Preconditioning an electric vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9950638-B2
Application number	US-201514795968-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2015
Priority date	Jul 10, 2015
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle includes a cabin, a traction battery configured to receive wall power from a charging station, a coolant circuit, a heat pump and a controller. The coolant circuit includes the battery, a heater core, a heat exchanger, and valving. The heat pump is in fluid communication with the heat exchanger. The controller is programmed to, in response to a request to heat the battery and the cabin, and a time to next planned usage of the vehicle being less than a first threshold time, actuate the valving to circulate coolant to the heater core and not the battery when wall power is available, and energize the heat pump to supply heat to the coolant circuit via the heat exchanger when an ambient air temperature exceeds a threshold temperature. The disclosure also includes a method for preconditioning a vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a cabin;
a traction battery configured to receive wall power from a charging station;
a coolant circuit including the battery, a heater core, a heat exchanger, and valving;
a heat pump in fluid communication with the heat exchanger; and
a controller programmed to, in response to a request to heat the battery and the cabin, and a time to next planned usage of the vehicle being less than a first threshold time, actuate the valving to circulate coolant to the heater core and not the battery when wall power is available, and energize the heat pump to supply heat to the coolant circuit via the heat exchanger when an ambient air temperature exceeds a threshold temperature.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to the ambient air temperature being less than the threshold temperature, energize an electric heater of the coolant circuit to supply heat to the heater core.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the threshold temperature is a first threshold temperature, and wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to the ambient air temperature exceeding the first threshold temperature and being less than a second threshold temperature, energize an electric heater of the coolant circuit to supply heat to the heater core using both the heat pump and the heater.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to the ambient air temperature exceeding the second threshold temperature, de-energize the heater to supply heat to the coolant circuit using only the heat pump.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to the time to next planned usage exceeding the first threshold time, actuate the valving to circulate coolant to the battery to heat the battery.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to the time to next planned usage exceeding the first threshold time and being less than a second threshold time, energize a cabin blower when a magnitude of the wall power exceeds a threshold power.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to the time to next planned usage exceeding the second threshold time, delay heating of the cabin blower at least until the time to next planned usage is less than the second threshold time.

8. A method for preconditioning a vehicle comprising:
in response to a request to heat a battery and cabin, and a time to next planned usage of the vehicle being less than a first threshold time, actuating valving to circulate coolant to a heater core and not a battery when wall power is available; and
energizing a heat pump to supply heat to the heater core when an ambient air temperature exceeds a threshold temperature.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising, in response to the ambient air temperature being less than the threshold temperature, energizing an electric heater to supply heat to the heater core.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the threshold temperature is a first threshold temperature, further comprising, in response to the ambient air temperature exceeding the first threshold temperature and being less than a second threshold temperature, energizing an electric heater to supply heat to the heater core using both the heat pump and the heater.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising, in response to the ambient air temperature exceeding the second threshold temperature, supplying heat to the heater core using only the heat pump.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising, in response to the time to next planned usage exceeding the first threshold time, actuating the valving to circulate coolant to the battery to heat the battery.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising, in response to the time to next planned usage exceeding the first threshold time and being less than a second threshold time, energizing a cabin blower when a magnitude of the wall power exceeds a threshold power.

14. The Method of claim 13 further comprising, in response to the magnitude of the wall power being less than the threshold power, de-energizing the cabin blower.

15. A vehicle comprising:
a cabin;
a traction battery configured to receive wall power from a charging station;
a coolant circuit including the battery, a heater core, a heat exchanger, and valving;
a heat pump in fluid communication with the heat exchanger; and
a controller programmed to, in response to a request to heat the battery and the cabin, and a time to next planned usage of the vehicle exceeding a threshold time, actuate the valving to circulate coolant to the battery and the heater core when wall power is available, and energize the heat pump to supply heat to the coolant circuit via the heat exchanger when an ambient air temperature exceeds a threshold temperature.

16. The vehicle of claim 15 wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to the ambient air temperature being less than the threshold temperature, energize a heater of the coolant circuit to supply heat to the battery and the heater core.

17. The vehicle of claim 15 wherein the threshold temperature is a first threshold temperature, and wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to the ambient air temperature exceeding the first threshold temperature and being less than a second threshold temperature, energize a heater of the coolant circuit to supply heat to the battery and the heater core using both the heat pump and the heater.

18. The vehicle of claim 17 wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to the ambient air temperature exceeding the second threshold temperature, supply heat to the battery and the heater core using only the heat pump.

19. The vehicle of claim 15 wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to a magnitude of the wall power being greater than a threshold power, energize a cabin fan.

20. The vehicle of claim 15 wherein the controller is further programmed to, in response to the time to next planned usage being less than the threshold time, actuate the valving to circulate coolant to the heater core and not the battery.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Porras Angel Fernando
• Blatchley Timothy Noah
• Smith Mark G

Classifications

• B60L11/187 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60H1/00278 Primary

  for the battery · CPC title

• B60H2001/00928

  comprising a secondary circuit · CPC title

• B60H1/00921

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

• B60L11/1875

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic