Vehicle Cooling Air Guide Structure for Leak-Tight Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling systems in motor vehicles face challenges in maintaining tightness and preventing leakages, especially under varying pressure conditions during high-speed travel and stationary charging states, which can lead to inefficiencies in cooling performance and potential damage during crashes.
Innovation Solution
The cooling system incorporates an air guide with a L-shaped cross section, featuring a hard component and a soft component. The soft component forms the L-shaped end regions, while the hard component forms the central portion, optimizing the interface with the radiator frame to compensate for pressure differences and prevent irreversible deformation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the air guide is made entirely of soft material to ensure crash safety and flexibility, then the cooling module is protected from damage during frontal crashes, but the air guide may inflate during high-speed travel causing loss of contact and leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The air guide is designed with different material properties in different regions: the end region facing the radiator frame is made of soft material for crash protection and sealing, while the central portion is made of hard material to maintain structural stability and prevent inflation during high-speed travel. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between flexibility for crash safety and rigidity for maintaining sealing tightness.
Solution Approach 2:
The air guide combines soft and hard materials in a composite structure. The soft component provides flexibility and sealing capability, while the hard component provides structural stability. This composite design allows the air guide to both protect against crash damage and maintain reliable sealing under varying pressure conditions.
2Reliability
If the air guide is made entirely of hard material to maintain structural stability, then the sealing tightness is improved under pressure, but the cooling module may be damaged during frontal crashes
Solution Approach 1:
The air guide is designed with different material properties in different regions: the end region facing the radiator frame is made of soft material for crash protection and sealing, while the central portion is made of hard material to maintain structural stability and prevent inflation during high-speed travel. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between flexibility for crash safety and rigidity for maintaining sealing tightness.
Solution Approach 2:
The air guide combines soft and hard materials in a composite structure. The soft component provides flexibility and sealing capability, while the hard component provides structural stability. This composite design allows the air guide to both protect against crash damage and maintain reliable sealing under varying pressure conditions.
3Ease of operation
If the air guide uses a soft component to ensure flexibility and sealing, then the contact with radiator frame is maintained under negative pressure, but the soft component may be jammed and create leakage regions during high-speed travel with positive pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The air guide is designed with different material properties in different regions: the end region facing the radiator frame is made of soft material for crash protection and sealing, while the central portion is made of hard material to maintain structural stability and prevent inflation during high-speed travel. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between flexibility for crash safety and rigidity for maintaining sealing tightness.
Solution Approach 2:
The air guide's material composition is optimized to dynamically respond to pressure conditions: the soft end region adapts to maintain sealing under negative pressure, while the hard central portion resists excessive deformation under positive pressure, preventing the soft component from being jammed and creating leakage regions.
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
This design effectively reduces leakage and hot air rolls by maintaining contact between the air guide and the radiator frame across different operating conditions, ensuring efficient cooling performance and preventing damage during crashes.
Implementation Method 1
The air guide (4) has a hard component and a soft component, wherein the soft component forms the end region of the air guide (4) facing the radiator frame (3)
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling system for a motor vehicle includes a cooling module for cooling a drive device of the motor vehicle arranged behind the cooling module in a motor vehicle longitudinal direction, a cooling frame arranged laterally relative to the cooling module in a vehicle width direction, and an air guide arranged laterally relative to the cooling module in the vehicle width direction and extending forwards from the cooling frame in the vehicle longitudinal direction. The air guide has an L-shaped cross-section in an end region facing the cooling frame. The cooling frame has an angled cross-section in an end region facing the air guide for receiving the L-shaped end region of the air guide so that the L-shaped cross-section rests on the inside of the angled cross-section with respect to the vehicle width direction.