METHOD OF DEVELOPING A CONTROL STRATEGY FOR A VEHICLE THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, AND VEHICLE THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A method of developing a control strategy for a thermal management system. The method includes decomposing a thermal management circuit defined by a plurality of secondary circuits that are each in fluid communication with each other into a plurality of sub-loops, the fluid communication between each of the secondary circuits and thermal management of the thermal management circuit being controlled by a plurality of actuators; determining at least one global thermal function associated with the thermal management circuit; after determining the at least one global thermal function associated with the thermal management circuit, determining an actuator mode capable of achieving the at least one global thermal function wherein the actuator mode is a collection of states of each of the plurality of actuators in the thermal management circuit; and forming at least one control algorithm for the thermal management circuit based on the actuator mode.