Thermal management system and automobile

Abstract

The invention provides a thermal management system and an automobile. The thermal management system comprises an electric drive cooling loop, a battery thermal management loop, a heat dissipation loop, an in-cabin heating loop, an in-cabin refrigerating loop, a refrigerant loop and a multi-way valve. The multi-way valve is integrated with a plurality of interfaces and is in fluid connection with the electric drive cooling circuit, the battery heat management circuit, the heat dissipation circuit, the in-cabin heating circuit and the in-cabin refrigerating circuit respectively; the multi-way valve is configured to be capable of selectively changing the connection relation between the loops in different working modes through switching of the valve element so as to construct different fluid passages, and through reconfigurable fluid control of the multi-way valve, the multiple technical problems of environmental protection compliance, low-temperature adaptation, energy efficiency improvement, cost control and the like are successfully solved.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application belongs to the technical field of automobiles, and in particular relates to a thermal management system and an automobile. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the in-depth promotion of the global automobile industry's electric transformation, the electric vehicle thermal management system is facing increasingly severe technical challenges in environmental protection, energy efficiency, and low-temperature adaptability. Industry research shows that the range attenuation under low-temperature working conditions has become a core bottleneck affecting user experience. In order to improve energy efficiency, the industry technology route has shifted from the traditional high-energy-consumption PTC (positive temperature coefficient heater) heating to heat pump technology. However, the existing thermal management system still has several fundamental defects, which seriously restrict its performance improvement and wide promotion.

[0003] The existing technology mainly has the following four aspects of significant shortcomings: 1. Insufficient environmental compliance; The current mainstream heat pump system mainly adapts R134a or R1234yf refrigerant. However, the global warming potential (GWP) of such refrigerants is still relatively high, making it difficult to meet the increasingly stringent environmental regulations (such as the "Fluorine Gas Regulation") of regions such as the European Union for future products. Although the industry has begun to explore R290 (propane) and other natural working substances with extremely low GWP and zero ODP (ozone depletion potential), due to their flammability, they pose extremely high requirements for system safety. The existing scheme mostly uses a "one-time heat exchange" architecture in which the refrigerant directly enters the passenger compartment HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system), which cannot safely adapt to flammable refrigerants such as R290, resulting in a congenital defect in environmental compliance.

[0004] 2. Poor low-temperature environment adaptability; The existing heat pump system has a sharp decline in heating efficiency (COP) when the ambient temperature is below -10°C, and may even fail to work normally. Although some advanced schemes use hot gas bypass or air supplementing and enthalpy increasing techniques to attempt to improve low-temperature performance, they often result in a low system energy efficiency ratio (COP) and significantly increase the risk of compressor operation reliability under extreme working conditions, restricting their application in cold regions.

[0005] 3. Low efficiency of multi-heat source coordination; Electric vehicles generate multiple available heat sources during operation, including PTC active heating, active / passive waste heat generated by motor operation, compressor self-generated heat, air source, and passive waste heat of electric drive, battery, and passenger compartment. However, the existing system topology fails to establish an effective heat source coordination management network, resulting in two major problems: (1) Significant energy dissipation exists in the passive waste heat recovery process, and waste heat is not fully recovered and converted into effective heat energy; (ii) The regulation of multiple heat sources is unreasonable, and it is not possible to dynamically and on-demand allocate heat between different modules (such as the passenger cabin, the battery, and the electric drive) according to real-time demand, indirectly leading to repeated consumption and waste of high-grade energy.

[0006] The existing architecture generally uses a three-way valve or a water-water heat exchanger for heat distribution, and introduces a bridge pipe structure in the pipeline, which inevitably leads to heat mixing between different temperature circuits under dynamic operating conditions, causing unnecessary heat loss and restricting the further improvement of the overall energy efficiency of the system.

[0007] 4. High system complexity and high cost; The existing architecture usually requires multiple external heat exchangers (such as external evaporators, external condensers, and radiators) to be arranged at the front end of the vehicle, multiple internal heat exchangers (such as internal evaporators, internal condensers, and high-pressure PTC air heaters) to be arranged in the HVAC box, and intermediate heat exchangers such as battery pack chillers and water-cooled condensers to be arranged in the engine compartment. This design leads to redundancy in the number of heat exchangers and overlap in functions. In addition, to achieve complex mode switching, the refrigerant circuit usually needs to be equipped with multiple high-cost check valves, one-way valves, and other components (the cost of refrigerant-side valves is much higher than that of coolant-side valves), further increasing the overall manufacturing cost of the system.

[0008] Related prior art solutions refer to; For example, the Xiaomi patent solution disclosed in (CN202311843250 Xiaomi thermal management patent) has obvious deficiencies in the above aspects: it uses an internal condenser design with one-time heat exchange, which cannot adapt to R290 refrigerant; the system architecture is only optimized for R134a, resulting in poor low-temperature adaptability; at the same time, it uses as many as six heat exchangers, and the number of refrigerant-side valves is large, resulting in a complex system and high cost.

[0009] In summary, the deficiencies of existing thermal management systems in environmental protection, performance, energy efficiency, and cost form a cumulative effect, constituting a barrier to technology promotion. Therefore, there is an urgent need in the art for an innovative thermal management system solution that can simultaneously solve the above-mentioned multiple problems. SUMMARY

[0010] To solve the above technical problems, the present application provides a thermal management system and a vehicle for solving the technical problems in the prior art.

[0011] On the one hand, the present application provides the following technical solution, a thermal management system, the system comprising: an electric drive cooling circuit, a battery thermal management circuit, a heat dissipation circuit, an in-cabin heating circuit, an in-cabin cooling circuit, a refrigerant circuit, and a multi-way valve; The multi-way valve is integrated with multiple interfaces and is respectively connected with the electric cooling circuit, the battery thermal management circuit, the heat dissipation circuit, the cabin heating circuit and the cabin refrigeration circuit; The multi-way valve is configured to selectively change the connection relationship between the circuits in different working modes by switching of a valve core to build different fluid passages.

[0012] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the application are that: the secondary heat exchange architecture built by the multi-way valve completely isolates the refrigerant circulating in the independent circuit outside the passenger cabin, completely avoids the risk of flammable refrigerant (such as R290) entering the passenger cabin, enables the system to be compatible with new environmentally friendly working fluids such as R290 and R474A, and meets the requirements of the most stringent environmental protection regulations in the world. Thanks to the flexible reconstruction of the system flow path by the multi-way valve, combined with auxiliary heat source technologies such as hot gas bypass and motor active heating, the system can still be effectively started and efficiently heated in an extremely cold environment of -30°C or even lower, greatly widening the applicable temperature range of the heat pump system. Through the multi-way valve, the heat mixing phenomenon existing in the bridge pipeline in the traditional architecture and the invalid path heat loss generated by flowing through unnecessary heat exchangers are completely eliminated, the energy loss under the corresponding working condition is reduced to almost zero, thereby significantly improving the system heating / cooling energy efficiency ratio (COP). The innovative topology structure greatly reduces the number of high-cost refrigerant-side valves and heat exchangers and other core hardware through valve integration and heat exchanger reuse (such as reuse of a single front-end heat dissipation device), thereby reducing system complexity and material costs; at the same time, the design of the low-temperature side arrangement of the small-power PTC heater effectively reduces the power consumption demand of the system auxiliary heating.

[0013] In summary, the application successfully solves multiple technical problems such as environmental protection compliance, low-temperature adaptation, energy efficiency improvement and cost control through the reconfigurable fluid control of the multi-way valve.

[0014] Further, it further includes a heating proportional valve and a refrigeration proportional valve; The heating proportional valve is connected between the cabin heating circuit and the battery thermal management circuit and is configured to proportionally distribute the cooling liquid flowing to the battery thermal management circuit and the cabin heating circuit. The refrigeration proportional valve is connected between the cabin refrigeration circuit and the battery thermal management circuit and is configured to proportionally distribute the cooling liquid flowing to the battery thermal management circuit and the cabin refrigeration circuit.

[0015] Further, the heating proportional valve and the refrigeration proportional valve are both five-way proportional valves. The five-way proportional valve is configured to have at least six working modes, so that when the battery packs of the battery thermal management circuit are heated individually, the cooling liquid flow path bypasses the cabin heating circuit; and / or when the battery packs of the battery thermal management circuit are cooled individually, the cooling liquid flow path bypasses the cabin cooling circuit.

[0016] Further, the cabin heating circuit includes a water-cooled condenser and a warm air core, and the cabin cooling circuit includes a battery pack cooler and an evaporation core. The refrigerant circuit exchanges heat with the water-cooled condenser and the battery pack cooler, so that the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit does not enter the passenger cabin, but exchanges heat with the cooling liquid through the water-cooled condenser and the battery pack cooler, forming a secondary heat exchange architecture.

[0017] Further, the heat dissipation circuit includes a heat sink. The heat sink is configured to dissipate heat to the environment in a cooling mode and absorb heat from the environment in a heating mode.

[0018] Further, the refrigerant circuit includes a compressor, a water-cooled condenser, a battery pack cooler, and a hot gas bypass circuit. The hot gas bypass circuit is connected between the exhaust port of the compressor and the suction line, and an adjustment valve is provided on the hot gas bypass circuit. The hot gas bypass circuit is configured to introduce part of the high-pressure refrigerant back to the suction port of the compressor to make the compressor operate in a low-efficiency zone to generate self-produced heat.

[0019] Further, the hot gas bypass circuit further includes a coaxial heat exchange pipe, which is arranged to exchange heat between the high-pressure refrigerant flowing through the hot gas bypass circuit and the low-pressure refrigerant flowing through the suction line.

[0020] Further, the electric drive cooling circuit includes a motor. The thermal management system is configured to control the dq-axis current of the motor to make the motor operate in a low-efficiency zone to actively generate heat.

[0021] Further, a PTC heater is provided on the cabin cooling circuit, which is configured to heat the cooling liquid flowing through the cabin cooling circuit to assist the start of the compressor of the refrigerant circuit in a low-temperature environment.

[0022] In a second aspect, the present application provides the following technical solution, an automobile comprising the wide-temperature-range multi-heat-source thermal management system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0023] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or prior art description will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can be obtained by those skilled in the art without any creative effort.

[0024] Figure 1 is the overall architecture schematic diagram of the wide-temperature-range multi-heat-source thermal management system provided by the embodiments of the present application; Figure 2 is the flowchart of the thirteen working modes of the ten-way valve in the embodiments of the present application; Figure 3 is the logic schematic diagram of the six working distribution modes of the heating five-way proportional valve and the refrigeration five-way proportional valve in the embodiments of the present application.

[0025] The labels of the components in the drawings are explained as follows: 1100, electric-driven cooling circuit; 1101: electric-driven water pump; 1102: water temperature sensor; 1103: all-in-one controller; 1104: motor; 1105: ten-way valve; 1106: auxiliary water tank; 1200: battery thermal management circuit; 1201: battery water pump; 1202: water temperature sensor; 1203: battery pack; 1300: heat dissipation circuit; 1301: breather pipe throttle valve; 1302: radiator; 1303: water temperature sensor; 1400: cabin heating circuit; 1401: warm core water pump; 1402: water temperature sensor; 1403: warm air core; 1404: heating five-way proportional valve; 1405: throttle valve 1500: cabin refrigeration circuit; 1501: cold core water pump; 1502: water temperature sensor; 1503: evaporation core; 1504: refrigeration five-way proportional valve; 1505: PTC heater; 1600: refrigerant circuit; 1601: compressor; 1602: temperature and pressure sensor; 1603: water-cooled condenser; 1604: drying tank; 1605: coaxial pipe; 1606: electronic expansion valve; 1607: battery pack cooler; 1608: electronic expansion valve; 1609: temperature and pressure sensor; 1700: air management subsystem; 1701: electronic fan; 1702: air blower; The embodiments of the present application will be further described in combination with the drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Embodiments of the present application are described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, examples of which are shown in the drawings, wherein the same or similar notations data are the same or similar elements or elements with the same or similar functions throughout. The embodiments described below by reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended to explain embodiments of the present application, and cannot be understood as a limitation of the present application.

[0027] In the description of embodiments of the present application, it should be understood that the terms "length", "width", "upper", "lower", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer" and the like indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the purpose of facilitating the description of the embodiments of the present application and simplifying the description, and therefore cannot be understood as indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation of the present application.

[0028] In addition, the terms "first", "second" are only for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined with "first", "second" can explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of embodiments of the present application, the meaning of "multiple" is two or more, unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0029] In embodiments of the present application, please refer to Figures 1 to 3 As shown in the drawings, a thermal management system includes an electric drive cooling circuit 1100, a battery thermal management circuit 1200, a heat dissipation circuit 1300, an in-cabin heating circuit 1400, an in-cabin refrigeration circuit 1500, a refrigerant circuit 1600 and a multi-way valve 1105; The multi-way valve 1105 is integrated with multiple interfaces and is respectively in fluid connection with the electric drive cooling circuit 1100, the battery thermal management circuit 1200, the heat dissipation circuit 1300, the in-cabin heating circuit 1400 and the in-cabin refrigeration circuit 1500; The multi-way valve 1105 is configured to selectively change the connection relationship between the circuits in different working modes to build different fluid passages by switching of the valve core.

[0030] Specifically, the electric drive cooling circuit 1100 includes a motor 1104; The thermal management system is configured to make the motor 1104 actively generate heat by running in a low efficiency interval by controlling the dq-axis current of the motor 1104.

[0031] Specifically, it further includes a heating proportional valve 1404 and a refrigeration proportional valve 1504; The heating proportional valve 1404 is connected between the cabin heating circuit 1400 and the battery thermal management circuit 1200, and is configured to proportionally distribute the coolant flowing to the battery thermal management circuit 1200 and the cabin heating circuit 1400. The cooling proportional valve 1504 is connected between the cabin cooling circuit 1500 and the battery thermal management circuit 1200, and is configured to proportionally distribute the coolant flowing to the battery thermal management circuit 1200 and the cabin cooling circuit 1500.

[0032] More specifically, both the heating proportional valve 1404 and the cooling proportional valve 1504 are five-way proportional valves; The five-way proportional valve is configured to have at least six operating modes, such that when the battery pack 1203 of the battery thermal management circuit 1200 is heated alone, the coolant flow path bypasses the cabin heating circuit 1400; and / or when the battery pack 1203 of the battery thermal management circuit 1200 is cooled alone, the coolant flow path bypasses the cabin cooling circuit 1500.

[0033] In this embodiment, the electric drive cooling circuit 1100 is mainly used to dissipate heat from the vehicle's drive assembly (including the all-in-one controller 1103 and the motor 1104) and to recover the waste heat generated during its operation under low-temperature conditions as one of the system's heat sources.

[0034] like Figure 1 As shown, the circuit mainly includes an electric water pump 1101, a water temperature sensor 1102, a multi-function controller 1103, a motor 1104, a ten-way valve 1105, and an auxiliary water tank 1106.

[0035] The connection relationships of each component are as follows: The outlet of the electric water pump 1101 is connected sequentially to the water temperature sensor 1102, the multi-function controller 1103, and the inlet of the motor 1104 via pipelines. The outlet of the motor 1104 is connected to the first port (defined as port M2) of the ten-way valve 1105 via pipelines. The inlet of the electric water pump 1101 is connected to the second port (defined as port M1) of the ten-way valve 1105 via pipelines. Thus, a basic circulation path is formed with the ten-way valve 1105 as one of the core nodes.

[0036] The auxiliary water tank 1106 is connected to the inlet pipe of the electric water pump 1101 via a replenishment pipe, and is used for adding and emptying coolant and balancing pressure changes in the circuit caused by thermal expansion and contraction.

[0037] The working principle and function of this circuit are as follows: When the thermal management system is running, the electric water pump 1101 is started according to the instruction of the controller, driving the coolant to circulate in the circuit. The coolant flows through the multi-controller 1103 and the motor 104, absorbing the heat generated during operation.

[0038] The coolant flowing to the ten-way valve 1105 has two paths according to the current thermal management strategy (i.e. one of the 13 working modes switched by the ten-way valve 1105): One is that the coolant directly returns to the inlet of the electric water pump 1101 through the internal flow channel of the ten-way valve 1105, forming an independent internal circulation to realize the rapid heating or temperature preservation of the drive assembly.

[0039] The other is that the coolant is guided by the ten-way valve 1105 to one or more of other subsystems (such as the battery thermal management circuit 1200, the heat dissipation circuit 1300, the cabin heating circuit 1400 or the cabin cooling circuit 1500), transferring the heat carried to heat other components, or dissipating heat to the environment through the radiator 1300, and finally recycling back to the inlet of the electric water pump 1101.

[0040] The water temperature sensor 1102 monitors the temperature of the coolant in the circuit in real time and feeds back the signal to the vehicle controller, providing the basis for the decision of the thermal management strategy.

[0041] The motor 1104 is not only a cooled object, but also an active heat source. By controlling its dq-axis current to operate in the low-efficiency zone, it can actively generate heat and transfer it to the coolant, providing an auxiliary heat source for the vehicle in extremely low temperature environment.

[0042] The battery thermal management circuit 1200 is mainly used for heating, cooling or temperature preservation of the battery pack 1203, ensuring that it is in the optimal working temperature range.

[0043] As shown in the figure, the circuit mainly includes a battery water pump 1201, a water temperature sensor 1202 and a battery pack 1203. Figure 1

[0044] The connection relationship of each component is as follows: The outlet of the battery water pump 1201 is connected to the inlet of the water temperature sensor 1202 and the battery pack 1203 in sequence through the pipeline. The outlet of the battery pack 1203 is connected to the third interface (defined as interface B2) of the ten-way valve 1105 through the pipeline. The inlet of the battery water pump 1201 is connected to the fourth interface (defined as interface B1) of the ten-way valve 1105 through the pipeline. In addition, the outlet pipeline of the battery pack 1203 of the circuit is also connected to the cabin heating circuit 1400 through the heating five-way proportional valve 1404.

[0045] ​The working principle and function of the circuit are as follows: The battery water pump 1201 is started according to the system instruction, and drives the cooling liquid to circulate in the circuit. The cooling liquid flows through the battery pack 1203 and exchanges heat with it, realizing temperature management of the battery.

[0046] The cooling liquid flowing to the ten-way valve 1105 has two paths according to the system mode instruction: One is that the cooling liquid directly returns to the inlet of the battery water pump 1201 through the ten-way valve 1105, forming an independent circulation, realizing rapid heating, uniform heating or heat preservation of the battery pack.

[0047] The second is that the cooling liquid is guided by the ten-way valve 1105 to other subsystems (such as the electric drive cooling circuit 1100, the heat dissipation circuit 1300, the cabin heating circuit 1400 or the cabin cooling circuit 1500), using external heat source to heat the battery, or transferring the heat generated by the battery to other components needing heat or dissipating to the environment through the heat dissipation circuit 1300.

[0048] The water temperature sensor 1202 monitors the temperature of the cooling liquid flowing into the battery pack 1203 in real time, providing a key input for the heat management control strategy.

[0049] The battery pack 1203 is not only the object of heat management, but also can be used as a passive heat source. The waste heat generated by it in driving or charging conditions can be recovered by the cooling liquid and distributed to the passenger cabin or other components that need heating through the system topology, realizing efficient energy reuse.

[0050] Specifically, the heat dissipation circuit includes a radiator 1302; The radiator 1302 is configured to dissipate heat to the environment in the cooling mode and absorb heat from the environment in the heating mode.

[0051] In this embodiment, the heat dissipation circuit 1300 is the key channel for the system to exchange heat with the external environment, and its main function is to dissipate the system waste heat to the environment in high temperature working condition, and to absorb heat from the environment as an evaporator in low temperature working condition.

[0052] As Figure 1 shown, the circuit mainly includes a radiator 1302, a water temperature sensor 1303 and a breather pipe throttle valve 1301.

[0053] The connection relationship of each component is as follows: The inlet of the radiator 1302 is connected to the fifth interface (defined as interface R2) of the ten-way valve 1105 through a pipeline. The outlet of the radiator 1302 is connected to the sixth interface (defined as interface R1) of the ten-way valve 1105 through a pipeline. The breather pipe throttle valve 1301 is arranged on the breather pipe connecting the top of the radiator 1302 and the auxiliary water tank 1106. The water temperature sensor 1303 is arranged on the inlet or outlet pipeline of the radiator 1302 for monitoring the temperature of the cooling liquid flowing through the radiator.

[0054] The working principle and function of the circuit are as follows: The radiator 1302 serves as a multifunctional external heat exchanger, and its function is dynamically switched according to the system mode: In the system refrigeration or heat dissipation mode, it serves as a condenser to release heat from other circuits to the ambient air driven by the electronic fan 1701.

[0055] In the air source heat pump heating mode, it serves as an evaporator to absorb low-temperature heat from the ambient air to provide a low-temperature heat source for the system.

[0056] The cooling liquid flowing through the radiator 1302 is completely scheduled and controlled by the ten-way valve 1105. Under the scheduling of the ten-way valve 1105, the cooling liquid can come from one or more of the electric cooling circuit 1100, the battery thermal management circuit 1200, the in-cabin heating circuit 1400 or the in-cabin refrigeration circuit 1500, realizing centralized management and efficient exchange of heat.

[0057] The breather pipe throttle valve 1301 is used to control the breather and liquid supplement flow to the auxiliary water tank 1106, to maintain the pressure balance and cooling liquid volume compensation of the circuit.

[0058] Specifically, the in-cabin heating circuit 1400 includes a water-cooled condenser 1603 and a heating core 1403, and the in-cabin refrigeration circuit 1500 includes a battery pack cooler 1607 and an evaporating core 1503. The refrigerant circuit 1600 exchanges heat with the water-cooled condenser 1603 and the battery pack cooler 1607, so that the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit 1600 does not enter the passenger cabin, but exchanges heat with the cooling liquid through the water-cooled condenser 1603 and the battery pack cooler 1607, forming a secondary heat exchange architecture.

[0059] In this embodiment, the in-cabin heating circuit 1400 is mainly used to provide heating air for the passenger cabin and provide a heating source for the battery thermal management circuit 1200 when needed.

[0060] As Figure 1As shown, the circuit mainly includes a warm core water pump 1401, a water-cooled condenser 1603, a water temperature sensor 1402, a warm core body 1403, a heating five-way proportional valve 1404, and a throttle valve 1405.

[0061] The connection relationship of each component is as follows: The outlet of the warm core water pump 1401 is connected to the liquid side inlet of the water-cooled condenser 1603, the water temperature sensor 1402, and the inlet of the warm core body 1403 in sequence through pipelines. The outlet of the warm core body 1403 is connected to the inlet of the heating five-way proportional valve 1404. The first outlet of the heating five-way proportional valve 1404 is connected to the seventh interface (defined as interface H2) of the ten-way valve 1105 through the throttle valve 1405, and the second outlet thereof is connected to the battery thermal management circuit 1200 (specifically connected to the outlet pipeline of the battery pack 1203) through a pipeline. The inlet of the warm core water pump 1401 is connected to the eighth interface (defined as interface H1) of the ten-way valve 1105 through a pipeline.

[0062] The working principle and function of the circuit are as follows: The warm core water pump 1401 drives the cooling liquid to circulate in the circuit according to system instructions. When the cooling liquid flows through the water-cooled condenser 1603, the condensation heat released by the refrigerant circuit 1600 is absorbed, and the temperature rises. The cooling liquid after temperature rise flows through the warm core body 1403, and exchanges heat with the air driven by the air blower 1702 to provide warm air for the passenger compartment.

[0063] The cooling liquid flowing to the ten-way valve 1105 has two paths according to system mode instructions: First, the cooling liquid directly returns to the inlet of the warm core water pump 1401 through the ten-way valve 1105, forming an independent circulation.

[0064] Second, the cooling liquid is guided by the ten-way valve 1105 to other subsystems (such as the electric drive cooling circuit 1100, the battery thermal management circuit 1200, the heat dissipation circuit 1300, or the in-cabin refrigeration circuit 1500) to realize cross-system heat allocation.

[0065] The heating five-way proportional valve 1404 is the core component for realizing accurate heat distribution, which has multiple working modes and is mainly used to distribute the hot cooling liquid from the warm core body 1403 to the battery thermal management circuit 1200 and the flow path returning to the ten-way valve 1105 according to the preset proportion when the battery pack 1203 and the passenger compartment need to be heated at the same time, so as to realize synchronous heating, and the cooling liquid flow path can be completely bypassed the warm core body 1403 when the battery is heated to avoid heat loss through mode switching.

[0066] The throttle valve 1405 is used to adjust the flow resistance in a specific mode and increase the pressure of its branch, thereby working in conjunction with the heating core water pump 1401 and the battery water pump 1201 to achieve precise flow and heat distribution.

[0067] The water temperature sensor 1402 is used to monitor the temperature of the coolant flowing into the heater core 1403 in real time, providing parameter basis for the heating control of the crew cabin and the energy management of the system.

[0068] Specifically, the cabin cooling circuit 1500 is equipped with a PTC heater 1505, which is configured to heat the coolant flowing through the cabin cooling circuit 1500 to assist the compressor of the refrigerant circuit in starting up in a low-temperature environment.

[0069] In this embodiment, the cabin cooling circuit 1500 is mainly used to provide cool air to the crew cabin and to provide a cooling source for the battery thermal management circuit 1200.

[0070] like Figure 1 As shown, the circuit mainly includes a cold core water pump 1501, a battery pack cooler 1607, a water temperature sensor 1502, an evaporator core 1503, a five-way proportional valve 1504, and a PTC heater 1505. It can be understood that the PTC heater 1505 can be replaced by a throttle valve in certain embodiments.

[0071] The connection relationships of each component are as follows: The outlet of the cold core water pump 1501 is connected sequentially via pipelines to the liquid-side inlet of the battery pack cooler 1607, the water temperature sensor 1502, and the inlet of the evaporator core 1503. The outlet of the evaporator core 1503 is connected to the inlet of the refrigeration five-way proportional valve 1504. The first outlet of the refrigeration five-way proportional valve 1504 is connected via a PTC heater 1505 to the ninth port (defined as port C2) of the ten-way valve 1105, and its second outlet is connected via pipelines to the battery thermal management circuit 1200 (specifically connected to the inlet pipeline of the battery water pump 1201). The inlet of the cold core water pump 1501 is connected via pipelines to the tenth port (defined as port C1) of the ten-way valve 1105.

[0072] The working principle and function of this circuit are as follows: The coolant pump 1501 drives the coolant to circulate in the circuit according to system instructions. When the coolant flows through the battery pack cooler 1607, it exchanges heat with the refrigerant circuit 1600, and its temperature decreases. The cooled coolant flows through the evaporator core 1503 and exchanges heat with the air driven by the blower 1702 to provide cool air to the crew compartment.

[0073] The coolant flowing to the ten-way valve 1105 has two paths depending on the system mode command: Firstly, the coolant directly returns to the inlet of the cold core water pump 1501 through the ten-way valve 1105, forming an independent circulation.

[0074] Secondly, the coolant is guided to other subsystems (such as the electric drive cooling circuit 1100, the battery thermal management circuit 1200, the heat dissipation circuit 1300, or the cabin heating circuit 1400) by the ten-way valve 1105, realizing cross-system allocation of cold energy or recovery of waste heat.

[0075] The refrigeration five-way proportional valve 1504 is a core component for precise distribution of cold energy, which has multiple working modes. It is mainly used to distribute the cold coolant from the evaporative core 1503 to the battery thermal management circuit 1200 and the flow path returning to the ten-way valve 1105 according to the preset ratio when the battery pack 1203 and the passenger cabin need cooling at the same time, thereby realizing synchronous cooling. Through mode switching, the coolant flow path can completely bypass the evaporative core 1503 when the battery is cooled alone, avoiding cold energy loss.

[0076] The PTC heater 1505 is arranged at the outlet end of the circuit. Its main function is to assist in heating the coolant in extremely low temperature environments to improve the suction pressure of the compressor 1601 in the refrigerant circuit 1600, assist in its cold start, and provide a heating source for the battery.

[0077] The water temperature sensor 1502 is used to monitor the temperature of the coolant flowing into the evaporative core 1503 in real time, providing parameter basis for passenger cabin refrigeration control and system energy management.

[0078] Specifically, the refrigerant circuit 1600 includes a compressor 1601, a water-cooled condenser 1603, a battery pack cooler 1607, and a hot gas bypass circuit. The hot gas bypass circuit is connected between the exhaust port of the compressor 1601 and the suction line, and an adjusting valve 1608 is arranged on the hot gas bypass circuit. The hot gas bypass circuit is configured to introduce part of the high-pressure refrigerant back to the suction port of the compressor 1601, so that the compressor 1601 operates in the low-efficiency zone to generate self-produced heat.

[0079] More specifically, the hot gas bypass circuit further includes a coaxial heat exchange pipe 1605, which is arranged to enable heat exchange between the high-pressure refrigerant flowing through the hot gas bypass circuit and the low-pressure refrigerant flowing through the suction line.

[0080] In this embodiment, the refrigerant circuit 1600 is the core energy transport unit of the entire thermal management system, responsible for efficiently transferring heat between subsystems through the phase change cycle of the refrigerant.

[0081] As Figure 1As shown, the circuit mainly includes a compressor 1601, a temperature and pressure sensor 1602, a refrigerant side of a water-cooled condenser 1603, a drying tank 1604, a coaxial tube 1605, an electronic expansion valve 1606, a refrigerant side of a battery pack cooler 1607, an electronic expansion valve 1608, and a temperature and pressure sensor 1609.

[0082] The connection relationship of each component and the refrigerant flow path are as follows: The exhaust port of the compressor 1601 is connected to the temperature and pressure sensor 1602 through a pipeline, and then the refrigerant flow path is divided into two paths: Main flow path: connected from the outlet of the temperature and pressure sensor 1602 to the inlet of the refrigerant side of the water-cooled condenser 1603. The outlet of the refrigerant side of the water-cooled condenser 1603 is connected to the drying tank 1604, the outer tube passage of the coaxial tube 1605, the electronic expansion valve 1606, and the inlet of the refrigerant side of the battery pack cooler 1607 in sequence.

[0083] Hot gas bypass branch: branched from the outlet of the temperature and pressure sensor 1602, controlled by the electronic expansion valve 1608, and connected to the inlet of the inner tube of the coaxial tube 1605.

[0084] The outlet of the refrigerant side of the battery pack cooler 1607 is connected to the temperature and pressure sensor 1609 through a pipeline, and then the refrigerant flows out from the inner tube outlet of the coaxial tube 1605 and merges, finally returning to the suction port of the compressor 1601 to complete the cycle.

[0085] The working principle and function of the circuit are as follows: The compressor 1601 is the power core of the system, which operates at a specific speed according to the thermal management strategy, compresses and drives the refrigerant to circulate in the circuit.

[0086] In the standard refrigeration / heat pump mode, the refrigerant flows along the main flow path. When flowing through the water-cooled condenser 1603, the refrigerant releases heat to the cooling liquid of the cabin heating circuit 1400 and condenses; when flowing through the battery pack cooler 1607, the refrigerant absorbs heat from the cooling liquid of the cabin cooling circuit 1500 and evaporates.

[0087] The electronic expansion valve 1606 is arranged before the inlet of the battery pack cooler 1607 for precise throttling and adjusting the superheat degree of the refrigerant at the suction port of the compressor 1601, ensuring efficient and safe operation of the system.

[0088] The hot gas bypass branch is the key to improve the low temperature performance. In specific working conditions such as heating at very low temperature, the electronic expansion valve 1608 is opened, and part of the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant is throttled through this branch and flows into the inner tube of the coaxial tube 1605. This stream of refrigerant exchanges heat with the main stream of liquid refrigerant flowing into the outer tube of the coaxial tube 1605 from the dry tank 1604, realizing the supercooling treatment of the main stream of refrigerant, and at the same time, the stream of refrigerant is heated and evaporated. This process not only significantly improves the heating capacity and energy efficiency (COP) of the system in a low temperature environment, but also enables the compressor 1601 to operate in the low efficiency region at partial load, directly converting electrical energy into heat energy (compressor self-produced heat mode), providing an additional heat source for the system.

[0089] The temperature and pressure sensors 1602 and 1609 are used to monitor the refrigerant state at the exhaust port and the suction port of the compressor in real time, respectively, to provide key parameters for the control of the electronic expansion valves 1606 and 1608 and the switching of system modes.

[0090] The thermal management system also includes an air management subsystem 1700 responsible for driving and regulating the air flowing through each heat exchanger, which is the execution unit for air-side heat exchange between the system, the passenger compartment and the external environment.

[0091] As shown in FIG. 17, the subsystem mainly includes an electronic fan 1701, a blower 1702, a radiator 1302, a heater core 1403 and an evaporator core 1503. Figure 1 The working principle and functions of the subsystem are as follows:

[0092] 1. Vehicle external air circulation: The electronic fan 1701 is located in the front end module of the vehicle, and its function is to drive the vehicle external environment air to flow through the radiator 1302 at a specific flow rate. This achieves forced convection heat exchange between the radiator 1302 and the external environment: When the radiator 1302 acts as a condenser, the electronic fan 1701 accelerates the release of heat to the environment. When the radiator 1302 acts as an evaporator, the electronic fan 1701 enhances the ability to absorb heat from the environment.

[0093] 2. Passenger compartment air conditioning:

[0094] The blower 1702 is located in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) unit of the passenger compartment, and its function is to drive air (fresh air from outside the vehicle or circulating air inside the vehicle) to flow through the evaporator core 1503 and the heater core 1403 in turn. When flowing through the evaporator core 1503, the air is cooled and dehumidified.

[0095]

[0096] ​The air is heated when passing through the warm air core 1403.

[0097] By controlling the working states of the two cores, the processed air can be sent into the passenger cabin at a target temperature and humidity, realizing multiple comfort functions such as heating, cooling, dehumidification, ventilation, etc.

[0098] The air management subsystem 1700 transmits the energy exchange in the cooling liquid circuit and the refrigerant circuit to the air through the coordinated work of the electronic fan 1701 and the air blower 1702, thereby realizing accurate control of the battery temperature, the passenger cabin thermal comfort, and the overall energy efficiency of the system.

[0099] The system control strategy and the typical working mode are as follows: The excellent performance of the thermal management system is realized through its advanced control strategy and multi-mode coordinated working mechanism. The core of the strategy is to intelligently select the heat source / cold source according to the whole vehicle thermal management demand, and control the ten-way valve 1105 and the five-way proportional valve to build the optimal energy flow path.

[0100] 1. System configuration and demand definition; The ten-way valve 1105 is configured to have at least thirteen working modes (see Figure 2 ), and by changing the position of the valve core inside, the connection relationship of the five cooling liquid circuits is reconfigured. The heating five-way proportional valve 1404 and the cooling five-way proportional valve 1504 are both general products, and can respectively realize at least six working modes (see Figure 3 ), for accurately distributing the heat or cold between the battery and the passenger cabin.

[0101] The whole vehicle thermal management demand is defined as follows: Passenger cabin demand: divided into five categories of 01 heating, 02 cooling, 03 heating and dehumidification, 04 cooling and dehumidification, and 05 no demand / ventilation.

[0102] Battery demand: divided into four categories of 01 heating, 02 cooling, 03 temperature equalization, and 04 no demand.

[0103] Electric drive demand: divided into two categories of heat dissipation and no demand.

[0104] In addition, the system also needs to meet functional demands such as defrosting, vacuumizing, and active emptying, etc.

[0105] To meet the above demands, the system can call multiple heat sources and cold sources: Heat sources: including 1A (electric drive water source-cooling liquid direct heating), 1B (single compressor self-produced heat), 1C (air source), 1D (electric drive water source-heat pump mode), 1E (battery water source) five single heat sources, and double heat sources and triple heat sources formed by the combination thereof. The small power PTC heater 1505 serves as an optional auxiliary heat source, which can be used in combination with the above heat sources.

[0106] Cold source: mainly includes battery pack cooler 1607 (connected to refrigerant circuit) and radiator 1302 (connected to the environment).

[0107] 2. Typical working mode example; a. Single battery heating mode (zero mixed heat working condition); Demand scenario: no demand for passenger cabin, battery needs to be heated.

[0108] Heat source selection: electric drive waste heat (1A) or compressor self-produced heat (1B).

[0109] Valve configuration: Ten-way valve 1105 switches to mode 12, making the electric drive cooling circuit 1100 and the battery thermal management circuit 1200 circulate in series.

[0110] Heating five-way proportional valve 1404 switches to mode 03 or 05.

[0111] Working process and effect: Electric drive waste heat or compressor self-produced heat is directly transferred to the battery pack 1203 through circulation. The key is that the configuration of the heating five-way proportional valve 1404 makes the cooling liquid of the battery circuit completely bypass the cabin heating circuit 1400 warm air core 1403, and directly flows back to the battery water pump 1201. This completely avoids the path heat loss (about 400W) caused by flowing through the warm air core in the traditional architecture, achieving "zero path heat loss".

[0112] b. Ultra-low temperature passenger cabin heating mode; Demand scenario: ambient temperature below -20°C, passenger cabin requires heating, battery heating or no demand.

[0113] Heat source selection: air source (1C) and electric drive water source (1D) dual heat source cooperation.

[0114] Valve configuration: ten-way valve 1105 switches to mode 01.

[0115] Working process and effect: The radiator 1302 acts as an evaporator to absorb heat from the extremely low temperature environment. The refrigerant circuit 1600 works through the compressor 1601 to transport heat to the water-cooled condenser 1603. At the same time, the motor 1104 runs in the low efficiency area, generates heat through active heating technology and transfers it to the cooling liquid. The cooling liquid of the cabin heating circuit 1400 flows through the water-cooled condenser 1603 and the warm air core 1403, while absorbing heat from the refrigerant and electric drive circuit, providing sufficient warm air for the passenger cabin. The small power PTC heater 1505 can start to provide auxiliary heat source to ensure comfort in ultra-low temperature.

[0116] c. Battery independent cooling mode; Demand scenario: battery needs cooling, passenger cabin has no demand.

[0117] Cold source selection: battery pack cooler 1607.

[0118] Valve configuration: Ten-way valve 1105 switches to mode 09 or 10.

[0119] Refrigeration five-way proportional valve 1504 switches to mode 03 or 05.

[0120] Working process and effect: The hot cooling liquid of the battery circuit is distributed by the refrigeration five-way proportional valve 1504, completely bypassing the evaporating core 1503 of the cabin refrigeration circuit 1500, directly flowing through the battery pack cooler 1607, and efficiently transferring heat to the refrigerant circuit. The refrigerant that absorbs heat eventually dissipates heat to the ambient air through the heat dissipation circuit 1300 (the radiator 1302 as the condenser). This avoids the invalid loss of cold energy at the evaporating core, improving the refrigeration efficiency of the system.

[0121] The complex control logic of the thermal management system is systematically mapped and defined by a total table, which is the core basis for the system software control strategy.

[0122] Table 1 (whole vehicle thermal management demand and system resource configuration table) systematically lists up to 26 different working modes, covering all expected whole vehicle thermal management demands, functional requirements, and their corresponding relationship with system hardware resources.

[0123] The rows of the total table are defined according to the thermal management demands and functional requirements (such as defrosting, vacuum pumping) of the passenger cabin, battery, and electric drive, and the columns define the system resources that must be configured to meet the corresponding row requirements as shown in Table 1:

[0124] Table 1 Whole vehicle thermal management demand and system resource configuration table In summary, a thermal management system has the following effects: 1. Excellent environmental compliance and forward-looking refrigerant compatibility; Thanks to the claimed secondary heat exchange architecture, the refrigerant is completely isolated in an independent circuit outside the passenger cabin. This fundamental innovation completely avoids the risk of flammable refrigerants (such as R290) entering the passenger cabin, enabling the invention to safely adapt to R290, R474A, R454C, and other GWP values of environmentally friendly refrigerants, fully meeting the increasingly stringent environmental regulations of the European Union and other regions. At the same time, this same hardware architecture can be compatible with existing R134a / R1234yf refrigerants without changing, with forward-looking adaptability.

[0125] 2. Excellent wide-temperature-range operation performance, especially improved low-temperature adaptability; The present application solves the industry problem of performance decay of traditional heat pumps in cold environments through the synergy of multiple technologies: The synergy of the hot gas bypass circuit and the coaxial heat exchange pipe realizes an efficient compressor self-produced heat mode, significantly improving the heating capacity and energy efficiency of the system at low temperatures.

[0126] The motor active heating technology (achieved by controlling the dq-axis current) can provide about 3kW of stable auxiliary heat source in an ultra-low temperature environment of -30°C, greatly enhancing the cold start capability and ultra-low temperature operation reliability of the system.

[0127] The reuse design of the front-end radiator (as an evaporator in heating mode) extends the lower limit of the single air source heat pump mode to -20°C and maintains a high energy efficiency ratio (COP≥1.5).

[0128] These features work together to ensure efficient and stable operation of the system in the full temperature range, especially in extremely low temperature environments.

[0129] 3. Extremely high multi-heat source utilization efficiency, achieving minimal energy loss; The core innovation of the present application is to achieve precise energy management and efficient utilization through an innovative valve control topology: "Zero heat mixing" design: Through precise control of the heating / cooling five-way proportional valve, when the battery is heated or cooled alone, its cooling liquid flow path can completely bypass the passenger cabin's heating core or evaporating core, fundamentally eliminating the heat mixing loss existing in the traditional bridge pipe structure (which can reach 300-400W), reducing the path heat loss to nearly zero, and significantly improving the system heating / cooling energy efficiency ratio (COP).

[0130] Complete waste heat recovery: The system architecture realizes decoupling and flexible connection of each subsystem, efficiently recovers the waste heat of the electric drive, battery, and passenger cabin and stores it in the cooling liquid, dynamically allocates according to demand, avoids waste of high-grade energy, and does not affect the performance of each component.

[0131] 4. Significant system cost optimization and integration advantage; The present application achieves a balance between performance improvement and cost reduction through high integration and functional reuse: Simplified hardware layout: The topology structure with a multi-way valve as the core replaces a large number of expensive refrigerant-side valves and complex pipelines; at the same time, by reusing the front-end radiator for condensing and evaporating functions, the total number of heat exchangers is greatly reduced (30-50% less than the competitor's product), directly reducing material costs and system complexity.

[0132] Low power consumption and low cost selection: The low power PTC heater is arranged on the low temperature side, only about 3kW power can meet the extremely low temperature auxiliary heating and compressor cold start demand, compared with the traditional high temperature side arrangement scheme (more than 6.5kW), the power consumption and element cost are greatly reduced.

[0133] In summary, through the above technical innovation, the application successfully solves the core technical problems of environmental protection compliance, low temperature adaptability, energy efficiency improvement and cost control and other long-term problems in the electric vehicle thermal management industry, provides a comprehensive solution with foresight, high performance and high cost performance, and has great market application potential and industrial promotion value.

[0134] The embodiment provides an automobile, which comprises the wide-temperature-range multi-heat-source thermal management system.

[0135] The automobile can be a pure electric vehicle, a range-extended electric vehicle or a fuel cell vehicle, and the like, which needs to have a thermal management function. The thermal management system is usually arranged at positions such as the front engine compartment, the lower part of the passenger compartment and around the battery pack of the automobile. Therefore, the automobile provided by the embodiment effectively solves the core pain points of the electric vehicle in environmental protection, endurance, comfort and cost by integrating the innovative thermal management system, and has strong market competitiveness.

[0136] The technical features of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined arbitrarily, and in order to make the description simple, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-mentioned embodiments are described, however, as long as the combination of the technical features does not exist contradictory, it should be considered as the scope of the present application.

[0137] The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the application, and the description is more specific and detailed, but it should not be understood as a limitation on the scope of the patent. It should be pointed out that for ordinary skilled in the art, without departing from the concept of the present application, some modifications and improvements can be made, which are all within the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the patent of the present application should be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A thermal management system, characterized in that, The system includes: Electric drive cooling circuit, battery thermal management circuit, heat dissipation circuit, cabin heating circuit, cabin cooling circuit, refrigerant circuit and a multi-way valve; The multi-way valve integrates multiple interfaces, which are fluidly connected to the electric drive cooling circuit, battery thermal management circuit, heat dissipation circuit, cabin heating circuit and cabin cooling circuit, respectively. The multi-way valve is configured to selectively change the connection relationship between each circuit in different operating modes by switching the valve core, so as to construct different fluid passages.

2. The thermal management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes heating proportional valves and cooling proportional valves; The heating proportional valve is connected between the cabin heating circuit and the battery thermal management circuit, and is configured to proportionally distribute the coolant flowing to the battery thermal management circuit and the cabin heating circuit. The cooling proportional valve is connected between the cabin cooling circuit and the battery thermal management circuit, and is configured to proportionally distribute the coolant flowing to the battery thermal management circuit and the cabin cooling circuit.

3. The thermal management system according to claim 2, characterized in that, Both the heating proportional valve and the cooling proportional valve are five-way proportional valves. The five-way proportional valve is configured to have at least six operating modes, such that when the battery pack in the battery thermal management circuit is heated individually, the coolant flow path bypasses the cabin heating circuit; and / or when the battery in the battery thermal management circuit is cooled individually, the coolant flow path bypasses the cabin cooling circuit.

4. The thermal management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cabin heating circuit includes a water-cooled condenser and a warm air core, and the cabin cooling circuit includes a battery pack cooler and an evaporator core. The refrigerant circuit exchanges heat with the water-cooled condenser and the battery pack cooler, so that the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit does not enter the passenger compartment, but exchanges heat with the coolant through the water-cooled condenser and the battery pack cooler, forming a secondary heat exchange structure.

5. The thermal management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The heat dissipation circuit includes a heat sink; The radiator is configured to dissipate heat to the environment in cooling mode and absorb heat from the environment in heating mode.

6. The thermal management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The refrigerant circuit includes a compressor, a water-cooled condenser, a battery pack cooler, and a hot gas bypass circuit. The hot gas bypass circuit is connected between the exhaust port of the compressor and the suction pipe, and a regulating valve is provided on the hot gas bypass circuit; The hot gas bypass circuit is configured to return a preset amount of high-pressure refrigerant to the compressor's suction port, so that the compressor can generate its own heat when operating in the inefficient zone.

7. The thermal management system according to claim 6, characterized in that, The hot gas bypass circuit also includes a coaxial heat exchange tube, which is configured to allow the high-pressure refrigerant flowing through the hot gas bypass circuit to exchange heat with the low-pressure refrigerant flowing through the suction line.

8. The thermal management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The electric drive cooling circuit includes a motor; By controlling the shaft current of the motor, the motor is made to operate in a low-efficiency range to actively generate heat.

9. The thermal management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cabin cooling circuit is equipped with a PTC heater, which is configured to heat the coolant flowing through the cabin cooling circuit to assist the compressor of the refrigerant circuit in starting up in a low-temperature environment.

10. A car, characterized in that, Includes the wide temperature range multi-heat source thermal management system as described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

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