Method for heating a housing containing at least one functional body

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12338758-B2
Application number	US-202117798431-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2021
Priority date	Mar 9, 2020
Publication date	Jun 24, 2025
Grant date	Jun 24, 2025

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for heating a housing containing at least one functional member, the housing including: at least one wall shared with a reservoir intended to receive a liquid; and at least one wall provided with an orifice leading to the outside and closed by a pressure equalizing membrane porous to water vapor and impermeable to liquid water. The method is notable in that the interior volume of the housing is heated in at least one of the following situations: when the reservoir is subjected to a drop in temperature other than a drop in temperature likely to cause the liquid to freeze; each time a vehicle equipped with this housing is started; and when thermal conditions capable of producing condensates are detected in the interior volume of the housing, closed by the membrane.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for heating a housing containing at least one functional member including at least one of a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, and a level sensor, said housing including at least one wall shared with a reservoir configured to receive a liquid, the housing overlapping an interior volume of the reservoir, and at least one wall provided with an orifice leading to the outside and closed by a pressure equalizing membrane porous to water vapor and impermeable to liquid water, the method comprising:
heating humid air inside an interior volume of said housing overlapping the interior volume of the reservoir including the at least one wall shared with the reservoir and the at least one wall provided with the orifice in at least one of the following situations, the heating of the interior volume of the housing being triggered based on information supplied by at least one of the temperature sensor, the pressure sensor, and the level sensor inside the housing:
(i) when the information supplied by the temperature sensor indicates that said reservoir is subjected to a drop in temperature other than a drop in temperature that causes said liquid to freeze,
(ii) each time a vehicle equipped with the housing is started, and
(iii) when thermal conditions that produce condensates are detected in the interior volume of said housing, closed by said membrane, indicated by the information supplied by one of the temperature sensor and the level sensor.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the interior volume of said housing is heated when reservoir is filled with said liquid, or after having detected the reservoir being filled with the liquid.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the interior volume of said housing is heated by a plurality of heating elements secured to said shared wall and provided to ensure that said liquid melts.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the interior volume of said housing is heated by a heat flow coming from the engine of a vehicle equipped with said reservoir.

5. The method as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising sensing an opening of the filling orifice of said reservoir by an opening sensor.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the interior volume of said housing is heated when said reservoir and said housing are at least partially submerged during fording.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the interior volume of said housing is heated by a plurality of heating elements secured to said shared wall and provided to ensure that said liquid melts.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the interior volume of said housing is heated by a heat flow coming from the engine of a vehicle equipped with said reservoir.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the interior volume of said housing is heated by a plurality of heating elements secured to said shared wall and provided to ensure that said liquid melts.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the interior volume of said housing is heated by a heat flow coming from the engine of a vehicle equipped with said reservoir.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising sensing an opening of the filling orifice of said reservoir by an opening sensor.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the interior volume of said housing is heated for at least 30 seconds and at most 2 hours, to raise an absolute temperature of the interior volume from 30K to 100K.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reservoir is configured to hold urea to reduce NOx emissions in a diesel engine and the housing is integral with the reservoir configured to hold urea.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reservoir is configured to hold water to cool a gasoline engine and the housing is integral with the reservoir configured to hold water.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reservoir is configured to hold fuel to supply hydrogen production device of a fuel-cell-powered engine.

16. A device for controlling the heating of the interior volume of said housing, wherein the device is programmed to implement the heating method as claimed in claim 1 .

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium on which is stored a computer program, which when executed by a computer in a device for controlling the heating of the interior volume of the housing, causes the computer to perform the method of claim 1 .

18. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the housing is at least partially contained within the reservoir.

19. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the heating the humid air in the interior volume of the housing comprises activating at least one heating element disposed on the at least one wall shared with the reservoir to emit heat into the interior volume of the housing and through the at least one wall shared with the reservoir.

Assignees

• Vitesco Tech Gmbh

Inventors

• Maguin Georges

Classifications

• F01P2070/04

  using electrical heating elements · CPC title

• F01P2037/02

  starting · CPC title

• F01P11/20

  concerning atmospheric freezing conditions, e.g. automatically draining or heating during frosty weather · CPC title

• F01P11/029

  Expansion reservoirs · CPC title

• F01N2610/1406

  Storage means for substances, e.g. tanks or reservoirs · CPC title