Motor Vehicle Cooling System Parallel Circuit Diversion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cooling systems for motor vehicles face inefficiencies due to the sequential arrangement of heat exchangers, which leads to increased energy requirements and potential overheating, especially when cooling or condensing refrigerant for air conditioning systems, as ambient air is progressively heated, affecting the efficiency and capacity of the circuits.
Innovation Solution
A cooling system design where two heat exchangers are fluidically connected at a distribution point upstream and a collection point downstream, allowing a part of the coolant mass flow from one circuit to be diverted into the other, enabling efficient cooling by maintaining the heat emission at a lower temperature level, thereby reducing energy consumption and preventing overheating.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If heat exchangers are arranged sequentially in series, then the structure is simple and compact, but the downstream heat exchanger receives progressively heated air resulting in higher temperature levels and increased energy requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into multiple parallel circuits (first circuit with first heat exchanger, second circuit with second heat exchanger) that can operate independently. This segmentation allows the downstream heat exchanger to receive coolant from its own circuit rather than being affected by the upstream heat exchanger's heat output, thereby maintaining lower temperature levels and reducing energy requirements while preserving the compact series arrangement.
2Volume of moving object
If heat exchangers are arranged sequentially in series, then the installation space is reduced, but the downstream heat exchanger experiences higher ambient air temperature leading to potential coolant overheating
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the cooling system into separate parallel circuits with independent coolant flow paths, each heat exchanger operates with its own coolant supply. This prevents the downstream heat exchanger from being subjected to progressively heated ambient air from the upstream heat exchanger, thereby maintaining lower coolant temperatures and preventing overheating while keeping the compact series arrangement.
3Reliability
If additional heat exchangers are incorporated to solve cooling issues, then the cooling capacity is increased, but the costs and installation expenditure increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a multi-functional cooling system where parallel circuits can serve different cooling needs (e.g., one circuit for traction battery cooling, another for air conditioning condensing) while sharing the same compact series arrangement structure. This universality allows the system to handle multiple cooling tasks simultaneously without requiring additional separate heat exchangers, thereby increasing cooling capacity while avoiding increased costs and installation expenditure.
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 configuration effectively lowers the temperature level for heat emission in the downstream circuit, enhancing energy efficiency and preventing coolant temperature exceedance, while maintaining overall mass flow and cooling capacity, thus offering a flexible and cost-effective solution.
Implementation Method 1
The heat exchangers can be flowed through by ambient air in succession and because of this the coolant in the heat exchangers is coolable
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling system for a motor vehicle may include a first circuit, a second circuit, a first heat exchanger incorporated in the first circuit, and a second heat exchanger incorporated in the second circuit. The first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger may be flowed through by ambient air and a coolant. The first heat exchanger may be arranged, relative to an airflow direction, in front of and directly adjacent to the second heat exchanger. The first circuit and the second circuit may be fluidically connected to one another at an upstream distribution point and at a downstream collection point such that a part mass flow of the coolant is flowable from the second circuit into the first circuit at the distribution point, from the first circuit into the first heat exchanger, and out of the first heat exchanger back into the second circuit at the collection point.