Patent Grant
9528428
The present disclosure relates to a cooling system for a motor vehicle, such as an agricultural tractor.
Operating a motor vehicle, such as an agricultural tractor, produces heat that must be rejected to the air through heat exchangers. A typical tractor cooling package will include a fan, a radiator, a charge air cooler, a hydraulic oil cooler, a condenser, and a fuel cooler in a stacked arrangement. There have been many front cooling package designs for tractors which seek to efficiently remove heat from the tractor. Typically, a fan pulls air through fluid filled heat exchangers. This fan is a major consumer of engine power. High charge air cooler inlet air temperatures in such a stacked arrangement heats up the radiator behind the charge air cooler. It is desired to provide a cooling system which cools the charge air cooler or the charge air which flows through the charge air cooler.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a vehicle cooling system includes a fan, a radiator upstream of the fan, a charge air cooler upstream of the radiator, an air conduit connected to an air inlet of the charge air cooler, and a cooler for cooling the charge air cooler or air flowing through the air conduit. The cooler may include a cooler housing surrounding a portion of the air conduit, and an injector for injecting water into a space between the cooler housing and the air conduit, an outlet pipe for conducting vaporized water out of said space, and a pump for pumping water from a source to the injector.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the cooler may also include a plurality of heat conducting vanes which extend into the space and into an interior of the air conduit. The vanes conduct heat away from the charge air which flows through the air conduit. The cooler may be designed so that water and vaporized water flows over an outer surface of the air conduit in a first axial direction, and so that charge air flows through an interior of the air conduit in a second direction which is opposite to said first direction.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the cooler may also include a hollow inner sleeve inserted between an upstream portion of the air conduit and a downstream portion of the air conduit. A hollow outer sleeve surrounds the inner sleeve and forms an annular space therebetween. The heat conducting vanes extend into the annular space and into an interior of the inner sleeve.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the cooler also includes nozzles for injecting water into the annular space. An outlet pipe is connected to the outer sleeve, so that water vaporized in the annular space can flow through out of the annular space via the outlet pipe. A hollow ring-shaped conduit surrounds a portion of the outer sleeve. A supply line connects the ring-shaped conduit with an outlet of a pump. A plurality of spaced apart injector tubes communicate with the ring-shaped conduit. Each injector tube extends radially inwardly through the outer sleeve and forms a nozzle through which water from the ring-shaped conduit is injected into the annular space.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the cooler may include a spray conduit positioned adjacent to a portion of an upstream side of the charge air cooler. The spray conduit has a plurality of spray nozzles. A pump pumps water from a source to the spray conduit so that water sprays out of the spray nozzles and onto the upstream side of the charge air cooler. The spray conduit may form a loop with the spray nozzles positioned on interior surface of the loop.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the spray conduit may include a first branch line, a second branch line and a third branch line. The first and second branch lines may be connected together to form a loop, with the third branch line bisecting the loop.
Referring to
A turbocharger 20 generates a supply of charge air for the engine (not shown). A first air conduit 22 communicates charge air from the turbocharger 20 to an air inlet 24 of the charge air cooler 16. A second air conduit 26 communicates charge air from an outlet 28 of the charge air cooler 16 to an air intake (not shown) of the engine (not shown).
A water pump 30 pumps water from a water reservoir or tank 32 to a water injector 34 which is part of a cooler 33 which is placed between an upstream portion 36 and a downstream portion 38 of the first air conduit 22. Alcohol or a similar fluid may be added to the water in cold conditions to keep the system from freezing.
Referring now to
The injector 34 includes a plurality of spaced-apart heat conducting vanes 54. Each vane 54 extends radially inwardly from an inner surface of outer sleeve 42, through inner sleeve 40 and into the interior of sleeve 40. As a result, the vanes 54 have radially inner portions 53 which are exposed to the charge air which flows through inner sleeve 40, and radially outer portions 55 which extend between inner sleeve 40 and outer sleeve 42. The vanes 54 conduct heat radially outwardly from the charge air to their radially outer ends and to the outer sleeve 42.
The injector 34 also includes a hollow ring-shaped conduit 60 which surrounds a portion of the outer sleeve 42 near its upstream end. A supply line 62 connects the conduit 60 with an outlet of the pump 30. A plurality of spaced apart injector tubes 64 are in communication with the conduit 60. Each injector tube 64 extends radially inwardly through the outer sleeve 42 and forms a nozzle 66 through which water from conduit 60 is injected into the upstream end of annular space 48 between the outer portions 55 of adjacent pairs of the vanes 54, and between inner sleeve 40 and outer sleeve 42.
The injector 34 also includes a hollow outlet pipe 70 which is connected to a downstream end of outer sleeve 42 and is communicated with a downstream portion of annular space 48. As best seen in
The injector 34 utilizes the latent heat of water vaporization to cool the charge air and increase heat carrying capacity of the charge air leaving the turbocharger.
As water is injected via the small nozzles 66 near an end of the injector 34, the water will vaporize and expand greatly as steam. This steam can flow out of the injector 34 through the outlet pipe 70 so that water can continue to enter the confined space between inner sleeve 40 and outer sleeve 42. The downstream outlet pipe 70 allows the flow of water and steam to be continuous. The downstream outlet pipe 70 is sized bigger than the nozzles 66 because steam has less density and requires more outlet area than water to keep the pressure drop low. The outlet pipe 70 could be connected into the exhaust stream via a Venturi (not shown), where exhaust temperatures would be even higher than the vapor stream. These high exhaust temperatures keep water vapor from condensing.
Water injection could be controlled as a function of temperature sensed by temperature sensor 72 so that water would not be injected until it would be vaporized and until there is significant heat that can be carried away by water vaporization. At temperatures lower than the boiling point of water, the water would increase in temperature but it would not transport away as much heat as when it undergoes a phase change from liquid to gas.
Referring now to
Referring now to
The pump 30 could be controlled by a control unit (not shown) which could be programmed to determine incoming air moisture content, to monitor the internal inlet air temperature and flow of the charge air cooler. The control unit could use a model to determine how much water should be added by the injectors. The control unit could use a decision model to determine the benefit of water vaporization (tractor load, fan power savings, on-board water availability, load variability, etc).
While the disclosure has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description is to be considered as exemplary and not restrictive in character, it being understood that illustrative embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the disclosure are desired to be protected. It will be noted that alternative embodiments of the present disclosure may not include all of the features described yet still benefit from at least some of the advantages of such features. Those of ordinary skill in the art may readily devise their own implementations that incorporate one or more of the features of the present disclosure and fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20160102602 A1 | Apr 2016 | US |
