receives and circulates an engine coolant through a heater core. The secondary heating system receives and circulates a gas, the secondary heating system heats the gas and circulates the heated gas through a heat exchanger. The operating system for operating the heating systems, the operating system receives a plurality of inputs and in response to the inputs the operating system determines which of the heating systems is to be activated in response to a heating request. The operating system also determines whether or not to deactivate one or both of the heating systems.
Claims8
A method for maintaining a desired temperature within the passenger compartment of a vehicle, said method comprising:
- providing heat to the passenger compartment through the use of a dual heating system having a first heating system and a second heating system;
- said first heating system circulating an engine coolant through a heater core, and said second heating system utilizing a heat pump system comprising a compressor for pressurizing an automobile refrigerant;
- and
- operating said first heating system, said second heating system, or both of said first and said second heating systems in response to an engine status of the vehicle, a desired temperature setting, an ambient temperature of the passenger compartment and an ambient temperature outside of the vehicle;
- said first and second heating systems further being controlled by a control system utilizing a computer algorithm, said computer algorithm characterized by:
- determining said engine status and comparing said engine status to a first predetermined parameter;
- operating said second heating system without operating said first heating system if said engine status is outside a range defined by said first predetermined parameter;
- operating said first heating system if said engine status is within said first predetermined parameter;
- operating said second heating system in addition to said first heating system if said ambient temperature outside of the vehicle is below a second predetermined temperature or if said ambient temperature of the passenger compartment does not reach said desire temperature setting within a predetermined period of time;
- and
- discontinuing operation of said first heating system, said second heating system, or said first and second heating systems if said ambient temperature of the passenger compartment reaches said desired temperature setting within said predetermined period of time.
A method for maintaining a desired temperature within a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising:
- supplying heat to a passenger compartment through the use of a first heating system and a second heating system, said first heating system selectively circulating an engine coolant from an engine to a heater core, said second heating system utilizes a heat pump system comprising a compressor for pressurizing an automobile refrigerant;
- monitoring the temperature of said engine coolant, the ambient temperature outside of the vehicle, and the temperature of the passenger compartment;
- comparing the temperature of said coolant to a first predetermined value;
- operating said second heating system without operating said first heating system if the temperature of said coolant is below said first predetermined value and the ambient temperature is below a predetermined ambient temperature value;
- operating said first heating system and said second heating system if the temperature of said coolant is above said first predetermined value and if the ambient temperature outside said vehicle is below said predetermined ambient temperature value;
- and
- operating said first heating system and said second heating system if the temperature of the passenger compartment does not reach a desired temperature within a predetermined period of time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.