This SAE Recommended Practice is intended for use in testing and evaluating the performance of Light Duty automotive electric engine cooling fans. These Electric Cooling Fan (ECF) Assemblies are purchased by Light Duty Truck and Passenger Car OEM’s from suppliers. They are purchased as complete assemblies, consisting of the fan(s), motor(s), and shroud (see Figure 1); this Recommended Practice will only consider such complete assemblies. Some purchased assemblies using brush-type motors may also include control devices such as power resistors or pulse width modulation (PWM) electronics for speed control. In the case of brushless motor technology, the controller is an integral part of the motor where it also performs the commutation process electronically. The performance measurement would include fan output in terms of airflow and pressure, and fan input electric power in terms of voltage and current. This information could then be used to calculate the efficiency of the assembly, including aerodynamic efficiency of the fan and shroud and electrical efficiency of the motor. The electric power consumption could be used to estimate vehicle energy as it relates to electrical charging system sizing and fuel economy. The test conditions in the procedure generally will not always match those of the installation for which cooling, electric energy consumption and fuel consumption information is desired. The performance of a given fan depends on the installation details of the application, including the effects of system resistance and geometry of the grille, heat exchangers and underhood geometry of the engine and other underhood components. These details should be duplicated in the test setup, to the greatest extent possible, if accurate performance measurement is expected. Vehicle level airflow performance will also be affected by the bumper profile and any other shape that would influence how the airflow enters the grille. Includes Fan, Motor, Shroud, Stators, Electrical Connector and Pressure Relief Flaps for High Vehicle Speed Applications This Recommended Practice is intended to describe a Standard method for measuring the performance characteristics of electric cooling fans (ECF), also known as "electric motor fans" or "electric motor driven fans”. Today, there is a wide range of conditions under which OEM’s request and/or ECF Suppliers measure and report performance. This current condition results in unnecessary variation in the data and its interpretation, making it difficult to use the data for vehicle performance prediction and even to accurately compare the performance of fans from different suppliers or even from the same supplier. The major ECF suppliers support the concept of having an Industry Standard for Performance Measurement.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Laboratory Testing of Light Duty Vehicle Electric Cooling Fan Assemblies for Airflow Performance


    Publication date :

    2014-08-28



    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English





    Front-end Cooling Airflow Performance Prediction Using Vehicle System Resistance

    Rahman, Moududur / Damodaran, Vijay | SAE Technical Papers | 2003


    Front-end cooling airflow performance prediction using vehicle system resistance

    Damodaran,V. / Rahman,M. / General Motors,US | Automotive engineering | 2003


    The First Transportable Heavy Duty Vehicle Emissions Testing Laboratory

    Howell, A. / Rapp, B. / Lyons (PI), D. et al. | SAE Technical Papers | 1991


    Pusher airflow for work vehicle cooling system

    SCHERTZ REX / CLARK STANLEY / WALTON MARK | European Patent Office | 2016

    Free access