Parallel Cooling Circuit for EV Charging Columns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Charging column systems for electric vehicles face inefficiencies in cooling, leading to uneven cooling power distribution and potential premature failure due to elevated inlet temperatures and pressure losses, necessitating improved maintenance and infrastructure costs.
Innovation Solution
A parallel connection of cooling lines within the cooling system ensures equal inlet temperatures and pressures across all charging columns, allowing for uniform cooling power distribution, with optional bypass lines and regulating valves to manage flow and pressure, and a centralized cooling pump setup to reduce apparatus expenditure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If charging columns are connected in series in a cooling circuit, then the system structure is simpler, but downstream charging columns experience elevated inlet temperatures and lower cooling power
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling circuit is segmented into multiple parallel branches, each serving individual charging columns. This segmentation allows each column to receive cooling medium at the same inlet temperature from the common inlet collecting line, eliminating the temperature escalation problem of series connection while maintaining system manageability.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling circuit transitions from a one-dimensional series arrangement to a two-dimensional parallel network structure. Multiple cooling lines are arranged in parallel between the common inlet and outlet collecting lines, creating a spatial distribution that enables equal temperature and pressure conditions at each charging column while providing structural complexity only where necessary for performance.
2Reliability
If charging columns are connected in parallel in a cooling circuit, then equal cooling power is achieved for all columns, but the system complexity and line length increase
Solution Approach 1:
The common inlet and outlet collecting lines serve multiple functions: they distribute cooling medium to all charging columns uniformly, collect heated medium from all columns, and provide a framework for both active and inactive column connections. This multi-functionality achieves uniform cooling reliability while minimizing the number of separate components needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The parallel cooling circuit structure enables dynamic operation where individual cooling lines can be independently controlled or blocked. This allows the system to adapt to varying operational requirements, such as blocking inactive columns to redirect flow to active ones, thereby maintaining uniform cooling performance across different operational states without requiring complete system redesign.
3Device complexity
If cooling lines to inactive charging columns remain open, then the system structure is simpler, but unnecessary pressure losses occur and cooling power is reduced for active columns
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system incorporates dynamic control capability through blocking mechanisms that can close individual cooling lines to inactive charging columns. This dynamic adjustment eliminates unnecessary pressure losses in inactive branches while redirecting cooling medium flow to active columns, thereby maintaining high cooling power where needed without requiring complex active flow control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The blocking mechanism selectively extracts or removes the flow path to inactive charging columns from the active cooling circuit. By taking out the inactive branches from the flow path, the system eliminates their negative impact on overall performance while maintaining the simple parallel structure, achieving energy efficiency without proportionally increasing device complexity.
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 ensures uniform and efficient cooling of charging columns, prolongs their service life, reduces maintenance needs, and lowers infrastructure costs by optimizing cooling power and minimizing unnecessary pressure losses, facilitating progressive electrification of public transport.
Implementation Method 1
multiple cooling lines which are each able to be thermally coupled to an associated charging column to be cooled
Implementation Method 2
a cooling pump for delivering the cooling medium of the cooling system
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling system for a charging column system for charging electrically driveable motor vehicles, has an inlet collecting line for the supply of a cooling medium, an outlet collecting line for the discharge of the heated cooling medium, and multiple cooling lines which are each able to be thermally coupled to an associated charging column to be cooled that serves for charging the electrically driveable motor vehicle and which serve for cooling the charging column, in particular a charging cable of a charging point and/or power electronics of the charging column. The cooling lines are fluidically connected to the inlet collecting line and to the outlet collecting line so as to be connected in parallel with respect to one another. The connection in parallel of the charging columns for the cooling allows an equal cooling power to be set for each charging column to be cooled.