A Holistic Approach for an Intelligent Heat Distribution for Hybrid Vehicles

An increasing share of electrification in individual mobility leads to an essential role of the thermal management with regard to the energy management system of the entire vehicle. Electrified drive components and fuel cell drive systems in particular are sensitive to thermal boundary conditions and must be operated within an ideal temperature range for highest driving efficiencies. In this work, a holistic approach of the development process of an innovative thermal management concept is presented. A direct coupling of the drive-specific thermal circuits enables an optimal thermal conditioning of all drive components. The aim is to ensure an efficient thermal balance to increase the overall efficiency. For the design process, component dimensioning and potential analysis of the thermal circuit concept for a hybridized vehicle, 1D simulation tools are used. A thermal circuit which meets design and packaging requirements is achieved by using 3D CAD/CAE software. Decentralized and smart thermal management modules are developed to couple the in series separated thermal circuits. These thermal management modules enable the implementation of intelligent thermal operation strategies. To ensure the function of the thermal management modules, a scaled coolant circuit ThermoLab test bench is developed. By integrating the ThermoLab into a CO-simulation environment, the ThermoLab is extended to a ThermoLab-in-the-Loop (TiL) test bench which enables the development of thermal operation strategies.