Three-Fluid Heat Exchanger Layout for EV Coolant Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heat exchangers for electric vehicles face challenges in efficiently cooling fluids with different temperature ranges, such as coolants for batteries and motors, leading to reduced cooling efficiency and increased complexity, weight, and leakage risks when separate chillers are used.
Innovation Solution
A heat exchanger design that allows three types of fluids, including two coolants and a refrigerant, to exchange heat through a single device by alternately stacking plates with partitioned flow paths, enabling independent circulation and heat exchange between the coolants and the refrigerant.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate chillers are used for cooling different fluids with different temperature ranges, then cooling efficiency for each fluid can be optimized, but device complexity increases and leakage risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple chillers into a single integrated heat exchanger that can handle different fluids with different temperature ranges simultaneously. The heat exchanger includes multiple heat exchange chambers with independent flow paths, allowing it to cool battery coolant and motor coolant in the same device, thereby reducing the number of separate chillers and associated leakage risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat exchanger is designed with multi-functionality to perform cooling tasks for different fluids with different temperature requirements using a single refrigerant circulation system. It includes multiple heat exchange chambers that can independently process different coolant types, making one device serve multiple cooling functions that previously required separate chillers.
2Reliability
If separate chillers are used for cooling different fluids, then each fluid can be cooled efficiently, but vehicle weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple cooling functions into a single heat exchanger assembly, eliminating the need for multiple separate chiller units. This integration significantly reduces the overall weight of the cooling system while maintaining the ability to efficiently cool different fluids with different temperature ranges through independently designed heat exchange chambers.
3Volume of moving object
If a single heat exchanger is used for three fluids, then space utilization is optimized and weight is reduced, but heat exchange efficiency may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger is segmented into multiple independent heat exchange chambers, each optimized for specific fluid combinations. The partition walls create separate flow paths that prevent fluid mixing while maximizing heat exchange surface area. This segmentation allows efficient heat transfer between refrigerant and different coolant types without compromising overall heat exchange performance.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the heat exchanger are designed with locally optimized properties for specific heat exchange tasks. Each heat exchange chamber has tailored flow path configurations and surface area distributions suited for the specific fluid combinations it handles, ensuring high heat exchange efficiency in each local region while maintaining compact overall dimensions.
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 design enhances cooling efficiency, optimizes space utilization, reduces vehicle weight, and minimizes complexity and leakage risks by allowing simultaneous heat exchange between three fluids within a single exchanger.
Implementation Method 1
the first plate and the second plate are alternately stacked... for the first fluid and the second fluid to exchange heat with each other
Data Source
AI summary
A heat exchanger is formed to enable three types of fluids to undergo heat exchange with each other. The heat exchanger is formed so that two types of coolants having different temperature ranges, such as a coolant for cooling a battery and a coolant for cooling a motor, and one type of refrigerant in an electric vehicle may undergo heat exchange by means of one heat exchanger.