Patent ID: 8338011

Claim:
A battery temperature control apparatus for controlling a temperature of a battery, comprising: a battery temperature detector for detecting the temperature of the battery; a temperature regulator for regulating the temperature of the battery by sending a temperature regulating medium to the battery; a medium temperature detector for detecting a temperature of the temperature regulating medium; a storage unit for storing a target temperature of the battery; and, a control unit, based on the temperature of the battery detected by the battery temperature detector, the temperature of the temperature regulating medium detected by the medium temperature detector and the target temperature stored in the storage unit, programmed to control a flow rate of the temperature regulating medium that is sent by the temperature regulator so that the temperature of the battery becomes close to the target temperature, wherein the control unit includes: a thermal capacity determining unit programmed to determine a thermal capacity necessary for setting the temperature of the battery to the target temperature, by multiplying specific heat of the battery, which is stored in the thermal capacity determining unit, by a value that is generated by subtracting the target temperature from the temperature of the battery; a temperature regulating ability determining unit programmed to determine a temperature regulating ability of the temperature regulator at a standard flow rate, by subtracting the temperature of the temperature regulating medium from the temperature of the battery; and a flow rate controller for dividing the thermal capacity determined by the thermal capacity determining unit by the temperature regulating ability determined by the temperature regulating ability determining unit in order to determine a ratio of the flow rate of the temperature regulator to the standard flow rate, said flow rate controller programmed to control the flow rate of the temperature regulating medium that is sent by the temperature regulator by multiplying the standard flow rate by the ratio, and said flow rate controller controlling the flow rate of the temperature regulating medium sent by the temperature regulator so that the determined flow rate of the temperature regulating medium is sent to the battery.