Patent ID: 6796375
Filing Date: 2004-09-28
Classification: F01P

Abstract:
A coolant circuit (10), comprising:at least one heat source (12), a radiator (14), and a bypass line (22), which connects a radiator inlet (18) to a radiator return (20) and whose junction (24) has a control valve (26) disposed in it, whose throttle body (58) is controlled by a control means as a function of operating parameters and environmental parameters by means of at least one control unit (40, 42) and divides the coolant flow between the radiator inlet (18) and the bypass line (22), wherein according to a characteristic curve of the control valve (26), the control unit (40, 42) determines a set-point value (50) for the position of the throttle body (58), which sets a ratio of the radiator volume flow to the total coolant flow at the control valve (26) according to the following equation: Xset-point=(TMAâˆ’TMe set-point)/(TMAâˆ’TKA) where TMA is the temperature of the outlet (36) of the bypass line (22), at the outlet of the at least one heat source (12), or at the control valve (26), TMe set-point is the set-point temperature at the inlet of the at least one heat source (12), and TKA is the temperature at the outlet of the radiator (14), and where the ratio of the radiator volume flow to the total coolant flow is set equal to zero when there is a negative value and is limited to one when there is a value greater than one.