Over the years, Internal Combustion engines have evolved drastically from large naturally aspirated engines to small sized forced aspiration engines which have a power output comparable to that of higher capacity engines. Engine downsizing has become more prominent in the present world due to higher focus being exerted on Fuel Economy and tighter emission norms.
In the process of achieving these highly efficient engines, their cooling systems are also designed to handle the higher thermal operating conditions. This leads to a negative impact on the cold NEDC cycle by resulting in a longer warmup periods to get the engine upto its optimum operating temperature. This has a major effect on both the combustion efficiency as well as the frictional resistance of the engine. Switchable coolant pumps are one way to address this problem by creating zero flow conditions to warmup the engine by restricting any unnecessary heat rejection and improving the in-cylinder temperature.
Since cold NEDC has become the global standard to assess a vehicle’s fuel economy and emissions, we have conducted a study to assess the overall energy distribution across the cycle & effect on Fuel economy & emissions due to the usage of a switchable coolant pump, and also on how it’s potential can be maximized by coupling it with alternate strategies to meet CAFÉ 2022 regulations.