Patent ID: 7647788

Claim:
A temperature management apparatus for managing temperature of a battery housed in a battery case to be mounted on a vehicle, the temperature management apparatus comprising: an air channel for communicating the interior/exterior of the vehicle and the interior of the battery case, an air feeder for feeding air into the battery case through the air channel, a first temperature detector for detecting a temperature Tb of the battery, a second temperature detector for detecting a temperature Ta of the air passing through the air channel, and a control device, the air feeder has a fan and a motor for driving the fan, the control device has a storage part and a deciding part, the storage part stores a lower limit Tc of temperature at which the battery needs cooling, and an upper limit Th of temperature at which the battery needs heating, the deciding part directs the air feeder to drive the fan when the temperature Tb of the battery becomes equal to or higher than both the temperature Ta of the air and the lower limit Tc, or when the temperature Tb of the battery becomes equal to or lower than both the temperature Ta of the air and the upper limit Th, wherein the deciding part generates a fan speed direction signal based on a difference between the temperature Tb of the battery and the temperature Ta of the air and wherein the deciding part adapts the difference between the temperature Tb and the temperature Ta to a fan speed map indicative of the relationship between the fan speed and the temperature Tb of the battery for several differences to generate a fan speed direction signal for optimizing cooling effect of the battery, wherein the fan speed map is set to generate a fan speed direction signal for driving the fan at lower fan speeds to suppress noise and power consumption when the difference between the temperature Tb of the battery and the temperature Ta of the air is equal to or higher than a threshold value and the temperature Tb of the battery is within a predetermined temperature range.