Cooling structure for an air cooler

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025070206-A1
Application number	US-202318529829-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 5, 2023
Priority date	Aug 24, 2023
Publication date	Feb 27, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A cooling structure for an air cooler may include: a stack cooling line through which stack coolant for cooling a fuel cell stack circulates; an electronic component cooling line through which electronic component coolant for cooling an electronic component circulates; an air cooler disposed on the electronic component cooling line to cool air supplied to a cathode of the fuel cell stack; and a first valve connected to the front side of the air cooler to supply at least one of the stack coolant or the electronic component coolant to the air cooler. The cooling structure for an air cooler may include a bypass line connecting the electronic component cooling line upstream of the first valve to the electronic component cooling line downstream of the air cooler in order to allow the electronic component coolant to bypass the air cooler.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A structure for cooling an air cooler, the structure comprising:
a stack cooling line configured to allow stack coolant for cooling a fuel cell stack to circulate therethrough; an electronic component cooling line configured to allow electronic component coolant for cooling an electronic component to circulate therethrough; an air cooler disposed on the electronic component cooling line to cool air supplied to a cathode of the fuel cell stack; a first valve connected to a front side of the air cooler to supply at least one of the stack coolant or the electronic component coolant to the air cooler; and a bypass line connecting the electronic component cooling line upstream of the first valve to the electronic component cooling line downstream of the air cooler in order to allow the electronic component coolant to bypass the air cooler.

2 . The structure of claim 1 , wherein the first valve is disposed on a branch line connecting the air cooler to a front side of the fuel cell stack.

3 . The structure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second valve disposed on the bypass line; and a third valve disposed on a collection line connecting the air cooler to the stack cooling line downstream of the fuel cell stack.

4 . The structure of claim 3 , wherein, when an output of the fuel cell stack is less than a predetermined output, a first port of the first valve connected to the stack cooling line is fully opened, a second port of the first valve connected to the electronic component cooling line is fully closed, and the second valve and the third valve are opened.

5 . The structure of claim 4 , wherein, when the output of the fuel cell stack becomes equal to or greater than the predetermined output, the first port of the first valve connected to the stack cooling line is gradually closed, the second port of the first valve connected to the electronic component cooling line is gradually opened, and the second valve and the third valve are gradually closed.

6 . The structure of claim 5 , wherein, while the first port of the first valve is fully closed or the second port of the first valve is fully opened, the stack coolant and the electronic component coolant flow into the air cooler through the first valve.

7 . The structure of claim 3 , wherein, when an output of the fuel cell stack is equal to or greater than a predetermined output, a first port of the first valve connected to the stack cooling line is fully closed and a second port of the first valve connected to the electronic component cooling line is fully opened, and the second valve and the third valve are fully closed in a fully closed state of the first port of the first valve.

8 . The structure of claim 7 , wherein:
when the first port of the first valve is fully closed, only the electronic component coolant flows into the air cooler; and the electronic component coolant having cooled the air cooler circulates along the electronic component cooling line and flows into an electronic component radiator disposed on the electronic component cooling line.

9 . The structure of claim 3 , wherein opening angles of the second valve and the third valve correspond with an opening angle of a first port of the first valve.

10 . The structure of claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to control the first valve and a flow control valve disposed on the stack cooling line,
wherein the controller controls the first valve and the flow control valve based on an output of the fuel cell stack, and wherein, when the electronic component coolant and the stack coolant simultaneously flow into the air cooler through the first valve, the controller controls the flow control valve such that coolant circulates to an ion filter disposed on the stack cooling line.

11 . The structure of claim 10 , wherein, when an opening degree of a first port of the first valve connected to the stack cooling line is changed based on the output of the fuel cell stack, the controller controls the flow control valve, based on ionic conductivity of the coolant circulating through the stack cooling line, such that the coolant circulates to the ion filter.

12 . The structure of claim 11 , wherein, when the first port of the first valve is closed from a fully open state and when a second port of the first valve connected to the electronic component cooling line is closed from a fully open state, the controller controls the flow control valve such that the coolant circulates to the ion filter for a predetermined time period.

13 . The structure of claim 12 , wherein the predetermined time period is a time period shorter than a time period taken for the first port of the first valve to be fully closed from a fully open state or a time period taken for the second port of the first valve to be fully closed from a fully open state.

14 . The structure of claim 1 , further comprising a second valve disposed on the bypass line,
wherein when the first valve is controlled to allow the electronic component coolant flows into the air cooler, the second valve is opened.

15 . A structure for cooling an air cooler, the structure comprising:
a stack cooling line configured to allow stack coolant for cooling a fuel cell stack to circulate therethrough; an electronic component cooling line configured to allow electronic component coolant for cooling an electronic component to circulate therethrough; an air cooler disposed on the electronic component cooling line to cool air supplied to a cathode of the fuel cell stack; and a first valve connected to the air cooler to supply at least one of the stack coolant or the electronic component coolant to the air cooler, wherein the first valve is controlled based on an output of the fuel cell stack, and wherein, when the first valve is controlled, a flow control valve disposed on the stack cooling line is controlled based on ionic conductivity of the stack coolant such that the stack coolant flows into an ion filter disposed on the stack cooling line.

16 . The structure of claim 15 , further comprising:
a bypass line connecting the electronic component cooling line upstream of the first valve to the electronic component cooling line downstream of the air cooler in order to allow the electronic component coolant to bypass the air cooler,
wherein a second valve is disposed on the bypass line.

17 . The structure of claim 16 , wherein an opening angle of the second valve corresponds with an opening angle of a first port of the first valve connected to the stack cooling line.

18 . The structure of claim 17 , wherein, when the first port of the first valve is closed from a fully open state and when a second port of the first valve connected to the electronic component cooling line is closed from a fully open state, a flow control valve disposed on the stack cooling line is controlled such that coolant flows into the ion filter for a predetermined time period.

19 . The structure of claim 15 , wherein, when the output of the fuel cell stack is less than a predetermined output, a first port of the first valve connected to the stack cooling line is fully opened, and a second port of the first valve connected to the electronic component cooling line is fully closed.

20 . The structure of claim 15 , wherein, when the output of the fuel cell stack is equal to or greater than a predetermined output, the first valve is controlled such that a first port of the first valve connected to the stack cooling line is fully

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp

Inventors

• Kwon Oh Tak

Classifications

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

  Fuel cells in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• H01M8/04656

  of auxiliary devices, e.g. batteries, capacitors · CPC title

• H01M8/04044

  Purification of heat exchange media · CPC title

• H01M8/04768 Primary

  of the coolant · CPC title