Electrical energy management of heat transfer devices for vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12370931-B2
Application number	US-202318166570-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 9, 2023
Priority date	Nov 7, 2019
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

Energy management techniques for heating or cooling a surface of a component of a vehicle comprise determining a heating lag time indicative of a lag time for a surface element of the vehicle component to heat to a first target temperature in response to a power on-off or power off-on modulation of a heat transfer component, determining a cooling lag time indicative of a lag time for the surface element to cool to a second target temperature in response to a power on-off or power off-on modulation of the heat transfer component, and controlling power-on and power-off times of the heat transfer component based on the determined heating and cooling lag times so as to not require a temperature sensor for feedback-based temperature control.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An energy management method for heating or cooling a surface of a component of a vehicle, the method comprising:
determining, by a calibration system that is external to the vehicle, a heating lag time indicative of a lag time for a surface element of the vehicle component to heat to a first target temperature in response to a first power on-off or power off-on modulation of a heat transfer component, wherein the heat transfer component is configured to modulate (i) between a power-on state where heat energy is being generated and a power-off state where heat energy is not being generated or (ii) between a power-on state where heat energy is being removed and a power-off state where heat energy is not being removed, and wherein the surface element is formed of a material to be heated by the heat energy generated and provided by the heat transfer component or to be cooled by the heat energy removed by the heat transfer component;
determining, by the calibration system, a cooling lag time indicative of a lag time for the surface element to cool to a second target temperature in response to a second power on-off or power off-on modulation of the heat transfer component;
providing, from the calibration system and to a control system of the vehicle, the heating lag time and the cooling lag time; and
controlling, by the control system, power-on and power-off times of the heat transfer component based on the heating and cooling lag times so as to perform feedback-based temperature control without requiring a temperature sensor.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the heat transfer component is configured to generate and provide heat energy to the surface element while in the power-on state and to not generate or provide heat energy to the surface element while in the power-off state;
the heating lag time is determined as the lag time for the surface element to heat to the first target temperature in response to the first power off-on modulation of the heat transfer component; and
the cooling lag time is determined as the lag time for the surface element to cool to the second target temperature in response to the second power on-off modulation of the heat transfer component.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein controlling the power-on and power-off times of the heat transfer component comprises setting a minimum power-on time of the heat transfer component based on the heating lag time and setting a maximum power-off time of the heat transfer component based on the cooling lag time.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the minimum power-on and maximum power-off times provide for a desired amount of surface element temperature heating and cooling during modulation between power-on and power-off states of the heat transfer component, and wherein the desired amount of surface element temperature heating and cooling is sufficient to maintain a stable temperature of the surface element within a desired temperature range.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the vehicle component is one of a heated mirror, a heated glass panel, a heated seat, and a heated steering wheel.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the heat transfer component is configured to remove heat energy from the surface element while in the power-on state and to not remove heat energy from the surface element while in the power-off state;
the heating lag time is determined as the lag time for the surface element to heat to the first target temperature in response to the first power on-off modulation of the heat transfer component; and
the cooling lag time is determined as the lag time for the surface element to cool to the second target temperature in response to the second power off-on modulation of the heat transfer component.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein controlling the power-on and power-off times of the heat transfer component comprises setting a maximum power-off time of the heat transfer component based on the heating lag time and setting a minimum power-on time of the heat transfer component based on the cooling lag time.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the minimum power-on and maximum power-off times provide for a desired amount of surface element temperature heating and cooling during modulation between power-on and power-off states of the heat transfer component, and wherein the desired amount of surface element temperature heating and cooling is sufficient to maintain a stable temperature of the surface element within a desired temperature range.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the vehicle component is one of a cooled seat, a cooled steering wheel, a cooled battery pack, and a cooled power inverter.

Assignees

• Fca Us Llc

Inventors

• Duty Mark J
• King Daniel R
• Ajankar Shantanu
• Joshi Yugandhara P

Classifications

• B60S1/023

  including defroster or demisting means · CPC title

• B62D1/065 Primary

  Steering wheels with heating and ventilating means (heating and ventilation of steering wheel when connected to vehicle HVAC B60H1/00292) · CPC title

• B60L58/26

  by cooling · CPC title

• B60R1/0602

  comprising means for cleaning or deicing · CPC title

• B60L2240/545

  Temperature · CPC title