Coolant pump with integrated closed-loop control

A coolant pump for pumping a coolant for an internal combustion engine in a vehicle comprising the internal combustion engine and a central engine control unit, said coolant pump comprising:

• a pump shaft which is rotatably mounted in a pump housing and which is driven by the internal combustion engine via a belt drive,
• an impeller which is arranged on the pump shaft and accommodated in a pump chamber of the pump housing, pumping a coolant,
• an axial piston pump which is actuated via a wobble plate on a rear side of the impeller and which branches-off a fraction of the pumped coolant,
• a hydraulic circuit which extends from the axial piston pump via a proportional valve back to the pumped coolant and which includes a branch between the axial piston pump and the proportional valve as a hydraulic actuator,
• a regulating slide valve which adjusts the volume flow of the coolant pumped by the coolant pump and which is slidable depending on a pressure in the hydraulic circuit,
• a sensor which detects a parameter indicative of the volume flow of the pumped coolant and which outputs an actual value signal of the parameter, and
• a dedicated pump control which controls the proportional valve in the hydraulic circuit on the basis of the actual value signal from the sensor and a target value signal from the central engine control unit.