Vehicle air conditioning device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11794548-B2
Application number	US-201917266715-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 4, 2019
Priority date	Aug 10, 2018
Publication date	Oct 24, 2023
Grant date	Oct 24, 2023

Abstract

A vehicle air conditioning device executes an air conditioning operation for heating inside of a cabin by causing a refrigerant discharged from a compressor 2 to dissipate heat in a radiator 4 , decompressing the refrigerant, and then causing the refrigerant to absorb heat in an outdoor heat exchanger 7 , and includes an equipment temperature adjusting device 61 capable of adjusting, using the refrigerant, the temperature of a battery 55 and the temperature of a traveling motor 65 , which is a temperature-adjusted object other than the battery, the battery 55 and the traveling motor 65 being mounted on a vehicle. An air conditioning controller has a heating/waste heat recovery mode for cooling the traveling motor 65 without cooling the battery with the refrigerant by controlling the equipment temperature adjusting device 61 in the air conditioning operation for heating the inside of the cabin.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle air conditioning apparatus comprising:
a compressor for compressing a refrigerant;
a radiator for causing the refrigerant to dissipate heat to heat air to be supplied into a cabin;
an outdoor heat exchanger provided outside the cabin; and
a control device, wherein
the control device executes at least an air conditioning operation for heating inside of the cabin by causing the refrigerant discharged from the compressor to dissipate heat in the radiator, decompressing the refrigerant heat-dissipated, and then causing the refrigerant to absorb heat in the outdoor heat exchanger,
the vehicle air conditioning apparatus comprises an equipment temperature adjusting device capable of adjusting, using the refrigerant, a temperature of a battery and a temperature of a predetermined temperature-adjusted object other than the battery, the battery and the temperature-adjusted object being mounted on a vehicle,
the control device has a heating/waste heat recovery mode for cooling the temperature-adjusted object without cooling the battery with the refrigerant by controlling the equipment temperature adjusting device in the air conditioning operation for heating the inside of the cabin, and
when the temperature of the temperature-adjusted object or a value of an index indicating the temperature of the temperature-adjusted object increases to a predetermined upper limit threshold or higher, the control device executes the heating/waste heat recovery mode.

2. The vehicle air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the equipment temperature adjusting device includes:
a circulating device for circulating a heating medium to the battery and the temperature-adjusted object;
a refrigerant-heating medium heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the refrigerant and the heating medium; and
a flow passage switching device for controlling circulation of the heating medium to the battery and the temperature-adjusted object, and

the control device decompresses the refrigerant and then passes the refrigerant to the refrigerant-heating medium heat exchanger to cause the refrigerant to absorb heat from the heating medium, and controls the circulating device and the flow passage switching device to circulate the heating medium flowing out of the refrigerant-heating medium heat exchanger to the temperature-adjusted object without circulating the heating medium to the battery in the heating/waste heat recovery mode.

3. The vehicle air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the equipment temperature adjusting device includes a heating device for heating the battery, and
the control device has a heating/battery heating and waste heat recovery mode for cooling the temperature-adjusted object using the refrigerant and heating the battery using the heating device in the air conditioning operation for heating the inside of the cabin.

4. The vehicle air conditioning apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein when the temperature of the battery or a value of an index indicating the temperature of the battery decreases to a predetermined lower limit threshold or lower, the control device executes the heating/battery heating and waste heat recovery mode.

5. The vehicle air conditioning apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the equipment temperature adjusting device includes:
a circulating device for circulating a heating medium to the battery, the temperature-adjusted object, and the heating device;
a refrigerant-heating medium heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the refrigerant and the heating medium; and
a flow passage switching device for controlling circulation of the heating medium to the battery, the temperature-adjusted object, and the heating device, and

the control device decompresses the refrigerant and then passes the refrigerant to the refrigerant-heating medium heat exchanger to cause the refrigerant to absorb heat from the heating medium, and controls the circulating device, the flow passage switching device, and the heating device to circulate the heating medium flowing out of the refrigerant-heating medium heat exchanger to the temperature-adjusted object without circulating the heating medium to the battery and circulate the heating medium between the heating device and the battery to heat the battery in the heating/battery heating and waste heat recovery mode.

6. The vehicle air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a heat absorber for causing the refrigerant to absorb heat to cool air to be supplied into the cabin, wherein
the control device executes an air conditioning operation for cooling the inside of the cabin by causing the refrigerant discharged from the compressor to dissipate heat in the outdoor heat exchanger, decompressing the refrigerant heat-dissipated, and then causing the refrigerant to absorb heat in the heat absorber, and
the control device has a cooling/battery cooling and temperature-adjusted object cooling mode for cooling the battery and the temperature-adjusted object by controlling the equipment temperature adjusting device in the air conditioning operation for cooling the inside of the cabin.

7. The vehicle air conditioning apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein when the temperature of the battery or a value of an index indicating the temperature of the battery increases to a predetermined upper limit threshold or higher, the control device executes the cooling/battery cooling and temperature-adjusted object cooling mode.

8. The vehicle air conditioning apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein
the equipment temperature adjusting device includes:
a circulating device for circulating a heating medium to the battery and the temperature-adjusted object;
a refrigerant-heating medium heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the refrigerant and the heating medium;
an air-heating medium heat exchanger for exchanging heat between outdoor air and the heating medium;
a flow passage switching device for controlling circulation of the heating medium to the battery and the temperature-adjusted object, and

the control device decompresses the refrigerant and then passes the refrigerant to the refrigerant-heating medium heat exchanger to cause the refrigerant to absorb heat from the heating medium, and controls the circulating device and the flow passage switching device to circulate the heating medium flowing out of the refrigerant-heating medium heat exchanger to the battery to cool the battery and circulate the heating medium between the temperature-adjusted object and the air-heating medium heat exchanger to cool the temperature-adjusted object in the cooling/battery cooling and temperature-adjusted object cooling mode.

9. The vehicle air conditioning apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the air-heating medium heat exchanger is disposed on a leeward side of the outdoor heat exchanger.

Assignees

• Sanden Automotive Climate Systems Corp
• Sanden Corp

Inventors

• Ishizeki Tetsuya

Classifications

• B60H1/00278 Primary

  for the battery · CPC title

• B60H1/00392

  for electric vehicles having only electric drive means · CPC title

• B60H1/3205

  Control means therefor · CPC title

• B60H1/32011

  using absorption, e.g. using Li-Br and water · CPC title

• B60H2001/003

  Component temperature regulation using an air flow · CPC title