Patent ID: 7287581

Claim:
A thermal system for an electrically-powered vehicle having a power train, the thermal system comprising: a reconfigurable refrigerant-based automotive air conditioning system to selectively create a plurality of possible refrigerant loops, the refrigerant-based automotive air conditioning system comprising: an evaporator having refrigerant channels thermally connected to ventilation air and configurable to receive previously cooled refrigerant, the evaporator operable to cool and dehumidify the flow of ventilation air; a bi-fluidic heat exchanger having refrigerant channels thermally coupled to coolant channels; an outside air heat exchanger; a bidirectional orifice separator within at least one refrigerant loop of the plurality of possible refrigerant loops, the bidirectional orifice separator comprising: a first shutoff valve fluidically coupled to the bi-fluidic heat exchanger; a second shutoff valve fluidically coupled to the outside air heat exchanger; and a bidirectional orifice tube coupled in series between the first shutoff valve and the second shutoff valve for expanding refrigerant when the first and second shutoff valves are open; a compressor; an accumulator fluidically coupled to an input of the compressor; and a 4-way reversing valve configured to receive compressed refrigerant from the compressor and operable to discharge compressed refrigerant into a selected one of the bi-fluidic heat exchanger and the outside air heat exchanger and to receive refrigerant from the non-selected one of the bi-fluidic heat exchanger and the outside air heat exchanger to discharge refrigerant from the non-selected one of the bi-fluidic heat exchanger and the outside air heat exchanger to the accumulator; and a reconfigurable liquid-coolant-based automotive heating system to selectively create a plurality of possible coolant loops, wherein the refrigerant-based automotive air conditioning system and the liquid-coolant-based automotive heating system are configured to operate concurrently and in concert.