Holistic thermal management heat pump system for a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11446979-B2
Application number	US-202017077405-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2020
Priority date	Oct 22, 2020
Publication date	Sep 20, 2022
Grant date	Sep 20, 2022

Abstract

A thermal management heat pump system and method for a vehicle, including: a cabin thermal management loop including a refrigerant loop; an energy storage system thermal management loop including a coolant loop; a power electronics thermal management loop including the coolant loop; a heat exchanger selectively coupling the refrigerant loop and the coolant loop responsive to one or more of a sensed and a commanded operating state of the vehicle; and a multi-port valve assembly selectively coupling the energy storage system thermal management loop and the power electronics thermal management loop responsive to the one or more of the sensed and the commanded operating state of the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermal management heat pump system for a vehicle, comprising:
a refrigerant loop comprising a cabin thermal management loop;
a coolant loop comprising an energy storage system thermal management loop and a power electronics thermal management loop comprising the coolant loop; and
a first heat exchanger selectively coupling the refrigerant loop and the coolant loop responsive to a given operating state of the vehicle;
wherein the cabin thermal management loop comprises:
a compressor for compressing a refrigerant
a second heat exchanger receiving the refrigerant discharged from an outlet port of the compressor;
a first expansion valve receiving a first portion of the refrigerant from the second heat exchanger dependent upon a mode of operation;
a first shut-off valve receiving a second portion of the refrigerant from the second heat exchanger dependent upon the mode of operation; and
a third heat exchanger receiving the refrigerant from the first expansion valve dependent upon the mode of operation;
wherein the first shut-off valve is disposed in parallel to the third heat exchanger downstream of the second heat exchanger.

2. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 1 , further comprising a multi-port valve assembly selectively coupling the energy storage system thermal management loop and the power electronics thermal management loop responsive to the given operating state of the vehicle.

3. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 1 , wherein the cabin thermal management loop further comprises an accumulator receiving at least one of the refrigerant from the first heat exchanger and the refrigerant from the third heat exchanger via a second shut-off valve dependent upon the mode of operation.

4. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 3 , wherein the first heat exchanger receives one or both of a first portion of the refrigerant from the third heat exchanger via a first check valve and a second expansion valve and a first portion of the refrigerant from the first shut-off valve via the second expansion valve dependent upon the mode of operation.

5. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 4 , wherein the cabin thermal management loop further comprises a fourth heat exchanger receiving one or both of a second portion of the refrigerant from the third heat exchanger via the first check valve and a third expansion valve and a second portion of the refrigerant from the first shut-off valve via the third expansion valve and directing outlet refrigerant to the accumulator dependent upon the mode of operation.

6. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 5 , wherein the cabin thermal management loop further comprises a second check valve preventing refrigerant flow back to the fourth heat exchanger.

7. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 1 , wherein the energy storage system thermal management loop comprises an energy storage system and the first heat exchanger.

8. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 1 , wherein the power electronics thermal management loop comprises power electronics and an additional heat exchanger adapted to affect a temperature of the power electronics of the vehicle.

9. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 1 , wherein the third heat exchanger receives high-temperature refrigerant from the compressor and functions as condenser to reject heat to an external fluid in a cooling mode of operation.

10. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 1 , wherein the second heat exchanger receives high-temperature refrigerant from the compressor and rejects heat to an external fluid and the third heat exchanger receives low-temperature refrigerant from the first expansion valve and functions as an evaporator to absorb heat from the external fluid in a first heating mode of operation.

11. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 4 , wherein the second heat exchanger receives high-temperature refrigerant from the compressor and rejects heat to an external fluid and the first heat exchanger receives low-temperature refrigerant from the second expansion valve and functions as an evaporator to absorb heat from the external fluid in a second heating mode of operation.

12. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 4 , wherein the second heat exchanger receives high-temperature refrigerant from the compressor and rejects heat to an external fluid, the first heat exchanger receives low-temperature refrigerant from the second expansion valve and functions as an evaporator to absorb heat from the external fluid, and the third heat exchanger receives low-temperature refrigerant from the first expansion valve and functions as an evaporator to absorb heat from the external fluid in a third heating mode of operation.

13. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 5 , wherein the second heat exchanger receives high-temperature refrigerant from the compressor and rejects heat to an external fluid, the fourth heat exchanger receives low-temperature refrigerant from the third expansion valve and functions as an evaporator to absorb heat from the external fluid, and the third heat exchanger receives high-temperature refrigerant from the first expansion valve and functions as a condenser to reject heat to the external fluid in a first dehumidification mode of operation.

14. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 5 , wherein the second heat exchanger receives high-temperature refrigerant from the compressor and rejects heat to an external fluid, the fourth heat exchanger receives low-temperature refrigerant from the third expansion valve and functions as an evaporator to absorb heat from the external fluid, and the third heat exchanger receives low-temperature refrigerant from the first expansion valve and functions as an evaporator to absorb heat from the external fluid in a second dehumidification mode of operation.

15. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 5 , wherein the second heat exchanger receives high-temperature refrigerant from the compressor and rejects heat to an external fluid, the fourth heat exchanger receives low-temperature refrigerant from the third expansion valve and functions as an evaporator to absorb heat from the external fluid, the first heat exchanger receives low-temperature refrigerant from the second expansion valve and functions as an evaporator to absorb heat from the external fluid, and the third heat exchanger is bypassed in a third dehumidification mode of operation.

16. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 2 , wherein the multi-port valve assembly is operable for selectively operating the thermal management heat pump system in one of:
an isolation mode in which the energy storage system thermal management loop is isolated from the power electronics thermal management loop; and
an interconnection mode in which the energy storage system thermal management loop is interconnected with the power electronics thermal management loop.

17. The thermal management heat pump system of claim 16 , wherein the multi-port valve assembly is a four-port valve.

18. A thermal management heat pump method for a vehicle, comprising:
given a refrigerant loop comprising a cabin thermal management loop and a coolant loop comprising an energy storage system thermal management loop and a power electronics thermal management loop, selectively coupling the refrigerant loop and the coolant loop responsive to a given operating state of the vehicle using a first heat exchanger, and selectively coupling the energy

Assignees

• Rivian Ip Holdings Llc

Inventors

• He Jing
• Huang Henry
• Gaikwad Mayur

Classifications

• B60H1/00278 Primary

  for the battery · CPC title

• B60H2001/00307

  Component temperature regulation using a liquid flow · CPC title

• B60H1/004

  for vehicles having a combustion engine and electric drive means, e.g. hybrid electric vehicles · CPC title

• B60H1/00321

  Heat exchangers for air-conditioning devices (B60H1/3227 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60H1/00899

  Controlling the flow of liquid in a heat pump system (controlling the properties of the refrigerant liquid, e.g. pressure or temperature, B60H1/3204) · CPC title