Peristaltic pump for on-board charger thermal management
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsBrian Joseph Robert, Serdar Hakki Yonak
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle on-board charging assembly includes at least one power electronics module and a coolant channel in thermal contact with the at least one power electronics module. The charging assembly also includes a first reactive portion along a wall of the coolant channel defining a first reactive property and a second reactive portion along the wall of the coolant channel defining a second reactive property. The charging assembly further includes a plurality of emitters arranged to activate the first and second reactive portions. The charging assembly also further includes a controller programmed to sequentially activate the emitters to cause peristaltic pumping of coolant through the coolant channel.
Claims16
A vehicle on-board charging assembly comprising:
- a plurality of power electronics modules;
- a first coolant channel in thermal contact with a first power electronics module;
- a first reactive portion along a wall of the first coolant channel defining a first stiffness;
- a second coolant channel in thermal contact with a second power electronics module;
- a second reactive portion along the wall of the second coolant channel defining a second stiffness different than the first stiffness;
- a plurality of emitters arranged between the first and second coolant channels to activate the first and second reactive portions to cause compression on the coolant channels, wherein a magnitude of the compression on the first and second coolant channels activated by a same emitter are different due to the first and second stiffnesses;
- and
- a controller programmed to sequentially activate the emitters to cause peristaltic pumping of coolant through the coolant channel.
A vehicle on-board charging assembly comprising:
- a thermal plate to support at least one power electronics module, the thermal plate having a first coolant channel with a first reactive portion defining a first polarity and a second coolant channel with a second reactive portion defining a second polarity different than the first polarity;
- a set of emitters located proximate the coolant channels;
- and
- a controller programmed to selectively activate the emitters to cause movement of at least one reactive portion to cause peristaltic pumping of coolant through the coolant channel, wherein a magnitude of the compression on the first and second coolant channels activated by a same emitter are different due to the first and second polarities.
A vehicle electronics assembly comprising:
- at least one power electronics device disposed within a housing;
- a first coolant channel and a second coolant channel disposed within the housing in thermal communication with the at least one power electronics devices, the first coolant channel having a first reactive portion defining a first thickness and the second coolant channel having a second reactive portion defining a second thickness different than the first thickness;
- a set of emitters arranged with the coolant channel to form a peristaltic pump;
- a sensor to monitor thermal conditions of the power electronics device;
- and
- a controller programmed to activate the peristaltic pump based on signals received from the sensor to adjust a cross-sectional area of a portion of the coolant channel to cause peristaltic pumping, wherein a magnitude of the compression on the first and second coolant channels activated by a same emitter are different due to the first and second thicknesses.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.