Integrated thermal management circuit for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12157345-B2
Application number	US-202217829003-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2022
Priority date	Jul 28, 2021
Publication date	Dec 3, 2024
Grant date	Dec 3, 2024

Abstract

An integrated thermal management circuit for a vehicle is introduced, which includes a refrigerant line on which a refrigerant flows into the compressor; a battery cooling line making a cooling water circulate between a battery and a battery radiator or between the battery and the battery chiller; an electric cooling line making the cooling water circulate between an electronic driving unit and an electric radiator or between the electronic driving unit and the electric chiller; and a chiller control valve provided at an upstream point of the electric chiller and the battery chiller on the chiller line, and making the refrigerant discharged from the external heat exchanger flow into the electric chiller or the battery chiller.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An integrated thermal management circuit for a vehicle, the circuit comprising:
a refrigerant line on which a refrigerant flows in an order of a compressor, an indoor condenser of an indoor air conditioning device, and an external heat exchanger, wherein the refrigerant discharged from the external heat exchanger is branched and flows into a chiller line and an evaporation line, an electric chiller and a battery chiller are connected in parallel on the chiller line, and the refrigerants having passed through the chiller line and the evaporation line join each other to flow into the compressor through a first bypass line of the refrigerant line;
a battery cooling line making a cooling water circulate between a battery and a battery radiator or between the battery and the battery chiller;
an electric cooling line making the cooling water circulate between an electronic driving unit and an electric radiator or between the electronic driving unit and the electric chiller; and
a chiller control valve provided at an upstream point of the electric chiller and the battery chiller on the chiller line, and making the refrigerant discharged from the external heat exchanger flow into the electric chiller or the battery chiller.

2. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein on the chiller line, the electric chiller and the battery chiller are formed in unity, and a blocking partition wall blocking heat exchange is provided between the electric chiller and the battery chiller.

3. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the refrigerant of the refrigerant line, being heated by the battery chiller, the electric chiller, or the evaporator, is compressed by the compressor, and is cooled as sequentially passing through the indoor condenser and the external heat exchanger.

4. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein a water heater is provided at a downstream point of the battery on the battery cooling line, and the cooling water having passed through the water heater on the battery cooling line flows into the battery after passing through the battery radiator or the battery chiller.

5. The circuit of claim 4 , wherein the water heater is operated in the battery cooling line in a battery heating mode, and the cooling water heated through the water heater flows into the battery to heat the battery after passing through the battery chiller.

6. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the chiller control valve is configured to open or close an electric chiller side port thereof or a battery chiller side port thereof in accordance with a thermal management mode of the vehicle, and to block the battery chiller side port to prevent the refrigerant from flowing into the battery chiller in a battery heating mode.

7. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein a first control valve is provided at a point where downstream of the battery radiator and the battery chiller and upstream of the battery join each other on the battery cooling line, and the first control valve is configured to adjust a flow of the cooling water flowing into the battery by opening or closing a battery radiator side port or a battery chiller side port thereof in a third bypass line in accordance with a thermal management mode of the battery.

8. The circuit of claim 7 , wherein the third bypass line is connected to the first control valve, the battery chiller and the battery radiator.

9. The circuit of claim 7 , wherein the first control valve is a three-way valve configured to block the battery chiller side port in an external air cooling mode of the battery, and to block the battery radiator side port in a chiller cooling mode or a heating mode of the battery.

10. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein a second control valve is provided at a point where downstream of the electric radiator and the electric chiller and upstream of the electronic driving unit join each other on the electric cooling line, and the second control valve is configured to adjust a flow of the cooling water flowing into the electronic driving unit by opening or closing an electric radiator side port in the electric cooling line or an electric chiller side port thereof in a second bypass line in accordance with a thermal management mode of the electronic driving unit.

11. The circuit of claim 10 , wherein the second control valve is a three-way valve configured to block the electric chiller side port in an external air cooling mode of the electronic driving unit, and to block the electric radiator side port in an electric waste heat recovery mode of the electronic driving unit.

12. The circuit of claim 10 , wherein the second bypass line is connected to the second control valve, the electric chiller, an end portion of the electric cooling line in bypassing the electric driving unit, and the electric radiator.

13. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein an expansion valve is provided at an upstream point of the external heat exchanger, an upstream point of the chiller line, or an upstream point of the evaporation line of the refrigerant line, and the refrigerant passing through the expansion valve at the upstream point of the external heat exchanger, the upstream point of the chiller line, or the upstream point of the evaporation line is selectively expanded in accordance with an air conditioning mode of the vehicle.

14. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein when the battery cooling line performs a battery heating mode, the electric cooling line performs an electric waste heat recovery mode of the electronic driving unit, and the refrigerant line performs indoor heating through waste heat of the electronic driving unit.

15. The circuit of claim 14 , wherein an expansion valve is provided at an upstream point of the chiller control valve, and the refrigerant line performs the indoor heating through the waste heat of the electronic driving unit so that the circulating refrigerant is compressed by the compressor, condensed by the indoor condenser, expanded by the expansion valve at the upstream point of the chiller control valve, and evaporated by the electric chiller.

16. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein on the refrigerant line, a frost line is provided to make the cooling water flowing on the refrigerant line bypass the external heat exchanger when frost occurs on the external heat exchanger by connecting an inflow side and a discharge side of the external heat exchanger with each other.

17. The circuit of claim 16 , wherein a third control valve connected to the frost line is mounted in the refrigerant line at the inflow side of the external heat exchanger.

18. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the condenser and the indoor condenser are mounted on the first bypass line connected to the external heat exchanger.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp
• Hyundai Motor Corp

Inventors

• Kim Ki Mok
• Oh Man Ju
• Lee Sang Shin
• Yang Uk Il

Classifications

• B60H1/00271

  HVAC devices specially adapted for particular vehicle parts or components and being connected to the vehicle HVAC unit · CPC title

• B60H2001/00307

  Component temperature regulation using a liquid flow · CPC title

• B60H2001/00928

  comprising a secondary circuit · CPC title

• B60H2001/00949

  comprising additional heating/cooling sources, e.g. second evaporator · CPC title

• B60H1/00921 Primary

  where the flow direction of the refrigerant does not change and there is an extra subcondenser, e.g. in an air duct · CPC title