Joint active thermal management system and control logic for hybrid and electric vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10252597-B2
Application number	US-201715666051-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2017
Priority date	Aug 1, 2017
Publication date	Apr 9, 2019
Grant date	Apr 9, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed are joint active thermal management (ATM) systems for electric-drive vehicles, control logic for operating such ATM systems, and electric-drive vehicles equipped with a joint ATM system for heating/cooling the powertrain's drive unit (DU) section, power electronics (PE) section, and rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) section. A disclosed active thermal management system includes a first coolant loop with fluid conduits fluidly connecting a first electronic heat exchanger and a first pump with the DU and PE sections. The ATM system also includes a second coolant loop with fluid conduits fluidly connecting a second electronic heat exchanger and a second pump with the RESS section. A coolant-to-coolant heat exchanger, which is fluidly connected to the first and second coolant loops, is operable to selectively transfer heat between the coolant fluid circulating in the first set of fluid conduits and the coolant fluid circulating in the second set of fluid conduits.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A thermal management system for an electric-drive motor vehicle, the motor vehicle including a drive unit (DU) section with a prime mover, a power electronics (PE) section with an electronic control module, and a rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) section with an electric storage unit, the thermal management system comprising:
a first electronic heat exchanger configured to actively transfer heat from a first coolant fluid to cooling fluid;
a first pump configured to circulate the first coolant fluid emitted from the first electronic heat exchanger;
a first coolant loop with a first set of fluid conduits fluidly connecting the first electronic heat exchanger, the first pump, the DU section, and the PE section;
a second electronic heat exchanger configured to actively transfer heat from a second coolant fluid to cooling fluid;
a second pump configured to circulate the second coolant fluid emitted from the second electronic heat exchanger;
a second coolant loop with a second set of fluid conduits fluidly connecting the second electronic heat exchanger, the second pump, and the RESS section; and
a coolant-to-coolant (C2C) heat exchanger fluidly connected to the first and second coolant loops and configured to selectively transfer heat between the first coolant fluid circulating in the first set of fluid conduits and the second coolant fluid circulating in the second set of fluid conduits.

2. The thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the motor vehicle further includes an air conditioning (AC) section, the thermal management system further comprising:
an electronic compressor configured to compress a third coolant fluid;
an electronic condenser configured to condense the compressed third coolant fluid emitted from the electronic compressor; and
a third coolant loop with a third set of fluid conduits fluidly connecting the electronic compressor, the electronic condenser, the AC section, and the second heat exchanger.

3. The thermal management system of claim 1 , further comprising a three-way control valve configured to fluidly connect the RESS section to the C2C heat exchanger and to selectively divert the flow of the second coolant fluid from the C2C heat exchanger.

4. The thermal management system of claim 3 , wherein the three-way control valve is operable in first and second modes: when in the first mode, the three-way control valve directs the second coolant fluid flow from the RESS section, through the C2C heat exchanger, and to the second electronic heat exchanger; and, when in the second mode, the three-way control valve directs the second coolant fluid flow from the RESS section, around the C2C heat exchanger, and to the second electronic heat exchanger.

5. The thermal management system of claim 1 , further comprising a bypass valve fluidly connecting the C2C heat exchanger to the first electronic heat exchanger and configured to selectively divert the flow of the first coolant fluid from the first electronic heat exchanger.

6. The thermal management system of claim 5 , wherein the bypass valve is operable in first and second modes: when in the first mode, the bypass valve directs the first coolant fluid flow from the C2C heat exchanger, through the first electronic heat exchanger, and to the PE section; and, when in the second mode, the bypass valve directs the first coolant fluid flow from the C2C heat exchanger, around the first electronic heat exchanger, and to the PE section.

7. The thermal management system of claim 1 , further comprising an electric fan configured to convectively cool the first electronic heat exchanger and the RESS section.

8. The thermal management system of claim 1 , further comprising a first air separator and a first fluid reservoir interposed between the first pump and the C2C heat exchanger in the first coolant loop.

9. The thermal management system of claim 1 , further comprising a second air separator and a second fluid reservoir interposed between the second electronic heat exchanger and the second pump in the second coolant loop.

10. The thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the first pump is a bi-directional coolant pump interposed between the first electronic heat exchanger and the C2C heat exchanger in the first coolant loop, and wherein the second pump is a unidirectional pump interposed between the second electronic heat exchanger and the C2C heat exchanger in the second coolant loop.

11. The thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the first electronic heat exchanger is a coolant-to-ambient radiator, the first coolant fluid is radiator fluid, and the first pump is a radiator pump.

12. The thermal management system of claim 1 , wherein the second electronic heat exchanger is a coolant-to-refrigerant chiller, the second coolant fluid is chiller coolant, and the second pump is a chiller pump.

13. The thermal management system of claim 1 , characterized by a lack of an electronic heating device dedicated to actively heating the second coolant fluid flowing in the second coolant loop.

14. The thermal management system of claim 1 , characterized by a lack of a fluid coupling configured to fluidly connect the first and second coolant loops.

15. An electric-drive motor vehicle comprising:
a vehicle body with a plurality of road wheels;
a drive unit (DU) section with an electric motor operable to drive the road wheels;
a power electronics (PE) section with a traction power inverter module (TPIM), an accessory power module (APM), and/or an onboard charging module (OBCM);
a rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) section with a traction battery pack;
a first coolant loop including a radiator, a radiator pump configured to circulate radiator fluid emitted from the radiator, and a first set of fluid conduits fluidly interconnecting the radiator, the radiator pump, the DU section, and the PE section;
a second coolant loop including a RESS chiller, a RESS pump configured to circulate chiller fluid emitted from the RESS chiller, and a second set of fluid conduits fluidly interconnecting the RESS chiller, the RESS pump, and the RESs section; and
a coolant-to-coolant (C2C) heat exchanger fluidly connected to the first and second coolant loops and configured to selectively transfer heat between the radiator coolant circulating in the first set of fluid conduits and the chiller coolant circulating in the second set of fluid conduits.

16. The motor vehicle of claim 15 , further comprising a third coolant loop with an air conditioning (AC) compressor, an AC condenser configured to condense compressed refrigerant emitted from the AC compressor, and a third set of fluid conduits fluidly interconnecting the AC compressor, the AC condenser, the RESS chiller, and a passenger compartment of the motor vehicle.

17. The motor vehicle of claim 15 , further comprising a three-way control valve fluidly connecting the RESS section to the C2C heat exchanger and configured to selectively direct the flow of the chiller fluid to and divert the chiller fluid around the C2C heat exchanger.

18. The motor vehicle of claim 15 , further comprising a bypass valve fluidly connecting the C2C heat exchanger to the radiator and configured to selectively direct the flow of the radiator fluid to and divert the radiator fluid around the radiator.

19. The motor vehicle of claim 15 , further comprising an electric radiator fan configured to convectively cool the radiator and the RESS section.

20. The motor vehicle of claim 15 , further comprising:
a first air separ

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc
• Gm Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Wallace William J
• Valencia Jr Pablo
• Liu Wei
• Carleton Peter J

Classifications

• B60Y2306/05

  Cooling · CPC title

• B60K2001/006

  the electric motors · CPC title

• B60L50/00

  Electric propulsion with power supplied within the vehicle (with power supply from force of nature, e.g. sun or wind, B60L8/00; for monorail vehicles, suspension vehicles or rack railways B60L13/00) · CPC title

• B60K2001/005

  the electric storage means · CPC title

• B60K11/02 Primary

  with liquid cooling · CPC title