Coolant Pump Flow Rationalization via Sensor Cross-Check
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Solution Overview
Problem
Internal combustion engines face overheating issues due to unaccounted backpressure variations in cooling systems, which can lead to insufficient coolant flow if not captured in engine control mappings, potentially causing engine overheating.
Innovation Solution
A method for coolant pump flow rationalization using coolant pump parameters, involving calculations based on coolant input pressure sensor signals and pump speed, as well as pump current and speed, to compare and rationalize coolant flow rates, detect potential failures, and set diagnostic fault codes and alarms when errors exceed predetermined thresholds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If coolant pump speed is increased to maintain coolant flow, then cooling performance is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts coolant pump speed based on real-time backpressure sensor data, transitioning from fixed-speed operation to variable-speed control. The controller continuously monitors backpressure variations and modulates pump speed to maintain optimal coolant flow while minimizing energy consumption, allowing the pump to operate at lower speeds when backpressure is high and at higher speeds when cooling demand increases.
2Use of energy by moving object
If coolant pump speed is reduced to save energy, then energy consumption decreases, but cooling performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a feedback control mechanism where a backpressure sensor continuously monitors cooling system backpressure and sends signals to the controller. The controller processes this feedback information and adjusts the coolant pump speed accordingly, ensuring that the pump operates at the minimum necessary speed to maintain adequate coolant flow and cooling performance while minimizing energy consumption.
3Device complexity
If backpressure variations are not captured in control mappings, then system complexity is reduced, but reliability of cooling system decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-establishes control mappings that incorporate backpressure variation data collected during system development and testing. These mappings are stored in the controller and used to predict appropriate pump speed adjustments based on current backpressure sensor readings, allowing the system to proactively compensate for backpressure variations without requiring complex real-time calculations or additional hardware.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for coolant pump flow rationalization using coolant pump parameters includes calculating a first pump coolant flow based on a coolant input pressure sensor signal and the coolant pump speed. Further, the method includes calculating a second pump coolant flow based on coolant pump current and coolant pump speed when the first pump coolant flow is greater than a predetermined threshold; and comparing the first pump coolant flow with the second pump coolant flow to rationalize the coolant pressure sensor signal.