GB2568888A

GB2568888A - Fluid tank for use in a vehicle and method

Info

Publication number: GB2568888A
Application number: GB1719829.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Agurto Goya Alan
Original assignee: Jaguar Land Rover Ltd
Current assignee: Jaguar Land Rover Ltd
Priority date: 2017-11-29
Filing date: 2017-11-29
Publication date: 2019-06-05
Also published as: GB201719829D0

Abstract

A urea storage system (22, fig 2) comprises a urea tank 10 having a tank housing 14, a ferrous material 16, and an outlet (36, fig 3A) for delivering urea to an exhaust system 26 of a vehicle (12, fig 2). The ferrous material is inductively heated by one or more electrically conductive coils 24. Heating the tank prevents the urea from freezing. The ferrous material can be separate from the tank housing, located in the tank housing, partially combined with the tank housing, or forms part of a bottom section of the tank housing, and may comprise protrusions 20. A windscreen washer fluid storage system has the same features as the urea storage system. A vehicle system comprises the urea storage system or windscreen washer fluid storage system and a controller 32 to control the application of electrical power to the one or more electrically conductive coils.

Description

FLUID TANK FOR USE IN A VEHICLE AND METHOD

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a fluid tank for use in a vehicle and method. In particular, it relates to a urea storage system for an exhaust treatment system of a vehicle and method for providing liquid urea for use in an exhaust system of a vehicle, and to a windscreen washer fluid storage system for a vehicle and a method for providing liquid windscreen washer fluid in a vehicle.

BACKGROUND

Material, such as fluid, within the fluid tanks on vehicles can solidify or freeze under cold conditions, for example temperatures under -12°C.

The solidification or freezing of the fluids in fluid tanks on vehicles can cause difficulty for operation of the vehicle.

For example, fluid in a urea tank can freeze under cold conditions which can lead to problems in relation to emissions from the vehicle and/or fuel economy of the vehicle at cold start.

Likewise although it has low freezing temperature, in extreme conditions windscreen washer fluid can also freeze in its tank, thereby preventing it from being used to clean the windscreen of the vehicle.

It is an aim of the present invention to provide an improved fluid tank.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Aspects and embodiments of the invention provide a urea storage system and a windscreen wash storage solution for use in a vehicle, a vehicle and a method as claimed in the appended claims.

According to an aspect of an invention there is provided a urea storage system for an exhaust treatment system of a vehicle, the system comprising: a urea tank comprising a tank housing and a ferrous material, one or more electrically conductive coils arranged to inductively heat the ferrous material of the urea tank, and an outlet for delivering urea to an exhaust treatment system of a vehicle.

It will be appreciated that as used herein the term urea should be taken to mean aqueous urea solution as used in exhaust gas after treatment systems of vehicles, such as, for example, that sold under the brand name AdBlue®.

This provides the advantage that energy stored in a vehicle is used efficiently to heat urea in a urea tank. Furthermore, inductive heating provides accurate control of the heating of material in a urea storage system of a vehicle.

In embodiments the ferrous material may be separate from the tank housing, may be one or more of: located in the tank housing, at least partially combined with the tank housing, formed at least part of the tank housing; formed at least a part of a bottom section of the tank housing; or be shaped to fit with the tank housing.

The ferrous material may comprise one or more protrusions. The ferrous material may be shaped to provide a predetermined heating pattern to material in the urea storage.

The one or more electrically conductive coils may be galvanically isolated from the ferrous material.

In embodiments the electrically conductive coils may be external to, or integrated with, the tank housing.

According to another aspect of an invention there is provided a windscreen washer fluid storage system for a vehicle, the system comprising: a windscreen washer fluid tank comprising a tank housing and a ferrous material, one or more electrically conductive coils arranged to inductively heat the ferrous material of the windscreen washer fluid tank, and an outlet for delivering windscreen washer fluid to a windscreen a vehicle.

The ferrous material may comprise one or more protrusions. The ferrous material may be shaped to provide a predetermined heating pattern to material in the windscreen washer fluid.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a vehicle system comprising a urea storage system or a windscreen washer fluid storage system as described in either of the preceding aspects, and a controller for controlling the application of electrical power to the one or more electrically conductive coils so as to, in use, inductively heat the ferrous material.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a vehicle comprising a urea storage system, a windscreen washer fluid storage system and/or a vehicle system as described hereinabove.

According to a still further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of providing a liquid supply of urea for use in an exhaust treatment system of a vehicle, the method comprising: inductively heating a ferrous material of a urea tank having a tank housing by passing current through one or more electrically conductive coils arranged to inductively heat the ferrous material, so as to heat urea in the urea tank.

According to a still further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of providing a liquid supply of windscreen washer fluid for use in a vehicle, the method comprising: inductively heating a ferrous material of a windscreen washer fluid tank having a tank housing by passing current through one or more electrically conductive coils arranged to inductively heat the ferrous material, so as to heat windscreen washer fluid in the windscreen washer fluid tank.

Within the scope of this application it is expressly intended that the various aspects, embodiments, examples and alternatives set out in the preceding paragraphs, in the claims and/or in the following description and drawings, and in particular the individual features thereof, may be taken independently or in any combination. That is, all embodiments and/or features of any embodiment can be combined in any way and/or combination, unless such features are incompatible. The applicant reserves the right to change any originally filed claim or file any new claim accordingly, including the right to amend any originally filed claim to depend from and/or incorporate any feature of any other claim although not originally claimed in that manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One or more embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig 1 schematically illustrates a urea or windscreen washer fluid tank for use of the invention;

Fig 2 schematically illustrates a urea or windscreen washer fluid storage system, a vehicle system and vehicle of the invention;

Fig 3 schematically illustrates a vehicle system of the invention;

Fig 3A illustrates a urea or windscreen washer fluid storage of the invention for use in a vehicle;

Fig 4 illustrates a vehicle of the invention; and

Fig 5 illustrates an example of a method of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the embodiments described hereinafter the term “fluid”, in the context of the described invention will be understood to mean “urea” or “windscreen washer fluid”.

Examples of the present disclosure relate to a fluid tank system 10 for use in a vehicle 12. The fluid (i.e. urea or windscreen washer fluid) tank system 10 comprises a tank housing 14 and ferrous material 16 arranged to be inductively heated to heat urea or windscreen washer fluid 28 in the fluid tank system 10 As used herein the term urea will be taken to mean aqueous urea solution a used in the aftertreatment of vehicle exhaust gasses. It will be appreciated that the state of the aqueous urea solution may be liquid or solid, depending on the temperature thereof.

As described above the fluid tank 10 is a fluid tank for windscreen washer fluid or urea solution. That is, the fluid tank 10 is a urea tank or a windscreen washer fluid tank.

The use of inductive heating provides a high degree of freedom to regulate the heat rate into the material 28 in the fluid tank 10. In some cases this can give the technical effect of more efficient use of energy stored at a vehicle 12 to heat material 28 in a fluid tank 10 of a vehicle 12.

One or more of the elements referred to in the discussion of Figs 1 and 2 may be found in Figs 3 to 5.

Fig 1 schematically illustrates an example of a fluid tank 10 for use in a system of the invention. In examples the fluid tank 10 is a urea tank or a windscreen washer tank. The fluid tank 10 comprises a tank housing 14 and ferrous material 16.

The tank housing 14 may comprise any suitable size, shape and/or form. For example, the tank housing 14 may have a size dependent on the amount of material 28, such as washer fluid or urea solution, which is to be stored in a fluid tank 10 in a vehicle 12. Additionally or alternatively, the size, shape and/or form of the tank housing 14 of the fluid tank 10 may be determined, at least in part, to allow the fluid tank 10 to fit with one or more further systems in the vehicle 12.

In examples, the housing 14 of the fluid tank 10 is shaped to fit within space available in the vehicle 12.

The tank housing 14 in the example embodiment is made of a plastics material, in particular the tank housing may be made of one or more thermoplastics such a PEEK. It will, however, be appreciated that the tank housing may be made of any other suitable material such as a stainless steel alloy. The tank housing 14 may be comprised of material(s) without ferromagnetic properties and in some examples the material or materials of the housing 14 comprises low magnetic permeability. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that the material of the tank housing 14 will be chosen in dependence on the material 28 that is to be stored in the fluid tank 10. For example, where used for urea the material of the housing 14 may be chosen to be unreactive with urea 28.

As shown in Figure 1, the fluid tank 10 comprises a ferrous material 16 that is, in use, inductively heated to heat the urea or windscreen washer fluid 28 stored in the fluid tank 10. Details of the ferrous material are described in more detail below The ferrous material 16 may comprise one or more portions of ferrous material 16. That is, in some examples the ferrous material 16 comprises a plurality of physically separate/distinct portions of ferrous material 16.

In examples, the ferrous material 16 comprises any suitable material or materials to be inductively heated. For example the ferrous material 16 may have high magnetic permeability and high electrical resistance. In examples the ferrous material 16 may comprise an iron core.

As shown in Figure 1, the ferrous material 16 can be separate from the tank housing 14. In some examples, the ferrous material 16 is physically separate from the tank housing 14, i.e. the ferrous material may be physically distinct from the tank housing 14.

In other arrangements (such as those illustrated in Figure 3 and 3A), the ferrous material 16 is located at least partially within the tank housing 14. As shown in Figures 3 and 3A the ferrous material 16 may be located in the bottom of the tank housing, for example the bottom section of the tank housing 14 may be formed of ferrous material 16. As used in the context of the invention, “bottom” is intended to mean the lower surface of the tank housing 14 when the fluid tank 10 is oriented as it would be when in the vehicle 12. Locating the ferrous material 16 in the bottom of the tank housing 14 and/or as a part of the bottom section of the housing 14 is beneficial as it ensures good contact between material 28 in the fluid tank 10 and the ferrous material 16 due to gravity.

The ferrous material 16 being located within the tank housing 14 is illustrated in the example of Fig 1 by the dashed box within the tank housing 14.

As shown in Figure 3 the ferrous material 16 can be at least partially combined with the tank housing 14. For example at least part of the tank housing 14 provides the ferrous material 16 and/or the ferrous material 16 forms at least part of the tank housing 14, and in some arrangements the entire tank housing 14 may be formed of ferrous material 16.

As shown at 36 the fluid tank 10 has a fluid outlet for the provision of the fluid to the associated system of the vehicle.

Fig 2 schematically illustrates an example of a fluid (i.e. a urea or a windscreen washer fluid) storage system 22. In the example of Fig 2, the system 22 is comprised in a vehicle system 26. Furthermore, in the example of Fig 2, the vehicle system 26 is comprised in a vehicle 12.

In Fig 2, the fluid storage system 22 comprises a fluid tank 10 as described in relation to Fig 1 and inductive means 25. In the example, the inductive means 25 are arranged to inductively heat the ferrous material 16 of the fluid tank. Accordingly Fig 2 illustrates a fluid storage system 22 comprising a fluid tank 10 as described herein and inductive means 25 arranged to inductively heat the ferrous material 16 of the fluid tank 10.

Fig 2 also illustrates a vehicle system 26 comprising a fluid tank 10 as described herein and/or a fluid storage system 22 described herein. The vehicle system 26 may comprise any suitable system such as a washer fluid system or vehicle exhaust system and although not shown it will be appreciated that the vehicle system may include additional components, for example a delivery system for delivering the fluid to its point of use.

Furthermore, Fig 2 illustrates a vehicle 12 comprising a fluid tank 10 as described herein, a fluid storage system 22 as described herein and/or a vehicle system 26 as described herein. The vehicle 12 may be any suitable vehicle such as a car, van, truck and so on.

As shown if Figures 3 and 3A, the inductive means 25 comprises one or more electrically conductive coils 24 which may comprise any suitable form, size and/or shape to inductively heat the ferrous material 16 of the fluid tank 10. For example, the one or more electrically conductive coils may comprise any suitable number of turns. Although in the figures a single coil is shown it will be appreciated that alternatively, and without departing from the invention, a plurality of electrically conductive coils 24 comprising any suitable number of electrically conductive coils 24 may be used. Where a plurality of electrically conductive coils 24 is used the coil(s) 24 may be uniform or may be different, e.g. they may have different forms, sizes and/or shapes. The form, size shape and/or location of the one or more electrically conductive coils 24 can be chosen to provide a predetermined heating pattern to material in the fluid tank. For example, the form, size and/or shape of the one or more electrically conductive coils 24, may be chosen to deliver energy to the ferrous material 16 in a predetermined manner to provide heat to material in the fluid tank 10 in a predetermined way. For example, one or more electrically conductive coils 24 may be positioned around the tank 10 to provide a predetermined heating pattern to the ferrous material 16.

Fig 3 schematically illustrates an example of a vehicle system 26. In the example of Fig 3 the vehicle system 26 is an exhaust system or a windscreen washer system. In the example of Fig 3 various elements of the vehicle system 26 have been omitted for the sake of clarity.

The vehicle system 26 illustrated in the example of Fig 3 comprises a fluid tank 10 (as described herein, a DC to AC converter 30, energy storage means 34 and a controller 32.

As shown, the ferrous material 16 in the example of Fig 3 comprises a plurality of protrusions 20 which project upwardly into the fluid tank 10 to increase the contact surface area between the ferrous material 16 and the urea or windscreen washer fluid 28.

As shown in Fig 3 the inductive means 25 comprises an electrically conductive coil 24 is around the ferrous material at the base of the fluid tank 10. As shown the the electrically conductive coils are located within the volume of the housing 14 of the tank 10 but are galvanically isolated from the ferrous material 16.

The electrically conductive coils 24 are electrically connected to the DC to AC converter 30, which may be any suitable DC to AC converter 30. The DC to AC converter 30 is electrically connected to the energy storage means 34 and the controller 32. The energy storage means 34 may comprise any suitable energy storage means 34, such as any suitable electrical energy storage means 34, e.g. one or more batteries 34. The battery or batteries 34 may be a vehicle battery configured to provide power to various vehicle systems. The DC to AC converter 30 provide an alternating current to the electrically conductive coils 24 to create inductive heating in the ferrous material 16 and therefore also to heat the urea or windscreen washer fluid 28.

The controller 32 is configured to control the heating of the ferrous material 16. The controller 32 controls one or more of the amplitude of electrical current, and the frequency of the electrical current supplied to the electrically conductive coils 24.

The controller 32 may receive one or more signals from one or more sensors (not illustrated) to allow control of the heating of the ferrous material 16 and fluid 28. For example, the controller 32 may be configured to receive one or more signals comprising one or more of information relating to temperature and volume of liquid in the fluid tank 10 and may control the electrical current supplied to the electrically conductive coils 24 in dependence on the received information.

Fig 3A illustrates an example of a fluid tank 10 for use in a vehicle 12. The fluid tank 10 may be as described in relation to Figs 1 and/or 2.

In the example of Fig 3A the ferrous material 16 is inside the housing 14 of the tank 10. In the illustrated example the housing 14 of the fluid tank 10 has been formed and the ferrous material 16 inserted into the housing 14.

A shown the electrically conductive coils 24 are at least fully contained within the housing 14 of the fluid tank 10, although it will be appreciated that the coils 24 may be only partially contained in the housing or may be provided externally to the tank housing 14, for example the one or more electrically conductive coils 24 may be wound, at least partially, around the housing 14 of the fluid tank 10.

The coils are galvanically isolated from the ferrous material 16. That is, in examples, there is no galvanic connection between the inductive means and the ferrous material 16.

The ferrous material 16 may be inserted into the tank housing 14 through an opening, or alternatively the ferrous material 16 is inserted during formation of the tank housing 14, or the tank 14 may be formed around the housing.

In the invention any suitable ferrous material 16 may be used. The ferrous material 16 may comprise any suitable size, shape and/or form to be inductively heated to heat material 28, such as washer fluid or urea solution, stored in the fluid tank 10. As shown the ferrous material 16 is shaped to fit with the tank housing 14, i.e. the ferrous material 16 is shaped to fit within and cooperate with the shape of the tank housing 14.

The ferrous material 16 is shaped to efficiently deliver heat into material 28 stored in the fluid tank 10. As shown, the ferrous material 16 of Figure 3A is shaped to provide a large contact surface area between the ferrous material 16 and urea or windscreen washer fluid 28 in the fluid tank 10. By “large” it is meant that the contact surface area is increased in comparison with planar or substantially planar ferrous material 16. This is achieved by the provision of one or more protrusions 20. The protrusions may be shaped to provide a predetermined heating uniform or irregular pattern to urea or windscreen washer fluid 28 in the fluid tank 10. For example, if an irregular heating profile is required the ferrous material 16 may have a predetermined shape, e.g. number and location of protrusions, to preferentially provide heat at particular locations within the fluid tank 10 such that heat is preferentially delivered at predetermined points within the fluid tank 10. This can be achieved by the ferrous material 16 being shaped to control the amount of surface area of the ferrous material in contact with urea or windscreen washer fluid 28 stored in the fluid tank 10 at different locations. Alternatively the ferrous material can comprise a plurality of portions of ferrous material 16 the plurality of portions of ferrous material 16 may comprise different material(s) having differing ferrous properties such that they heat at a different rate.

Fig 4 illustrates an example of a vehicle 12. In the example of Fig 4, the vehicle 12 comprises a fluid storage system 22 as described in relation to Fig 2 and a vehicle system 26 as described in relation to figs 2 and/or 3.

Fig 5 illustrates an example of a method 500. The method 500 may be performed by a fluid storage system 22 and/or vehicle system 26 and/or vehicle 12 as described in relation to Fig 2 and/or a vehicle system 26 as described in relation to Fig 3. At block 502 material (i.e. urea or windscreen washer fluid 28 in a fluid tank 10 of a vehicle 12 is inductively heated using ferrous material 16 in a housing 14 of the fluid tank 10.

Examples of the disclosure provide various technical benefits.

For example, the use of inductive heating to heat the ferrous material 16 provides for efficient use of vehicle energy, for example multiple mechanisms of heat are induced such as Joule heating, hysteresis heat and so on.

Furthermore, considerable control of the heating of the material 28 in the fluid tank 10 is possible. This is because the inductive heating provides improved controllability of heating as there are more degrees of freedom for controlling the heating compared to, for example, resistive heating.

As used herein “for” should be considered to also include “configured or arranged to”. For example, “a fluid tank for” should be considered to also include “a fluid tank configured or arranged to/for”.

Although ‘ferrous’ material has been referred to in the preceding description it is intended that the material could alternatively or additionally be ferromagnetic material.

For purposes of this disclosure, it is to be understood that the controller(s) described herein can each comprise a control unit or computational device having one or more electronic processors. A vehicle and/or a fluid storage system thereof may comprise a single control unit or electronic controller or alternatively different functions of the controller(s) may be embodied in, or hosted in, different control units or controllers. A set of instructions could be provided which, when executed, cause said controller(s) or control unit(s) to implement the control techniques described herein (including the described method(s)). The set of instructions may be embedded in one or more electronic processors, or alternatively, the set of instructions could be provided as software to be executed by one or more electronic processor(s). For example, a first controller may be implemented in software run on one or more electronic processors, and one or more other controllers may also be implemented in software run on or more electronic processors, optionally the same one or more processors as the first controller. It will be appreciated, however, that other arrangements are also useful, and therefore, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to any particular arrangement. In any event, the set of instructions described above may be embedded in a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium) that may comprise any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine or electronic processors/computational device, including, without limitation: a magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette); optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto optical storage medium; read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory (e.g., EPROM ad EEPROM); flash memory; or electrical or other types of medium for storing such information/instructions.

The blocks illustrated in the Fig 5 may represent steps in a method.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described in the preceding paragraphs with reference to various examples, it should be appreciated that modifications to the examples given can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed.

Where a structural feature has been described, it may be replaced by means for performing one or more of the functions of the structural feature whether that function or those functions are explicitly or implicitly described.

The term “comprised” is used in this document with an inclusive not an exclusive meaning. That is any reference to X comprising Y indicates that X may comprise only one Y or may comprise more than one Y. If it is intended to use “comprise” with an exclusive meaning than it will be made clear in the context by referring to “comprising only one ...” or by using “ consisting”.

Features described in the preceding description may be used in combinations other than the combinations explicitly described.

Although functions have been described with reference to certain features, those functions may be performable by other features whether described or not.

Although features have been described with reference to certain embodiments, those features may also be present in other embodiments whether described or not.

Whilst endeavoring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features of the invention believed to be of particular importance it should be understood that the Applicant claims protection in respect of any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to and/or shown in the drawings whether or not particular emphasis has been placed thereon.

Claims

1. A urea storage system for an exhaust treatment system of a vehicle, the system comprising:

a urea tank comprising a tank housing and a ferrous material, one or more electrically conductive coils arranged to inductively heat the ferrous material of the urea tank, and an outlet for delivering urea to an exhaust treatment system of a vehicle.

2. A urea storage system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more electrically conductive coils are galvanically isolated from the ferrous material.

3. A urea storage system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the ferrous material is one or more of:

separate from the tank housing;

located in the tank housing;

at least partially combined with the tank housing.

4. A urea storage system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the ferrous material forms at least part of the tank housing.

5. A urea storage system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the ferrous material forms at least a part of a bottom section of the tank housing.

6. A urea storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the ferrous material is shaped to fit with the tank housing.

7. A urea storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the ferrous material comprises one or more protrusions.

8. A urea storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the ferrous material is shaped to, in use, provide a predetermined heating pattern to urea in the fluid tank.

9. A urea storage system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the one or more electrically conductive coils are external to the tank housing.

10. A windscreen washer fluid storage system for a vehicle, the system comprising: a windscreen washer fluid tank comprising a tank housing and a ferrous material, one or more electrically conductive coils arranged to inductively heat the ferrous material of the windscreen washer fluid tank, and an outlet for delivering windscreen washer fluid to a windscreen a vehicle.

11. A windscreen washer fluid storage system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the one or more electrically conductive coils are galvanically isolated from the ferrous material.

12. A windscreen washer fluid storage system as claimed in claim 10 or 11, wherein the ferrous material is one or more of:

separate from the tank housing; located in the tank housing;

at least partially combined with the tank housing.

13. A windscreen washer fluid storage system as claimed in claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the ferrous material forms at least part of the tank housing.

14. A windscreen washer fluid storage system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the ferrous material forms at least a part of a bottom section of the tank housing.

15. A windscreen washer fluid storage system as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 14, wherein the ferrous material is shaped to fit with the tank housing.

16. A windscreen washer fluid storage system as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 15, wherein the ferrous material comprises one or more protrusions.

17. A windscreen washer fluid storage system as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 16, wherein the ferrous material is shaped to, in use, provide a predetermined heating pattern to windscreen washer fluid in the fluid tank.

18. A windscreen washer fluid storage system as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 17, wherein the one or more electrically conductive coils are external to the tank housing.

19. A vehicle system comprising:

a urea storage solution as claimed in at least one of claims 1 to 9 or a windscreen washer fluid solution as claimed in at least one of claims 10 to 18, and a controller for controlling the application of electrical power to the one or more electrically conductive coils so as to, in use, inductively heat the ferrous material.

20. A vehicle comprising a urea storage system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 and/or a windscreen washer fluid solution as claimed in at least one of claims 10 to 18 and/or a vehicle system as claimed in a claim 19.

21. A method of providing a liquid supply of urea for use in an exhaust treatment system of a vehicle, the method comprising:

inductively heating a ferrous material of a urea tank having a tank housing by passing current through one or more electrically conductive coils arranged to inductively heat the ferrous material, so as to heat urea in the urea tank.

22. A method of providing a liquid supply of windscreen washer fluid for use on a vehicle, the method comprising:

inductively heating a ferrous material of a windscreen washer fluid tank having a tank housing by passing current through one or more electrically conductive coils arranged to inductively heat the ferrous material, so as to heat windscreen washer fluid in the urea tank.