Method for operating a
heat pump system (2) realized by a
control system (22) for
air conditioning a vehicle, in particular an electric or
hybrid vehicle, wherein - an
air conditioning requirement for a passenger compartment (10) of the vehicle is met by automatically setting one of several operating
modes (BM) depending on the
air conditioning requirement, - the passenger compartment (10) is cooled by means of an air conditioning
evaporator (12) if the air conditioning requirement includes a cooling or dehumidifying requirement and / or heated by means of a heating
heat exchanger (14) if the air conditioning requirement includes a heating requirement, - the heating
heat exchanger (14) is arranged in a heating
branch (24) of a
coolant circuit (6) and is supplied with heat via a
heat pump which has a
chiller (46) and a condenser (26), both of which are connected to a
refrigeration circuit (4) and wherein the
chiller (46) is arranged in a cooling
branch (33) of the
coolant circuit (6) and the condenser (26) is in the heating
branch (24), - in the event of a cooling requirement without an additional heating requirement, the heating branch (24) is opened, the
chiller (46) of the
heat pump is deactivated and cooling operation is thus achieved, - in the case of a heating demand without an additional cooling demand, the heating branch (24) is closed, heat is supplied to the heating
heat exchanger (14) via the condenser (26) of the heat pump, via the cooling branch (33) and / or by heat absorption via the NT cooler (44), and heating operation is thus realized. - wherein, to dissipate heat from the heating branch (24), this is opened and the NT cooler (44), the condenser (26) and the heating heat exchanger (14) are operated in series, - wherein the
control system (22) opens and closes the heating branch (24) by means of a shut-off valve (32), wherein to open the heating branch (24) the shut-off valve (32) is opened and to close the heating branch (24) the shut-off valve (32) is closed, - starting from heating operation, a first mixed operation is set up by activating the air conditioning
evaporator (12), - where, starting from the first mixed operation, a second mixed operation is set up by reducing the heating output by regulating an expansion valve (48a) which is connected upstream of the chiller (46) in the
refrigeration circuit (4), - where, starting from the second mixed operation, a third mixed operation is set up by operating the heating branch (24) in a pulsed manner, - where, starting from the third mixed operation, the cooling operation is stopped by continuously opening the heating branch (24).