Patent ID: 8272432

Claim:
A heating, ventilating and air conditioning system for a hybrid vehicle having an internal combustion engine comprising: an HVAC module including an evaporator, a heater core downstream of the evaporator, and a blend door configured to selectively block or allow air flow from the evaporator to flow through the heater core, the heater core having a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet; an electric water pump having an outlet in fluid communication with a coolant inlet to the heater core, the electric water pump having an inlet; a cold thermal storage tank configured to retain a coolant therein and having a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet; a coolant line connected between the coolant outlet from the heater core, and the inlet to the cold thermal storage tank and a coolant inlet to the engine; an electronically controlled valve having a first coolant inlet portion configured to be in fluid communication with and receive the coolant from the heater core outlet from the engine, a second coolant inlet portion configured to be in fluid communication with and receive the coolant from the outlet from the cold thermal storage tank, and a third coolant outlet portion configured to be in fluid communication with and direct the coolant toward the inlet to the electric water pump, the electronically controlled valve being configured to selectively allow the coolant to flow from the first coolant inlet portion through the third coolant outlet portion and from the second coolant inlet portion through the third coolant outlet portion; and a refrigerant-to-liquid heat exchanger located in the cold thermal storage tank, the refrigerant-to-liquid heat exchanger located downstream from the evaporator and upstream from the refrigerant compressor in a direction of refrigerant flow and having a refrigerant outlet connected in direct fluid communication to a refrigerant inlet to a refrigerant compressor.