System and method for managing lubricant within a vapor compression heat pump

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016018145-A1
Application number	US-201414334365-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 17, 2014
Priority date	Jul 17, 2014
Publication date	Jan 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods and system for managing lubricant within a vapor compression heat pump are presented. In one example, lubricant may be flushed from selected areas of a heat pump to other areas of the heat pump where lubricant is desired. The lubricant may be flushed in full flushing mode or in a partial flushing mode.

First claim

1 . A method for a vehicle heat pump, comprising:
selecting a heat pump flushing mode in response to a vehicle being electrically coupled to a stationary power grid; and flushing the vehicle heat pump via activating a pump.

2 . The method of claim 1 , where the heat pump is flushed of a lubricant.

3 . The method of claim 1 , where the flushing mode is a full flush mode.

4 . The method of claim 3 , where the full flush mode comprises flushing a plurality of refrigerant circuits individually.

5 . The method of claim 4 , where flushing the plurality of refrigerant circuits comprises flushing one refrigerant circuit without flushing other refrigerant circuits.

6 . The method of claim 5 , where the plurality of refrigerant circuits are flushed serially one after the other.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising not flushing the vehicle heat pump if an integral based on time since the vehicle heat pump is stopped and a temperature difference between two different temperatures of the vehicle heat pump is less than a threshold value.

8 . A method for a heat pump, comprising:
selecting a heat pump flushing mode when a vehicle in which the heat pump operates is not being operated by a driver in response to a battery charge; and flushing lubricant from a refrigerant circuit when the vehicle is not being operated by the driver.

9 . The method of claim 8 , where the flushing mode is a partial flushing mode.

10 . The method of claim 9 , where the partial flushing mode includes opening valves to allow refrigerant flow through a plurality of refrigerant circuits.

11 . The method of claim 8 , where the flushing mode is a full flushing mode.

12 . The method of claim 8 , not flushing the heat pump if an integral based on time since the vehicle heat pump is stopped and a temperature difference between two different temperatures of the vehicle heat pump is less than a threshold value.

13 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising operating the heat pump in a partial flushing mode when the vehicle is operated by the driver.

14 . The method of claim 13 , where the heat pump is operated in a partial flushing mode when heat pump operation in a heating or cooling mode is not requested.

15 . A vehicle system, comprising:
a heat pump system; and a controller including executable instructions stored in non-transitory memory for flushing lubricant from a plurality of refrigerant circuits in response to a temperature difference between two different locations in the heat pump system.

16 . The vehicle system of claim 15 , further comprising selecting a flushing mode in response to a vehicle being electrically coupled to a stationary power grid.

17 . The vehicle system of claim 15 , further comprising additional instructions for selecting a flushing mode in response to whether or not a vehicle in which the heat pump system resides is being operated by a driver.

18 . The vehicle system of claim 17 , further comprising additional instructions for selecting the flushing mode in response to a battery charge amount.

19 . The vehicle system of claim 15 , further comprising executable instructions for determining a temperature difference between two different locations of the heat pump system.

20 . The vehicle system of claim 19 , further comprising additional instructions for opening a plurality of valves that regulate flow of refrigerant to the plurality of refrigerant circuits while flushing lubricant from the plurality of refrigerant circuits.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Ragazzi Franco

Classifications

• F25B47/00 Primary

  Arrangements for preventing or removing deposits or corrosion, not provided for in another subclass · CPC title

• F25B41/39

  Dispositions with two or more expansion means arranged in series, i.e. multi-stage expansion, on a refrigerant line leading to the same evaporator · CPC title

• F25B25/005

  using primary and secondary systems · CPC title

• B60H1/3214

  for improving the lubrication of a refrigerant compressor in a vehicle · CPC title

• F25B5/04

  arranged in series · CPC title