Research on the Influence of Cooling Module Layout on Flow and Heat Transfer Performance in Commercial Vehicles

Abstract

Abstract In order to meet the needs of high-horsepower engine system integration for National VI emission and four-stage fuel consumption compliance limits, it is necessary to increase the heat load of the vehicle cooling system, which requires a redesign of the front grille of the body and the cooling system of the engine, such as the size and layout of the cooling air duct and cooling module, and the wind shield. Simply increasing the mass flow rate of cooling air can improve the performance of the whole cooling air system. However, it will also increase fan power consumption and vehicle aerodynamic resistance, resulting in increased fuel consumption and increased emissions. Therefore, multi-objective optimization of engine cooling system is needed to achieve the desired vehicle cooling effect. In this paper, LBM method is used for high-fidelity CFD simulation to optimize and improve vehicle thermal management performance. The numerical simulation method is used to calibrate the thermal wind tunnel to realize the high precision simulation prediction of thermal balance and thermal protection. On this basis, we use thermal management simulation to optimize the cooling module layout and performance, and the simulation results show that the temperatures of the condenser, CAC, and radiator surfaces are significantly reduced and more evenly distributed. The optimization solutions can improve the air mobility in the engine compartment, which can enhance the engine cooling effect. This study provides a method reference for improving the engine cooling performance, which is of great significance for the design of the whole vehicle and the optimization of the arrangement scheme.