Patent ID: 8544292

Claim:
A vehicle cooling system for a vehicle having (a) an engine compartment containing having an engine and an engine coolant system that cools the engine with an engine coolant, (b) a crew compartment and (c) a fire wall disposed between the engine compartment and the crew compartment, wherein the vehicle cooling system comprises: a cooling system disposed within the engine compartment, the cooling system comprising a thermostatically controlled proportional dividing valve connected to an engine cooling system to receive the engine coolant from the engine coolant system, a coolant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger connected to the thermostatically controlled proportional dividing valve, a water chest connected to a refrigerant-to-cooling heat exchanger and mounted on the fire wall of the vehicle, the refrigerant-to-cooling heat exchanger connected to the water chest, and a check valve connected to the cooling-to-refrigerant heat exchanger and the engine cooling system to return the engine coolant to the engine coolant system; a modular housing mounted within the engine compartment; a closed refrigeration loop disposed within the modular housing, the closed refrigeration loop comprising a compressor, the refrigerant-to-coolant heat exchanger, an expansion valve, the coolant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger and a refrigerant dryer in series fluid connection with one another, wherein: (a) the closed refrigeration loop is not in fluid connection with the engine coolant system, (b) the closed refrigeration loop is in thermal connection with engine coolant system via the coolant-to-refrigerant heat exchanger, and (c) the closed refrigeration loop is in thermal connection with the water chest via the refrigerant-to-coolant heat exchanger; and a heat pipe partially disposed within the water chest and extending through the fire wall into the crew compartment to transfer heat from the crew compartment to the fluid circulating through the water chest.