Integrated Valve-Pump Housing for Compact Vehicle Heat Circuits
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heat transport medium systems in vehicles are complex, requiring multiple components and occupying significant space and weight, leading to increased costs.
Innovation Solution
A highly integrated valve/pump unit with an electric motor, multiway valve, and reduction gearbox housed in a common structure, allowing for simplified integration and reduced component count, weight, and space usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If multiple components (electric motor, multiway valve, pump stage) are integrated into a common housing section, then device complexity is reduced and installation space is minimized, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the electric motor, multiway valve, and pump stage into a single common housing section, merging multiple previously separate components into one unified assembly. This reduces the overall number of parts, simplifies the system architecture, and minimizes installation space while maintaining functional independence of each component through precise internal positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The common housing section serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, accommodates multiple components (motor, valve, pump), enables heat dissipation, and facilitates fluid distribution. This multi-functional design reduces the need for separate housings and mounting structures, thereby reducing device complexity without compromising manufacturing precision.
2Strength
If the multiway valve encloses the electric motor annularly, then structural rigidity is increased, but ease of manufacture decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The multiway valve is designed with segmented valve sections that can be manufactured separately and then assembled around the electric motor. This segmentation allows each valve section to be produced using standard manufacturing processes, improving ease of manufacture, while the final assembled configuration provides the desired annular enclosure and structural rigidity.
Solution Approach 2:
The electric motor is positioned within the annular structure of the multiway valve, creating a nested arrangement where the valve enclosure contains the motor. This nesting approach maximizes structural rigidity by distributing loads through the annular configuration while allowing both components to be manufactured independently and assembled together.
3Volume of moving object
If a reduction gearbox is integrated inside the common housing section, then installation space is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The reduction gearbox is positioned in the axial direction within the common housing section, utilizing the vertical space above or below the pump stage. This dimensional arrangement allows the gearbox to be integrated without significantly increasing the radial footprint, thereby minimizing installation space while managing internal structure complexity through strategic spatial distribution of components.
Data Source
AI summary
A valve/pump unit is proposed, having an electric motor for driving at least one pump stage, at least one first pump stage drivable by the electric motor for conveying a heat transport medium in a first heat transport medium circuit, an adjustable multiway valve with heat transport medium channels for providing at least two switching positions between the first heat transport medium circuit and a second heat transport medium circuit of a heat transport medium system, and a common housing section for accommodating the electric motor, the multiway valve and the pump stage. The multiway valve is joined to the electric motor in such a way that the multiway valve encloses the electric motor.