Electrified vehicle cabin heating

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10543734-B2
Application number	US-201514887452-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2015
Priority date	Oct 20, 2015
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

An exemplary electrified vehicle assembly includes a battery pack, a cabin heater, and a coolant loop that communicates liquid coolant from the battery pack to the cabin heater. The cabin heater configured to heat a cabin of a vehicle with thermal energy from liquid coolant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrified vehicle assembly, comprising:
a battery pack;
a cabin heater; and
a coolant loop that communicates liquid coolant from the battery pack to the cabin heater, the cabin heater configured to heat a cabin of a vehicle with thermal energy from liquid coolant, the thermal energy generated when charging the battery pack from an external power source, the external power source external to the vehicle, wherein the liquid coolant cools the battery pack when charging the battery pack from the external power source.

2. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the cabin heater comprises a heater core configured to transfer thermal energy from the liquid coolant in the coolant loop directly to a flow of air that heats the cabin of the vehicle.

3. The assembly of claim 2 , further comprising a blower that moves the flow of air through the cabin heater.

4. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a chiller, the coolant loop to further communicate the liquid coolant from the cabin heater to the chiller.

5. The assembly of claim 4 , further comprising a refrigerant loop, wherein the chiller is configured to transfer thermal energy from the liquid coolant in the coolant loop to an expandable refrigerant in the refrigerant loop.

6. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a valve assembly configured to direct the liquid coolant from the battery pack to the cabin heater under some operating conditions, and configured to direct the liquid coolant from the battery pack to a radiator under other operating conditions.

7. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a valve assembly configured to direct the liquid coolant from the battery pack to the cabin heater under some operating conditions, and configured to direct the liquid coolant from the battery pack to a chiller under other operating conditions.

8. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the charging is a fast charge.

9. A method of cooling a battery pack during charging, comprising:
communicating a liquid coolant through a battery pack to remove thermal energy from the battery pack that is generated when charging the battery pack from an external power source that is external to a vehicle having the battery pack, wherein the liquid coolant cools the battery pack when charging the battery pack from the external power source; and
communicating the liquid coolant from the battery pack to a cabin heater.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising transferring thermal energy from the liquid coolant to a flow of air at a heater core of the cabin heater, and heating a cabin of the vehicle using the flow of air.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising maintaining the liquid coolant in a liquid phase during the transferring and heating.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the charging is a fast charge.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the charging is a DC fast charge.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising communicating the liquid coolant away from the battery pack using a coolant loop that extends from within the battery pack to the cabin heater, and transferring thermal energy from the liquid coolant that has moved from within the battery pack directly to a flow of air at the cabin heater.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising communicating the liquid coolant along the coolant loop from the cabin heater to a chiller and transferring thermal energy from the liquid coolant to an expandable refrigerant at the chiller.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising, after the charging, actuating at least one valve to cause the coolant loop to extend from the battery pack to a radiator, and communicating the liquid coolant through the radiator to remove thermal energy from the liquid coolant.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising, after the charging, actuating at least one valve to cause the coolant loop to extend from the battery pack to a chiller, and communicating the liquid coolant through the chiller to remove thermal energy from the liquid coolant.

18. The electrified vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising the external power source electrically coupled to the battery pack.

19. An electrified vehicle assembly, comprising:
a battery pack that is selectively electrically coupled to an external power source that is external to a vehicle;
a cabin heater; and
a coolant loop that communicates liquid coolant from the battery pack to the cabin heater when the battery pack is electrically coupled to the external power source, the cabin heater configured to heat a cabin of the vehicle using thermal energy from liquid coolant, the thermal energy generated when charging the battery pack from the external power source, wherein the battery pack is cooled by the liquid coolant when the battery pack is charging from the external power source.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Porras Angel Fernando
• Blatchley Timothy Noah
• Rockwell Mark Anthony
• Badger Justin Reuel

Classifications

• B60H1/00392 Primary

  for electric vehicles having only electric drive means · CPC title

• H01M10/613

  Cooling or keeping cold · CPC title

• B60H1/00385

  for vehicles having an electrical drive, e.g. hybrid or fuel cell · CPC title

• B60H1/143 Primary

  the heat being derived from cooling an electric component, e.g. electric motors, electric circuits, fuel cells or batteries · CPC title

• H01M10/625

  Vehicles · CPC title