Engine thermomanagement with
electrical components for fuel
consumption reduction
E Cortona, C H Onder and L Guzzella
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ZuÈrich,
Switzerland
Received 4 January 2001
Abstract: This paper proposes a solution for advanced
temperature control of the relevant temperature of
a combustion engine. It analyses the possibility of reducing
vehicle fuel consumption by improving engine
thermomanagement.
In conventional applications, combustion engine cool-
ing systems are designed to guarantee sufficient heat
removal at full load. The cooling pump is belt-driven by
the combustion engine crankshaft, resulting in a direct
coupling of engine and cooling pump speeds. It is dimen-
sioned such that it can guarantee adequate performance
over the full engine speed range. This causes an excessive
flow of cooling fluid at part-load conditions and at engine
cold-start. This negatively affects the engine efficiency
and, as a consequence, the overall fuel consumption.
Moreover, state-of-the-art cooling systems allow the con-
trol of the coolant temperature only by expansion thermo-
stats (solid-to-liquid phase wax actuators). The resulting
coolant temperature does not permit engine efficiency to
be optimized.
In this paper, active control of the coolant flow as well
as of the coolant temperature has been realized using an
electrical cooling pump and an electrically driven valve
which controls the flow distribution between the radiator
and its bypass. For this purpose, a control-oriented model
of the whole cooling system has been derived. Model-based
feedforward and feedback controls of coolant temperature
and flow have been designed and tested. With the
additional actuators and the model-based control scheme,
a good performance in terms of fast heat-up and small
temperature overshoot has been achieved.
The improvements in fuel consumption obtained with
the proposed configuration have been verified on a
dynamic testbench. Both engine cold-start under station-
ary engine operation and the European driving cycle
MVEG-A with engine cold-start were tested. The fuel
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Int J Engine Research Vol 3 No 3
consumption reductions achieved during these tests vary
between 2.8 and 4.5 per cent, depending on the engine
operating conditions. Compared to vehicle mass reduction
or internal engine improvements, engine thermomanage-
ment is a simple, flexible and cost efficient solution for
improving system performance, i.e. fuel consumption.
Key words: engine cooling system modelling, electric
coolant pump, electric bypass valve, fuel efficiency
improvement, internal friction, feedforward control,
dynamic model, model-based estimator
1. Introduction
Approximately one-third of the fuel energy delivered
to the engine at steady state conditions is removed
by the engine coolant within the cooling system of
an automotive engine [1]. This amounts to significant
values for high-speed and high-load operating
points. Especially at high ambient temperatures and
low air velocities at the radiator of the car (e.g.
pulling loads up a hill in summertime), the task of
removing this energy is highly demanding.
The components of conventional cooling systems
are designed to fulfil these needs [2± 4]. The
crankshaft-driven waterpump has to be dimensioned
for low engine speeds, the thermostat for high cool-
ant flows and the radiator for low air speeds. Large
radiators, additional fans and large thermostats have
to be used to guarantee that the system works prop-
erly and that the engine does not overheat, which
would severely damage the engine. Thus, when the
engine runs at part-load conditions (corresponding
to approximately 90 per cent of its lifetime) the cool-
ing system is overdimensioned. This leads to lower
157
E Cortona, C H Onder and L Guzzella
fuel efficiency of the engine due to lower engine tem-
peratures and considerable mechanical losses in the
waterpump.
While the drawback of a mechanically coupled
waterpump is clear, the drawbacks of the conven-
tional thermostat have to be explained in more detail
[5± 7]. The thermostat is a valve whose position deter-
mines the flow partitioning between the radiator and
its bypass duct. Under stationary conditions, the pos-
ition of the thermostat is determined by the coolant
temperature. Since the thermostat has to be passed
by quite large coolant flows, the thermal inertia of
its actuator element cannot be neglected. The time
constant of this element amounts to approximately
30 s. For cold-starts at high loads, the engine tem-
perature has to be kept from overshooting to avoid
damage to cylinder head gaskets and other compo-
nents. Therefore, the thermostat’s static characteristic
has to allow a certain amount of coolant flow through
the radiator already at relatively low temperatures
(70 °C). On the other hand, at full load, at a coolant
temperature of 90 °C the thermostat has to be fully
open to enable maximum cooling. This static charac-
teristic (the thermostat acts as a proportional control-
ler) leads to a steady state error since the plant itself
does not have any integrating behaviour to cancel
out this error over time. The higher the engine speed
and the lower the load, the larger this offset from the
demanded value is, leading to higher friction in the
engine and thus higher fuel consumption.
These drawbacks can be prevented if the engine is
equipped with electrically controlled components,
i.e. an electrically driven waterpump and an electri-
cally operated bypass valve. The higher cost of these
components must be offset by improvements in the
overall fuel efficiency of the system. This asks for
improved control strategies to enable the engine to
be run at higher temperatures while maintaining the
ability to guarantee the proper cooling of the system
at high loads. The new configuration of the cooling
system implies two independent inputs, which adds
an additional degree of freedom. In the new con-
figuration it is therefore possible to simultaneously
control the temperatures of the coolant entering and
leaving the engine. The system thus has an MIMO
(multiple input, multiple output) structure. This
paper focuses on the design of the controller for this
plant. Since a feedback controller alone would not
fulfil the requirements, a model-based feedforward
controller is designed as well. The combination of
these two controllers allows the desired tempera-
tures to be obtained at all engine operating points.
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158
A control-oriented model of the thermomanagement
system is thus a prerequisite for this analysis.
Since the conventional system has a mechanically
driven cooling pump and the suggested system an
electrically driven one, conversion efficiency might
be an issue. Mechanical drives reach efficiencies
higher than 90 per cent. For the realization of electri-
cal drives, nevertheless, the transfer from mechanical
to electrical energy results in efficiencies of approxi-
mately 50 per cent. Over its lifetime the engine is
mostly operated under part load. For the conven-
tional cooling system, the coolant flow is directly
coupled to the engine speed, since the pump is belt
driven by the engine. The electrically powered cool-
ing pump allows minimal flow under engine part-
load operating conditions. Since the energy demand
of the coolant pump in the second case is signifi-
cantly lower, a positive balance in the pump energy
supply can be obtained, despite the lower efficiency
in the energy supply. In addition, some investi-
gations using recuperation energy for the power
demand of auxiliaries have been done. Part of the
kinetic energy of the vehicle can be stored during
the braking phases and is then available for power-
ing auxiliary devices. This solution has reasonable
cost± benefit ratios due to the introduction of inte-
grated starter-alternator devices in the near future.
More information on this topic may be found in
reference [8].
2. System Modelling
A fourth-order mean value model of the cooling
system is developed. Local differences in the coolant
temperature or in the coolant flow speed are neg-
lected and only the overall system behaviour is con-
sidered. A lumped parameter model is developed.
The delays caused by the coolant flowing in the tubes
are considered in the simulation. The goal of the
model is primarily the realization of a model-based
controller. It also allows the prediction of the system
thermal behaviour at various operating conditions
(i.e. engine cold-start, steady state operating points
or test cycles). The identification of model par-
ameters as well as the verification of the results
are performed with experiments on a dynamic
testbench.
A schematic representation of the cooling circuit
in automotive applications is given in Fig. 1a. Part of
the energy delivered during the combustion of fuel
is lost due to heat transfer through the cylinder walls.
To avoid overheating of the materials a coolant fluid
Int J Engine Research Vol 3 No 3

Fig. 1 (a) Mechanical set-up and (b) flowchart of the plant.
is forced to flow through the engine. To avoid an
excessive cooling effect (e.g. at engine cold-start or
at part-load conditions), a heat exchanger bypass is
installed. The flow partitioning between the bypass
and the heat exchanger is realized in the bypass
valve, also known as the thermostat.
Inputs to the system are the coolant flowrate
through the engine and the bypass valve opening
area. In conventional automotive applications, the
opening area u1 of the thermostat is a function of its
temperature, which corresponds for steady state con-
ditions to the temperature of the coolant leaving the
engine Teng,out :
*
m
u1 = by
= f1 (Teng,out )
m*
c temperature. The following equation calculates this
The coolant mass flow is a function of the engine
speed since the cooling pump is directly belt-driven
by the engine. Therefore,
* c = f (nICE )
u2 =m
Outputs of the system are the temperatures of the
various subsystems. The cooling system consists of
the engine internal and the engine external cooling
circuits, as represented in Fig. 1b. The disturbances
acting on the system are also shown in Fig. 1b. A
more precise definition of the disturbances is given
in Sections 2.1 and 2.2.
The temperature at the output of the engine can
be calculated if the coolant mass flow and the tem-
perature of the coolant entering the engine are
known. Similarly, since the temperature of the cool-
ant entering the external cooling system, the flow
distribution in the bypass valve and the global cool-
ant mass flow are known, the coolant temperature
exiting the external cooling circuit can be deter-
mined. This temperature is also the temperature of
the coolant entering the engine. The two subsystems
of the cooling circuit shown in Fig. 1b can be mod-
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Engine thermomanagement with electrical components
elled as described below. For the suggested system
the physical description of the system is the same as
for the conventional system. What changes is how u1
and u2 are determined. For the conventional case,
equations (1) and (2) can be used, whereas for the
proposed system the inputs are determined by a
model-based controller.
2.1 Engine internal cooling circuit
The engine is divided into three different zones
(Fig. 2a). The first zone represents the cylinder, the
second one the coolant fluid, while in the third zone
the thermal behaviour of the engine block is
modelled.
(1) The first zone is characterized by the cylinder wall
temperature as a function of the heat balance:
* ­ Q *
dTw Q
= g,w w,c
(3)
dt c w mw
(2) *
The cycle-averaged heat flow Q g,w transferred from
the burning gases to the cylinder wall for a particular
operating point is predicted using engine cycle
simulation:
* = f (b.m.e.p., n , T )
Q g,w ICE w (4)
The results obtained from the cycle calculation
over the whole engine operating region are shown
in Fig. 2b. The heat transfer from the burning gases
to the cylinder wall can be obtained from the cycle
calculation only under steady state operating con-
ditions. Since during an engine cold-start the wall
temperature increases steadily, the steady state
working conditions for various wall temperatures
are calculated, whereas the current heat flow from
the gases to the wall during the warm-up process is
interpolated. For the simulation, the heat flow value
Q*
g,w is obtained from a three-dimensional map.
The heat flow from the wall to the coolant is
159
E Cortona, C H Onder and L Guzzella

Fig. 2 *
(a) Temperatures and heat flows at the cylinder and (b) cycle-averaged heat flow Q g,w (J/cycle) from the gas to the wall.

calculated considering the heat transfer due to con- The last differential equation (needed to determine
duction through the cylinder wall area Aw in contact the engine internal cooling system’s behaviour) per-
with the coolant. The coolant heat transfer coefficient mits the calculation of the engine block temperature:
a c is calculated with reference to the coolant proper-
* +Q
dTeb Q * ­ Q* +Q *
ties and its flowing characteristics, whereby both a = c,eb if irr ex,eb
(10)
turbulent and a laminar behaviour are considered: dt ceb meb +coil moil

A B
Teng,out +Teng,in where the amount of heat transferred from the
* =a A T ­
Q (5) *
w,c c w w,c
2 exhaust gases to the engine block Q ex,eb depends on
the engine operating point and on the engine block
It is evident from Fig. 2a that the wall temperature temperature. Its value can be determined by means
considered for the calculation of the heat transferred of cycle calculations.
from the cylinder wall to the coolant is the cylinder The variable Q * indicates the heat transferred to
if
external temperature (coolant side). The heat trans- the engine block due to internal friction:
ferred from the wall to the coolant Q *
w,c can be
calculated as follows:

* = lw Aw (T ­
Q if v
A
* = f P , T , Teng,out +Teng,in , n , T
eb
2 ICE ICE
B (11)

Q w,c w Tw,c ) (6)

d/2 where P v is the boost± pressure ratio [9]. The engine
heat losses due to irradiation and convection over
The second zone is characterized by the coolant. For
the engine block surface Aeb,irr are considered in the
the energy balance, it is assumed that the tempera-
term
ture in this zone is mainly the temperature of the
coolant leaving the engine. The differential equation * =[se(T 4 ­
Q 4
Tamb )+l(Teb ­ Tamb )]Aeb,irr (12)
irr eb
describing the variation in the coolant temperature
The variations in Q * and Q * are considered to be
leaving the engine is thus if irr

* ­ * ­ * disturbances. A flowchart representation of the

dTeng,out Q Q DQ
= w,c c,eb c
(7) internal cooling circuit is given in Fig. 3.
dt cc mc

The heat transfer between the coolant and the engine 2.2 Engine external cooling circuit
block is described as follows: The main components of this part of the cooling cir-

A B
cuit are the bypass valve and the heat exchanger. For
* =a A Teng,out +Teng,in
Q c,eb c eb ­ Teb (8) each bypass valve construction, a dependence of the
2
flow partitioning between the bypass and the heat
where Aeb indicates the engine block area in contact exchanger on the valve position is given. Knowing
with the coolant. The enthalpy difference due to the the total coolant mass flow m* c , the flow through the
temperature difference over the engine is bypass
* =c m
DQ * * = f (m
* ,x
c c c (T eng,out ­ Teng,in ) (9) m by c valve ) (13)
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 Engine thermomanagement with electrical components

Fig. 3 Flowchart of the internal cooling system as modelled.

and through the heat exchanger Therefore, assuming a mean temperature difference
between the coolant and the air, the heat transfer is
* =m
m * ­ *
m (14)

A B
r c by

* Tr,in +Tr,out
can be determined. The various parts of the cooling Q r,out =a r Ar ­ Tamb (19)
2
system are connected by tubes where the coolant
flows with different velocities depending on the A more detailed definition of the heat transfer
pump’s flowrate. Thus connections can be charac- coefficient a r may be found in reference [2].
terized by varying delays, whose influences on the The heat exchanger is assumed to be a perfectly
system’s behaviour may not be neglected. stirred reactor. Thus,
If the volumes of interest and the fluid mass flow
Tr,out =Tr (20)
through the section under consideration are known,
the size of the delays can be determined. Assuming The coolant flows from the bypass and from the heat
that the mass flow changes slowly compared to the exchanger mix before entering the engine. Since it is
size of the time delays it follows that assumed that no heat dissipation takes place over
the tube connecting the mixing point and the engine,
V
t= (15)
*
m m*
Tmix (t)=Teng,out (t­ t1 ­ t4 ) *by
mc
The heat loss in the tubes is neglected.
A simplified model for the heat exchanger is pro- *r
m
posed. More complex models are discussed in refer- +Tr,out (t­ t3 ) (21)
*c
m
ence [4]. The differential equation describing the
temperature variation in the heat exchanger is Teng,in (t+t5 )=Tmix (t) (22)

* ­ Q
dTr Q * where
= r,in r,out
(16)
dt cc m r * ),
t1 = f (m * ),
t2 = f (m * )
t3 = f (m
c r r

where the additional enthalpy to the heat exchanger * ),

t4 = f (m * )
t5 = f (m
by c
is (23)
* =(T ­
Q *r
Tr,out )cc m (17) The delays are only relevant for the temperature and
r,in r,in
not for the flows since the coolant is assumed to be
The temperature of the coolant entering the heat
incompressible. A flowchart representation of the
exchanger Tr,in can be calculated as a function of the
engine external cooling system described above is
temperature of the coolant leaving the engine and
given in Fig. 4. The influence of the delays is shown
under consideration of the mass flow through the
as well.
various tubes:

Tr,in (t) =Teng,out [t­ * c) ­

t1 (m * r )]
t2 (m (18)
3. Model Validation
The heat transferred from the heat exchanger to the
environment is calculated considering the heat trans- The model was first validated for the conventional
fers due to conduction through the tube walls and configuration of the cooling circuit. For this purpose,
due to convection on the coolant and on the air side. experiments were conducted on a dynamic engine
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E Cortona, C H Onder and L Guzzella

Fig. 4 Flowchart of the external cooling system as modelled.

testbench. The following set-up was chosen for the
measurements and the simulation:
1. Constant engine operating points (nICE =2500
r/min and b.m.e.p.=2 bar).
2. The electrical cooling pump operated in order to
obtain a constant mass flow. The coolant mass
flow is the same as measured in the case of the
conventional waterpump configuration (with the
waterpump mechanically coupled to the engine
shaft) for the chosen engine operating point. The
coolant flowrate for this particular operating point
is mc =0.266 (l/s).
3. Conventional thermostat. The opening character-
istics of the conventional thermostat are a function
of the coolant temperature. For the experimentally
used thermostat the lift characteristic is given in
Fig. 5a. This lift characteristic has also been
implemented in the simulation.
4. Since on the testbench the heat exchanger is water-
cooled, Tr remains almost constant at Tr =25 °C.
Under these operating conditions the results
obtained from the simulation and from the measure-
ment in the case of an engine cold-start are plotted
in Fig. 5b.
The dynamic behaviour of the system has been
validated with the help of step responses as well.
The position of the bypass valve was used as input.
For both simulations and measurements the resulting
values of the temperature of the coolant leaving the
engine are shown in Figs 5c and d. The behaviour of

Fig. 5 Model validation: (a) thermostat lift characteristic, (b) simulated and measured temperature of coolant exiting the engine at
cold-start, (c) and (d) temperature step responses when the valve position is excited.
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162 Int J Engine Research Vol 3 No 3

 Engine thermomanagement with electrical components
the system in the case of a reduction or an increase
of the coolant mass flow through the heat exchanger
is shown in Figs 5c and d respectively. Only the
model parameter a c representing the coolant heat
transfer coefficient was adjusted to fit the simulation
to the experiment.
Since the structure of the suggested configuration
remains the same, the model of the conventional
system can be adopted. The only change is in the
strategy of how the inputs (flow partitioning and
mass flow) are varied. In terms of hardware, the ther-
mostat was substituted with an electrically actuated
valve and the pump mass flow was decoupled from
the engine speed. All experiments were conducted
with the electrical coolant pump.
4. Controller Design
Experiments with a feedback controller alone
revealed that due to the large delays in the system,
the compromise between temperature overshoot
during a cold-start (when the temperature of the
coolant leaving the engine reaches its demanded
value) and the limit cycle behaviour could not be
solved satisfactorily. In order to improve the system
performance, a model-based open-loop estimator
was added to permit a feedforward-like control
structure.
4.1 Feedforward controller
The main control problem during cold-starts is that
the bypass valve must remain fully open as long as
the engine-out temperature is below its set-point. As
soon as the set-point temperature is reached, the
bypass valve has to close in order to maintain a con-
Fig. 6 Flowchart of the model used for the design of the feedforward control.
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Int J Engine Research Vol 3 No 3
stant engine-out temperature. The two delays t3 and
t5 in the respective paths of the flowchart (referring
to the plug flow in the pipes from the radiator to the
engine) depend on the mass flow. It can therefore
be concluded that the worst case of the system
behaviour for the control design is:
(a) minimal flow of the water pump (time delay
largest),
(b) lowest temperature Tr,out ( largest excitation of the
overall system by a slight closing of the bypass
valve).
The following simplifications for the model allow a
feedforward design for the strongly non-linear plant:
*
u2 =m c,min =constant
Tr,out =constant
t1 , t4 , t5 =constant
(24)
The feedforward mainly has to improve the system
performance at engine cold-start. Once the engine is
fully warmed up, the delays and non-linearities are
much less important, so that the feedback control can
cope with them. The simplified flowchart of the com-
plete plant (internal and external cooling system) is
shown in Fig. 6.
A part of the disturbances z1 and z2 acting on the
system depend on the engine block and coolant tem-
perature. The parameters b1 to b4 and c1 to c3 are
calculated based on the system model described
above. The non-linearities have been reduced signifi-
cantly and the time delays are assumed to be con-
stant. The following equations of the internal cooling
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E Cortona, C H Onder and L Guzzella

system and of the engine wall temperature:

A B
* ­ * ­ * dTeng,out
dTeng,out Q Q DQ Teng,in = f Teng,out , , Tw , Teb (31)
= w,c c,eb c
(25) dt
dt cc mc
Teng,out =Teng,out,DES (32)
* = lw Aw a c [2T ­
Q (Teng,out ­ Teng,in )] (26) dTeng,out
w,c w
2lw +a c d =0 (33)
dt

A B
* =a A Teng,out +Teng,in Knowing the desired temperature at the engine
Q ­ Teb (27)
c,eb c eb
2 output, the corresponding coolant temperature at the
engine input can be calculated:
* =c m
DQ *
c c c (T eng,out ­ Teng,in ) (28) Teng,in,DES = f (Teng,out,DES , 0, TÃw , TÃeb ) (34)

can be combined into one equation: The temperatures of the engine block and the engine
wall usually cannot be measured on an engine.
* ­ Q
dTeng,out Q * ­ *
Q Therefore a model-based estimator, as plotted in
= w,c c,eb c
Fig. 7, is needed for the calculation of the corre-
dt cc mc
sponding values. The equations describing the
1 model-based estimator are
= {a (T ­ Teng,m )­ a2 (Teng,m ­ Teb )
c c mc 1 w * ­ Q *
dTÃw Q
= g,w w,c
­ [a3 (Teng,out ­ Teng,in )]} (29) dt c w mw

The coefficients a1 , a2 , a3 listed in equation (29) only 1

= [zÄ (n , b.m.e.p.)­ a1 (TÃw ­ Teng,m )]
depend on the engine geometry and are therefore cw mw 1 ICE
valid for all the engine operating points considered: (35)
* +Q
dTÃeb Q * ­ Q* +Q *
2lw Aw a c = c,eb if irr ex,eb

a1 = , a2 =a c Aeb , *
a3 =cc m dt ceb meb +coil moil
c
2lw +a c d
1
T +Teng,out =
Teng,m = eng,in ceb meb +coil moil
2
(30) ×[a2 (Teng,m ­ TÃeb ) +zÄ2 (b.m.e.p., nICE )

+ f1 (TÃeb + f2 (Teng,in )] (36)

Equation (29) can now be used for the calculation of
the demanded engine-in temperature as a function The disturbances zÄ1 (b.m.e.p., n ICE ) and
of the demanded values of Teng,out , its time derivative, zÄ2 (b.m.e.p., nICE ) are exclusively dependent on the
and the actual values of the engine block temperature engine operating point. They are part of the general

Fig. 7 Model of the estimator.

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164 Int J Engine Research Vol 3 No 3

 Engine thermomanagement with electrical components

disturbances z1 and z2 acting on the system as good enough even if the delay is neglected. Thus
follows: instability problems in the prediction can be avoided.
* (n , b.m.e.p.) $ zÄ (n , b.m.e.p.) The model-based estimator for the engine block
z1 =Q g,w ICE 1 ICE (37)
temperature and the engine wall temperature uses
* ­
z2 =(Q * +Q
Q *
i,f irr ex,eb ) measured values of the coolant temperatures Teng,in
and Teng,out entering and leaving the engine. Thus
=zÄ2 (nICE , b.m.e.p.)+ f1 (Teb )+ f2 (Teng,m )
there are feedback loops within the feedforward
$ zÄ2 (nICE , b.m.e.p.)+ f1 (Teb )+ f2 (Teng,in ) (38) path. Nevertheless, the measured values are only
used in the observer and not for any control error
The heat flows zÄ1 and zÄ2 are calculated off-line in
calculation.
advance and stored in a map. The functions f1 and
The system behaviour with the feedforward con-
f2 denote the part of the global disturbances acting
troller has been simulated and experimentally vali-
on the system depending on the engine block and
dated on a dynamic testbench. The structure of the
coolant temperatures Teb and Teng,in respectively.
system is shown in Fig. 8. Equation (40) can be inter-
With the equations of the external cooling system:
preted as the inversion of the external cooling system
*
m *
m characteristic.
by r
Tmix (t)=Teng,out (t ­ t1 ­ t4 ) +Tr,out (t ­ t3 )
m*c *c
m The simulation results depicted in Figs 9a and b
show the dynamic behaviour of the temperature of
Teng,in (t +t5 ) =Tmix (t)
the coolant entering the engine Teng,in,DES necessary
(39)
to keep a constant engine-out temperature. The
the required bypass valve position can be calculated. measured traces of the same operating points are
Assuming the radiator temperature to be constant as given in Figs 9c and d. Due to modelling inaccurac-
well (which holds for the cold-start and for small ies, the temperature of the coolant leaving the engine
coolant flows through the radiator), the demanded Teng,out does not remain constant. This had to be
value for the bypass valve opening is calculated as expected, and a steady state deviation of approxi-
follows: mately 10 °C is acceptable for the feedforward
* by controller.
m
u1 (t)$ u1 (t ­ t5 ) =
m*c
4.2 Feedback controller design
T (T , TÃ , TÃ )­ Tr,out
= eng,in eng,out,DES w eb (40) The design of the feedback controller has been
Teng,out (t­ t1 ­ t4 ­ t5 )­ Tr,out
described fully in reference [10]. The 2×2 MIMO
Although the time delay t5 could be taken into system is controlled with two proportional± integral
account by a prediction of the temperatures of the (PI) controllers, acting on the bypass valve and the
coolant entering and leaving the engine, it has been waterpump. A desired value of 90 °C for the engine-
found that the performance of the control system is out temperature is chosen. To prevent thermal stress

Fig. 8 System with feedforward control including the estimator.

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E Cortona, C H Onder and L Guzzella

Fig. 9 Coolant temperatures at cold-start: (a), (b) results from simulations, b.m.e.p.= 2 bar and b.m.e.p.=4 bar respectively;
(c), (d) results from measurements at b.m.e.p.=2 bar and b.m.e.p.=4 bar respectively.

of the engine, a maximum temperature difference of
15 °C has to be guaranteed. The control strategy
chosen is summarized in Table 1.
When engine cold-start is considered, cases 1 and
2 correspond to the most frequent operating points.
Therefore, normally only one controller is active (i.e.
the controller for the temperature of the coolant leav-
ing the engine Teng,out ) while the waterpump speed
remains at its minimum value.
4.3 Combined control structure: feedforward and feedback
controllers
The structure of the combination of feedforward and
feedback controllers is depicted in Fig. 10. When the
feedback controller is active together with the
feedforward controller the feedback controller gain
may be cut in half. This leads to a better stability
of the control system. Due to the feedforward, the
performance of the complete system is still good.
Figures 11a and b show the cold-start performance
traces of the combined control system for a constant
engine operating point. The engine speed was set to
2500 r/min and the b.m.e.p. was 2 bar. The advan-
tages of the combined controller are quite obvious.
The trace is much smoother, with fewer oscillations.
Since the feedforward controller starts closing the
valve earlier, the overshoot at t=6 min does not
occur, as evident in Fig. 11b.
With the control strategy summarized here,
several measurements of the fuel consumption were
made and compared to the results obtained with the
conventional configuration with a mechanically
coupled waterpump and a thermostat.
5. Results
Various experiments have been conducted in order
to investigate the benefits in fuel economy of the

y2 =Teng,in y1 = Teng,out u1 =xvalve *

u2 =m c

Case 1 <Teng,out,DES <Teng,out,DES 100% Minimal

Case 2 >Teng,in,DES >Teng,out,DES DTeng,out Gc1 (s) Minimal
Case 3 <Teng,in,DES >Teng,out,DES DTeng,out Gc1 (s) DTeng,in Gc2 (s)
Case 4 >Teng,in,DES >Teng,out,DES 0% DTeng,out Gc3 (s)

Table 1 Summary of the control strategy used.

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166 Int J Engine Research Vol 3 No 3

 Engine thermomanagement with electrical components
Fig. 10 Combined controller system.
Fig. 11 (a) Coolant temperature and (b) valve position during cold-start for the feedback controller alone and the combined feedback
and feedforward controllers.
proposed modifications in the cooling strategy.
A particular focus was given to engine cold-start
and part-load operating conditions. Aside from
stationary measurements, experiments over pre-
defined driving cycles were performed. This
allowed the performance of the proposed configur-
ation of the cooling system to be tested over a wide
range of engine operating conditions.
During the tests of both the conventional and the
suggested cooling system, the coolant pump was an
externally supplied electrical pump. For the conven-
tional system, the coolant pump mass flow simulates
a coupling with engine speed. Influence of the energy
supply of the coolant pump on fuel consumption was
thus avoided.
5.1 Engine cold-start under stationary engine operating
conditions
In a first step, the performance of the cooling circuit
is measured during engine cold-start. In order to
isolate the effective influence of the modifications in
the cooling strategy on the general system behaviour
better, the engine tests were run in stationary
operating conditions.
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Int J Engine Research Vol 3 No 3
Figure 12 shows the measurement results for
cold-starts with constant engine operating points.
Generally, higher coolant as well as oil temperatures
were achieved. Furthermore, the duration of engine
cold-start was shortened. The effects on the fuel con-
sumption are evident in Fig. 12d, where the integral
fuel consumption over the duration of the whole test
is shown. For the engine operating points tested a
fuel consumption reduction of 2.7 per cent up to 4.5
per cent could be achieved.
For the new strategy, the waterpump is operated
at one-sixth of the flow of the conventional system
at 2500 r/min. During all the tests of the improved
configuration of the cooling system, the coolant flow
is maintained at the minimum. Indeed, with increas-
ing engine loads, the coolant temperature difference
over the engine increases, as Fig. 12b shows, but it
never reaches the limit value of 15 °C. A higher cool-
ant flow, as requested by case 3 in Table 1, was
therefore not necessary.
The electric coolant pump causes low efficiencies
in the conversion from mechanical to electrical
energy. Nevertheless, an improvement in the overall
efficiency still results due to the fact that less energy
167
E Cortona, C H Onder and L Guzzella

Fig. 12 Cold-start measurements for various constant engine operating points: (a) coolant temperature, (b) coolant temperature
difference over the engine, (c) oil temperature, (d) global fuel consumption.

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 Engine thermomanagement with electrical components

is needed for the electrical pump, as explained above. together with integrated starter-alternators will
This effect is not documented in the measurements allow even more components to be supplied with
since for both the conventional and the improved electrical energy, satisfying the increasing com-
configuration of the cooling system the coolant pump fort demands of customers. Integrating the air-
was electrically supplied for better comparability. conditioning system, catalyst heating devices,
The electric auxiliaries were powered by an secondary heaters and other auxiliary devices in the
additional energy source. No alternator was thermomanagement will permit new strategies to be
mounted on the engine. developed for the fuel-optimal inclusion of the
increasing number of auxiliaries.
5.2 MVEG-A test cycle
The testbench results for the cold-start MVEG-A test
Notation
cycles (the regulated test cycle in the European
Union) are shown in Fig. 13. As for the measure-
A area (m2 )
ments at steady state operating conditions, higher
c heat capacity (J/kg K)
engine temperatures were obtained with the p
d cylinder wall thickness (m)
improved thermomanagement system, leading to an
Gc controller transfer function
overall fuel consumption reduction of 3 per cent.
m mass (kg)
In Fig. 13c the power demand of the electric
n rotational speed (min­ 1 )
waterpump is plotted. Only at high loads, corre-
p pressure
sponding to the acceleration in the highway part of *
Q heat flow
the cycle, does the power demand rise above its mini-
T temperature ( °C)
mum value. Therefore, besides the fuel efficiency
u input
gain due to higher engine temperatures, an efficiency
v velocity (m/s)
gain is attained because of the lower energy
V volume (m3 )
consumption of the waterpump.
x position (m)
y output

6. Conclusions ac coolant heat transfer coefficient

(W/m 2 K)
A combined feedforward and feedback control struc- e emissivity
ture was designed for the electric waterpump and l thermal conductivity (W/m K)
the electric bypass valve. The controller is model- Pv boost± pressure ratio
based, i.e. it comprises a model-based estimator for d Stefan± Boltzmann constant
the temperatures of the engine block and the engine t delay (s)
wall. This leads to a good system performance with
small overshoot at cold-start and to small limit cycles Subscripts
or none at all. At all operating points, the demanded amb ambient
values for the respective temperatures can be by bypass
achieved without steady state offset. c coolant
The desired values for the temperature of the cool- c,eb from the coolant to the engine block
ant leaving the engine can be set higher due to the DES desired value
better performance of the controller, which in turn eb engine block
lowers internal engine friction. In addition, the eng,in coolant entering the engine
energy consumption of the waterpump is reduced eng,out coolant leaving the engine
since, in a large range of operating points, it can be ex,eb exhaust gases to the engine block
operated at a minimum flowrate. In the operating f fuel
points investigated, the flowrate was six times g gas
smaller than the rate measured in a mechanically g,w gas in the cylinder to the wall
driven coolant pump. In the case of the cold-start if internal friction
MVEG-A test cycle run on the testbench engine, the irr irradiation
improvement in fuel consumption compared to a mix mixing point bypass/radiator
conventional system amounts to 3 per cent. oil oil
The introduction of 42-V vehicle electrical systems, r radiator
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Int J Engine Research Vol 3 No 3 169

E Cortona, C H Onder and L Guzzella

r,in coolant entering the radiator cooling system (Newcool). In SAE International
Congress, Detroit, 1991, SAE Paper 911775.
r,out coolant leaving the radiator 5 Bednarek, H. and Tacke, U. Heat managementÐ a tech-
w cylinder wall nique for resolving the conflicting aims between fuel
w,c from the wall to the coolant consumption and comfort. VDI Berichte 1505, 1999,
pp. 83± 107.
6 Krause, W. and Spies, K. H. Dynamic control of the
Abbreviations, acronyms coolant temperature for a reduction of fuel consump-
b.m.e.p. brake mean effective pressure tion and hydrocarbon emission. In SAE International
Congress, Detroit, 1996, SAE Paper 960271.
ICE internal combustion engine
7 Arici, O., Johnson, J. H. and Kulkarni, A. J. The vehicle
MVEG Motor Vehicle Emission Group engine cooling system simulation. Part 1Ð model devel-
opment. SAE International Congress, Detroit, 1999, SAE
Paper 1999-01-0240.
8 Cortona, E. Engine thermomanagement for fuel con-
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