Cooling method and system
Methods and systems for cooling an electric energy storage device are described. In one example, a temperature set point of a cooling system is reduced before a vehicle reaches a location along a travel route where load on the electric energy storage device is expected to be greater than a threshold load. By lowering the temperature set point, it may be possible to maintain a temperature of the electric energy storage device below a threshold temperature.
1. A vehicle system, comprising:
a cooling system including a battery, the battery cooled via the cooling system; and
a controller configured to adjust a speed of a compressor to decrease a temperature of the battery in response to a load on the battery at a location of a travel route, the location an actual total number of travel route segments ahead of a vehicle's present location.
2. The vehicle system of claim 1 , where the actual total number of travel route segments varies with vehicle operating conditions, and where the temperature is decreased via decreasing a set point temperature.
3. The vehicle system of claim 1 , where a length of the travel route segments varies with vehicle operating conditions.
4. The vehicle system of claim 1 , further comprising additional executable instructions that cause the controller to adjust a position of a valve in response to the expected load on the battery.
5. The vehicle system of claim 1 , further comprising a phase changing material included in the cooling system.
6. The vehicle system of claim 5 , further comprising additional executable instructions that cause the controller to reduce a temperature of the phase changing material in response to the expected load.
7. The vehicle system of claim 6 , where the phase change material is included in a traction battery coolant loop.