Excavator Power Storage Placement for Independent Cooling Airflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
In electric excavators, the cooling air introduced from outside often has a high temperature after passing by the battery, which can lead to inadequate cooling of other devices, while directing cooling air to the battery first results in inefficient cooling of the power storage device due to its high temperature.
Innovation Solution
The excavator design includes a cooling circuit and a fan on the upper turning body that directs air to cool specific devices, with the power storage device positioned to avoid the path of air introduced by the fan, ensuring it is not exposed to the high-temperature air that has passed over other heat-exchanging devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If cooling air is directed to cool other devices first, then those devices are cooled effectively, but the power storage device cannot be cooled appropriately due to high temperature air reaching it
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into separate cooling paths: one for the power storage device and another for other heat-generating devices. The air intake is segmented into a first air intake for the power storage device and a second air intake for other devices, allowing independent cooling control for each component.
Solution Approach 2:
The power storage device is extracted from the common cooling path and given a dedicated cooling system. The first cooling fan and first air intake are specifically assigned to cool the power storage device, separating it from the cooling airflow that passes through other devices.
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 allows for effective cooling of multiple devices, including the power storage, by preventing the high-temperature air from reaching the power storage device and ensuring efficient heat dissipation for other components.
Implementation Method 1
a fan mounted on the upper turning body and configured to blow air to a predetermined device for cooling the predetermined device
Implementation Method 2
a cooling circuit configured to cool the power storage
Data Source
AI summary
An excavator includes a lower traveling body, an upper turning body turnably mounted on the lower traveling body, actuators configured to drive driven portions including the lower traveling body and the upper turning body, a power storage mounted on the upper turning body and used as an energy source for driving the actuators, a cooling circuit configured to cool the power storage, and a fan mounted on the upper turning body and configured to blow air to a radiator and a condenser for cooling the radiator and the condenser. Further, the power storage is arranged such that the power storage is apart from a path in which air outside the upper turning body, by an operation of the fan, is introduced into inside the upper turning body, passes across the heat exchanging device, and is discharged to the outside of the upper turning body.