Patent ID: 7921946

Claim:
A system for cooling an energy storage system of a hybrid electric vehicle, said energy storage system comprising at least one energy storage device, said at least one energy storage device including a maximum temperature storage device having a maximum temperature and a minimum temperature storage device having a minimum temperature, said system comprising: a cooling fluid duct in flow communication with an inlet and said at least one energy storage device; a blower positioned within said cooling fluid duct for drawing cooling fluid into said inlet and through said cooling fluid duct for passing said cooling fluid over or through said at least one energy storage device; and a controller coupled with said at least one energy storage device, said controller being configured to increase the temperature of said at least one energy storage device having a temperature below said maximum temperature reduced by at least a predetermined threshold; wherein said cooling fluid duct and blower are coupled to form a common cooling system for said at least one energy storage system; wherein said cooling fluid duct is an air duct, said cooling fluid is cooling air and said inlet is an air inlet; wherein said controller is configured to increase the temperature of said at least one energy storage device having a temperature below said maximum temperature reduced by at least a predetermined threshold to within a predetermined range of said maximum temperature; and wherein said controller is configured to activate at least one heat device of said at least one energy storage device with heat energy supplied from at least one traction motor during a dynamic braking mode of said hybrid electric vehicle.