EV Multi-Mode Thermal Management System with Parallel Series Loops
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing thermal management systems for electric vehicles fail to efficiently control the temperature of battery packs, drive trains, and passenger cabins while maintaining overall vehicle operating efficiency, as they often require complex configurations and dual coolant loops that are not optimized for simultaneous heating and cooling.
Innovation Solution
A thermally efficient vehicle thermal management system utilizing three separate thermal control circuits: a passenger cabin loop, a battery loop, and a drive train loop, with a refrigerant-based system that can operate in parallel or series configurations, allowing for independent or coupled operation of these loops to optimize temperature control and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If multiple cooling loops and heat exchangers are used to control battery and drive train temperatures, then temperature control capability is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the battery cooling loop and drive train cooling loop into a single integrated thermal management system that shares common components including the coolant pump, radiator, and control valve. This consolidation reduces the number of separate cooling loops while maintaining the ability to independently control temperatures of both battery and drive train components through strategic placement of thermal coupling points and flow control mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The single coolant pump serves multiple functions by circulating coolant through both the battery thermal management pathway and the drive train thermal management pathway. Similarly, the single radiator acts as a universal heat dissipation device for both subsystems, and the control valve provides multi-functional flow distribution to achieve independent temperature control despite the shared infrastructure.
2Temperature
If dual coolant loops operate in parallel to cool battery and drive train independently, then temperature control precision is improved, but system complexity and energy loss increase
Solution Approach 1:
The control valve dynamically adjusts coolant flow distribution between the battery pathway and drive train pathway based on real-time thermal demands of each subsystem. This dynamic flow control enables independent temperature regulation for both battery and drive train while allowing the system to optimize energy usage by directing coolant flow preferentially to the subsystem requiring cooling at any given moment, rather than maintaining constant parallel flow through both loops.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively regulates the temperature of each vehicle subsystem, optimizing overall efficiency by allowing for independent or combined operation of the thermal loops, thereby maintaining battery, drive train, and cabin temperatures within desired ranges without compromising vehicle performance.
Implementation Method 1
a liquid-air heat exchanger, where the first circulation pump circulates a first heat transfer fluid within the passenger cabin thermal control loop and through the liquid-air heat exchanger
Implementation Method 2
a refrigerant-based thermal control loop comprised of a refrigerant, a compressor, and a condenser/evaporator
Implementation Method 3
a refrigerant-fluid heat exchanger coupled to the passenger cabin thermal control loop
Implementation Method 4
a first circulation pump and a liquid-air heat exchanger, where the first circulation pump circulates a first heat transfer fluid within the passenger cabin thermal control loop
Data Source
AI summary
A multi-mode vehicle thermal management system is provided that allows efficient thermal communication between a refrigerant-based thermal control loop and three non-refrigerant-based thermal control loops, where one of the non-refrigerant-based loops provides temperature control over the vehicle's passenger cabin, a second of the non-refrigerant-based control loops is thermally coupled to the vehicle's battery system and the third of the non-refrigerant-based control circuits is thermally coupled to the vehicle's drive train. The refrigerant-based control loop may be operated either in a heating mode or a cooling mode and is coupled to the vehicle's HVAC system using a refrigerant-air heat exchanger, and to one or more of the non-refrigerant-based control loops using refrigerant-fluid heat exchangers. A valve assembly is used to couple and/or decouple the battery and drive train thermal control loops, thereby allowing these two thermal control loops to operate either in parallel or in series.