WO1997045628A1

WO1997045628A1 - Heat controlling system for cold weather engine operation

Info

Publication number: WO1997045628A1
Application number: PCT/US1996/008238
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alonzo Wireman
Original assignee: Reedrill Corporation
Priority date: 1996-05-31
Filing date: 1996-05-31
Publication date: 1997-12-04
Also published as: AU5961896A

Abstract

The present invention discloses a heat controlling system for use with the cooling system (10) of heavy machinery. A network of adjustable louvers (20) selectively blocks the flow of heated air from the exhaust (16) of a cooling system (10) and directs the heated air through a control ducting system (36) that circulates the air back to the intake (18) of the cooling system (10). A dampener (40) controls the amount of air allowed to flow through the control ducting system (36). The heated air provides additional heat to cooling systems (10) which are not generating enough internal operating temperature to successfully operate in cold weather conditions.

Description

HEAT CONTROLLING SYSTEM FOR COLD WEATHER ENGINE OPERATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to engine cooling systems, and

more particularly to an apparatus for reducing through air flow and

selectively directing heated air exhausted from the cooling system

back through the cooling system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A major problem arising in the operation of heavy machinery

during cold weather conditions involves warming the fluids within the

hydraulic and compressor systems and maintaining a minimum

operating temperature for these systems during equipment operation.

The hydraulic and compressor fluids systems include heat exchangers

and a cooling fan designed to remove heat from these systems during

operation. However, during cold weather conditions, the internal heat

generated by the hydraulic and compressor fluid systems is not great

enough to maintain the required minimum operating temperatures.

Thus, the heat exchangers and cooling fan are a hindrance to the

operation of the machinery since they remove the internally generated

heat of the systems required to keep the operating fluid in a proper

temperature range. If the operating temperature drops too low, the system fluids

can become too thick, reducing the flow of fluid through the system

and causing components to react too slowly

and possibly be damaged due to cavitation. In some cases, fluids may

cool to the point that they become too thick to flow through the heat

exchanger elements. The fluid jells solid and can cause a system to

overheat and fail. When this type of failure arises, the heat exchanger

must be removed and taken to a warm area to thaw out. After thaw

out, a thinner fluid must be installed within the system.

Several solutions have attempted to overcome the problems of

fluid systems within cold operating environments. In one solution,

covers are fabricated for the heat exchanger to restrict air flow

through the heat exchanger. The cover reduces the amount of heat

being removed from the system but provides no way of maintaining

the heat within the system, nor does the cover provide a method of

adding additional heat to the fluid system. Another solution utilizes a

reversing fan to blow air through the heat exchanger in the opposite

direction from normal air flow. This solution is successful for heat

exchangers having a stacked configuration where heat exchangers are

located one in the front of the other. These systems blow heat from

the engine heat exchanger over the heat exchangers from other

systems, thus adding heat to the other systems. However, this type of system is exceedingly expensive and must be changed from winter

to summer or when the temperature rises. Furthermore, the system is

only effective for stacked heat exchangers and does not sufficiently

correct the cold weather operation problem for side-by-side heat

exchangers. Therefore, a solution is needed to inexpensively maintain

and provide heat to fluid systems of heavy machinery during cold

weather conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the foregoing and other

problems with a heat control system that utilizes a plurality of

selectively adjustable louvers. The adjustable louvers are positioned

on the exhaust side of a cooler core of a cooling system. A circulating

fan causes air to flow through the intake of the cooler core. The air

flow removes heat from the fluids within the heat exchanger elements

of the cooler core and exhausts the heated air out the exhaust of the

cooler core.

The heated air exhausted from the cooler core is blocked by the

selectively adjustable louvers. The louvers may be opened or closed

as desired to block the amount of heated air required to maintain

minimum operating temperatures for the cooling systems. The heated

air is routed from the area in front of the exhaust of the cooler core by a ducting system to the intake of the cooler core. At this point, the

heated air may remove additional heat from the fluids within the fluid

systems having sufficient operating temperature, but in the case of

fluid systems having insufficient operating temperatures, the heat

from the air will be absorbed by the fluids within the heat exchangers.

A dampener included within the ducting system controls the amount

of air flowing from the exhaust of the cooler core back to the intake of

the cooler core.

The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent aspects

of the present invention. These aspects should be construed to be

merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and

applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be

obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or

modifying the invention as will be described. Accordingly, other

aspects and the fuller understanding of the invention may be had by

referring to the following detailed description of the preferred

embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and

the advantages thereof, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying

drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side view of a cooling system including the heat

control system of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of one of the adjustable louvers;

and

FIGURE 3 is a block diagram illustrating the front view of a

cooling system including adjustable louvers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGURE

1 , there is illustrated a side view of a cooling system including the

heat control system of the present invention. The cooling system 1 0

includes a fan 1 2 and cooler core 1 4. The cooler core 1 4 comprises a

plurality of heat exchangers in either a side by side configuration or a

stacked configuration. In the side by side configuration, the fan 1 2

circulates air through the heat exchangers in a concurrent manner

such that air passes through each of the heat exchangers at the same

time. In a stacked system, the heat exchangers are stacked one after

the other such that the air is circulated through one heat exchanger,

than another heat exchanger and so forth. The cooler core 14

includes an exhaust 1 6 for removing heated air that has flowed through the heat exchangers to remove heat from the circulating fluids

and an intake 1 8 for receiving the air to be circulated past the heat

exchangers.

Most heavy machinery will include heat exchangers of three

different types within the cooler core 14. The engine heat exchanger

removes heat from water circulating throughout the engine operating

the heavy machinery. A hydraulic heat exchanger cools the hydraulic

fluids for all hydraulic systems of the heavy machinery. A compressor

heat exchanger cools the compressor fluids for compressors operated

by the heavy machinery. This list of heat exchangers is not meant to

be limiting and any other type of cooling system may be utilized

within the cooler core as necessary.

With the present invention, a plurality of adjustable louvers 20

are positioned at the exhaust 1 6 of the cooler core 1 4 to block the

heated air exiting from the cooling system 1 0. Referring now also to

FIGURE 2, there is illustrated a perspective view of one of the

adjustable louvers 20. The louver 20 includes a blocking plate 22 and

side panels 24 at each end of the blocking plate 22. The blocking

plate 22 when positioned perpendicular to the flow of air from the

cooler core 14 blocks the flow of air. The side panels 24 enable the

adjustable louver 20 to interlock with adjacent adjustable louvers and

form a substantially continuous blocking wall for impeding the flow of air from the cooler core 1 4. The side panels 24 also engage guide

slots 26 and holding slots 28. The guide slots 26 guide the rotation

of the adjustable louver 20 about pins 30. The pins 30 fit within

retaining slot 32 allowing the adjustable louver 20 to rotate from a

position substantially perpendicular to the air flow from the cooler

core 14 to a position substantially parallel to the air flow from the

cooler core. The adjustable louvers 20 are held in the plurality of

positions by placing the side panels 24 in one of the holding slots 28.

The blocked, heated air flow from the exhaust 1 6 of the cooler

core 1 4 is channeled through a control ducting system 36 along a

path defined generally by arrows 38. The ducting system 36 routes

the heated air flow from the exhaust 1 6 of the cooler core 14 back to

the fan 1 2 such that the heated air is input through the intake 1 8 of

the cooler core 1 4. The flow of heated air through the control ducting

system 36 may be impeded by a dampener 40. The dampener 40

moves from an open to a closed position to selectively control the

amount of air flowing to the intake 1 8 of the cooler core 1 4.

During cold weather conditions, the engine cooling system of

heavy machinery is conditioned not to freeze or jell at operating

temperatures. This enables the engine to generate heat and exchange

it into the cooling system. The air flow initially circulating through the

cooler core during cold weather conditions will remove heat from the fluids in the engine heat exchanger. This heated air will be blocked by

the adjustable louvers 20 located at the exhaust 1 6 of the cooler core

14 creating a higher pressure area. The higher pressure at the

exhaust 1 6 will cause the heated air to flow through the control

ducting system 36 back to the intake 1 8 of the cooling core 1 4. The

lower pressure area created by the fan 1 2 also contributes to the total

delta pressure moving air flow through the control ducting system 36.

When the heated air is recirculated back through the cooler core 1 4,

the heated air also passes through heat exchanger systems adjacent

to the engine heat exchanger system, for example the hydraulic and

compressor systems. These adjacent heat exchanger systems absorb

heat from the heated air and transfer the heat to the operating fluids

circulating within the heat exchangers. This injection of heat enables

adjacent systems to maintain acceptable operating temperatures

during cold weather conditions even if the adjacent systems are not

generating sufficient internal heat. The air flow will also pick up

additional heat from the engine heat exchangers each time it passes

through the cooler core which may subsequently be imparted to an

adjacent system during another air flow cycle.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, there is shown a block diagram of a

front view of the cooler core 14 of a cooling system 1 0 and the

adjustable louvers of the present invention. The cooler core 1 4 is divided into three subsections representing the hydraulic heat

exchanger 14a, the engine heat exchanger 14b and compressor heat

exchanger 14c. Each of the blocks 44 represented in FIGURE 3

represents one of the adjustable louvers 20 described previously.

Each adjustable louver 20 may be individually adjusted to control the

amount of heated air being directed back to the intake 1 8 by the

control ducting system 36.

For example, if the operating temperatures of the machinery

cooling fluids were too high, several of the louvers 20 over the engine

heat exchanger section 1 4b of the cooler core 14 could be open to

allow a certain amount of the heated air to be exhausted to the

external environment. When operating temperatures are low, all of

the louvers 20 would be closed. Once the hydraulic and/or

compressor heat exchangers 1 4a and 14c begin reaching desired

operating temperatures, selected adjustable louvers 20 over these

sections of the cooling core 1 4 are partially opened or all the way

opened to achieve a desired operating temperature. Thus, adjustable

louvers 20 can be moved individually or together to allow an amount

of heated air to flow to the external environment and carry away

excessive heat to balance the operating temperatures of the systems.

Generally, the movement of the louvers 20 is only required to get the

system into a desired operating range such that the internal thermostats can maintain the necessary operating temperatures. The

adjustability of the system is especially valuable since the system may

be utilized for varying temperature zones from summer heat to winter

cold.

It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the

specific embodiments disclosed above may be readily utilized as a

basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the

purposes of carrying out the present invention. It should be realized

by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not

depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the

impending claims.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. In a heat control device for a cooling system of an

engine, the cooling system having an exhaust and an intake, the

cooling system further comprising a plurality of cooling elements for

systems of the engine and means for circulating air between the

intake and the exhaust of the cooling system, the improvement

comprising:

means for selectively recirculating air from the exhaust of

the cooling system back to the intake of the cooling system to provide

heat to the cooling system during cold condition operation.

2. The heat control device of Claim 1 wherein the means for

selectively recirculating includes:

a plurality of adjustable louvers for selectively blocking

the air exiting the exhaust of the cooling system; and

a ducting system for routing the blocked air at the

exhaust of the cooling system to the intake of the cooling system.

3. The heat control device of Claim 2 wherein the means for

selectively recirculating further includes a dampener for controlling the

flow of air through the ducting system.

4. The heat control device of Claim 2 wherein the plurality

of cooling elements are oriented in a side by side configuration.

5. The heat control device of Claim 4 wherein the plurality

of adjustable louvers are configured to independently block the

exhausts from the plurality of cooling elements.

6. The heat control device of Claim 1 wherein the plurality

of cooling elements are oriented in a stacked configuration.

7. A system for controlling exhaust air flow through the

cooling system of an engine during cold weather operation,

comprising:

a cooler core for controlling fluid temperatures of a

plurality of systems within the engine, the cooler core including a

cooling element for each of the plurality of systems, the cooler core

further including an intake and an exhaust;

means for circulating air between the intake and the

exhaust of the cooler core;

a plurality of adjustable louvers for selectively blocking air

exiting the exhaust of the cooler core; and a ducting system for routing the blocked air at the

exhaust of the cooler core to the intake of the cooler core.

8. The heat control device of Claim 7 further including a

dampener for controlling the flow of air through the ducting system.

9. The heat control device of Claim 7 wherein the plurality

of adjustable louvers are configured to independently block the

exhaust from the plurality of cooling elements.

10. The heat control device of Claim 7 wherein the plurality

of cooling elements are oriented in a side by side configuration.

1 1 . The heat control device of Claim 7 wherein the plurality

of cooling elements are oriented in a stacked configuration.

12. A method for controlling the flow of air exhausted from

the cooling system of an engine, comprising:

selectively blocking the air exiting an exhaust of a cooling

system;

routing the blocked air to an intake of the cooling

system; and passing the blocked air from the exhaust of the cooling

system back through the cooling system.

13. The method of Claim 1 2 further comprises the step of

controlling the amount of blocked air routed to the intake of the

cooling system.