Refrigerant flow distribution research for battery cooling coupled with cabin comfort based on dual-evaporator heat pump system for electric vehicle acceleration

Abstract The heat pump system employed with a dual evaporator for battery cooling coupled with cabin comfort is an innovative thermal management method. It can be inferred that the refrigerant thermal load distribution can trigger temperature fluctuations for thermal performance of both battery and cabin. To trade-off between the thermal management demands of battery and cabin, this study proposed a strategy to promote the decreasing of battery temperature and to ensure battery thermal uniformity with a higher priority. Hence a transient refrigerant flow rate distribution scheme with a minimum flow rate to satisfy battery thermal demands was designed. The results showed a significant reduction in the temperature fluctuations for cabin thermal comfort and BTM thermal controlling. It offers a satisfactory reference for refrigerant thermal load distribution strategy applied with the heat pump system connected to the battery and cabin by the dual evaporator.