Integrated Cooling Systems for Passenger Vehicles

Electric coolant pumps for IC engines are under development by a number of suppliers. They offer packaging and flexibility benefits to vehicle manufacturers. Their full potential will not be realised, however, unless an integrated approach is taken to the entire cooling system.

The paper describes such a system comprising an advanced electric pump with the necessary flow controls and a supervisory strategy running on an automotive microprocessor. The hardware and control strategy are described together with the simulation developed to allow its calibration and validation before fitting in a B/C class European passenger car. Simulation results are presented which show the system to be controllable and responsive to deliver optimum fuel consumption, emissions and driver comfort.