US 12,330,476 B2
Cooling fan device
Shoichi Akiyama, Toyota (JP); Dai Okumura, Seto (JP); Atsushi Fukuda, Toyota (JP); and Makoto Monya, Okazaki (JP)
Assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed by TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed on Jul. 20, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/355,413.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-117027 (JP), filed on Jul. 22, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0025230 A1, Jan. 25, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. F01P 7/10 (2006.01); B60H 1/00 (2006.01); B60K 11/02 (2006.01); F04D 25/02 (2006.01); F04D 27/00 (2006.01)
CPC B60H 1/00878 (2013.01) [B60H 1/00821 (2013.01); B60K 11/02 (2013.01); B60Y 2300/42 (2013.01); F04D 25/022 (2013.01); F04D 27/004 (2013.01)] 4 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A cooling fan device configured to use a cooling fan coupled to an engine via a fan clutch to generate cooling air flow for a radiator, the cooling fan device comprising an electronic control unit configured to control an engagement rate of the fan clutch, wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to execute:
a first calculation process that calculates a coolant temperature requested engagement rate, the coolant temperature requested engagement rate being a requested value of the engagement rate in accordance with a cooling request for the engine coolant;
a second calculation process that calculates, as a first guard value, a value of the engagement rate at which a rotation speed of the cooling fan is a first upper limit rotation speed based on a vehicle speed; and
an upper limit guarding process that sets a value of the coolant temperature requested engagement rate to the first guard value when a calculated value of the coolant temperature requested engagement rate in the first calculation process exceeds the first guard value,
thereby controlling the engagement rate based on a value of the coolant temperature requested engagement rate after being subjected to the upper limit guarding process, and
the first upper limit rotation speed is set to a lower speed when the vehicle speed is relatively low than when the vehicle speed is relatively high.