Let the Apple Automobile rumors roll on. Apple has been granted a patent (quantity US 11867424 B1) for a “Thermal Management System” for an Apple Automobile.
In regards to the patent
Within the patent Apple notes that heating a car may be tough when extra, waste, or by-product warmth is proscribed. Some methods use positive-temperature coefficient (PTC) heaters with ceramic elements that adjust in electrical resistance relying on operational temperatures. What’s extra, excessive present ranges and excessive energy consumption are required to function PTC heaters in chilly temperature environments, expending excessive ranges of vitality.
In a thermal management system utilizing a warmth pump, working fluid corresponding to refrigerant in a thermal loop may be pressured by way of a cycle of evaporation or heating to soak up warmth then condensation or cooling to launch warmth. Air warmed by the launched warmth may be directed for warming earlier than exiting, for instance, by way of an exhaust path or recirculation path.
Nonetheless, Apple thinks it may do higher. Its thought is for a thermal management system that may mix warmth reclamation with a heat-pump configuration to decrease energy consumption, particularly when working in chilly ambient temperatures. Reclaiming or amassing warmth that will in any other case be misplaced may be completed by positioning a warmth exchanger corresponding to an evaporator in an exhaust stream path that directs exhaust airflow to exit a car cabin.
Abstract of the patent
Right here’s Apple’s summary of the patent: “A thermal management system features a housing defining an consumption stream path for journey of consumption airflow and an exhaust stream path for journey of exhaust airflow. An consumption door is disposed alongside the consumption stream path and has first and second positions blocking and permitting consumption airflow by way of the consumption door.
“An exhaust door is disposed alongside the exhaust stream path and has first and second positions blocking and permitting exhaust airflow by way of the exhaust door. A mode door is disposed within the housing between the consumption stream path and the exhaust stream path with a primary place blocking the consumption airflow and permitting the exhaust airflow to go by way of a warmth exchanger, a second place blocking the exhaust airflow and permitting the consumption airflow to go by way of the warmth exchanger, and a 3rd place permitting the consumption airflow and the exhaust airflow to go by way of the warmth exchanger.”
When would possibly we see an Apple Automobile?
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has stated that Apple’s work on the Apple Automobile has “misplaced all visibility on the present time. He has famous that if Apple doesn’t undertake some form of acquisition technique to make inroads within the automotive market, it’s unlikely that the Apple Automobile will be capable to go into mass manufacturing “inside the subsequent few years.”
On. Nov. 18, 2021, Bloomberg reported that Apple was accelerating improvement on its “Apple Automobile.” The article stated that the electrical car will likely be self-driving and will roll out in 2025. Nonetheless, this doesn’t appear to be a possible state of affairs.
