Motor Vehicle Drive Device Cooling Circuit with Parallel Coolers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling systems for motor vehicle drive devices are not optimized for efficient heat management, particularly in varying operating conditions and environmental temperatures, leading to suboptimal cooling performance.
Innovation Solution
A method that divides coolant between two coolant coolers based on driving speed, blower control, cooling air mass flow, and coolant volumetric flow, using a final control element to maximize the total cooling capacity by optimizing the distribution of coolant between a main cooler and auxiliary coolers with different capacities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single coolant cooler is used in the cooling circuit, then the device complexity is reduced, but the cooling performance is insufficient under varying operating conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling circuit is segmented into multiple parallel coolant coolers (first coolant cooler and second coolant cooler) instead of using a single cooler. This segmentation allows each cooler to be optimized for different operating conditions, with the final control element distributing coolant flow appropriately to maximize cooling performance across varying drive speeds and environmental temperatures.
2Productivity
If coolant is divided between multiple coolant coolers, then the total cooling capacity is maximized, but the device complexity increases due to the final control element
Solution Approach 1:
The final control element dynamically adjusts coolant distribution between the first and second coolant coolers based on real-time operating conditions such as drive speed and environmental temperature. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to maximize total cooling capacity by directing coolant flow to the cooler that is most effective under current conditions, thereby resolving the contradiction between enhanced cooling performance and increased control complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the coolant flow is optimized for high driving speeds, then the cooling performance at high speeds is improved, but the cooling performance at low speeds deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by having different coolant coolers optimized for different operating regimes. The final control element directs coolant flow to the first coolant cooler when high cooling capacity is needed at high driving speeds, and to the second coolant cooler when lower speeds or different thermal conditions prevail. This localized optimization ensures high cooling performance across the entire driving speed range without compromising performance at any specific speed regime.
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 approach ensures the heat-generating device is cooled efficiently and effectively across different operating conditions and environmental states, maximizing the total cooling capacity and maintaining the heat-generating device within a permissible temperature range.
Implementation Method 1
a cooling circuit for cooling the heat-generating device... Heat is hereby transferred from the heat-generating device to the coolant
Implementation Method 2
The first coolant cooler and the second coolant cooler are provided in order to cool the coolant again
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure relates to a method for operating a drive device of a motor vehicle, wherein the drive device has at least one heat-generating device and a cooling circuit for cooling the heat-generating device, and at least one first coolant cooler of the cooling circuit and at least one second coolant cooler of the cooling circuit are fluidically connected to the heat-generating device. It is thereby provided that the first coolant cooler and the second coolant cooler are fluidically connected in parallel to the heat-generating device, and that coolant arriving from the heat-generating device be divided by means of a control mechanism between the first coolant cooler and the second coolant cooler. The disclosure furthermore relates to a drive device of a motor vehicle.