US-20260124877-A1 - THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND THERMAL MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR VEHICLE

Abstract

In a thermal management system and a thermal management method for a vehicle, in which a flow of a coolant in an engine is stopped during internal heating to improve driving efficiency of the engine, the coolant heated by a water-cooled intercooler is delivered to a heater core during an operation of the engine to ensure initial heating heat, and the coolant having passed through the engine or the coolant having passed through the water-cooled intercooler is delivered to the heater core based on a temperature of the coolant so that heating performance is maintained in a state in which driving efficiency of the engine is ensured.

Inventors

• Sun Gyu PARK
• Hye Woon JUNG
• Han Sang KIM
• Kyung Keun Suh
• Hyeong Seok LEE

Assignees

• HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY
• KIA CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20250430

Priority Date

20241101

Claims (19)

1. 1 . A thermal management system for a vehicle, the thermal management system comprising: a heater core configured to heat an interior of the vehicle by waste heat generated from an engine; a water-cooled intercooler configured to cool an intake air to the engine and dissipate heat by a first radiator; and a connection line configured to selectively connect the heater core and the water-cooled intercooler to allow the heater core and the water-cooled intercooler to exchange heat with each other in accordance with an operating state of the engine, the connection line being configured to allow the heater core to perform internal heating of the interior of the vehicle by heat generated by the water-cooled intercooler.
2. 2 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the operating state of the engine includes at least one of a temperature of a coolant in the engine and whether the engine is initially started.
3. 3 . The thermal management system of claim 2 , further including a controller, wherein based on the operating state of the engine, the controller is configured to identify whether the temperature of the coolant in the engine is lower than a preset temperature, which is derived in advance by an experiment to operate the engine with fuel economy based on that the engine is designed.
4. 4 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further including: an engine heat-exchange line including a first line connecting the engine, the heater core, and a first valve, and a second line branching off from a downstream point of the heater core to an upstream point of the water-cooled intercooler.
5. 5 . The thermal management system of claim 4 , wherein the engine heat-exchange line further includes a third line connected to the first line, and wherein a heat-exchange means including at least one of a transmission heat-exchange portion, a motor heat-exchange portion, and an electrical component heat-exchange portion is provided in the third line.
6. 6 . The thermal management system of claim 5 , further including a controller, wherein in the engine heat-exchange line, whether to allow a coolant in the engine to flow, whether to allow the coolant having passed through the engine to flow to the heater core, or whether to allow the coolant to flow to the heat-exchange means is changed by the first valve electrically connected to the controller.
7. 7 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further including: a controller; a cooling line configured to connect the water-cooled intercooler and a second radiator so that the water-cooled intercooler and the second radiator exchange heat with each other; and a second valve electrically connected to the controller, wherein by the second valve, the connection line and the cooling line allow the water-cooled intercooler and the heater core to exchange heat with each other or allow the water-cooled intercooler and the second radiator to exchange heat with each other.
8. 8 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further including a controller, wherein based on the operating state of the engine, the controller is configured to identify whether a temperature of a coolant in the engine is lower than a preset temperature derived in advance by an experiment to operate the engine with fuel economy based on that the engine is designed, and wherein a flow of the coolant in the engine is stopped by the controller based on that the temperature of the coolant of the engine is lower than the preset temperature.
9. 9 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further including: a controller; and an outside air temperature determination portion electrically connected to the controller and configured to determine an outside air temperature, wherein a flow of a coolant in the engine is stopped by the controller based on that the controller concludes that the outside air temperature is lower than a preset low-temperature determination temperature.
10. 10 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein during the internal heating including at least one of performing a defrosting mode, setting an internal temperature to a preset heating temperature, and setting an air conditioning blower to a preset stage, the heater core and the water-cooled intercooler exchange heat with each other through the connection line in accordance with the operating state of the engine.
11. 11 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further including: a controller; and a coolant temperature determination portion electrically connected to the controller and configured to determine a temperature of a coolant flowing to the heater core, wherein the heater core and the water-cooled intercooler exchange heat with each other through the connection line in accordance with the operating state of the engine based on that the controller conclude that the temperature of the coolant flowing to the heater core is lower than a preset minimum heating temperature.
12. 12 . The thermal management system of claim 1 , further including: a controller; a coolant temperature determination portion electrically connected to the controller and configured to determine a temperature of a coolant flowing to the heater core, wherein the water-cooled intercooler and the first radiator exchange heat with each other based on that the controller concludes that the temperature of the coolant flowing to the heater core reaches a preset minimum heating temperature.
13. 13 . A thermal management method for a vehicle, the thermal management method comprising: identifying, by a controller, an operating state of an engine; identifying, by the controller, whether a heater core and a water-cooled intercooler are required to exchange heat with each other in accordance with the operating state of the engine; and allowing, by the controller, the heater core to perform internal heating by heat generated from the water-cooled intercooler based on that the controller concludes that the operating state of the engine requires the heat-exchange between the heater core and the water-cooled intercooler.
14. 14 . The thermal management method of claim 13 , wherein the identifying of the operating state of the engine further includes identifying at least one of a temperature of a coolant in the engine or whether the engine is initially started.
15. 15 . The thermal management method of claim 14 , wherein the identifying of the operating state of the engine includes identifying whether the temperature of the coolant in the engine is lower than a preset temperature derived in advance by an experiment to operate the engine with fuel economy based on that the engine is designed.
16. 16 . The thermal management method of claim 15 , further including: stopping, by the controller, a flow of the coolant in the engine based on that the temperature of the coolant in the engine is lower than the preset temperature in the identifying of the operating state of the engine.
17. 17 . The thermal management method of claim 13 , further including: determining, by the controller, an outside air temperature; and stopping, by the controller, a flow of a coolant in the engine based on that the outside air temperature is lower than a preset low-temperature determination temperature in the determining of the outside air temperature.
18. 18 . The thermal management method of claim 13 , wherein the identifying of whether the heater core and the water-cooled intercooler are required to exchange heat with each other includes identifying whether the internal heating including at least one of performing a defrosting mode, setting an internal temperature to a preset heating temperature, and setting an air conditioning blower to a preset stage.
19. 19 . The thermal management method of claim 13 , further including: determining, by the controller, a temperature of a coolant flowing to the heater core, wherein the allowing of the heater core to perform the internal heating includes maintaining the internal heating of the heater core by heat generated from the water-cooled intercooler based on that the controller concludes that the temperature of the coolant flowing to the heater core is lower than a preset minimum heating temperature in the determining of the temperature of the coolant flowing to the heater core.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0153843, filed on Nov. 1, 2024, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference. BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE Field of the Present Disclosure The present disclosure relates to a thermal management system and a thermal management method for a vehicle that are configured for ensuring engine efficiency and heating performance in a hybrid vehicle. Description of Related Art Fuel economy of a hybrid vehicle is an important factor. To improve the fuel economy, it is important to increase the amount of traveling time made by a battery to be the amount of traveling time greater than the amount of traveling time made by an engine. The hybrid vehicle is driven by the engine and the electric motor and utilizes engine waste heat as a heating heat source thereof to heat a vehicle interior. That is, when the vehicle is driven by the engine, engine waste heat is sufficient so that an air conditioning device may be used to heat the vehicle interior in the same way as that of a vehicle in the related art. However, under a condition in which the vehicle is driven by the electric motor, waste heat remaining in an engine coolant is used as the heating heat source even in a state in which the engine is turned off. However, under the condition in which the vehicle is driven by the electric motor, waste heat in the engine coolant is insufficient to heat a vehicle interior under a condition with a low outside air temperature. Therefore, when the engine coolant has a low temperature, a positive temperature coefficient heater (PTC heater) is used to ensure the heating heat source. However, there are problems in that the PTC heater has low energy efficiency and excessively consumes electric power, which degrades fuel economy of the hybrid vehicle. Furthermore, when it is expected that heating performance is not satisfied, the engine operates again to ensure heater performance. However, because the present structure does not have a separate heat retention means for maintaining a temperature of the coolant with a temperature raised by heat from the engine, the engine frequently operates, which degrades the fuel economy. The information included in this Background of the present disclosure is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the present disclosure and may not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art. BRIEF SUMMARY Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to providing a thermal management system and a thermal management method for a vehicle that are configured for ensuring efficiency of an engine and heating performance when the engine is initially started, and diversifying means for heating a coolant flowing to a heater core in accordance with a coolant temperature or a heating condition. Technical problems to be solved by the present disclosure are not limited to the above-mentioned technical problems, and other technical problems, which are not mentioned above, may be clearly understood from the following descriptions by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains. To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present disclosure provides a thermal management system for a vehicle, the thermal management system including: a heater core configured to heat an interior of a vehicle by waste heat generated from an engine; a water-cooled intercooler configured to cool an intake air to the engine and dissipate heat by a first radiator; and a connection line configured to selectively connect the heater core and the water-cooled intercooler to allow the heater core and the water-cooled intercooler to exchange heat with each other in accordance with an operating state of the engine, the connection line being configured to allow the heater core to perform internal heating by heat generated by the water-cooled intercooler. According to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the operating state of the engine may include at least one of a temperature of a coolant in the engine and whether the engine is initially started. According to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the operating state of the engine may identify whether the temperature of the coolant in the engine is lower than a preset temperature, which is derived in advance by an experiment to operate the engine with fuel economy when the engine is designed. According to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the thermal management system may further include: an engine heat-exchange line including a first line connecting the engine, the heater core, and a first valve, and a second line branching off from a downstream point of the heater core to an upstream point of the water-cooled intercooler. According to the exemplary