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The thermal management system of the water medium retarder using engine coolant (water and ethylene glycol) as transmission medium, omits oil-water heat exchanger in the structure. When the hydraulic retarder is operated, the valve is connected with the retarder and water pump, and then the engine coolant enters the working chamber. The kinetic energy of the vehicle is converted into internal energy of the coolant, and the heat is discharged to the external environment through the engine thermal management system. The braking torque of the water medium hydraulic retarder is determined by the water medium flow rate in the working chamber. The smaller the valve opening degree, the greater the braking torque and the faster the heating transmission fluid. Small valve opening is not conducive to the loss of heat. It will affect the normal working of the engine and hydraulic retarder.

While the car ownership increasing all over the world, the unutilized thermal energy in automobile exhaust system is gradually being realized and valued by researchers around the world for better driving energy efficiency. For the unexpected urban traffic, the frequent start and stop processes as well as the acceleration and deceleration lead to the temperature fluctuation of the exhaust gas, which means the unstable hot-end temperature of the thermoelectric module generator (TEG). By arranging the heat conduction oil circulation at the hot end, the hot-end temperature’s fluctuation of the TEG can be effectively reduced, at the expense of larger system size and additional energy supply for the circulation. This research improves the TEG hot-end temperature stability by installing solid heat capacity material(SHCM) to the area between the outer wall of the exhaust pipe and the TEG, which has the merits of simple structure, none energy consumption and light weight.

The closed cabin temperature is anticipated to be cooled down when it is a bit hot inside the driving car. The traditional air-condition lowers the cabin temperature by frequently switching the status of the compressor, which increases the engine’s parasitic power and shortens the compressor’s service-life. The semiconductor auxiliary cooling system with the properties of no moving parts, high control precision and quick response has the potential to assist the on-board air-condition in modulating the cabin temperature with relative small ranges. Little temperature differences between the cabin and the outside environment means that the system energy consumption to ensure the occupant comfort is relatively low and the inefficiency could be made up by the renewable energy source.

Vehicle hydraulic retarders are applied in heavy-duty trucks and buses as an auxiliary braking device. In traditional cooling systems of hydraulic retarders, the working fluid is introduced into the heat exchanger to transfer heat to the cooling liquid in circulation, whose heat is then dissipated by the engine cooling system. This prevents the waste heat of the working fluid from being used effectively. In hydraulic retarder cooling system based on the Organic Rankine Cycle, the organic working fluid first transfers heat with the hydraulic retarder working fluid in Rankine cycle, and then outputs power through expansion machine. It can both reduce heat load of the engine cooling system, and enhance thermal stability of the hydraulic retarder while recovering and utilizing braking energy. First of all, according to the target vehicle model, hydraulic retarder cooling system model based on Rankine cycle is established.

The hydraulic retarder is an auxiliary braking device used for commercial vehicle in a long slope brake, and its transmission oil generates a lot of heat in its working process. If the heat of transmission doesn’t go through a reasonable management, it will seriously affect the braking performance of hydraulic retarder. To cool down the transmission oil, it will aggravates the load of the engine cooling system, and the long cooling path sometimes causes heat exchange not timely. When the Rankine cycle is used for cooling the hydraulic retarder transmission oil in virtue of its good heat transfer performance in phase change process, it can make the transmission oil temperature controlled more stable. In this new system, the setting parameters of the Evaporate-condensate system will affect the stability of the transmission oil temperature in the hydraulic retarder inlet and the energy recovery efficiency of the system.