Advanced control of the cooling system in IC vehicles

Abstract

The cooling system of internal combustion (IC), electric or fuel cell vehicles is crucial. Not only that it avoids hazards and vehicle fails but it additionally provides the optimal operating temperature improving the reliability of the vehicle and reduced fuel consumption. The great nonlinearities, variable time constants and time delays present in the cooling system’s model offers challenges from a control point of view. This paper provides a control strategy approach that can keep the optimal temperature regardless of the disturbances in the system and uses three control loops for the engine temperature, the temperature difference between engine inflow and outflow, and the temperature of the radiator outflow. The classical mechanical pump and thermostatic valve were replaced with their electrically actuated equivalent for better controllability. The control strategy was tested using realistic driving conditions provided by the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC).