Thermal reduction system for an automated vehicle

• US 9,855,816 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2015
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aurora Operations Incorporated (Aurora Innovation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Meyhofer, Eric, Rice, David
• Primary Examiner(s): GOLDMAN, RICHARD A
• Application Number:
  US14/979,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20170174037A1
• Time in Patent Office: 742 Days
• Field of Search: 62513, 361698, 361701, 361702, 361703, 701 22, 701 36, 701 23, 701301, 16510433, 16510434
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00392 for electric vehicles having only electric drive means
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/039 from air leaving the interior of the vehicle, i.e. heat recovery
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/143 the heat being derived from cooling an electric component, e.g. electric motors, electric circuits, fuel cells or batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/248 Air-extractors, air-evacuation from the vehicle interior
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 2001/00307 Component temperature regulation using a liquid flow
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20881 Liquid coolant with phase change

Abstract

An automated vehicle (AV) can include a data processing system housed in a cooling rack, and a thermal reduction system to provide cooling for the data processing system. The thermal reduction system can include a fluid pump to pump cooling fluid through the cooling rack, a cabin radiator to receive the cooling fluid and pump cabin air from the interior cabin of the AV to cool the cooling fluid, and a main radiator to receive the cooling fluid and pump outside air to further cool the cooling fluid. Additionally, the thermal reduction system can include a secondary cooling unit that includes a condenser, evaporator, and compressor pump to further cool the cooling fluid.

Claims

1. A thermal reduction system for an autonomous vehicle (AV) comprising:

a cooling rack coupled to a data processing system of the AV;

a fluid pump pumping cooling fluid through the cooling rack to cool the data processing system;

a cabin radiator receiving the cooling fluid and forcing cabin air from an interior passenger cabin of the AV though the cabin radiator to cool the cooling fluid;

a main radiator receiving the cooling fluid and forcing outside air through the main radiator to further cool the cooling fluid;

one or more sensors detecting one or more passengers within the interior passenger cabin of the AV; and

one or more processors executing instructions that cause the one or more processors to;

establish an upper limit to a flow rate of the cabin air from the interior passenger cabin through the cabin radiator based on detecting the one or more passengers.

2. The thermal reduction system of claim 1, further comprising:

a secondary cooling unit comprising a compressor pump, a condenser, and an evaporator.

3. The thermal reduction system of claim 2, wherein the compressor pump initiates automatically when the cooling fluid reaches a predetermined temperature at a temperature sensor.

4. The thermal reduction system of claim 3, wherein the secondary cooling unit further includes a blower providing cool air from the evaporator into the interior passenger cabin of the AV when a passenger of the AV manually triggers the secondary cooling unit.

5. The thermal reduction system of claim 2, wherein the fluid pump further pumps the cooling fluid through fluid lines that run through a cooling tank of the evaporator, and wherein when the secondary cooling unit is initiated, the evaporator cools the cooling tank to further cool the cooling fluid.

6. The thermal reduction system of claim 2, further comprising:

a first temperature sensor disposed proximally to the data processing system; and

a second temperature sensor disposed distally from the data processing system;

wherein a temperature delta for the cooling fluid between the first temperature sensor and the second temperature sensor causes the fluid pump to vary a flow rate of the cooling fluid.

7. The thermal reduction system of claim 6,

wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

continuously monitor a first temperature of the cooling fluid at the first temperature sensor and a second temperature of the cooling fluid at the second temperature sensor;

initiate one or more air pumps of at least one of the cabin radiator or the main radiator when the cooling fluid reaches an initial threshold temperature at one of the first temperature sensor or the second temperature sensor;

initiate the compressor pump when the cooling fluid reaches a critical threshold temperature at one of the first temperature sensor or the second temperature sensor; and

control the fluid pump to adjust the flow rate of the cooling fluid based on the temperature delta between the first temperature sensor and the second temperature sensor.

8. The thermal reduction system of claim 7, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

determine processing requirements of the data processing system; and

adjust flow rates of one or more of the cabin radiator, the main radiator, the fluid pump, or the compressor pump based on the processing requirements.

9. The thermal reduction system of claim 7, wherein the one or more processors of the thermal reduction system are included in the data processing system coupled to the cooling rack.

10. The thermal reduction system of claim 1, wherein the data processing system comprises one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and one or more central processing units (CPUs).

11. The thermal reduction system of claim 10, wherein the fluid pump pumps the cooling fluid through the cooling rack to cool the one or more FPGAs before the one or more CPUs.

12. The thermal reduction system of claim 10, wherein the data processing system further comprises one or more switching elements.

13. The thermal reduction system of claim 12, wherein the fluid pump pumps the cooling fluid through the cooling rack to cool the one or more FPGAs and the one or more CPUs before the one or more switching elements.

14. The thermal reduction system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more redundant fluid pumps to pump the cooling fluid when the fluid pump fails.

15. An autonomous vehicle (AV) comprising:

a control system operating controls of the AV;

an interior cabin accommodating a plurality of passengers;

a plurality of sensors detecting real-time environment data as the AV is operated;

a data processing system coupled to a cooling rack and connected to the plurality sensors, the data processing system processing the real-time environment data to operate the AV in a traffic environment; and

a thermal reduction system cooling the data processing system, the thermal reduction system comprising;

a fluid pump pumping cooling fluid through the cooling rack;

a cabin radiator receiving the cooling fluid and forcing cabin air from the interior cabin of the AV through the cabin radiator to cool the cooling fluid;

a main radiator receiving the cooling fluid and forcing outside air through the main radiator to further cool the cooling fluid;

one or more sensors detecting one or more passengers within the interior passenger cabin of the AV; and

one or more processors executing instructions that cause the one or more processors to;

establish an upper limit to a flow rate of the cabin air from the interior passenger cabin through the cabin radiator based on detecting the one or more passengers.

16. The AV of claim 15, wherein the thermal reduction system further comprises:

a first temperature sensor detecting a temperature of the cooling fluid;

a secondary cooling unit comprising a compressor pump, a condenser, and an evaporator, wherein fluid lines for the cooling fluid run through a cooling tank of the evaporator;

wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to;

monitor the temperature of the cooling fluid at the first temperature sensor; and

initiate the secondary cooling unit to further cool the cooling fluid when the monitored temperature crosses a critical threshold.