IP Library › Granted Patent US 12668095
Granted Patent B2
US 12668095 · App. 18/500,665 · Granted Jun 30, 2026

Vehicle thermal management systems

Inventors: Nicholas Mancini (San Jose, CA); Joseph Stratford Maxwell Mardall (San Francisco, CA); Jan Kopitz (Fremont, CA); Curt Raymond O'Donnell (Erie, PA); Daniel F. Hanks (Palo Alto, CA); Huize Li (Stanford, CA)
Assignee: Tesla, Inc.
B60H1/00278B60H1/00564B60H1/00907B60H1/00921B60H1/22B60H1/26B60H1/32281B60L58/26B60H2001/00307B60H1/00392B60H2001/00928B60H2001/00949B60H1/143B60H2001/2246B60H1/3213B60H2001/327
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12668095
App. No.
18/500,665
Granted
Jun 30, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A vehicle thermal management system includes a vehicle heat pump system, a battery system coolant loop, a drive train coolant loop, and control electronics. The vehicle heat pump system includes a compressor, a cabin condenser, a cabin evaporator, a cabin blower, and a chiller. The battery system coolant loop is in thermal communication with a battery system and with the chiller and selectively in thermal communication with the drive train coolant loop. The control electronics control the components of the vehicle thermal management system to heat the cabin, cool the cabin, heat the battery system, cool the battery system, and cool the drive train. The control electronics may control the compressor to operate in an efficient mode or a lossy mode in which the compressor generates heat. The control electronics may also control the components of the vehicle thermal management system to precondition the battery.

Claims (22)

1 . A vehicle thermal management system comprising:

a vehicle heat pump system including a compressor, a cabin condenser, a cabin evaporator, a cabin blower, and a chiller;

a plurality of coolant loops associated with the vehicle heat pump system;

a coolant circulation system configured to selectively cause indivdual coolant loops to be in thermal communication with at least a subset of the vehicle heat pump system including the chiller in a parallel configuration or a series configuration; and

control electronics configured to, based upon at least an ambient temperature, a cabin temperature and/or a battery system temperature:

control the coolant circulation system.

2 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the coolant loops include a drive train coolant loop in thermal communication with at least one drive train component.

3 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the coolant loops include a battery system coolant loop in thermal communication with a battery system.

4 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 3 , wherein the coolant circulation system is configured to:

cause the battery system coolant loop to operate in parallel with the drive train coolant loop.

5 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the control electronics are further configured to:

control at least one of the compressor or the cabin blower to operate in one of an efficient mode and a lossy mode, wherein in the lossy mode the compressor generates a greater amount of heat than when in the efficient mode.

6 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 5 , wherein the lossy mode includes a plurality of sub-modes of differing loss characteristics producing differing respective amounts of heat.

7 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 5 , wherein the control electronics are configured to operate the cabin blower in the lossy mode.

8 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 5 , wherein the control electronics are configured to operate the compressor in the lossy mode when the ambient temperature is below a threshold.

9 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the coolant circulation system comprises a multi-port valve configured to selectively cause individual coolant loops to be in thermal communication with at least a subset of the vehicle heat pump system.

10 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 9 , wherein the multi-port valve is an 8-way valve.

11 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 10 , wherein the 8-way valve is configured to place at least the chiller and the cabin condenser in a closed loop while bypassing a radiator.

12 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the coolant circulation system is configured to arrange a first coolant loop and a second coolant loop in parallel or in series.

13 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the coolant circulation system is configured to arrange a first coolant loop and a second coolant loop partially in parallel and partially in series.

14 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the control electronics select which coolant loop is in thermal communication with the subset based upon at least one of vehicle range, battery performance, and cabin temperature.

15 . The vehicle thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the cabin evaporator and the cabin condenser are operable to operate concurrently.