CN211343095U - Predictive thermostatic control system - Google Patents

Abstract

The predictive thermostat control system includes a look-ahead system configured to provide road parameters, and a controller configured to receive the road parameters, determine an upcoming engine load, generate a predictive cooling strategy, and control operation of a coolant pump and a thermostat according to the prediction to improve fuel economy.

Description

Predictive thermostatic control system

Technical Field

The application relates to the field of engines, in particular to a predictive constant temperature control system.

Background

The present disclosure relates to thermal control of an engine. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for controlling a coolant system of a vehicle engine.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

One embodiment relates to a system including a look-ahead system configured to provide road parameters, and a controller configured to receive the road parameters, determine an upcoming engine load, generate a predicted cooling strategy, and control operation of a coolant pump and a thermostat in accordance with the predicted cooling strategy to improve fuel economy.

The present application provides a predictive thermostatic control system, the system comprising:

a look-ahead system providing road parameters; and

a controller configured to

The road parameters are received and the road parameters are received,

the determination of the upcoming engine load is made,

generating a predictive cooling strategy, an

Operation of the coolant pump and thermostat is controlled according to a predictive cooling strategy to improve fuel economy.

In one refinement, the coolant pump includes a variable speed electric pump, and the controller is configured to control a speed of the variable speed electric pump to implement the predictive cooling strategy.

In one preferred embodiment, the predictive cooling strategy provides a higher coolant temperature on the uphill road to increase the NOx output of the engine.

In a preferred embodiment, the thermostat comprises an electrical thermostat, and the controller is configured to control operation of the electrical thermostat to provide flow in accordance with the predicted cooling strategy.

This summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects, inventive features, and advantages of the devices or processes described herein will become apparent in the detailed description set forth herein when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like elements.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a vehicle in an environment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an engine system of the vehicle of FIG. 1, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 3 is a graph showing a relationship between Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) and engine out NOx during an uphill climb of the vehicle of fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between BSFC and engine out NOx during downhill descent of the vehicle of fig. 1.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of an engine system of the vehicle of FIG. 1, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a controller of the engine system of fig. 2 or 3, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a method of operating an engine system of the vehicle of FIG. 1, according to some embodiments.

Detailed Description

Following is a more detailed description of various concepts and embodiments related to methods, devices, and systems for integrating predictive control in a vehicle (e.g., a look-ahead system, a V2X system, an Electronic Horizon (EHORIZON) system, etc.) with an electronic thermostat to more effectively control engine temperature. Before turning to the figures, which illustrate certain exemplary embodiments in detail, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the details or methodology set forth in the description or illustrated in the figures. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

Referring generally to the drawings, various embodiments disclosed herein relate to systems, apparatus, and methods for integrating a vehicle look-ahead system with an engine coolant system that includes a radiator, a mechanical coolant pump, a variable speed electric coolant pump, and an electronic thermostat. The controller is configured to receive information from the look-ahead system and to control operation of the mechanical coolant pump, the variable speed electric coolant pump, and the electronic thermostat in response to the information. For example, the controller may identify an upcoming uphill and control the engine output temperature to allow the engine to emit an increase in NOx to prevent NH3 (ammonia) slip in a diesel engine vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle 10 is depicted traveling along an environment in the form of a road 14 including an uphill slope 18 and a downhill slope 22. In some embodiments, the environment may include an off-highway route.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle 10 includes an engine 26 configured to power the vehicle 10. In some embodiments, the engine 26 is a compression ignition engine (e.g., a diesel engine). In some embodiments, the engine 26 is a spark ignition engine. The aftertreatment system 30 is configured to receive exhaust gas produced by the engine 26. In some embodiments, the aftertreatment system 30 includes an exhaust gas recirculation system (EGR), a selective catalytic reduction System (SCR) with a Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) dispenser, and other components associated with treating diesel-based exhaust. The aftertreatment system includes sensors for measuring exhaust temperature, NOx levels, and ammonia slip from the SCR. In some embodiments, aftertreatment system 30 includes other sensors associated with treating the exhaust gas produced by engine 26.

The vehicle 10 also includes a coolant system 34, the coolant system 34 configured to control a temperature of the engine 26 and output a resulting engine exhaust temperature from the engine 26 to the aftertreatment system 30. The coolant system 34 includes a pump 38 that moves coolant through the system, a thermostat 42 that directs and/or controls the flow of coolant within the coolant system 34, and a radiator 46 that includes a fan 50 that exchanges heat between the atmosphere and the coolant. The coolant system 34 also includes a flow meter 54 that monitors the flow rate of coolant exiting the pump 38, an engine temperature sensor 58 that monitors the temperature of the coolant exiting the engine 26, and a radiator temperature sensor 62 that monitors the temperature of the coolant exiting the radiator 46. In some embodiments, coolant system 34 includes more sensors for collecting information about coolant system 34 as needed. In some embodiments, the flow meter 54 and the radiator temperature sensor 62 may be eliminated.

The pump 38 is positioned to provide fluid flow into the cooling passages in the engine 26. In some embodiments, the pump 38 is a variable speed electric pump that can provide fluid flow at low, intermediate, and high flow rates. In some embodiments, the pump is a variable speed electric pump that can provide infinitely variable flow rates. In some embodiments, the pump 38 comprises a mechanical pump driven by a belt or clutch.

The thermostat 42 is positioned to receive the flow of fluid exiting the cooling passages of the engine 26. In some embodiments, the thermostat 42 is an electrical thermostat that includes a control circuit in communication with a temperature sensor, and the thermostat 42 is configured to open or close a switch in response to a signal received from the temperature sensor. In some embodiments, the switch is closed when the coolant temperature falls below a low temperature threshold and opened when the coolant temperature rises above a high temperature threshold. The switch may be electrically coupled to a system including the pump 38 and the fan 50, in addition to the coolant system 34 or other components of the engine 26. In some embodiments, the thermostat 42 receives information from the flow meter 54, the engine temperature sensor 58, and the radiator temperature sensor 62.

The radiator 46 is a heat exchanger for cooling fluid (e.g., coolant) within the coolant system 34. The fan 50 comprises an electric motor and increases the cooling rate of the fluid through the radiator 46.

The coolant system includes an engine output conduit 66 that fluidly couples the engine 26 to the thermostat 42. The engine temperature sensor 58 monitors the temperature of the coolant in the engine output conduit 66. A radiator in conduit 70 fluidly couples thermostat 42 and radiator 46. Radiator output conduit 74 fluidly couples radiator 46 and pump 38. The radiator temperature sensor 62 monitors the coolant temperature within the radiator output conduit 74. Bypass line 78 fluidly couples thermostat 42 and pump 38. The engine in conduit 82 fluidly couples pump 38 and engine 26, and flow meter 54 monitors the flow rate of coolant through the engine in conduit 82.

The controller 86 is configured to be in electrical communication with the engine 26, the engine 26 including actuators on the engine 26 (e.g., fuel system actuators, air handling system actuators, injectors, spark systems, etc.), the aftertreatment system 30, the pump 38, the thermostat 42, the fan 50, the flow meter 54, the engine temperature sensor 58, and the radiator temperature sensor 62. The controller 86 is also in communication with a look-ahead system 90, the look-ahead system 90 being configured to provide information to the controller 86 regarding upcoming environmental conditions. In some embodiments, the look-ahead system 90 includes a V2X system, an electronic horizon system, or the like, which may predict upcoming road conditions (e.g., grade and uphill or downhill, turning radius, speed limit changes, traffic, etc.). In some embodiments, the look-ahead system 90 includes a road map provided by the connection control unit. The controller 86 is configured to control operation of the pump 38, thermostat 42, and fan 50 in response to received information (e.g., from sensors and look-ahead system 90).

Engine exhaust aftertreatment systems, such as aftertreatment system 30, rely on the engine output temperature of the exhaust gas produced by engine 26 for conversion efficiency and regeneration. As conversion and regeneration efficiencies change, the aftertreatment system 30 requires the engine 26 to increase or decrease engine-out NOx. In some embodiments, the engine 26 will adjust or control the fuel system injection timing SOI) or rail pressure to affect engine out NOx control. However, SOI or rail pressure may have different effects on engine Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) due to different coolant temperatures. The current system does not include a pre-enabled coolant system (e.g., coolant system 34) integrated with a look-ahead system (e.g., look-ahead system 90), and does not anticipate the effects of upcoming aftertreatment requirements and coolant temperatures.

Conventional systems operate the coolant system in a reactive manner (i.e., provide coolant flow if the engine temperature is too high). Due to reactive control, the coolant temperature may take a considerable amount of time to respond to the command from the thermostat. Conventional systems employ paraffin thermostats and can only adjust the valve position based on the current coolant temperature. Conventional coolant systems are slow to respond and cannot be used as a controller input.

Using the look-ahead system 90, the controller 86 may determine upcoming road conditions that may directly determine engine load (e.g., more engine load will be required when ascending a hill). Controller 86 is configured to utilize the temperature variation estimation model and predictively control coolant system 34 to address upcoming road conditions as early as possible (e.g., before low NOx requirements are required). The integration of the look-ahead system 90 and the coolant system 34 may improve the combustion efficiency of the engine 26.

One exemplary action for reducing engine out NOx is to vary rail pressure and SOI. However, the effect of SOI on BSFC depends on the coolant temperature. Controller 86 is configured to utilize the coolant temperature as an input, and thus may improve fuel consumption of engine 26.

In one example, during an uphill ascent (e.g., the upward travel uphill 18 of FIG. 1), the engine load will increase, and the engine output temperature (e.g., as measured by the engine temperature sensor 58) will also increase. After the exhaust flow rate and the inertial heat increase, the NH3 storage in the catalyst will be depleted. In one non-limiting example, the vehicle 10 represents the bottom of an uphill 14 at point 1 in FIG. 3. Using look-ahead system 90, controller 86 predicts an upcoming engine load, and controller 86 requests engine 26 to increase engine-out NOx to prevent NH3 slip. The controller 86 also controls the operation of the coolant system 34 to allow for an increase in engine temperature to provide the desired NOx output, while also providing a reduction in BSFC (i.e., an increase in fuel efficiency). Look-ahead system 90 allows controller 86 to implement operation at point 3 (lower BSFC) rather than only point 2 (higher BSFC) as in conventional systems.

In another example, during a downhill descent (e.g., driving down the downhill slope 22 in FIG. 1), the catalyst temperature decreases in response to a decrease in engine load. For example, the same may apply to a taxi event. In one non-limiting example, the vehicle 10 is shown at the top of a downhill slope 18 at point 1 in fig. 4. As the SCR conversion efficiency within the aftertreatment system 30 decreases, NH3 is stored by the catalyst. In response, controller 86 may request that engine 26 reduce engine-out NOx to reduce system emissions. Using look-ahead system 90, controller 86 reduces NOx from point 1 to point 3 because controller 86 is able to predictively control operation of coolant system 34. With conventional systems, only point 2 can be achieved and a higher BSFC will result.

Predictive coolant system control may improve engine combustion efficiency during transient conditions and improve fuel efficiency while meeting the needs of the aftertreatment system 30.

As shown in FIG. 5, the coolant system 34 may include a variable speed electric coolant pump 38 and an additional mechanical pump 94 (e.g., belt driven). The electric coolant pump 38 may be used for less demanding tasks (e.g., coolant flow during idle or startup), while the mechanical pump 94 or a combination of the mechanical pump 94 and the electric coolant pump 38 may be used for high or maximum demand events. In some embodiments, the electric coolant pump 38 may be sized to run coolant fluid flow under normal use conditions, and the mechanical pump 94 may be sized smaller than a conventional water pump on a vehicle and may be used under high load conditions (e.g., climbing a hill, high acceleration, etc.).

Since the components of fig. 1 are shown as being embodied in the vehicle 10, the controller 86 may be configured as one or more Electronic Control Units (ECUs). The function and structure of controller 86, which may be separate from or included in at least one of a transmission control unit, an exhaust aftertreatment control unit, a powertrain control module, an engine control module, etc., is described in greater detail in FIG. 6 for controller 86.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a schematic diagram of the controller 86 of the vehicle 10 of FIG. 1 is shown, according to an example embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, the controller 86 includes a processing circuit 98 having a processor 102 and a memory device 106, a control system 110 having an engine output circuit 114 configured to receive information from the engine temperature sensor 58, a radiator output circuit 118 configured to receive information from the radiator temperature sensor 62, a flow meter circuit 122 configured to receive information from the flow meter 54, a thermostat circuit 126 configured to communicate with the thermostat 42, a mechanical pump circuit 134 configured to control operation of the mechanical pump 94, an electric pump circuit 138 configured to control operation of the electric coolant pump 38, a look-ahead circuit 142 configured to communicate with the look-ahead system 90, and a communication interface 146. Generally, the controller 86 is configured to receive inputs from the sensor array 150 (e.g., the flow meter 54, the engine temperature sensor 58, and the radiator temperature sensor 62), the look-ahead system 90, and other engine systems (e.g., the aftertreatment system 30) and to control operation of the coolant system 34 using predictive control to improve fuel economy of the engine 26 during operation.

In one configuration, the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 are implemented as machines or computer readable media that are executable by a processor (e.g., the processor 102). As described herein and for other purposes, a machine-readable medium facilitates performing certain operations to enable the reception and transmission of data. For example, a machine-readable medium may provide instructions (e.g., commands, etc.) to, for example, retrieve data. In this regard, the machine-readable medium may include programmable logic that defines a data acquisition frequency (or transmission of data). The computer readable medium may include code that may be written in any programming language, including but not limited to Java, and the like, and any conventional procedural programming language, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program code may be executed on one processor or on multiple remote processors. In the latter case, the remote processors may be interconnected by any type of network (e.g., a CAN bus, etc.).

In another configuration, the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 are implemented as hardware units, such as electronic control units. As such, the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 may be embodied as one or more circuit components including, but not limited to, processing circuits, network interfaces, peripherals, input devices, output devices, sensors, and the like. In some embodiments, the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 may take the form of: one or more analog circuits, electronic circuits (e.g., Integrated Circuits (ICs), discrete circuits, System On Chip (SOC) circuits, microcontrollers, etc.), telecommunications circuits, hybrid circuits, and any other type of "circuit. In this regard, the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 may include any type of components for implementing or facilitating the operations described herein. For example, the circuits described herein may include one OR more transistors, logic gates (e.g., NAND, AND, NOR, OR, XOR, NOT, XNOR, etc.), resistors, multiplexers, registers, capacitors, inductors, diodes, wiring, etc. The engine output circuit 114, radiator output circuit 118, flow meter circuit 122, thermostat circuit 126, mechanical pump circuit 134, electric pump circuit 138, and look-ahead circuit 142 may also include programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, and the like. The engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 may include one or more memory devices for storing instructions for execution by the processors of the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142. The one or more storage devices and the processor(s) may have the same definitions as provided below with respect to storage device 106 and processor 102. In some hardware unit configurations, the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 may be geographically dispersed at different locations of the vehicle. Or as shown, the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 may be embodied as or within a single unit/housing, shown as the controller 86.

In the example shown, the controller 86 includes a processing circuit 98 having a processor 102 and a memory device 106. The processing circuit 98 may be constructed or configured to execute or implement the instructions, commands, and/or control processes described herein with respect to the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142. The depicted configuration represents the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 as machine or computer readable media. However, as noted above, this illustration is not meant to be limiting as the present disclosure contemplates other embodiments in which the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 are configured as hardware units, or at least one of the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 are configured as hardware units. All such combinations and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

The hardware and data processing components used to implement the various processes, operations, illustrative logic, logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein (e.g., the processor 102) may be implemented with general purpose single or multi-chip processors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or any conventional processor or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. In some embodiments, one or more processors may be shared by multiple circuits (e.g., the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 may include or otherwise share the same processor, where the same processor may execute instructions stored or otherwise accessed via different regions of memory in some example embodiments). Alternatively or additionally, one or more processors may be configured to perform or otherwise perform certain operations independently of one or more co-processors. In other example embodiments, two or more processors may be coupled by a bus to enable independent, parallel, pipelined, or multithreaded instruction execution. All such variations are intended to fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

The memory device 106 (e.g., memory unit, storage device) may include one or more devices (e.g., RAM, ROM, flash memory, hard disk memory) for storing data and/or computer code for performing or facilitating the various processes, layers, and modules described in this disclosure. The memory device 106 may be communicatively connected to the processor 102 to provide computer code or instructions to the processor 102 to perform at least some of the processes described herein. Further, the memory device 106 may be or include tangible, non-transitory volatile memory or non-volatile memory. Thus, the memory device 106 may include database components, object code components, script components, or any other type of information structure for supporting the various activities and information structures described herein.

The controller 86 is configured to receive road maps or look-ahead information via the look-ahead circuit 142, and in conjunction with the information received from the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118 and the flow meter circuit 122 control operation of the thermostat 42, the electric coolant pump 38, and the mechanical pump 94 to control engine temperature and positively affect output parameters of the engine 26 (e.g., NOx production, exhaust temperature, fuel economy, etc.).

As shown in fig. 7, the method 154 may include receiving road information for the look-ahead system 90 at step 158. In step 162, the controller 86 uses the road information to predict an upcoming demand on the engine 26. At step 166, the controller 86 determines a predicted cooling request to improve operation of the engine 26 while meeting the upcoming demand for the engine 26. At step 170, a cooling strategy is determined. The cooling strategy may include coordinating operation of the electric coolant pump 38 and the mechanical pump 94 to implement the cooling strategy. At step 174, a cooling strategy is instituted by the electronic coolant pump 38 and/or the mechanical pump 94 in coordination with the operation of the thermostat 42.

In some embodiments, the coolant system 34 and the controller 86 may be used to increase the temperature of the engine 26 during a cold start, thereby increasing efficiency. For example, predictive control may be used to better predict the temperature start-up profile of the engine 26 and control the coolant system 34 to allow for rapid warm-up while avoiding overheating and system degradation.

As used herein, the terms "about," "approximately," "substantially," and similar terms are intended to have a broad meaning, consistent with common and accepted usage by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the subject matter of this disclosure pertains. Those skilled in the art who review this disclosure will appreciate that these terms are intended to allow certain features to be described and claimed without limiting the scope of these features to the precise numerical ranges provided. Accordingly, these terms should be interpreted as indicating that insubstantial or inconsequential modifications or alterations to the described and claimed subject matter are considered to be within the scope of the disclosure as recited in the appended claims.

It should be noted that the use of the term "example" and variations thereof herein to describe various embodiments is intended to indicate that such embodiments are possible embodiments, representations, and/or illustrations of possible embodiments (and such term is not intended to imply that such embodiments are necessarily uncommon or optimal examples).

The term "coupled" and variations thereof, and the like, as used herein, means that two members are directly or indirectly connected to each other. Such a connection may be stationary (e.g., permanent or fixed) or movable (e.g., removable or releasable). Such connection may be achieved by the coupling of two members directly to each other, the coupling of two members to each other using one or more separate intermediate members, or the coupling of two members to each other using one of the two members integrally formed as a single unitary body. If "coupled" or variations thereof are modified by additional terms (e.g., directly coupled), then the general definition of "coupled" provided above is modified by the meaning of the surfaces of the additional terms (e.g., "directly coupled" means that two members are added without any separate intervening members), which results in a narrower definition than the general definition of "coupled" provided above. This coupling may be mechanical, electrical or fluid. For example, circuit a may be communicatively "coupled" to circuit B may mean that circuit a communicates directly with circuit B (i.e., without intermediaries) or indirectly with circuit B (e.g., through one or more intermediaries).

References herein to element positions (e.g., "top," "bottom," "above," "below") are merely used to describe the orientation of various elements in the figures. It should be noted that the orientation of the various elements may differ according to other exemplary embodiments, and such variations are intended to be covered by the present disclosure.

Although various circuits having particular functionality are shown in fig. 6, it should be understood that controller 86 may include any number of circuits for performing the functions described herein. For example, the activities and functions of the engine output circuit 114, the radiator output circuit 118, the flow meter circuit 122, the thermostat circuit 126, the mechanical pump circuit 134, the electric pump circuit 138, and the look-ahead circuit 142 may be combined into multiple circuits or as a single circuit. Additional circuitry having additional functionality may also be included. In addition, the controller 86 may further control other activities beyond the scope of this disclosure.

As described above and in one configuration, "circuitry" may be implemented in a machine-readable medium for execution by various types of processors, such as the processor 102 of fig. 6. For example, executable code may identify circuits that comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions, which may, for example, be organized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executables of an identified circuit need not be physically located together, but may comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations which, when joined logically together, comprise the circuit and achieve the stated purpose for the circuit. Indeed, the computer readable program code circuitry may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated herein within circuitry, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed over different locations including over different storage devices, and may exist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network.

Although the term "processor" is briefly defined above, the terms "processor" and "processing circuitry" are intended to be broadly construed. In this regard and as described above, a "processor" may be implemented as one or more general-purpose processors, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), or other suitable electronic data processing components configured to execute instructions provided by a memory. The one or more processors may take the form of single-core processors, multi-core processors (e.g., dual-core processors, three-core processors, four-core processors, etc.), microprocessors, and the like. In some embodiments, the one or more processors may be external to the device, e.g., the one or more processors may be remote processors (e.g., cloud-based processors). Alternatively or additionally, the one or more processors may be internal and/or local to the device. In this regard, a given circuit or component thereof may be deployed locally (e.g., as part of a local server, local computing system, etc.) or remotely (e.g., as part of a remote server such as a server-based cloud). To this end, a "circuit" as described herein may include components distributed in one or more locations.

Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure include program products comprising machine-readable media for carrying or having machine-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such machine-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor. By way of example, such machine-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of machine-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of machine-readable media. Machine-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing machines to perform a certain function or group of functions.

Although the figures and descriptions may show a particular order of method steps, the order of the steps may differ from that depicted and described unless otherwise indicated above. Likewise, two or more steps may be performed concurrently or with partial concurrence, unless noted otherwise above. Such variations may depend, for example, on the software and hardware systems chosen and on designer choice. All such variations are within the scope of the present disclosure. Likewise, software implementations of the described methods can be accomplished with standard programming techniques with rule based logic and other logic to accomplish the various connection steps, processing steps, comparison steps and decision steps.

It is important to note that the configuration and arrangement of coolant system 34, engine 26, and controller 86 as shown in the various exemplary embodiments are illustrative only. In addition, any element disclosed in one embodiment may be combined with or used together with any other embodiment disclosed herein. While only one example of the elements of one embodiment are described above as being combined or used in another embodiment, it should be understood that other elements of the various embodiments may be combined or used with any other embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims (4)

1. A predictive thermostat control system, characterized in that the system comprises:

a look-ahead system providing road parameters; and

a controller configured to

The road parameters are received and the road parameters are received,

the determination of the upcoming engine load is made,

generating a predictive cooling strategy, an

Operation of the coolant pump and thermostat is controlled according to a predictive cooling strategy to improve fuel economy.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the coolant pump comprises a variable speed electric pump and the controller is configured to control a speed of the variable speed electric pump to implement the predictive cooling strategy.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the predictive cooling strategy provides a higher coolant temperature on an uphill road to increase NOx output of the engine.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the thermostat comprises an electrical thermostat, and the controller is configured to control operation of the electrical thermostat to provide flow in accordance with the predicted cooling strategy.

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