Decentralized Cooling System Venting via Coolant Lines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling systems for internal combustion engines face challenges with air pockets forming during coolant filling or leaks, leading to reduced cooling performance, and require complex and costly ventilation lines that are prone to vibration and breakage, with high design and assembly costs due to long lengths and susceptibility to clogging from particles.
Innovation Solution
A decentralized cooling system design where the vent line from a first component opens into a second coolant line, allowing air to be conveyed through the coolant circuit, reducing line length, eliminating the need for central feed points, and enabling the use of larger orifice diameters to prevent clogging, while maintaining efficient cooling performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If long ventilation lines are used to connect distant components to a central bubble separator or expansion tank, then all components can be vented through a centralized system, but the lines become susceptible to vibrations and breakage, requiring complex support structures and increasing assembly difficulty
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the centralized venting system into decentralized segments, where each component or group of components has its own vent line opening directly into a coolant line. This segmentation eliminates the need for long ventilation lines connecting all components to a central bubble separator, thereby reducing vibration susceptibility and assembly complexity while maintaining effective venting of air pockets from each segment.
2Adaptability or versatility
If ventilation lines are made longer to reach distant components from a central feed point, then all components can be connected to the venting system, but the lines require frequent support structures and tolerance compensation, increasing manufacturing and assembly costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local venting quality by allowing each component or component group to have its own dedicated vent line opening into nearby coolant lines. This local approach eliminates the need for long ventilation lines that would require complex support structures and tolerance compensation, thereby simplifying manufacturing and assembly while maintaining comprehensive venting coverage across all components.
3Stress or pressure
If small orifices with flow diameter of 1 mm or less are used in central feed systems to balance different pressure levels, then pressure equilibrium can be achieved, but the risk of clogging from particles in the coolant increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the pressure balancing function from the vent lines themselves and relocates it to the coolant lines through which coolant already flows. By opening vent lines directly into coolant lines rather than into a central feed point with restrictive orifices, the system utilizes the existing coolant flow to naturally balance pressure levels, thereby eliminating the need for small orifices and the associated clogging risk while maintaining pressure equilibrium.
4Ease of manufacture
If identical orifice diameters are used in all vent lines, then identical parts can be used for manufacturing, but the different pressure levels of various components cannot be properly balanced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces coolant flow as an intermediary mechanism that mediates pressure balancing between components with different pressure levels. Instead of using differently sized orifices in each vent line, the system uses the natural flow characteristics and path lengths of coolant through various coolant lines to automatically balance pressures, thereby allowing all vent line orifices to have identical dimensions while still achieving proper pressure equilibrium.
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 minimizes the complexity and cost of ventilation lines, reduces susceptibility to vibration, and ensures efficient cooling by eliminating air pockets and clogging risks, while maintaining high cooling performance and allowing for identical parts usage.
Implementation Method 1
a liquid coolant to absorb heat from components to be cooled
Implementation Method 2
a vent line being fluidly connected to a component to be cooled, which is supplied with coolant via a coolant line, for venting the component
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3
AI summary
Disclosed is a cooling system (3) comprising at least one component (5) which is to be cooled and into which a first coolant line (7) runs; a first evacuation line (9) is fluidically connected to the first component (5) in order to evacuate the first component (5). The cooling system (3) is characterized in that the first evacuation line (9) runs into a second coolant line (11).