Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Mahle International Gmbh

Edward Wolfe, Iv

Prasad Shripad Kadle

Mingyu Wang

Timothy D Craig

James A Bright

Joseph Pierre Heremans

Donald T Morelli

Ilya Reyzin

Debashis Ghosh

Mark James Zima

Gregory J Kowalski

William James Kumpf

Xiaoxia Mu

Carrie M Kowsky

Mohinder Singh Bhatti

James Allen Baker, Jr

Lin-Jie Huang

Gary Scott Vreeland

John F O'Brien

Scott B Lipa

Lindsey Lee Leitzel

Sourav Chowdhury

Lawrence Wei

Derek F Klima

Nick G Sabha

S Umair Ahmed

Gary S Vreeland

Frederick V Oddi

A method for controlling the temperature in a vehicle cabin, while the vehicle engine is turned off, includes the following steps: importing a State-of Charge information of a vehicle traction battery, an outside temperature, and inside temperature of the cabin into an electronic controller; calculating a normal electric power required for operating an HVAC system in a Normal mode; calculating a maximum operation time of the HVAC system in the Normal mode based on the State-of-Charge information; displaying the maximum operation time on a display; reading an operator input selecting one mode of at least the Normal mode and a first Eco mode of the HVAC system, wherein in the first Eco mode the HVAC system operates at a reduced electric power compared to the Normal mode; and operating the HVAC system in accordance with the operator input. A suitable HVAC system includes an appropriate user interface.

Method and system for controlling the temperature in a cabin of a vehicle while the vehicle engine is turned off

A heating system for an automotive passenger cabin includes a blower fan generating an air flow; a first heater core downstream of the blower fan; a second heater core downstream of the first heater core; a coolant loop with a first branch and a second branch, wherein the first heater core is disposed in the first branch and the second heater core is disposed in the second branch; a change-over valve arrangement having a first setting establishing fluid communication between the first and second heater cores by connecting the first and second branches in two locations on opposite sides of the first and second heater cores. The change-over valve arrangement has a second setting separating the fluid communication between the first and second heater cores by disconnecting the first and second branches. The second branch or both the first and the second branch are connectable to a PCM heater.

Multi-mode cabin heating system with dual heating source

A heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system includes a blower, a fresh-air valve, a bypass duct, and a bypass valve. The blower is configured to urge air to flow from an inlet to an outlet of the blower. The fresh-air valve is operable to provide a mixture of air drawn from an outside-air duct and a recirculated-air duct to the inlet. The fresh-air valve is operable to a recirculate position where the outside-air duct is substantially blocked from communicating with the inlet. The bypass duct is configured to couple the outlet to the outside-air duct. The bypass valve is located in the bypass duct and is operable to a closed position and an open position. The cabin is ventilated when the fresh-air valve is in the recirculate position, the bypass valve is in the open position, and the blower is operated to blow air out of the outside-air duct.

Vehicle HVAC system with cabin ventilation while parked

An internal heat exchanger assembly for an air conditioning system, having a housing defining a cylindrical with opposing ends. The ends are sealed with end caps having inlets/outlets. A helical coil tube is coaxially disposed within the cylindrical cavity, in which the helical coil includes two tube ends extending in opposing directions and exiting the cylindrical cavity through tube ports provided in the end caps. A twisted elongated strip is coaxially disposed within the cylindrical cavity extending from the first end to the second end. The twisted elongated strip includes a plurality of radially extending fingers adapted to engage the helical coil to maintain the helical coil in a predetermined position.

Internal heat exchanger assembly

A method of controlling an air conditioning compressor in a heating ventilation and air conditioning system having a evaporator including a phase change material is presented. The method includes the steps of measuring an evaporator output air temperature, determining a state of charge value by calculating a difference between an estimated refrigerant temperature based on the evaporator output air temperature and a phase change material freeze temperature and integrating this difference over time and operating the air conditioning compressor to maintain the state of charge value between an upper and lower limit. A method of recovering braking energy in a vehicle containing a heating ventilation and air conditioning system having the evaporator including the phase change material is also presented.

Phase change material evaporator charging control

A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and a method of controlling a HVAC system that is configured to provide a perceived comfortable ambient environment to an occupant seated in a vehicle cabin. The system includes a nozzle configured to direct an air stream from the HVAC system to the location of a thermally sensitive portion of the body of the occupant. The system also includes a controller configured to determine an air stream temperature and an air stream flow rate necessary to establish the desired heat supply rate for the sensitive portion and provide a comfortable thermal environment by thermally isolating the occupant from the ambient vehicle cabin temperature. The system may include a sensor to determine the location of the sensitive portion. The nozzle may include a thermoelectric device to heat or cool the air stream.

System and method of providing quick thermal comfort with reduced energy by using directed spot conditioning

An evaporator has a manifold and a plurality of refrigerant tubes extending downward in the direction of gravity from the manifold. The evaporator includes at least one PCM housing engaging the upper portion of the refrigerant tube for storing a phase change material. When operating in a first operating mode, heat is transferred from the phase change material to the refrigerant to freeze and cool the phase change material. When operating in a second operating mode, heat is transferred from the refrigerant to the frozen phase change material to condense the refrigerant. The condensed refrigerant falls downwardly through the tubes and receives heat from a flow of air to cool the air and evaporate the refrigerant. The evaporated refrigerant rises upwardly back to the low pressure of the cold manifold.

An internal heat exchanger assembly for an air conditioning system, having a substantial cylindrical cavity in which a helical coil tube is coaxially disposed within the cylindrical cavity. A bleed valve assembly is incorporated into the helical coiled tube, in which the bleed valve assembly is adapted to open at a predetermined differential pressure between the high pressure side and low pressure side of the internal heat exchanger. The bleed valve selectively bleeds refrigerant from the high pressure side to the low pressure side, thereby increasing the pressure and mass flow rate of the refrigerant to the suction side of a compressor.

Internal heat exchanger assembly having an internal bleed valve assembly

An evaporator having a manifold and a plurality of refrigerant tubes extending downward in the direction of gravity from the manifold. The evaporator includes at least one PCM housing engaging the upper portion of the refrigerant tube for storing a phase change material. When operating in a first operating mode, heat is transferred from the phase change material to the refrigerant to freeze and cool the phase change material. When operating in a second operating mode, heat is transferred from the refrigerant to the frozen phase change material to condense the refrigerant. The condensed refrigerant falls downwardly through the tubes and receives heat from a flow of air to cool the air and evaporate the refrigerant. The evaporated refrigerant rises upwardly back to the low pressure of the cold manifold.

Evaporator phase change thermal siphon

An air conditioning system having an improved internal heat exchanger (IHX) assembly. The IHX assembly includes an elongated cavity for low pressure refrigerant flow from an evaporator and an interior tube disposed within the cavity for high pressure refrigerant flow from a condenser, and a pressure equalization passage between the low and high pressure sides. The passage is large enough to allow pressures to equalize between the condenser and evaporator while the air conditioning system is inactive, so as to prevent the pressure differential that would otherwise enable the loss of refrigerant oil from the compressor, and small enough not to effect the operation of the air conditioning system. The pressure equalization passage may be a by-pass valve assembly having a reed portion that is normally open when the air conditioning system is inactive and closed when the air conditioning system is active for maximum cooling efficiency.

Air conditioning system having an improved internal heat exchanger

An air conditioning system including an evaporator having a manifold and a plurality of tubes extending downward in a vertical direction from the manifold. The evaporator defines at least one PCM tank engaging the manifold for storing a phase change material. When operating in a first operating mode, heat is transferred from the phase change material to the refrigerant to freeze and cool the phase change material. When operating in a second operating mode, heat is transferred from the refrigerant to the frozen phase change material to condense the refrigerant. The condensed refrigerant falls downwardly through the tubes and receives heat from a flow of air to cool the air and evaporate the refrigerant. The evaporated refrigerant rises upwardly back to the low pressure of the cold manifold.

The assembly includes a pair of heat exchangers, each including an upper and lower manifold, parallel and spaced relative to one another. Tubes extend between each set of upper and lower manifolds with fins disposed between each of the tubes. A valve system controls fluid flow between the upper manifolds and the lower manifolds. The valve system is movable between a maximum cooling mode with fluid flow form the first upper manifold through both of the tubes and to said first lower manifold. A temperate mode allows fluid to flow from the first upper manifold to the first lower manifold and from the second upper manifold to the second lower manifold to prevent flash fogging. A maximum cooling mode allows fluid to flow from the second upper manifold through both of the first and second tubes to the lower manifolds.

Secondary loop-integral heater core and cooler

An evaporatively pre-cooled seat assembly comprising a seat cushion, an auxiliary cooler, and an evaporative cooler. The evaporative cooler includes a plurality of parallel tubular dry channels and a plurality of tubular wet channels. The dry channels and wet channels are arranged such that they alternate from dry channel to wet channel from channel to channel. Each of the channels is defined by two parallel side walls, a top, and a bottom. A first plurality of dry channels defines a plurality of apertures in the side walls thereof for conveying air out of the respective dry channel and into an adjacent wet channel. A second plurality of dry channels alternates with the first plurality and is disposed between two wet channels and defines a plurality of cooler apertures in the tops thereof for conveying cooled air out of the second plurality of alternating dry channels and to the auxiliary cooler.

Evaporatively pre-cooled seat assembly

Conditioned air discharged from a vehicle heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) unit is further conditioned by a thermoelectric (TE) air conditioning unit and then directed to air passages in a vehicle seat. Activation of the TE air conditioning unit is based on climate control parameters utilized by the HVAC unit, including a set temperature, radiant heating effects, and cabin air temperature. The climate control parameters are utilized to establish a target seat temperature that optimizes occupant comfort and the transient response of the seat cooling effect.

Control method for thermal regulation of a vehicle seat

Differential thermal conditioning of vehicle seat zones is achieved with convenient adjustment of a seat temperature differential for optimizing the thermal comfort of the seat occupant. Two or more thermoelectric units supply conditioned air to different zones of the seat, and the temperature differential between specified zones of the seat is set by an occupant-adjustable control input.

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Amherst, NY, United States of America

Edward Wolfe, Iv