Method and system for maintaining an engine coolant level
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsDouglas Raymond Martin, John Eric Rollinger, Kenneth James Miller, Aed M. Dudar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for maintaining a desired engine coolant level and a relative glycol amount in the engine coolant by using water sourced from on-board vehicle systems. In one example, a method may include supplying water to the engine coolant reservoir in response to the engine coolant level decreasing below a threshold. Also, a relative glycol amount in the coolant may be maintained at a threshold amount by adding water to the coolant in response to a relative glycol increasing above the threshold.
Claims20
An engine method, comprising:
- in response to a relative amount of glycol in an engine coolant being higher than a threshold amount, and in response to an engine coolant level being lower than a threshold coolant level during increase coolant temperature levels, selectively supplying water from an on-board water collection system to a coolant reservoir based on water quality.
An engine method, comprising:
- in response to a lower than threshold coolant level in a coolant reservoir, supplying water from a water tank of an on-board water collection system to the coolant reservoir until a coolant level in the coolant reservoir increases to the threshold level, and
- in response to a lower than first threshold water level in the water tank, selectively supplying water from one or more water reservoirs coupled to one or more vehicle systems to the water tank until a water level in the water tank increases to above a second threshold water level, the second threshold higher than the first threshold responsive to a water quality.
A vehicle system, comprising:
- an engine;
- an engine coolant system including a coolant reservoir;
- an on-board water collection system including a water tank, a water lift pump, a regulator valve, and a water line coupling the water tank to the coolant reservoir;
- a float sensor and a glycol sensor coupled to the coolant reservoir;
- a water quality sensor and a water level sensor coupled to the water tank;
- an air conditioning system including an evaporator and a first reservoir coupled to the water tank of the on-board water collection system;
- an exhaust gas recirculation system including a cooler and a second reservoir coupled to the water tank of the on-board water collection system;
- an engine intake system including a charge air cooler and a third reservoir coupled to the water tank of the on-board water collection system;
- and
- a controller with computer readable instructions stored on non-transitory memory for:
- inferring a relative glycol amount in coolant based on inputs from the glycol sensor;
- in response to a higher than first threshold relative glycol amount, supplying water from the water tank to the coolant reservoir until the glycol percentage decreases to the threshold percentage, and in response to a lower than second lower threshold relative glycol amount, indicating a lower than threshold glycol amount by setting a diagnostic code;
- and
- routing collected water to the water tank based on quality of the collected water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.