Vehicle Thermal Power Allocation for Prioritized Component Heating
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional thermal management systems in electric vehicles fail to customize power distribution to high-voltage components, leading to inadequate heating or cooling under extreme conditions, and do not prioritize power allocation based on component needs and available power.
Innovation Solution
A thermal management module allocates power to thermal components based on a power budget, considering component priority, power consumption, and a growth buffer, ensuring each component receives a minimum operating power, with excess power distributed evenly across active components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If conventional thermal management systems allocate power uniformly to thermal components, then system simplicity is maintained, but power distribution efficiency deteriorates under extreme conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the power allocation process into three distinct stages: (1) allocating minimum operating power to each active thermal component, (2) allocating additional power based on power growth buffers, and (3) equally distributing any remaining excess power. This segmentation enables efficient power distribution under extreme conditions while maintaining manageable system complexity through structured control logic.
2Device complexity
If power is allocated without customization based on component needs, then control logic simplicity is maintained, but thermal management effectiveness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by assigning different power allocation characteristics to different thermal components based on their specific needs. Each component receives a customized power allocation that considers its minimum operating power requirements, power growth buffer, and thermal management effectiveness, rather than applying a uniform allocation strategy to all components.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms by continuously monitoring thermal component status and adjusting power allocations accordingly. The control logic evaluates component needs and available power, then dynamically distributes power to maintain thermal management effectiveness while adapting to changing operating conditions.
3Reliability
If minimum operating power is guaranteed to all components, then component reliability is improved, but available power for high-priority components deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by first allocating minimum operating power to each active thermal component before distributing additional power. This ensures that all components have sufficient power to operate reliably, and then high-priority components can receive additional power through the growth buffer mechanism and excess power distribution, thereby maintaining component reliability while prioritizing power allocation.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods for managing power distribution to a plurality of thermal components of a vehicle. A method may include, responsive to receiving a power budget, allocating, by a thermal management module (TMM), a first power allocation to each active thermal component of the plurality of thermal components. A method may further include allocating, by the TMM, a second power allocation to each active thermal component of the plurality of thermal components based on a power consumption of each active thermal component of the plurality of thermal components. A method may further include allocating, by the TMM, a third power allocation to each active thermal component of the plurality of thermal components by equally distributing any excess power from the power budget following the first power allocations and the second power allocations.