In gasoline-burning cars and trucks, waste heat from burning gasoline is tapped to heat up the cabin. But what about electric cars? They typically have to use electric heaters—or maybe not. A new patent, filed in 2020 by Michigan’s Craig Lindquist and Changchun Li and Italy’s Attilio Crivellari and just granted, would re-use waste heat in electric cars, too—a technology which could be handy in PHEVs as well as BEVs.
The idea is that a high-temperature coolant loop would be used for the heater core, while a low-temperature coolant loop would get heat from the electric motor(s) and electronics. A four-way valve would selectively “fluidly couple” the two loops so that heat generated by the motor(s), electronics, and possibly the battery would be used rather than dissipated.
Electric powertrain don’t really deliver all that much heat, but relying entirely on electric heaters clearly reduces the range of electric and plug-in hybrid cars. The system described in this patent could help to reduce the need for the electric heater.
kind of goes with my “supercooler” idea. Have a supplemental heater and a water circulator pump that moves heated coolant around the car. just have the gears and impellers make noise and you have the sound of a supercharger to go along with the new Fraztonic sound and make it work.
This is a brilliant idea; I hope it is effective. Electric motors are not 100% efficient; they do generate an appreciable amount of heat, although far less than internal combustion engines do.