Cooling system for a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11938979-B2
Application number	US-201916720327-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2019
Priority date	Jan 14, 2019
Publication date	Mar 26, 2024
Grant date	Mar 26, 2024

Abstract

An assembly may be provided that includes a controller configured to be coupled with at least one blower drive that operates a blower motor to cool resistive elements that dissipate electrical power as heat. The controller may be configured to determine whether the electrical power is no longer received by the resistive elements and operate the at least one blower drive to operate the blower motor to cool the resistive elements responsive to the electrical power no longer being received by the resistive elements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An assembly comprising:
a controller configured to be coupled with at least one blower drive that operates a blower motor to cool resistive elements that dissipate electrical power as heat, the controller configured to determine whether the electrical power is no longer received by the resistive elements and control the at least one blower drive to operate the blower motor to cool the resistive elements responsive to the electrical power no longer being received by the resistive elements.

2. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the at least one blower drive to activate the blower motor to cool the resistive elements for a defined time period after determining that the electrical power is not received by the resistive elements and to deactivate the blower motor after expiration of the defined time period.

3. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a temperature of the resistive elements, and to control the at least one blower drive to deactivate the blower motor responsive to the temperature of the resistive elements not exceeding a threshold temperature.

4. The assembly of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to calculate the temperature of the resistive elements by determining a change in resistance of one or more of the resistive elements.

5. The assembly of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to change a speed of the blower motor based on the temperature of the resistive elements that is determined.

6. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to change a speed at which the blower motor operates responsive to the electrical power no longer being received by the resistive elements.

7. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the at least one blower drive includes a first blower drive and a second blower drive, and the controller is configured to independently vary speed of the first blower drive and speed of the second blower drive after the electrical power is no longer received by the resistive elements.

8. A method comprising:
receiving electrical power from an electrical bus at resistive elements of a grid assembly;
cooling the resistive elements by operating a blower drive while receiving the electrical power at the resistive elements from the electrical bus;
continuing to cool the resistive elements by continuing to operate the blower drive after the electrical power is no longer received by the resistive elements for a period of time, the period of time during which the blower drive continues to operate after the electrical power is no longer received by the resistive elements based on one or more operational parameters of the grid assembly; and
ceasing operation of the blower drive after the electrical power is no longer received by the resistive elements for longer than the period of time.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein ceasing the operation of the blower drive includes receiving parameter data related to the electrical power received by the resistive elements from the electrical bus and indicative of the one or more operational parameters; and determining the period of time to operate the blower drive after the electrical power is no longer received by the resistive elements based on a model and the one or more operational parameters.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein ceasing the operation of the blower drive includes receiving parameter data related to the resistive elements and indicative of the one or more operational parameters; determining an average temperature of the resistive elements based on the one or more operational parameters; and ceasing the operation of the blower drive responsive to the average temperature of the resistive elements being cooler than a threshold temperature.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the average temperature of the resistive elements based on the one or more operational parameters includes calculating a change in resistance of the resistive elements based on at least one of current data or voltage data.

12. A system, comprising:
a controller configured to determine an accumulated wear parameter value for a grid assembly of a vehicle and an operating age indicative of a duration of use of the grid assembly, the controller configured to update the accumulated wear parameter value based on operation of the grid assembly and determine an available wear parameter value for the grid assembly based on the accumulated wear parameter value and the operating age, the controller configured to perform a first responsive action based on at least the available wear parameter value.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to
monitor an operating condition of the grid assembly over a plurality of operating ranges;
update, during the operation of the grid assembly, a plurality of the accumulated wear parameter values, each of the plurality of accumulated wear parameter values corresponding to a respective operating range of the plurality of operating ranges; and
determine, during the operation of the grid assembly, a plurality of available wear parameter values based on the plurality of accumulated wear parameter values and the operating age, each of the plurality of available wear parameter values corresponding to the respective operating range of the plurality of operating ranges, wherein a first corrective action for the vehicle is performed when at least one of the plurality of available wear parameter values falls below a respective first threshold for the respective operating range of the plurality of operating ranges.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the controller is configured to:
determine a projected wear parameter value for each of the plurality of operating ranges based on the operating age advanced and a respective growth rate; and
update the available wear parameter values for the plurality of operating ranges based on differences between respective projected wear parameter values and respective accumulated wear parameter values corresponding to the plurality of operating ranges.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the grid assembly includes resistive elements and the available wear parameter value is related to the resistive elements of the grid assembly; and
wherein the grid assembly includes at least one blower drive, and the available wear parameter value is related to the at least one blower drive.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the available wear parameter value of the grid assembly is an average temperature of resistive elements of the grid assembly; and responsive to the average temperature of resistive elements of the grid assembly increasing above a change in temperature threshold, performing a first corrective action of varying a blower drive of the grid assembly.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the grid assembly of the vehicle further comprises:
a first blower drive electrically coupled to an electrical bus and resistive elements of the grid assembly to operate a first blower motor responsive to electrical power received by the resistive elements from the electrical bus; and
a second blower drive electrically coupled to the electrical bus and the resistive elements to operate a second blower motor responsive to the electrical power received by the resistive elements from the electrical bus.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the controller is configured to monitor a sound output from the first blower drive and the second blower drive; and vary at least one of a first frequency or a second frequency

Assignees

• Transp Ip Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Wolff Jeffrey John
• Young Henry Todd
• Jones Kevin Michael
• Cooper Laura

Classifications

• B61L15/0058 Primary

  On-board optimisation of vehicle or vehicle train operation · CPC title

• B61C17/04 Primary

  Arrangement or disposition of driving cabins, footplates or engine rooms; Ventilation thereof (driving cabins and accessories B61D) · CPC title

• H02K9/00

  Arrangements for cooling or ventilating (channels or ducts in parts of the magnetic circuit H02K1/20, H02K1/32; channels or ducts in or between conductors H02K3/22, H02K3/24) · CPC title

• B60L2240/36

  Temperature of vehicle components or parts · CPC title

• H01C1/082

  using forced fluid flow · CPC title