Powertrain Precooling Control for EV High-Load Driving
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Solution Overview
Problem
In electric vehicles, powertrain components like electric motors and inverters experience excessive temperature increases during high-load driving conditions, leading to reduced power output, increased cooling system power consumption, and decreased electric efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A control method for precooling powertrain components before high-load driving conditions, using estimated driving information and external environmental conditions to determine the optimal precooling timing and extent, thereby maintaining component temperatures within a target range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If the vehicle drives in high load conditions, then the power output of powertrain components is limited due to temperature increase, but the power consumption of cooling systems increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary cooling of powertrain components before high-load driving conditions occur. The controller predicts high-load driving timing based on navigation information and pre-cools the powertrain components during low-load periods, so that when high-load driving occurs, the components are already at optimal temperature, preventing power limitation and reducing the need for intensive cooling during high-load operation
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies preliminary anti-action by preemptively cooling the powertrain components before temperature rise causes power limitation. By anticipating high-load driving conditions and cooling the components in advance, the system prevents the harmful thermal effects before they occur, maintaining power output while reducing overall cooling energy consumption
2Reliability
If the temperature of powertrain components increases during high load driving, then the power output is reduced to prevent damage, but the operating loads and power consumption of cooling systems increase
Solution Approach 1:
The controller uses navigation information to predict high-load driving timing and pre-cools powertrain components before these conditions occur. This preliminary cooling action maintains component temperatures within safe operating ranges during high-load driving, ensuring reliability while avoiding the need for high-power cooling operation during critical driving periods
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes periods of low vehicle load to perform cooling of powertrain components, effectively using idle or low-demand time slots to maintain component temperatures. This self-service approach allows the cooling system to operate at low power consumption during low-load periods, preparing components for upcoming high-load conditions without requiring high power input during actual high-load operation
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
Precooling the powertrain components prevents power limits and improves electric efficiency by reducing the power consumption of the cooling systems and maintaining optimal operating conditions during high-load driving.
Implementation Method 1
The powertrain cooling system may cool the powertrain components such as an electric motor, an inverter, an on-board charger (OBC), and a low DC-DC converter (LDC), thereby keeping the powertrain components at their respective appropriate temperatures
Implementation Method 2
The battery cooling system may cool the battery, thereby keeping the battery at its appropriate temperature
Implementation Method 3
The HVAC system may be configured to heat and cool the air in the passenger compartment for passenger comfort
Data Source
AI summary
An embodiment is a control method for cooling a powertrain component, the method including in response to a destination being input to a navigation, determining estimated high-load driving timing of the powertrain component based on estimated driving information of a vehicle, and in response to a determination that a temperature difference between the actual temperature of the powertrain component and a reference temperature before the estimated high-load driving timing is lower than or equal to a precooling operating value, precooling the powertrain component until an actual temperature of the powertrain component reaches a target temperature by controlling an operation of each component of a powertrain cooling system.