Climate Thermal Load Based Minimum Flow Rate Water Pump Control
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsMark G. Smith, Kenneth J. Jackson, Scott James Thompson, Osama A. Abihana
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A control system for minimizing the flow rate and energy consumption of a water pump in a vehicle. The control system and method correlate a climate thermal load value with the temperature of the coolant in a climate control cooling circuit. A correlation is performed by mapping the inputs to a desired pump flow rate that is determined to be necessary at a minimum to provide adequate cooling for the engine and for air conditioning or heating the vehicle.
Claims20
A system for controlling a water pump in a vehicle comprising:
- an electric motor operating the water pump;
- a controller generating a heater core flow request signal as a function of a climate thermal load and a heater coolant temperature;
- and
- providing a signal to the motor to set the pump flow rate to satisfy the heater core flow request.
A method of controlling a water pump in a vehicle comprising:
- setting the water pump at maximum flow if a maximum defrost input is actuated;
- if the maximum defrost input is not actuated, setting the water pump to no flow if the HVAC input is not actuated;
- if the HVAC input is actuated, integrating a climate thermal load value and a heater coolant temperature value using a multiple variable table to select a heater core flow rate, and if the heater core flow rate is greater than a threshold value, providing a signal to an electric motor that controls the flow rate of the water pump.
A heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system for a vehicle having an electric motor driven water pump, the system comprising:
- a heater core;
- an HVAC selector having a heat request setting, an air cooling request setting and a maximum defrost setting;
- a climate module that provides a thermal load value;
- a coolant temperature sensor that determines the temperature of a coolant;
- a controller that provides a coolant flow request value to the water pump, wherein the coolant flow request is set to a maximum if the maximum defrost setting is actuated, wherein the coolant flow request is set at zero if the heat request setting is off, and a heater core flow rate is set based upon the thermal load value and coolant temperature value;
- and
- wherein if the heater core flow rate is greater than zero, the heater core flow is mapped to the water pump speed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.