Cooling Device for a Vehicle Electronic Control Unit and Controller for Operating the Same
AssigneeAptiv Technologies AG
InventorsJakub Korta, Klaus Kaufmann
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cooling device for a vehicle electronic control unit, ECU. The cooling device includes a casing for covering the ECU and having a heat absorbing face for absorbing heat from components of the ECU and a heat dissipating face for dissipating absorbed heat. A plurality of fans are mounted to the heat dissipating face and are arranged to direct airflow over respective regions of the heat dissipating face. The fans are independently controllable for being driven at different speeds to vary the cooling of the respective regions of the heat dissipating face.
Claims20
A cooling device for a vehicle electronic control unit (ECU) comprising:
- a casing for covering the ECU, the casing comprising:
- a heat absorbing face configured to absorb heat from components of the ECU;
- and
- a heat dissipating face configured to dissipate absorbed heat from the heat absorbing face;
- and
- a plurality of fans mounted to the heat dissipating face and arranged to direct airflow over respective regions of the heat dissipating face, the fans being independently controllable to be driven at different speeds to vary cooling of the respective regions of the heat dissipating face.
An electronic control unit (ECU) assembly for a vehicle, the ECU assembly comprising:
- an ECU having a plurality of components mounted to a circuit board;
- a casing for covering the ECU that comprises:
- a heat absorbing face configured to absorb heat from the components mounted to the circuit board;
- and
- a heat dissipating face configured to dissipate absorbed heat from the heat absorbing face;
- a plurality of fans mounted to the heat dissipating face and arranged to direct airflow over respective regions of the heat dissipating face;
- and
- a controller configured to independently control the plurality of fans to drive them at different speeds for varying cooling of the respective regions of the heat dissipating face.
A controller for controlling a cooling device, the controller comprising:
- a temperature determination module configured to determine temperature values associated with respective regions of a heat dissipating face, the heat dissipating face being a part of a casing covering a vehicle electronic control unit (ECU) and configured to dissipate absorbed heat from a heat absorbing face of the casing, the heat absorbing face configured to absorb heat from components of the ECU;
- and
- a control signal module configured to generate individual control signals for a plurality of fans to drive each fan at a speed for cooling a respective region of the heat dissipating face, the plurality of fans mounted to the heat dissipating face and arranged to direct airflow over the respective regions of the heat dissipating face.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.