Patent ID: 6431127
Filing Date: 2002-08-13
Classification: F01P

Abstract:
A method of controlling a variable speed fan drive for a vehicle cooling fan of a vehicle having at least one component system that requires cooling including an engine, a cooling device, a fan for moving ambient air through the cooling device, a fan drive and a control system connected to the fan drive to regulate the feeding rate of the fan, the method comprising the steps of:determining the total cooling capacity requirements of the component systems; if the total cooling requirement is greater than zero, determine the amount of air flow through the cooling device to meet the total cooling capacity requirement in a first predefined time period; determining the optimum fan rotary speed necessary to achieve the amount if air flow determined in the previous step while considering the fan moment of inertia to minimize the fan acceleration torque load; setting the fan rotary speed at the speed determined in the previous step and controlling the acceleration of the fan speed as determined in the previous step; and waiting the first predefined time period and repeating the above steps.