Thermal system for controlling a fluid temperature

Abstract

Thermal system (100) for controlling a fluid temperature, comprising: a heat source (102); a heat sink (104) that is coupled to the heat source (102) so that a coolant flow exists between the heat source (102) and the heat sink (104); a first heat exchanger (118) coupled to the heat source (102); a second heat exchanger (120) coupled to the heat source (102); a cooler (252); a multi-position rotary valve (214); a first expansion valve (110) coupled to the heat source (102) and via the cooler (252) and the multi-position rotary valve (214) to the first heat exchanger (118), wherein the first expansion valve (110) is configured to regulate the coolant flow between the heat source (102) and the first heat exchanger (118); a second expansion valve (212) connected to the heat source (102) and via the cooler (252) and the multi-position rotary valve (214) is coupled to the second heat exchanger (120), wherein the second expansion valve (212) is configured to regulate the coolant flow between the heat source (102) and the second heat exchanger (120); wherein the cooler (252) is coupled to the heat source (102) via the first expansion valve (110); wherein the multi-position rotary valve (214) is coupled to the cooler (252), the first heat exchanger (118), the second heat exchanger (120) and the heat sink (104); and a controller (22) in electronic communication with the heat source (102), the first expansion valve (110) and the second expansion valve (212), wherein the controller (22) is configured to determine an operating state of the thermal system (100) and to generate a first control signal to control the first expansion valve (110) to direct the coolant flow to the first heat exchanger (118), and a second control signal to control the second expansion valve (212) to direct the coolant flow to the second heat exchanger (120); wherein the first expansion valve (110) and the second expansion valve (212) are arranged in parallel to recover heat derived from the coolant and to distribute the recovered heat to the first heat exchanger (118) and the second heat exchanger (120); wherein the multi-position rotary valve (214) is configured to regulate a coolant flow between the heat source (102), the first heat exchanger (118), the second heat exchanger (120) and the heat sink (104); and wherein the multi-position rotary valve (214) is configured to direct coolant received from the heat source (102) via a first flow path (231) directly to the heat sink (104) via a fourth flow path (234).

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