Patent ID: 8714116

Claim:
A fan control system for use with a fan cooling system in a vehicle comprising: a fan drive for driving a fan blade to rotate at a particular speed; one or more sensors for sensing engine conditions and transmission conditions; an engine control module coupled to the one or more sensors for receiving engine conditions comprising at least an engine coolant temperature, the engine control module coupled to a communication link for transmitting engine information comprising engine conditions; a transmission control module coupled to the one or more sensors for receiving transmission conditions comprising at least a vehicle speed, the transmission control module coupled to the communication link for transmitting transmission information comprising transmission conditions; a power take off control module coupled to the communication link for transmitting power take off status information, wherein the power take off status information comprises whether a power take off unit on the vehicle is engaged or disengaged; a fan control module coupled to the communication link for receiving engine information, transmission information, and power take off status information to process the engine information, the transmission information, and the power take off status information and to generate one or more fan speed demands from the processed information; wherein the fan control module selects from the one or more fan speed demands a maximum fan speed demand to command the fan drive to rotate the fan blade at a commanded rotational fan speed based on the maximum fan speed demand; wherein the fan control module generates at least one of the fan speed demands by processing the engine coolant temperature, the power take off status information, and the vehicle speed; wherein when the vehicle speed of the vehicle is greater than 0 KPH and the power take off unit is engaged, the fan control module raises a set point of the engine coolant temperature to reduce the fan speed demand processed from the engine coolant temperature, the power take off status information, and the vehicle speed; and wherein the communication link connects the engine control module, transmission control module, and power take off control module to the fan control module.