Europeans automotive engineers are continuously looking for space reduction in the Front End of new vehicles. Consequently, some automotive suppliers tried to provide more and more compact Engine Cooling Modules. Most of the time, the packaging of the heat exchangers, as optimized as it can be, remains a strong limit to a significant decrease of the module thickness.
This study proposes a new module concept, where heat exchangers are physically bound, and subsequently combined in a single part. On this basis, the following benefits are obtained:
Packaging reduction of ∼30 %
Weight reduction from 5 to 10 %
Thermal performances improvements
To sustain this purpose, new modules combining engine cooling radiators and A/C loop condensers have been designed and engineered in different core technologies. Those components have been bench tested (plenum to plenum) in comparison to its stand alone equivalent heat exchanger.
Furthermore, a small European car with 1.6 liter 110 hp gasoline engine, equipped with such “Multi-exchanger” has been evaluated in a climatic wind tunnel, according to:
The obtained results will be outlined as followed: