Vehicle Cooling Pressure Cap Simplified Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing pressure cap for vehicle cooling systems has a complex structure due to the use of both positive and negative pressure valves, leading to increased manufacturing costs and difficulty in adjusting elastic forces, which limits the minimization of the negative pressure spring's elastic force.
Innovation Solution
A simplified pressure cap design that eliminates the negative pressure spring, using a pressure valve with a flexible valve seal and a positive pressure spring to maintain internal pressure, allowing air to flow externally when pressure is low and discharging excess pressure through a communication port.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If both positive pressure valve and negative pressure valve are used to regulate pressure, then pressure control function is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the positive pressure valve and negative pressure valve into a single integrated pressure valve assembly. The pressure valve includes a valve body with a valve seat and a flexible diaphragm that serves dual functions: preventing overheating by controlling coolant flow and preventing vacuum conditions by allowing air intake when pressure drops. This merging eliminates the need for separate positive and negative pressure valves, simplifying the overall structure while maintaining comprehensive pressure control functionality.
2Reliability
If both positive pressure spring and negative pressure spring are used to support valves, then valve operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the negative pressure spring from the system entirely. Instead of using a separate negative pressure spring to support the negative pressure valve, the design relies on the elastic recovery of the flexible diaphragm itself and the atmospheric pressure differential to enable air intake when pressure drops. This extraction of the negative pressure spring simplifies the spring mechanism while maintaining reliable valve operation through the diaphragm's inherent elasticity.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible diaphragm serves its primary sealing function and simultaneously provides the elastic recovery mechanism that replaces the negative pressure spring. When pressure drops below atmospheric pressure, the diaphragm's elasticity and the pressure differential automatically cause it to deform and open the air intake passage, eliminating the need for a dedicated negative pressure spring while maintaining reliable operation.
3Reliability
If multiple valves and springs are used, then pressure regulation capability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple valve functions into a single integrated pressure valve assembly that includes both positive and negative pressure control capabilities in one component. This reduces the total number of parts that need to be manufactured, assembled, and quality-checked, thereby lowering manufacturing costs while maintaining comprehensive pressure regulation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
By removing the negative pressure spring and eliminating the separate negative pressure valve, the patent reduces the bill of materials and assembly complexity. Fewer components mean lower material costs, reduced manufacturing complexity, and simpler assembly processes, all while maintaining the necessary pressure regulation functionality through the integrated diaphragm mechanism.
4Reliability
If positive pressure spring and negative pressure spring with opposite elastic forces are used, then bidirectional pressure control is improved, but ease of operation worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the negative pressure spring that created the adjustment difficulty. By eliminating this component, the design avoids the complexity of coordinating adjustments between two springs with opposite elastic forces. The single positive pressure spring's elastic force can be adjusted independently and independently optimized, greatly simplifying the tuning and operation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible diaphragm's inherent elasticity replaces the need for a negative pressure spring, providing automatic bidirectional pressure control without requiring adjustment of opposing elastic forces. The diaphragm naturally responds to both pressure increases and decreases, and the single positive pressure spring's elastic force can be set once to achieve optimal performance across the full pressure range, improving ease of operation.
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 reduces the risk of component failure, lowers manufacturing costs, and simplifies the structure, enabling easier adjustment of elastic forces while maintaining internal pressure within a predetermined range.
Implementation Method 1
a positive pressure spring elastically supporting the pressure valve such that the pressure valve closes the internal to the reservoir fill port
Implementation Method 2
a valve seal provided to be in close contact with the pressure valve and allow the air to flow externally into the internal to the cooling system by being deformed when pressure in the internal to the cooling system is lower than a predetermined pressure
Data Source
AI summary
A pressure cap for a cooling system of a vehicle may include a reservoir fill port which is mounted at an upper portion of a reservoir in which cooling water is stored in a cooling system of the vehicle; an external cap for closing an upper end portion of the reservoir fill port; a pressure valve disposed in the reservoir fill port to allow the inside and the outside of the reservoir fill portion to fluidically-communicate with each other; a valve seal provided to allow the air to flow from the outside into the internal to the cooling system by being deformed when pressure in the internal to the cooling system is lower than a predetermined pressure; and a positive pressure spring elastically supporting the pressure valve such that the pressure valve closes the internal to the reservoir fill port.