Use of electronic viscous drive to optimize fan duty cycle

Abstract

The Electronic Viscous Fan Drive Clutch is one of the key components of cooling system in automotive sectors. It is more efficient than the current traditional bimetal operated Mechanical Viscous Fan Drive Clutch in terms of fan power consumption. The comparative change in fan power with both fan drives is studied and it is observed that with electronic fan clutch 86% reduction in fan power is achieved. In the current study an attempt is made to demonstrate the improvement in the cooling system in terms of ambient temperature of air and the coolant temperature. This is achieved through the complete driving cycles by maintaining unvarying temperature. Standard rise over ambient vehicle test with support of Vector CANapeis utilised for testing and data recording. With use of electronic viscous fan drive there is direct proportional relation between coolant temperature and fan rpm. It alsoindicates that the system level temperaturesare optimized to achieve higher efficiency in terms of thermal and fuel economy.