Hybrid Vehicle Cooling Apparatus Using Engine Water to Cool Heat Pump
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing cooling apparatus for hybrid vehicles has limited cooling capacity due to the spatial constraints of the engine compartment, resulting in small radiators and heat exchangers that inadequately cool the hybrid system, even with the use of heat pumps.
Innovation Solution
The cooling apparatus employs a condenser where the cooling medium is cooled by engine cooling water, allowing for larger radiators and enhanced cooling capacity without an outside air heat exchanger, and uses an outside air heat exchanger when necessary to further increase cooling efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If radiators and heat exchangers are made small to fit within the engine compartment, then spatial constraints are satisfied, but cooling ability is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the cooling functions for the engine, hybrid system, and heat pump into a single integrated water circulation system. The engine cooling water is used to cool the hybrid system components and heat pump, eliminating the need for separate cooling circuits and allowing larger heat exchangers to be accommodated within the engine compartment while maintaining effective cooling capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The engine cooling water serves multiple functions: it cools the engine itself, cools the hybrid system components (motor, battery), and cools the heat pump. This multi-functional use of a single cooling medium allows the system to achieve adequate cooling capacity without requiring proportionally larger radiator areas for each separate function.
2Reliability
If heat pump is added to increase cooling ability, then cooling performance improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The heat pump cooling function is merged with the existing engine and hybrid system cooling circuits. The heat pump's cooling water circulation is integrated with the engine cooling water passage, allowing the heat pump to utilize the engine cooling water for its cooling needs. This integration reduces the number of independent cooling systems and simplifies the overall device complexity while maintaining enhanced cooling capability.
3Reliability
If multiple separate water circulation passages are provided for engine and hybrid system, then cooling functions are satisfied, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the engine water circulation passage and the hybrid system water circulation passage into a shared cooling system. The engine cooling water flows through passages that also serve the hybrid system components, creating an integrated cooling circuit that reduces the number of separate circulation systems while maintaining the ability to cool both the engine and hybrid system effectively.
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 increases the cooling ability of the apparatus by effectively utilizing engine cooling water to cool the medium, allowing for larger radiators and improved cooling performance, while also utilizing outside air when needed to enhance cooling efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a condenser for cooling the cooling medium by using the engine cooling water
Implementation Method 2
an outside air heat exchanger for cooling the cooling medium by using the outside air
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3D
AI summary
A cooling apparatus of a vehicle driving system (200) for driving a vehicle (100) according to the invention activates a heat pump (70) to cool a hybrid system by cooling medium and flows an engine cooling water in an engine water circulation passage (20) through a condenser (73) to cool the cooling medium by the engine cooling water at the condenser when an engine water circulation condition is satisfied. The engine water circulation condition is a condition that a heat pump activation condition is satisfied, and an engine cooling condition is not satisfied. The heat pump activation condition is a condition that a process of cooling the hybrid system by the cooling medium of the heat pump is requested. The engine cooling condition is a condition that a process of cooling an internal combustion engine (110) by the engine cooling water is requested.