Patent Application
20220228522
This application claims under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0006722 filed on Jan. 18, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a radiator-intercooler integrated module and a vehicle including the same, and more particularly, to a radiator-intercooler integrated module into which a low-temperature radiator and a water cooled intercooler of a vehicle are integrated.
A vehicle in which a turbocharger is mounted is equipped with an intercooler for cooling heat generated by charging air. The intercooler is classified into an air cooled intercooler that cools charged air using air supplied during driving and a water cooled intercooler that cools the charged air using a coolant.
Recently, there has been a tendency to adopt the water cooled intercooler. Considerate change in an engine system is required to mount the water cooled intercooler on an engine. For example, an overall change in the front region of the vehicle is required to additionally mount a low-temperature radiator through which a coolant for heat exchange with the charged air flows. Further, in case of the water cooled intercooler, a number of components are added in comparison with the air cooled intercooler. At least for these reasons, the water cooled intercooler has a complicated structure, and a layout configuration of the components of the water cooled intercooler becomes difficult.
The present disclosure has been made in an effort to solve the above-described problems associated with prior art. In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a radiator-intercooler integrated module capable of simplifying a structure thereof, and simplifying layout design of a front region of a vehicle for a water cooled intercooler.
Objectives of the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described objectives, and other objectives of the present disclosure, which are not mentioned, can be clearly understood from the following description by those having ordinary skill in the art which the present disclosure pertains. The features of the present disclosure for achieving the above objectives of the present disclosure and performing the following characteristic functions of the present disclosure, which will be described later, are as follows.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a radiator-intercooler integrated module may include: a low-temperature radiator and a water cooled intercooler formed integrally with the low-temperature radiator into a single body. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a radiator-intercooler integrated module may include: a low-temperature radiator having a radiator core, the low-temperature radiator including an inlet tank and exit tank disposed above and below the radiator core, respectively, and communicating with the radiator core; and a water cooled intercooler which has a cooling core inserted and mounted in the exit tank, wherein compressed air flows in the cooling core.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a vehicle may include: a turbocharger configured to charge air; a radiator-intercooler integrated module having a water cooled intercooler receiving the charged air from the turbocharger and a low-temperature radiator formed integrally with the water cooled intercooler. A coolant configured to exchange heat with the air circulates the low-temperature radiator and an intake manifold receiving the heat-exchanged air discharged from the radiator-intercooler integrated module.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a radiator-intercooler integrated module capable of simplifying layout design of a front region of a vehicle even if a water cooled intercooler instead of an air cooled intercooler is applied to cool supercharged air. Effects of the present disclosure are not limited to the above-mentioned effects. Other unmentioned effects can be clearly recognized from the following description by those having ordinary skill in the art.
The above and other features of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings which are given hereinbelow by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present disclosure, and wherein:
and
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Specific structures or functions described in the embodiments of the present disclosure are merely for illustrative purposes. Embodiments according to the concept of the present disclosure may be implemented various forms, and it should be understood that they should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described in the present specification, but include all of modifications, equivalents, or substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
It will be understood that, although the terms “first,” “second,” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For instance, a first element discussed below could be termed a second element without departing from the teachings of the present invention. Similarly, the second element could also be termed the first element.
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “coupled” or “connected” to another element, it can be directly coupled or connected to the other element or intervening elements may be present therebetween. In contrast, it should be understood that when an element is referred to as being “directly coupled” or “directly connected” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other expressions that explain the relationship between elements, such as “between,” “directly between,” “adjacent to,” or “directly adjacent to,” should be construed in the same way.
Like reference numerals denote like components throughout the specification. In the meantime, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprise,” “include,” “have,” etc., when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated components, steps, operations, and/or elements, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other components, steps, operations, and/or elements thereof.
Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. As illustrated in
Referring to
The inlet tank 120 may include a water inlet 122. The water inlet 122 may be supplied with a coolant from a coolant supply source or an electric water pump (EWP). The radiator core 320 may be disposed above the inlet tank 120. On the contrary, as described above, when the exit tank 220 is disposed below the radiator core 320 and the inlet tank 120 is disposed above the radiator core 320, the radiator core 320 may be disposed below the inlet tank 120. The radiator core 320 may include coolant pipelines 322 along which a coolant flows. The coolant of the inlet tank 120 which is introduced from the water inlet 122 flows through the radiator core 320. Heat exchange between cooling wind passing the radiator core 320 and the coolant passing the coolant pipelines 322 occurs at the radiator core 320. A plurality of radiator cooling fins 324 may be provided to the radiator core 320 along the coolant pipelines 322 and promote cooling of the coolant while the cooling wind passes the radiator cooling fins 324.
The exit tank 220 may be disposed above the radiator core 320. On the contrary, as described above, when the inlet tank 120 is disposed above the radiator core 320, the exit tank 220 may be disposed below the radiator core 320. The coolant cooled while passing the radiator core 320 may be introduced into the exit tank 220. The exit tank 220 may be equipped with a water outlet 222. The coolant passing the exit tank 220 may be discharged to the outside of the radiator-intercooler integrated module 1 through the water outlet 222. The coolant recirculates around the radiator-intercooler integrated module 1 through the electric water pump (EWP). The exit tank 220 may include an opening 224 that passes through a part of the exit tank 220. A holding space S is provided inside the exit tank 220.
As illustrated in
Air introduced into the first tank 140 passes the cooling core 340. As indicated by an arrow and a dotted line of
In other words, the coolant inside the low-temperature radiator 20 may be cooled by the cooling wind. The coolant cooled in this way cools the compressed air introduced into the cooling core 340 in the exit tank 220 while passing the water cooled intercooler 40. Meanwhile,
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a plurality of intercooler cooling fins 344 are provided along the air pipelines 342. The intercooler cooling fins 344 enables a coolant to more effectively cool air inside the air pipelines 342 while the coolant passes by the air pipelines 342. The compressed air passing the air pipelines 342 may pass the second tank 240, pass the air pipelines 342 again, and return to the first tank 140. The cooled compressed air returning to the first tank 140 exits through the air outlet 144 and is supplied to an intake manifold 610.
Charged air passing a turbocharger 660 may be cooled while passing the water cooled intercooler 650 and is delivered to the intake manifold 610. The cooling of the charged air may be performed at the low-temperature radiator 620 and by the coolant circulating through the water cooled intercooler 650. In contrast, in the present disclosure illustrated in
Further, since the water cooled intercooler 40 is integrated into the low-temperature radiator 20, a structure of the radiator-intercooler integrated module may be simplified, and thus an effect of reducing an overall cost may be achieved. According to the present disclosure, the low-temperature radiator 20 and the water cooled intercooler 40 are mounted at a position where the air cooled intercooler is disposed in the related art. Accordingly, there is no need to change the layout or the engine structure of the vehicle, thereby reducing investment expenses.
To satisfy the increasingly stricter emission control limits, there is a need to expand a usable range of low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation (LPEGR). The air cooled intercooler has a limitation due to a low-temperature freezing problem, whereas the water cooled intercooler may enable expansion of the usable range of the LPEGR in that cooling efficiency can be controlled using the electric water pump and without the freezing problem. According to the present disclosure, the radiator-intercooler integrated module may be mounted at the same position as the conventional air cooled intercooler is mounted, while applying the water cooled intercooler, thereby solving a problem with mounting of the water cooled intercooler.
The present disclosure described above is not limited by the above-mentioned embodiments and the attached drawings, and it will be apparent to those having ordinary skills in the art that various substitutions, modifications, and changes are possible without departing from the technical spirit of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2021-0006722 | Jan 2021 | KR | national |
