Cooling control apparatus and cooling control method for internal combustion engines
AssigneeNippon Thermostat Co., Ltd.
InventorMitsuhiro Sano
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an engine control unit, information showing the operation of the non-operation of the cooling fan, information showing the temperature of the coolant flowing out of the engine (1) or other parameters showing the engine operation are supplied. In the engine control unit, the temperature drop of the coolant brought about by the radiator on the basis of the operation of particularly the cooling fan is programmed to be read out from a map construction in the form of a table such that the temperature control is performed by predicting the change of the coolant. Therefore, it is possible to operate the engine at a high temperature not reaching a state of overheating such that fuel economy is attained while minimizing the generation of a poisonous exhaust gas.
Claims10
A device for controlling a cooling device for an internal combustion engine including a coolant circulation route between flow passages defined in the internal combustion engine and a flow passage defined in a heat exchanger such that heat generated in the internal combustion engine is radiated by the heat exchanger, the device comprising:
- a flow control means for controlling a coolant flow in said circulation route between said internal combustion engine and said heat exchanger;
- forced air cooling means provided in association with said heat exchanger for intermittently effecting forced air cooling to the heat exchanger;
- and
- a control unit to produce command signals for controlling the amount of a coolant flow in said flow control means by receiving a first information showing at least one of the operation and the non operation of the forced air cooling means, a second information showing a coolant flow amount by means of the flow control means, a third information showing a temperature of the coolant flowing out of the internal combustion engine, a fourth information showing outdoor air temperature, and a fifth information showing the volume of air coming into contact with said heat exchanger.
A method of controlling a cooling system for an internal combustion engine in which there is provided a coolant circulation route between flow passages defined in the internal combustion engine and a flow passage defined a heat exchanger such that heat generated in the internal combustion engine is radiated by the radiator, said method comprising steps of:
- loading a first information showing at least one of the operation and the non-operation of said forced air cooling means, a second information showing a coolant flow amount by means of said flow control means for controlling the coolant flowing through said circulation route between the flow passages defined in the internal combustion engine and a flow passage in a heat exchanger, a third information showing a temperature of the coolant flowing out of the internal combustion engine, a fourth information showing outdoor air temperature, and a fifth information showing the volume of air coming into contact with said heat exchanger;
- obtaining coolant temperature drop data which lowers in accordance with respective operational states of the forced air cooling means;
- obtaining an optimum flow of the coolant controlled by the flow control means in accordance with said temperature drop data;
- and
- executing the flow control of the coolant flowing into the heat exchanger in accordance with the optimum flow of the coolant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.