Cooling system and cooling method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11446984-B2
Application number	US-202117158462-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 26, 2021
Priority date	Feb 19, 2020
Publication date	Sep 20, 2022
Grant date	Sep 20, 2022

Abstract

A cooling system is provided to cool fluid used in a device mounted on a vehicle, by exchanging heat with cooler cooling water in a cooler. The system includes a cooling water passage connected to the cooler and having an undercover cooling water passage provided to an undercover, a cooler radiator configured to cool the cooler cooling water by exchanging heat between the cooler cooling water and air flowing into an engine bay from a grille, a flow rate adjuster configured to adjust a flow rate of the cooler cooling water supplied the undercover cooling water passage, and a controller configured to acquire at least a pressure or a temperature of the fluid, and control the flow rate adjuster to increase the flow rate of the cooler cooling water supplied to the undercover cooling water passage based on an increase in the pressure or the temperature of the fluid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cooling system configured to cool a fluid used in a device mounted on a vehicle, by exchanging heat with cooler cooling water in a cooler, the cooling system comprising:
a cooling water passage connected to the cooler and having an undercover cooling water passage provided to an undercover forming a bottom surface of the vehicle and where the cooler cooling water is cooled by exchanging heat between the cooler cooling water and air below the undercover;
a cooler radiator provided in the cooling water passage and configured to cool the cooler cooling water by exchanging heat between the cooler cooling water and air flowing into an engine bay from a grille that is an opening portion formed at a front end of the vehicle;
a flow rate adjuster including a pump or valve, configured to adjust a flow rate of the cooler cooling water supplied to the undercover cooling water passage; and
a controller configured to control the flow rate adjuster, the controller acquiring at least one of a pressure and a temperature of the fluid, and controlling the flow rate adjuster to increase the flow rate of the cooler cooling water supplied to the undercover cooling water passage based on an increase in one of the pressure and the temperature of the fluid.

2. The cooling system of claim 1 , further comprising a grille shutter provided to the grille and configured to change an effective opening area of the grille,
wherein the controller acquires a traveling speed of the vehicle and, when the traveling speed is above a given speed threshold, controls the grille shutter to close the grille.

3. The cooling system of claim 2 ,
wherein the cooling water passage has a bypass passage connecting a branching portion disposed upstream of the cooler radiator and downstream of the undercover cooling water passage, to a merging portion disposed downstream of the cooler radiator and upstream of the cooler,
wherein the flow rate adjuster includes the valve which is configured to open and close the cooling water passage between the branching portion and the cooler radiator, and
wherein, when the acquired traveling speed is above the speed threshold, the controller controls the valve to close the cooling water passage between the branching portion and the cooler radiator.

4. The cooling system of claim 2 ,
wherein the undercover cooling water passage cools the cooler cooling water by exchanging heat between the cooler cooling water and air flowing into the engine bay from the grille and reaching above the undercover,
wherein the vehicle includes an engine radiator configured to cool engine cooling water that cools the engine of the vehicle by exchanging heat between the engine cooling water and the air flowing into the engine bay from the grille,
wherein the cooling system also includes a flap configured to open and close a path of air from the engine radiator to the undercover, and
wherein the controller controls the flap to close the path when a temperature of the engine cooling water supplied to the engine radiator is above a given temperature threshold.

5. The cooling system of claim 4 , wherein the temperature threshold is determined based on a temperature of the cooler cooling water supplied to the undercover cooling water passage.

6. A method of cooling a fluid used in a device mounted on a vehicle, the vehicle is mounted thereon with a cooling system having a cooling water passage where cooling water circulates and having an undercover cooling water passage provided to an undercover forming a bottom surface of the vehicle, and where the cooling water is cooled by exchanging heat between the cooling water and air below the undercover, a radiator provided in the cooling water passage and configured to cool the cooling water by exchanging heat between the cooling water and air flowing into an engine bay from a grille that is an opening portion formed at a front end of the vehicle, and a cooler provided in the cooling water passage and configured to cool the fluid by exchanging heat between the cooling water and the fluid, the method comprising:
acquiring at least one of a pressure and a temperature of the fluid; and
increasing a flow rate of cooling water supplied to the undercover cooling water passage based on the acquired one of the pressure and the temperature of the fluid.

Assignees

• Mazda Motor

Inventors

• Yamaga Yuma
• Koike Yusuke
• Tanehira Takafumi
• Mikuni Yusuke
• Yamaguchi Kanichi
• Taninaka Katsutoshi

Classifications

• F01P2025/66

  Vehicle speed · CPC title

• F01P2003/187

  arranged in series · CPC title

• B60H1/3228 Primary

  characterised by refrigerant circuit configurations · CPC title

• F01P3/20

  Cooling circuits not specific to a single part of engine or machine (F01P3/22 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F01P2003/185

  arranged in parallel · CPC title