Vehicle Heat Pump System Integrating Battery and Electrical Component Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing heat pump systems for vehicles are complex and inefficient, leading to increased size, weight, and noise due to separate cooling systems for batteries and electrical components, which affects ride comfort and performance.
Innovation Solution
A heat pump system that uses a single chiller for heat exchange between a refrigerant and a coolant to adjust the battery module temperature, recovering waste heat from electrical and battery components for internal heating, simplifying the system and improving efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate cooling systems are used for battery and electrical components, then cooling performance is improved, but system complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the battery cooling system and electrical component cooling system into a single integrated cooling system that shares common components including compressor, condenser, expansion valve, and coolant circulation pathways. This merging maintains separate cooling circuits for different components while eliminating redundant systems, thereby improving cooling performance without proportionally increasing system complexity and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system is designed with multi-functional components that serve multiple purposes. The compressor, condenser, and expansion valve serve both the battery cooling circuit and the electrical component cooling circuit. The system can selectively activate different cooling pathways based on thermal requirements, making the system universally applicable to various cooling scenarios without requiring separate dedicated systems for each component.
2Reliability
If separate cooling systems are used for battery and electrical components, then cooling performance is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the battery cooling system and electrical component cooling system into an integrated architecture that shares common heavy components such as the compressor, condenser, expansion valve, and coolant reservoir. By eliminating redundant components that would exist in fully separate systems, the overall weight is reduced while maintaining the cooling performance required for both the battery and electrical components.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple valves are used for connection pipes, then system control flexibility is improved, but noise and vibration increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reduces the number of valves by merging control functions. The integrated cooling system uses fewer valve actuators to control the shared coolant circulation pathways compared to fully separate systems. This reduction in valve quantity directly decreases the sources of noise and vibration while maintaining sufficient control flexibility through strategic valve placement and control logic that can selectively route coolant to different components as needed.
4Reliability
If separate cooling systems are used, then cooling capability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the battery cooling system and electrical component cooling system into a single manufactured unit with shared components. This consolidation reduces the total number of parts that need to be sourced, assembled, and tested, thereby lowering manufacturing costs. The integrated design allows for standardized production processes and reduced assembly complexity while maintaining the cooling capability required for both the battery and electrical components through shared thermal management infrastructure.
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
This approach simplifies the system, enhances heating efficiency, optimizes battery performance, and reduces weight and manufacturing costs while improving cooling performance and reducing power consumption.
Implementation Method 1
a chiller connected to a first connection line, which is connected to the battery coolant line between the second radiator and the battery module, and a second connection line connected to the first valve, and connected to a refrigerant line of an air conditioner through a refrigerant connection line, to adjust a temperature of the coolant by performing heat exchange between the coolant which is introduced therein and a refrigerant which is selectively supplied from the air conditioner
Implementation Method 2
the air conditioner applied to the environmentally friendly vehicle is referred to as a heat pump system... a refrigerant discharged by driving of a compressor circulates back to the compressor after passing through a condenser... The air conditioner system condenses a gaseous coolant of a high temperature and a high pressure compressed by the compressor
Implementation Method 3
the air conditioner system condenses a gaseous coolant of a high temperature and a high pressure compressed by the compressor in a cooling mode in the summer to reduce a temperature and humidity of the interior of the vehicle through evaporation in the evaporator
Implementation Method 4
maintains an internal temperature of the vehicle at an appropriate level regardless of an external temperature change, so that the interior of the vehicle is warmed or cooled through heat exchange by a condenser and an evaporator
Data Source
AI summary
A heat pump system for a vehicle may adjust a temperature of a battery module by use of one chiller that performs heat exchange between a refrigerant and a coolant and improves heating efficiency by use of waste heat generated from an electrical component, including: a cooling apparatus of circulating a coolant in a coolant line to cool at least one electrical component provided in the coolant line; a battery cooling apparatus of circulating the coolant to the battery module; a chiller for heat exchanging the coolant with a refrigerant to control a temperature of the coolant; a heating apparatus that heats an interior of the vehicle using the coolant; and a first, second, third, and fourth connection line.