Experimental Study on R290 Performance of an Integrated Thermal Management System for Electric Vehicle

Zihao Luo, Shusheng Xiong (), Min Wen, Jiahao Zhao and Yifei Zhang
Additional contact information
Zihao Luo: College of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, China
Shusheng Xiong: College of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, China
Min Wen: College of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, China
Jiahao Zhao: College of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, China
Yifei Zhang: Polytechnic Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310015, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-21

Abstract: Integrated thermal management system (ITMS) technology for electric vehicles (EV) has become a major industry research direction. However, R290 refrigerants are still not applied on a large scale in EVs. Therefore, we developed a suitable thermal management system for R290 in this study. This architecture adapts an unusual indirect design, which can coordinate the heat between the air conditioner, battery pack, and electric motor. We focused on heat pump air conditioning systems for EV thermal management; thus, we carried out the performance analysis of R290 under the cooling and heating conditions of our ITMS through an experimental approach. The current study explores various aspects affecting the performance of heat-pump air conditioners: refrigerant charge, electronic expansion valve (EXV) opening, compressor speed, and performance between R290 and R134a under different external temperatures. We aim to improve cooling and heating efficiencies. Among these parameters, the EXV opening and compressor speed have the greatest impact on the performance of the ITMS, as evidenced by the optimal EXV opening and lower compressor speed to maximize the coefficient of performance (COP) and increase the heat transfer rate. In addition, this study has shown that, compared to an ITMS equipped with R134a, R290 has a smaller refrigerant charge, better heat transfer rate and COP under heating conditions, and similar performance under cooling conditions.

Keywords: electric vehicle; performance analysis; R290 refrigerant; thermal management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/4/802/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/4/802/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:4:p:802-:d:1587040

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().