Method for thermal conditioning of a thermal buffer in a vehicle
A method for thermal conditioning at least one thermal buffer of a thermal system of a vehicle, the thermal system being a rechargeable energy storage system, RESS, and/or an energy transformation system comprising fuel cells, the thermal buffer having an operating window defined by the preferred operating temperature of the thermal buffer. The method includes providing predictive power utilization of the thermal buffer as a function of time, conditioning the thermal buffer in response to the predictive power utilization, such that the thermal buffer is thermally conditioned to be within the operating window of the thermal buffer. The operating window is varying as a function of the predictive power utilization over time.
1 . A method for thermal conditioning at least one thermal buffer of a thermal system of a vehicle, the thermal system being a rechargeable energy storage system, RESS, and/or an energy transformation system comprising fuel cells, and the thermal buffer being a rechargeable energy storage device or a fuel cell, the thermal buffer having an operating window defined by a preferred operating temperature of the thermal buffer and comprising a lower temperature limit and an upper temperature limit, the method comprising:
providing predictive power utilization of the thermal buffer as a function of time, wherein the predictive power utilization is comprised in scheduled operational information of the thermal buffer,
conditioning the thermal buffer in response to the predictive power utilization, such that the thermal buffer is thermally conditioned to be within the operating window of the thermal buffer, wherein the operating window is varying as a function of the predictive power utilization over time such that the lower and upper temperature limits are varying as a function of the predictive power utilization over time and the lower temperature limit and the upper temperature limit define desired constraints for the operating window.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein conditioning the thermal buffer in response to the predictive power utilization comprises heating and cooling the thermal buffer.
3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein heating and cooling the thermal buffer is carried out by alternately heating and cooling the thermal buffer.
4 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein heating and cooling the thermal buffer is carried out by actively heating and actively cooling the thermal buffer, respectively.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein conditioning the thermal buffer in response to the predictive power utilization comprises intentionally allowing the thermal buffer to self-heat or self-cool for a predetermined time period.
6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a first point in time, or a first time interval, in which the thermal buffer is in need of heating in order to be within the operating window of the thermal buffer, and determining a second point in time, or a second time interval, in which the thermal buffer is in need of cooling in order to be within the operating window of the thermal buffer.
7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predictive power utilization of the thermal buffer is predicted in response to a scheduled route of the vehicle comprising scheduled auxiliary actions of performing work during at least a portion of the scheduled route.
8 . A conditioning system for thermal conditioning at least one thermal buffer of a thermal system of a vehicle, the thermal system being a rechargeable energy storage system, RESS, and/or an energy transformation system comprising fuel cells, and the thermal buffer being a rechargeable energy storage device or a fuel cell, the thermal buffer having an operating window defined by the preferred operating temperature of the thermal buffer and comprising a lower temperature limit and an upper temperature limit, the conditioning system comprising:
a control unit configured to provide predictive power utilization of the thermal buffer as a function of time, the predictive power utilization being comprised in scheduled operational information of the thermal buffer,
a conditioning unit configured to condition the thermal buffer in response to the predictive power utilization, such that the thermal buffer is thermally conditioned to be within the operating window of the thermal buffer, wherein the operating window is varying as a function of the predictive power utilization over time such that the lower and upper temperature limits are varying as a function of the predictive power utilization over time and the lower temperature limit and the upper temperature limit define desired constraints for the operating window.
9 . The conditioning system according to claim 8 , wherein the conditioning unit is configured to condition the thermal buffer by alternately heating and cooling the thermal buffer.
10 . The conditioning system according to claim 8 , wherein the control unit is further configured to:
determine a first point in time, or a first time interval, in which the thermal buffer is in need of heating in order to be within the operating window of the thermal buffer, and determine a second point in time, or a second time interval, in which the thermal buffer is in need of cooling in order to be within the operating window of the thermal buffer.
11 . A vehicle comprising the conditioning system according to claim 8 .
12 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program comprising program code for performing the method according to claim 1 , when the program code is run on a computer.
13 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the operating window in a second point in time and which is based on the predicted power utilization is used as input to at least partly determine the conditioning of the thermal buffer in a first point in time occurring prior to the second point in time.
14 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein, the operating window is varying as a function of the predictive power utilization over time to determine an operating window in a first point in time, being a first operating window, and an operating window in a second point in time, being a second operating window, and wherein the thermal buffer is thermally conditioned to be within the first operating window at the first point in time, wherein the conditioning at the first point in time is at least partly adapted in response to the second operating window.
15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the upper and lower temperature limits defines the normal operation limits of the thermal buffer.
16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the upper and lower temperature limits defines stretched, or critical operation limits of the thermal buffer.
17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the operating window is defined by at least two upper temperature limits and/or at least two lower temperature limits, and wherein a first upper and lower temperature limits represent normal operation of the thermal buffer, while second upper and lower temperature limits represent stretched, or critical operation of the thermal buffer.