Continuous Cooling Assembly for Vehicle Thermal Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle cooling systems are complex, heavy, and costly due to multiple components and rectangular heat exchanger shapes that reduce cooling efficiency and increase drag and lift, leading to inefficient heat transfer and thermal degradation of components.
Innovation Solution
A continuous cooling assembly is fabricated as a single, monolithic unit using additive manufacturing, integrating a grille, inlet duct, heat exchanger, and outlet duct to optimize geometry and reduce material waste, eliminating seams and fastening hardware, thereby enhancing cooling efficiency and reducing weight and manufacturing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional rectangular heat exchangers are used with separate ducts and brackets, then manufacturing and assembly are simpler using traditional methods, but cooling efficiency decreases and weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the heat exchanger, inlet duct, outlet duct, and mounting brackets into a single integrated monolithic structure. This merging eliminates the need for separate components and connections, allowing optimized airflow paths that improve cooling efficiency while reducing the number of parts and assembly steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs additive manufacturing to create complex curved and organic geometries in the cooling assembly that cannot be achieved with conventional rectangular ducts. These curved surfaces optimize airflow patterns and heat transfer efficiency while maintaining structural integrity.
2Ease of operation
If multiple separate components are used to form the cooling assembly, then assembly and maintenance are easier, but device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling assembly is manufactured as a single monolithic piece that integrates the heat exchanger core, inlet and outlet ducts, and mounting brackets. This eliminates multiple fasteners, seals, and connection points, reducing assembly complexity despite the unified structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The monolithic structure performs multiple functions simultaneously: heat exchange, airflow guidance, structural support, and mounting. This multi-functionality consolidates what would traditionally require separate components into a single universal element.
3Ease of manufacture
If rectangular heat exchanger geometry is used, then manufacturing is conventional and simple, but aerodynamic drag and lift increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses additive manufacturing to create aerodynamically optimized curved surfaces on the cooling assembly that reduce drag and lift forces. The organic geometries allow smooth airflow transitions around the vehicle, eliminating the sharp edges and flat surfaces of rectangular designs that create turbulence.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the heat exchanger from conventional rectangular shapes to optimized curved forms. This parameter change in shape and form factor improves aerodynamic performance while the additive manufacturing process enables these complex geometries.
4Reliability
If conventional manufacturing methods are used for heat exchangers, then production processes are established and reliable, but material waste increases and customization is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the manufacturing approach from subtractive (cutting and shaping) to additive (building layer by layer). This parameter change in the manufacturing process eliminates material waste while maintaining reliability through controlled deposition and curing processes of additive manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The additive manufacturing process eliminates the need to discard excess material during fabrication. Any material used in the process becomes part of the final product, and support structures can be easily removed without wasting the primary structural material.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The continuous cooling assembly improves cooling efficiency, decreases vehicle lift and drag, and extends the useful lifetime of components while simplifying assembly and reducing production costs.
Implementation Method 1
The incoming air is thus cooled via heat exchange with the heat exchangers
Implementation Method 2
A continuous cooling assembly is fabricated as a single, monolithic unit using additive manufacturing
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems are provided for a cooling assembly for a vehicle. In one example, the cooling assembly may be a non-rectangular cooler positioned in a front end of the vehicle with an entry duct continuous with the non-rectangular cooler and arranged upstream of the non-rectangular cooler and an exit duct also continuous with the non-rectangular cooler and arranged downstream of the non-rectangular cooler.