Pump control for complex vehicle cooling system

A thermal system for a vehicle, comprising:

• a coolant circuit having at least one coolant loop;
• a pump configured to circulate coolant in the coolant circuit;
• a valve disposed in the coolant circuit;
• a component thermally coupled to the coolant circuit for cooling thereby;
• and
• a thermal management system including a controller having one or more processors and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
• receive a flow target indicating a coolant flow required to cool the component to a predetermined temperature;
• receive a coolant temperature, and a valve position of the valve;
• determine a pressure drop in the thermal system for a given flow target, coolant temperature, and valve position;
• determine a maximum flow for the thermal system based on the given flow target, coolant temperature, and valve position;
• determine a pressure rise of the pump for the given flow target and coolant temperature, and a pump speed required to meet the given flow target;
• determine a maximum pressure rise of the pump for the given coolant temperature, and a maximum coolant flow rate and a maximum speed of the pump;
• determine a final pump speed required to meet the received flow target, based on the determined pressure drop of the pump and the determined maximum pressure rise of the pump;
• and
• command the pump to operate at the final pump speed.